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6/18/16 Progress

A project log for 3D Printer from Upcyled Parts

I am working toward building a 3D printer from scavenged printer/scanner parts, and as many off the shelf components as possible.

shawn-gormanShawn Gorman 06/18/2016 at 20:310 Comments

I have scavenged several parts from many different models of printers and scanners over the years. I will outline some of the parts I will be using for my 3D printer build.

To start with, I was very fortunate to get my hands on a Microtek TMA 1600 transfer add-on for a 9800XL scanner. This is a large format scanner which had a stepper motor, belt, gear reduction assembly, 2 10mm rods, and various control boards (which I will not be using). You can see the stepper motor below and I have uploaded datasheets to the project page.

I also have parts from a Lexmark Pinnacle Pro 901 AIO printer, several hp printers, brother printers, and a couple of flat bed scanners in letter and legal format that I don't remember the brand.

As you can see in the picture, there are several useful parts to work with. The 2 10mm rods are on the right. The rest I believe are 8mm. Since some of the motors have gear reductions, I want to test the step length to see what kind of resolution I will get out of them. I will be using an Arduino Uno with a Seeed Studios motor shield v2.2 for testing.

I had some pre-cut slats of 3/4" Plywood handy so to test the Teco motor from the MicroTek, I just bolted the motor mount assembly to the end of the slat. At this stage I don't need a whole lot of accuracy in placement, but I did verify that one edge was straight, and the corners are square. These slats were factory cut so that was easy.

On the other end of the test rig I used the tensioner roller from the scanner. The tension uses a screw that passes through the internal frame of the scanner. I drilled a couple of holes in a piece of the frame to use a a bracket for tensioning which is at the right of the rig.

So far, that's it. More to come.

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