First you design the needed piece on your favorite 3D software , you can use open source software such as Blender or Sketchup , or in fact any software you want , then export to a standard 3d format : the .stl , if your software can t export directly to stl , you can for exemple export as .obj then use blender to convert to .stl (take care sometimes you ll have to adjust the size of your object because of the different scales from different software)

Second , you import you .stl file into your 3D printing software (mine is Pronterface) , this software is generally made of 2 part , Slic3r and the your machine control . Here my machine control is Pronterface , and Slic3r is here to convert -this will take few minutes- from a 3D shape to a series of layers that ll be filled printed one after the other -this can take up to few hours- (the biggest pre – work on 3d printers , is to configure Slic3r to the specifications of your particular 3d printer ). Once Slic3r has “sliced” your 3d object , you can go on your next step :

Third , heating up your machine -can take up to 15mn- , and click “Print” , depending on the size of your 3d object , it can take from 15mn to 5hours , and the process is quite addictive to watch , so you might find yourself stuck quite many times in front of a printing process !

Here i choose the PrintRbot , because it was quite a nice deal , also you need to assemble it yourself , it is kinda of a plus , as you will be able to understand all the mechanics of the machine , so , when it ll be time to modify and customize something , you will immediately know what to do , because of your perfect knowledge of the machine !
The small problem i have confronted with, is that the laser cut version of the printer has a lot of adjustments to be made on to fit everything together , adjustment such as using a Dremel on a hole because 2 pieces doesnt fit together , or the screw is constraining you to adjust the size of a piece that would go through a stack of other pieces …
As the primary material of the printer is Plywood , you can find irregularities lengthwise width-wise thick-wise .
Also , as i live in EU , the Imperial screw set of the PrintRbot is a nightmare if you find yourself missing anything …

Here is few of the modifications i have made on the PrinRbot
Y Tension Belt System
Belt Lock

Much larger , robust serial communication with the computer , trigonometry programmed on the microcontroller (arduino) ,  new driver , new motors , new hanging system , aimed for non continuous line , here are few pictures of the development

• Cnc Mill and drill : wood , plastics , soft metals …
• Pcb milling
• Laser-plasma pyrography/ cutting
• Linocut
• Drawing
• …

whatever you can possibly custom your tool to do .

“hello world” file

Pcb Milling

Linocut (for Synopsys)

_______________________________________________________________________________

We just finished this Arduinome 128 in collaboration with my friend Evrard  . It is named “Polynome” . For more information about Arduinome , please see the Arduinome 64 page

Upcoming Project:

the built of a cnc machine that will :

• mill wood
• 3d print
• laser cut
• grave pcb
• draw
• …

Video mapping , based on geometrical sculpture , 3d , and interactive visuals .

Here are some old experiments base on ephemeral sculptures (paper/cardboard) made by Gil Lenders

Built of the Drawing Machine , going through the first test pattern .

The hardware : a Arduino and a Adafruit MotorShield connected to a computer.

The principle is : 4 function in the Arduino : up , down , right , left , theses functions are triggered by serial information such as “u” ,”d” ,”r” ,”l”  ;

//http://www.ladyada.net/make/mshield/use.html

#include <AFMotor.h>
AF_Stepper motor1(100, 1);           // nb step/360o , side of the shield
AF_Stepper motor2(100, 2);
int mSpeed = 80;                     // speed rpm
int style = INTERLEAVE;               // SINGLE    DOUBLE     INTERLEAVE    MICROSTEP
char vvvv;
boolean mLow = false ;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(56000);                // serial communication speed
  Serial.println("Stepper test!");
  delay(2000);
  motor1.setSpeed(mSpeed);
  motor2.setSpeed(mSpeed);
}

void loop() {
  vvvv = Serial.read();
  if (vvvv == 'r'){
    right(1,style);
    mRelease();
  }
  if (vvvv == 'l'){
    left(1,style);
    mRelease();
  }
  if (vvvv == 'u'){
    up(1,style);
    mRelease();
  }
  if (vvvv == 'd'){
    down(1,style);
    mRelease();
  }
}

void right (int steps, int style) {
  Serial.println("right");
  while (steps--) {
    motor1.step(1, FORWARD, style);
    motor2.step(1, FORWARD, style);
  }
}
void left (int steps, int style) {
  Serial.println("left");
  while (steps--) {
    motor1.step(1, BACKWARD, style);
    motor2.step(1, BACKWARD, style);
  }
}
void down (int steps, int style){
  Serial.println("down");
  while (steps--){
    motor1.step(1, FORWARD, style);
    motor2.step(1, BACKWARD, style);
  }
}
void up (int steps, int style){
  Serial.println("up");
  while (steps--){
    motor1.step(1, BACKWARD, style);
    motor2.step(1, FORWARD, style);
  }
}

void mRelease (){
  if (mLow){
    motor1.release();
    motor2.release();
  }

}

on the other side vvvv is running and sending theses info through loops ,bangs and to the rs232 node .

first test hello world!

what the image is supposed to look like

and what the vvvv patch looks like

11-09-08 Mechanical Update

result

new test

working on exporting / drawing SVG files from Inkscape  (opensource vector software) :  the original files are from this page