Building Tools

Desktop 3D printers are generally additive; building up 3 dimensional shapes a layer at a time. They are amazing for prototyping because with just a little forethought in design you can go directly from CAD model to a printed part. I decided I needed a 3D printer at home, and rather than buying a commercial one decided to try build one of the open source designs first. I chose to build the Prusa Mendel 3D printer.

Brutus my 6x26 CNC knee mill.

Uses a heated nichrome wire to form a foam saw. Very useful for prototyping parts and lost foam metal casting. Rather than using a spinning belt with teeth like a band saw, vacuum forming tables use the heated wire to vaporize foam that comes in contact with the wire. This also enables them to cut from any direction, rather than just straight into the blade like a band saw.

Vacuum forming tables shape sheet plastic into the 3D surface contour of a part. A shape to be formed, or a buck, is placed over a table drawing air through holes. The vacuum pressure pulls the heated sheet down over the buck where it is deformed to the shape of the buck. When the part cools you have a plastic shell in the shape of the part to be formed. They are very useful tools for one of prototyping as they give the shell in which you can put parts.

A Simple, easy to build, two servo targeting base.