Man Creates a 3D Printer for Under $75 – And you can too!

IMTS

Share this Article

100-buildingIt was just last week that we saw the cheapest assembled 3D printer become available to consumers around the world. That was when New Matter’s MOD-t 3D printer launched their Crowdfunding Campaign. Priced at $149 for the first 500 backers, $199 for the next 500, and $249 for the rest, it proved that 3D printers could be cheap enough for most consumers to at least consider purchasing.

One man, by the name of Tarkun Gelstronic has taken this a step further. He put himself out on a mission to create a 3D printer for less than $100. What he came up with was really quite amazing.  Gelstronic didn’t just want to create any 3D printer that he could; he wanted to create a quality 3D printer that could print in multiple materials and include a heat bed.

Keeping the price under $100 didn’t even seem to be all that challenging for Gelstronic. The only parts that he ended up purchasing, were the Arduino Board Mega 2560 (10 Euro), a Stackable Motor Driver Shield (6 Euro), a Hotend (20 Euro), PTFE tube (6 Euro), a fan (2 Euro), and some additional small parts (5 Euro).

The completed sub-$100 3D Printer

The completed sub-$100 3D Printer

One of the major ways that he was able to keep the price so low, was by recycling old computer and printer parts. He obtained 4 stepper motors from old DVD and Blu-ray drives, a power supply from an old PC, a NEMA 17-like stepper motor from an old printer, and a modified gear from an old Hewlett Packard printer, which was used for the bowden extruder.

Other than these parts, that he salvaged from old equipment, and the few parts that he purchased, that was really it. Of course, he had to use a bunch of screws, washers, nuts, wires, etc., but these were things that he and a lot of people would have lying around in their garages. For the frame of the printer, he did cheat slightly, and used some aluminum sheet metal that he had lying around. However, he points out that this could be replaced with wood, a resource that most people have somewhere in their home.  If not, the aluminum could be purchased easily for under $25.

Gelstronic ended up spending only 49 Euros (approx. $67) on everything he had to purchase. If you throw in the old DVD drives that were salvaged, as well as the salvaged PC power supply, stepper motor and the small parts that you probably already have lying around your house, the total probably wouldn’t even come close to $100.   The best part is, the printer actually works!  Here are its specifications/features:

  • Fused deposition modeling ABS/PLA
  • Heat bed
  • Use of open source firmware – a modified version of Tonokip
  • Free host software, Repetier-Host
  • Bowden-extruder
  • Max. build size 40mm x 40mm x 40mm
  • Resolution 0.08mm

Mission accomplished, and then some!

You can see in the video below that the print process is bit noisier than what most of us are used to hearing from a 3D printer, but this is understandable, considering the vast amount of old, recycled parts that were used in its construction.

What do you think? Could you do better? Discuss the building process of this printer, and if you think you could do it, in the ‘3D printer for under $100’ thread on 3DPB.com.

Here are Gelstronic’s hand written schematic:

100-schematic

[Source: instructables via hackaday]

Share this Article


Recent News

Will There Be a Desktop Manufacturing Revolution outside of 3D Printing?

Know Your Würth: CEO AJ Strandquist on How Würth Additive Can Change 3D Printing



Categories

3D Design

3D Printed Art

3D Printed Food

3D Printed Guns


You May Also Like

Featured

Pressing Refresh: What CEO Brad Kreger and Velo3D Have Learned About Running a 3D Printing Company

To whatever extent a business is successful thanks to specialization, businesses will nonetheless always be holistic entities. A company isn’t a bunch of compartments that all happen to share the...

Würth Additive Launches Digital Inventory Services Platform Driven by 3D Printing

Last week, at the Additive Manufacturing Users’ Group (AMUG) Conference in Chicago (March 10-14), Würth Additive Group (WAG) launched its new inventory management platform, Digital Inventory Services (DIS). WAG is...

Featured

Hypersonic Heats Up: CEO Joe Laurienti on the Success of Ursa Major’s 3D Printed Engine

“It’s only been about 24 hours now, so I’m still digesting it,” Joe Laurienti said. But even via Zoom, it was easy to notice that the CEO was satisfied. The...

Featured

3D Printing’s Next Generation of Leadership: A Conversation with Additive Minds’ Dr. Gregory Hayes

It’s easy to forget sometimes that social media isn’t reality. So, at the end of 2023, when a burst of doom and gloom started to spread across the Western world’s...