3D Printer

After attending a Maker Faire at Tanner Electronics we were all very excited about robots, and 3D printers.  The allure of robotics is very intoxicating, especially after attending an Expo where all these things are successfully demonstrated.  Velleman is an Electronics Kit maker that has been producing DIY electronic kits for decades, and this year they are offering a 3D printer kit for a surprisingly low price of only $799.  Well, one friend has succumb to the allure of DIY 3D printing.  He is a Mechanical Engineer, and has been dreaming of a device like this for a long time, and now that this low cost, kit form, 3D printer was available it was just irresistible to him, me too...

He had received the kit the night before I arrived, and spent most of the night assembling his freshly delivered Christmas present.  When I arrived the next morning he had that crazed mad scientist look in his eyes, and was guzzling coffee.  So, we spent most of yesterday building his new robotic toy.  By the end of the day we had all of the mechanical assembly done, and are about to start doing the electrical wiring.  We were slightly disappointed when we found there were missing parts.  But we found the Velleman Tech Support was very responsive about the missing parts and they are on the way now.

The missing part was the X Axis limit switch, not a big deal, but we have to wait for it, and are eager to start building parts.  Overall I think this is a high quality robotic machine, and I am very excited to see it in action.  Today we are going to wire all the stepper motors, and limit switches to the controller.  Then we need to program the controller, and test all the electromechanical functionality.  We are definitely having a Christmas Morning experience.

Stay tuned, Mo Later...