Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
In addition to the Rep Rap wiki and forum, here are two more places to start your
research if you're considering sourcing your own components and building a 3D
printer from scratch:
http://www.3ders.org
http://reprapbook.appspot.com
I highly recommend a great product for building your 3D printer's
frame—OpenBeam. These aluminum beams (shown in Figure 10.2 ) are perfect for
creating the shell that will hold your 3D printer, and the best part is that the nuts
and bolts used to connect all the parts can be purchased at a local hardware store;
you won't have proprietary bolts or hard-to-find nuts to hunt down. Even better,
visit openbeamusa.com and you can download the files needed to print the plastic
connectors. You can buy these connectors from OpenBeam, but why not put your
3D printer to work for you and save some money?
Figure 10.2 The OpenBeam aluminum beams are strong, rigid, and easy to con-
nect.
How much money might you save? That's a hard question to answer given just
how many variations on a 3D printer you could come up with—size of print bed,
number of extruders, type of hot-end, and even size and type of motors. If you pur-
 
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