Prusa Archives - Chunky Media

P3Steel Build Log (#14) – Heated Bed / Build Plate

19th December 2016 | By ChunkySteveo | 18 Comments

When building a 3D printer, there are lots of options you can go with for a build platform, and whether to have it heated or not. I will not go into all of them, but simply state what I am going to use compared to Toolson’s designs.

P3Steel Build Log (#13) – Print Bed Silicone Dampeners

16th November 2016 | By ChunkySteveo | 6 Comments

To support the print bed from the y-axis and the bed frame Prusa 3D printers use bolts, washers and nuts on each corner with a spring for tension. Toolson’s edition of the P3Steel does away with these springs and opts for a novel (genius) solution of using silicone dampeners.

P3Steel Build Log (#12) – RAMPS and Arduino Mega (aka The Brain!)

6th November 2016 | By ChunkySteveo | 7 Comments

For this printer I will be using the standard and simple setup of an Arduino Mega and a RAMPS 1.4 board. The Arduino Mega is the brains of the printer and will process all the g-code instructions from the .gcode files from either an SD card or over USB and tell the printer how to move, heat up, extrude filament etc by signalling all the motors, heaters and sensors on the printer which are connected via the RAMPS board, which in turn is connected to the Arduino Mega via the GPIO pins.

P3Steel Build Log (#11) – Endstops / Limit Switches

2nd September 2016 | By ChunkySteveo | 6 Comments

Now that all the axis are complete, we can install the endstop/limit switches. These are simply a switch which is triggered mechanically by one of the printers moving parts hitting it, be it the hotend, print bed etc.