Author Topic: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables  (Read 8699 times)

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Offline jnesselr

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lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« on: July 02, 2011, 02:23:55 pm »
Woot! So the Toy challenge from instructables.com has a makerbot 3D printer as a reward.  This got me uber-pumped because I love 3D printers.  So I entered a 3D printer/plotter in order to try and win it.  The cool part is that it's made out of legos!

No, it can't print anything, because I don't have an extruder, but it can draw stuff.  It's not beautifully accurate, but it's pretty awesome!  In fact, it got featured! I'm so excited!


Why this topic? DJ_O suggested I make one?

How excited am I? This doesn't describe it:  :w00t:

I'm so excited, I've mentioned the game like 10 times now, and still haven't lost!

EDIT: link
« Last Edit: July 02, 2011, 03:50:47 pm by graphmastur »

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2011, 02:28:29 pm »
That is awesome. Congrats that you got featured. I saw a lego printer before but I didn't realize one of us made one too. :)

Offline jnesselr

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2011, 02:34:21 pm »
That is awesome. Congrats that you got featured. I saw a lego printer before but I didn't realize one of us made one too. :)
Well I just uploaded it like a little over an hour ago.  I've been making it over the past week.  It's not perfect, as my lego set is limited, but it's fairly functional.  Not 680 dpi or anything...

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2011, 02:40:17 pm »
Wait it got featured this fast??? O.O

Offline jnesselr

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2011, 03:20:38 pm »
Wait it got featured this fast??? O.O
I know, I was surprised to.  I uploaded it, got lunch, came back and it was featured.

Offline mrmprog

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2011, 03:26:41 pm »
Good job. Now all we need is a way to link calcs and their robot (NXT)

Offline calcdude84se

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2011, 03:39:20 pm »
Link for the lazy: http://www.instructables.com/id/Lego-3D-printerplotter/
Quote
Also, this takes a massive number of parts
And just how many is that?
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Offline jnesselr

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2011, 03:50:29 pm »
Link for the lazy: http://www.instructables.com/id/Lego-3D-printerplotter/
Quote
Also, this takes a massive number of parts
And just how many is that?
I lost count, actually.  In one of the pictures, you see I had dixie cups to store all the parts in.  I tried counting it, but completely lost count.

I'll add a link to the first post.

EDIT: Also, if you get/have an account, please vote 5 stars for me!  (You may have to wait after I get added to the contest, or after it starts after the 4th, I'm not sure.)
« Last Edit: July 02, 2011, 03:52:34 pm by graphmastur »

Offline fb39ca4

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2011, 05:18:29 pm »
That looks quite cool! I always wanted to make one of those, but I was one motor short :(

Offline mrmprog

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2011, 05:27:41 pm »
Lol, everyone always needs more motors. It is like the Lego curse. Just one more!

Good job on this graphmastur.

Offline jnesselr

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2011, 06:15:13 pm »
Lol, everyone always needs more motors. It is like the Lego curse. Just one more!

Good job on this graphmastur.
I wish lego made stepper motors so they would be at least more accurate.  Well, at least they have a tachometer in them.  Thank you!

Offline fb39ca4

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2011, 11:27:46 pm »
I had the original mindstorms set, the one with the big yellow brick. The motors in there didn't even have tachometers, and the only way to get distance info would be to connect a sensor (which i didn't have, of course) to one of the precious three sensor ports. For printers, I think most people used a stripe of alternating black and white tiles and a light sensor moving over them with the motor.

Offline ZippyDee

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2011, 11:39:02 pm »
I wish lego made stepper motors so they would be at least more accurate.  Well, at least they have a tachometer in them.  Thank you!
You can craftily use light sensors as rotation sensors. ;)
« Last Edit: July 02, 2011, 11:39:13 pm by ZippyDee »
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Pushpins 'n' stuff...


Offline fb39ca4

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #13 on: July 02, 2011, 11:42:07 pm »
I wish lego made stepper motors so they would be at least more accurate.  Well, at least they have a tachometer in them.  Thank you!
You can craftily use light sensors as rotation sensors. ;)
The downside to that though, is the color wheel needs to be quite large for it to have a somewhat reasonable degree of accuracy. And, you are then down a light sensor :(
Sigh...I wish lego included more sensors and ports to use them with.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2011, 11:42:26 pm by t0xic_kitt3n »

Offline Juju

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Re: lego 3D printer/plotter in instructables
« Reply #14 on: July 03, 2011, 12:57:56 am »
I always wanted to have an NXT set, ever since I took this course at school 3 years ago, it involved those yellow bricks t0xic_kitt3n told about. We had 10 sets and we could steal each other parts if we miss some.

Also nice printer graphmastur, hope you'll win :)

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