As a beginner in the 3D Printing, I have a lot of questions that I can not seem to find an answer, and some questions may actually be " how to make a 3D Printer with my current items? ", please bear with me.


My current items for 3D Printer
1. 4x NEMA 17 Stepper Motor, 5V 1.2A, 2-phase, 4-wire, 2.6kg.cm, 1.8 degree
2. RAMPS 1.4
3. Arduino MEGA 2560
4. Raspberry Pi ( I'd like to run the successfully built 3D Printer with it )




Things that I plan to get soon
1. Power Supply ( [www.ebay.com] )

Q 1.1. Will 12V 30A be enough to power everything ( as in the whole 3D printer, including electronics and hotend, etc ) up ?
Q 1.2. The stepper motors I have are rated 5V 1.2A, will anything go wrong if I use a 12V 30A PSU ?
Q 1.3. Is it better to have a separate PSU to power up different things ?
Q 1.4. I have absolutely no idea how to wire anything, should I consult an electrician, or do I try to search for everything on the net ?


2. Extruder/Hotend ( [www.ebay.com] )

Q 2.1. Should I get an extruder instead of hotend, considering I have near zero experience of hacking things ?
Q 2.2. How do I get a hotend up and running ?
Q 2.3. Precaution when handling hotend ?
Q 2.4. I plan to extrude with PLA filament, do I need heated bed and/or fan ?



My references for building 3D Printer
1. [www.instructables.com]
# I may try to build a CNC Milling Machine first instead of directly to 3D Printer, for a better grasp on what to do.
2. RepRap


Additional Questions
I. Precautions when handling with tools and electricity ? [ environment, fire extinguisher, etc ]
II. Wiring stepper motors, and precautions to prevent it from dying. [ voltage rating, etc ]
III. Must everything be precise ? [ probably not 100%, but 90% ? ]
IV. Determining the type of screw and material to use ? [ I plan to use pipes, wood or aluminium U-channels ]
V. What are the things to be noted when handling with electronics ?
VI. Ideas for Z-axis, if I plan to use Bowden principled extruder ?

read the reprap wiki. many things you ask are answered there in great detail.

printers that are recommend are listed on the site as well. for new users that want to learn about printers i would recommend a prusa. if your not into printers but want one that works there are several options available. your due diligence and research should help your decision.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2015 02:03PM by jamesdanielv.

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Hawgnes
1. Power Supply ( [www.ebay.com] )

Q 1.1. Will 12V 30A be enough to power everything ( as in the whole 3D printer, including electronics and hotend, etc ) up ?
Q 1.2. The stepper motors I have are rated 5V 1.2A, will anything go wrong if I use a 12V 30A PSU ?
Q 1.3. Is it better to have a separate PSU to power up different things ?
Q 1.4. I have absolutely no idea how to wire anything, should I consult an electrician, or do I try to search for everything on the net ?

A1.1 Usually, 30A is more than enough, if the power supply actually can put that out. Beware they are often overstated.
A1.2 Yes. Voltage rating is determined by multiplying current rating * resistance. Voltage can be increased for faster response.
A1.3 Usually no. It makes it more complicated as you need to keep the power supplies separated and not share a ground plane, but RAMPS does.
A1.4 Wiki will tell you for RAMPS. Or just google "REPRAP RAMPS wiring"

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2. Extruder/Hotend ( [www.ebay.com] )
Q 2.1. Should I get an extruder instead of hotend, considering I have near zero experience of hacking things ?
Q 2.2. How do I get a hotend up and running ?
Q 2.3. Precaution when handling hotend ?
Q 2.4. I plan to extrude with PLA filament, do I need heated bed and/or fan ?

A2.1 That's not a Jhead first of all. That's an E3D hot end knockoff. Get a real JHead, E3D, or other proven design. You'll probably have more difficulties with the hot end than any other single component and it can make or break an entire printer design, so it's the one thing not to skimp on.
A2.2 Depends on the printer. Since you're asking these types of questions, I strongly suggest following one of the detailed guides for a popular printer design.
A2.3 It's hot, so don't burn yourself.
A2.4 Need? No. Strongly recommend, yes.

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My references for building 3D Printer
1. [www.instructables.com]
# I may try to build a CNC Milling Machine first instead of directly to 3D Printer, for a better grasp on what to do.

Interesting instructable, but save yourself a lot of grief. Follow a real printer design. Seriously. That's more like a repstrap which you can do if you really want to, but that's just to get to the point to print out parts to build a proper one. You can buy the parts already printed.

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Additional Questions
I. Precautions when handling with tools and electricity ? [ environment, fire extinguisher, etc ]
II. Wiring stepper motors, and precautions to prevent it from dying. [ voltage rating, etc ]
III. Must everything be precise ? [ probably not 100%, but 90% ? ]
IV. Determining the type of screw and material to use ? [ I plan to use pipes, wood or aluminium U-channels ]
V. What are the things to be noted when handling with electronics ?
VI. Ideas for Z-axis, if I plan to use Bowden principled extruder ?

A I. You aren't dealing with mains voltage past the power supply, so as long as you don't touch the screw terminals while it's plugged in you aren't likely to kill yourself. Everything past the power supply is low voltage so just don't lick the wires and you'll be fine. Any tools would have normal tool safety but nothing special really.
A II. follow the guides
A III Yes. The more precise your build, the more precise your prints. Garbage in, garbage out.
A IV. Again I'd really recommend following a real printer guide
A V. Static can kill electronics, handle as minimal as possible by the edges, don't plug or unplug things while it's powered on, double/triple check connections
A VI. Your mixing terminiology. Bowden principal refers to how the filiment is pushed into the hot end. Z-axis is how it moves up and down.

Q1.1 Yes. 20A is enough for a typical single-extruder printer with standard heated bed (i.e. 10A current consumption @ 12V). But 25A costs only slightly more and gives you some expansion capacity.

Q1.2 With constant-current stepper motor drivers (which all 3D printer electronics use these days), you can feed the drivers with 12V and they will regulate the voltage and current down as needed. You just need to make sure that you don't turn the current setting on the drivers beyond 1.2A.

Q1.3 Only if you are using an unusually powerful heated bed that a standard printer electronics board can't handle directly.

Q2.4 You always need a fan to cool the hot end. A controllable fan for cooling the print is optional and helps with bridging in particular, but you don't need one to get started. A heated bed is highly recommended even for PLA.

On your other questions, I have nothing to add to cdru's responses.

RAMPS/MEGA is available cheaply, but there are 32-bit solutions now such as Duet, Smoothieboard, and Arduino Due/RADDS.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].