Repstrap on a budget from the parts bin

So, after a long sojourn in the land of CNC mini machine tools I am coming back to RepRap and excited to see the progress and interested in melting some plastic on my own.

I have a lot of stuff but not a lot of cash (is that "wealth without money?") and wondering how easy it will be to bodge together a working Repstrap given the following goodies on hand:

1. A fairly precise 3-axis micro mill (built to run a Dremel) with a 5x5x3" X/Y/Z envelope (fairly reliable to .005" or better)
2. 3x 125oz-in steppers (1.8deg/step)
3. A 3-axis 1/16th microstepping driver that can take step/dir signals
4. Two Arduino boards (one of uncertain late rev. and one official Diecimila)

Basically I am thinking I'd add in the extruder motor and thermal controllers, the opto endstops, and feed the Arduino outputs to my stepper driver which cuts out a lot of expensive parts. Just wondering if there are any gotchas I need to be aware of before I add further to the spare parts bin!

About the only potential gotcha that I can see is whether that controller board you have is going to be able to drive those steppers very fast when they are connected to your lead screws.

I'd say you got a good starting point, though. Nophead has a similar rig with a somewhat bigger print envelope. His works beautifully.

"About the only potential gotcha that I can see is whether that controller board you have is going to be able to drive those steppers very fast when they are connected to your lead screws."

If that's the main question then I feel pretty good

I've run this machine in milling configuration at 60IPM without any issues. I suspect it could go faster, but at that speed, frictional heating (it's made with Delrin sliding on aluminum) starts to become an issue, and there's really no need to go that fast anyway, though it is fun to watch.

If I were you I'd try to get Nophead to mentor me on this. You can see his work at

[hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

He's already made your sort of rig work beautifully.