Hi There

I have a large CNC Mill hooked up to EMC2 and everything is working very well. However, sometimes I'd be happy to be able to print some parts, so I decided I that I need to convert my mill into a 3D printer.

I read here and there, but so far I am not sure that I got evrything correct, so please tell me if my plan works or not:

1.) I Get an extruder Head (I'm not quite sure which one), Heated bed, Electronics to drive the extruder and to controll the hot end

2.) I connect everything to my CNC-mill host computer running EMC2. The extruder has to be configured as A axis.

3.) I control the temperature manually on the extruder, not through the computer

Is that everything? Is it that simple? What else do I have to take into account?

Oh and by the way: I am located in Switzerland. Were should I get the needed parts from? What is the nest source? If possible I'd like to get all parts from a single supplier.

Best regards
Joachim

Yes, that sounds about right. (If you find out anything different, please update EMCRepRap [reprap.org] with what you learn, OK?)

Once I tell my Sanguinololu+Sprinter to set the extruder temperature with the G-code M104 (or M109) and set the bed temperature with M140 (or M190), then the Sanguinololu+Sprinter actively maintains that temperature,
even after it is disconnected from my laptop.
My understanding is that all other RepRep electronics+firmware works about the same.

I see there are several hackerspaces in Switzerland -- [hackerspaces.org] .
They probably know lots of good sources for parts, and other people building RepStraps.

I hear there is at least one developer in Switzerland -- [www.fabberworld.com] .

So I am surprised that Switzerland is not yet on the list of RepRap user/developer groups [reprap.org] .
Could you add Switzerland to the list?

I see that most of your neighboring countries have RepRap developers:
Germany [reprap.org] , Austria [reprap.org] , Italy [forums.reprap.org] .

Are any of these groups close enough that you could talk to them?