Building the Thingotron: Part One

Having just finished a maths degree with the Open University, I decided that I needed a new project to fill my time. 3D printing seemed like a good thing to try.

A RepRapPro Mono Mendel kit was duly ordered. And eventually delivered.

I got most of the way through the first stage of building the frame before we went on holiday. But when we got back the garden had exploded into life so several weekends were lost to making lots and lots of jam and chutney. And relatives visiting. And school term starting. And costume-making for my daughter. And going to J-Con 2013....

So its taken me a while to get back to the build, but today I have some time to get on with it!



First I assembled the Y Axis. This consists of a platform that runs on bearings along the two horizontal smooth bars of the frame, driven by a stepper motor via a toothed belt. Eventually, it will hold the heated bed on which items will be printed.

Next came the X Axis. This will carry the extrusion head from left to right using another stepper motor and belt, and will be mounted on the vertical smooth bars during the Z Axis assembly. For now though it remains separate from the main frame.

So that concludes today's build session. Thingotron the Reprap is starting to look less like just a large box of bits.