Printrbot Build: Part 1

My workspace

A long time ago (December 17, 2011 to be exact), I backed a Printrbot LC on Kickstarter. After months of waiting, I finally received my 3D printer yesterday and quickly started assembling it. I followed Brook’s How-To Build videos on YouTube and got pretty far in a couple hours. I took (many, many) pictures along every step of the way so I thought I’d share them with you. Hopefully they can be beneficial to somebody, or at least help them decide if building a 3D printer is something they could do.

Everything neatly packed in a box

Add some organization to the big bag of parts

Rods

Break off the small pieces and file them down

First pieces together

Both supports in place

First bolts in place

It’s coming together

Brook’s favorite piece to assemble

Rod stoppers

Linear bearings

Zip-tied in place

Z-stop

Printrboard placement

Reach in for the SD card slot and USB socket

Y-stop

Z-drive motors

Y-drive motor

Screwing the feet on

Free standing with Y and Z rods

Gear on the Y-drive

Bearings for Y-drive

Thermistor temporarily scotch-taped on to heater bed

Heat bed attached

Y-drive belt in place

Feet mounted to Y-drive rods

Hot bed mounted

Belt attached to hot bed

Extruder assembly

Extruder assembly

That’s all I have for today. Some of the 3D-printed parts on the extruder may have been warped because they were giving me a very difficult time while assembling it. I am still not happy on how it is put together, so I might have to mess around with it some more if it doesn’t work right away. Fortunately, it was the only part that gave me any trouble. Building the other parts of the bot was a lot of fun.

Click here to go to Printrbot Build: Part 2