On: The First 3D-Printed Steel Bridge

[function_seven]

Things I learned from RC cars as a kid:

    1. Basic electricity
    2. PWM
    3. Battery chemistry and care
    4. Transmissions/gear ratios
    5. How DC motors work. Winds and turns and brushes, etc.
    6. Suspension basics
    7. Basic RF (crystals and channels and avoiding interference)
    8. Soldering

And all sorts of hard-to-list mechanics and know-how.

I didn't realize it at the time (and I don't think my parents did, either), but I learned so much more from that hobby than I did in school, for those areas.

3D printing feels the same way. I only recently got the Monoprice 120mm^2 unit, and it's working great for what I've thrown at it so far.

What are you using for all the non-plastic parts? Do you print slides and bracing as well?

[mikenew → function_seven]

The board is an MKS Sbase 1.2 with an ARM chip running Snoothie, and I’m using the integrated stepper drivers. I switched from using the typical Arduino Mega + Ramps setup because working with Marlin was really difficult, and it felt like they were fighting a losing battle trying to cram more features into an 8 bit architecture. The motors are varying sizes of Nema 17s, but I don’t remember the manufacturer.

I have started experimenting with printed linear rails, and likely V2 of the printer will have printed rails on the z axis. The bushings are printed nylon that thread directly into the bed, x carriage, etc. I would also like to start experimenting with printed wiring, but most conductive filament is more like resistor wire, so that would take some figuring out.

As far as the frame and all that; yes it’s all printed. You’d be surprised how much the part count starts to fall when you no longer have to attach different parts together and you instead start integrating them into a single, printed part.