3D printers are amazing. Unfortunately, they used to be hulking, complicated, expensive, and with limited functions. We’ve been hearing about and experiencing the pain of setting up the difficult-to-use DIY 3D printer kit and being limited by the standard plug-and-play 3D printer. We are hoping to change that. So we came up with an idea: create a 3D printer, which is easy-to-use, expandable for makers, and truly affordable for everyone.
That’s why we designed MakerSpace to be all-in-one.
MakerSpace is a Combination of 3 machines which characterizes any maker space or fablab around the word,Powerfull tool for rapid prototyping. Designed for Makers, Desingers, Architects ...
MakerSpace has been developed using standard Fab Lab equipment and technique. MakerSpace was built in FabLab ENIT by Kais Alila and the help of a lot of people (Desingers & Engineers).
MakerSpace brings the advantages of an open source development:
- full awareness about how FabLab machines works
- reproducible design
- possibility to customize the machine and/or to build new ones
- local self-fixing and self-production of the machine parts
- community can use and improve the design
- cheap alternative to have a desktop FabLab
- use MakerSpace as tool for prototyping
Moreover, It's also a desktop makerspace, a combination of 3D printer, laser engraver, and CNC machine with interchangeable heads. Using FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling), it uses standard 1.75mm 3D printer filament with common e3d v6 extruder, 2 watt Laser module with TTl driver usefull for cutting and engraving on paper, cardbord, 3mm MDF and plexiglass and 500 watt spindle for molding and casting, making pcbs and cutting wood.
MakerSpace was designed starting from two major problems: -Space factor: With makerspace we are replacing 3 machines so we gain have more space. -Cost factor: With all-in-one machines we are saving money
MakerSpace specifications:
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466mm x 544mm x 752mm machine dimension
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247.5mm x 255.5mm x 340mm working area
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3 Tools with interchangeble tools
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1.75mm filament
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0.1 - 0.6mm nozzle size
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NEMA 17-23 stepper motors
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BallScrews SFU 1204
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stages with linear stainless steel rod guides
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Wood frame
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heated bed
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closed housing of acrylic (enclouser)
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2 watt 405nm Laser module with TTL driver
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30000 Rpm 500 watt CNC router (Spindle)
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fabbable Arduino Mega & Ramps and A4988 stepper driver based electronics
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Electronics resolution 6 microns
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PSU 12V 15A
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printing from USB drive
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Materials:
-Plastics: PLA, Flex, ABS, Acetal, Acrylic, PVC…
-Woods: Oak, Maple, Hickory, Walnut…
-And much more!
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BOM cost of about 1000€
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power requirements 220V
To guarantee the reproducibility of MakerSpace, the majority of the parts are 3D printed in Fab Lab. It took approximately 140 hours print, and 2 kilogramms PLA filament. All the parts are designed with solidworks and Simplify3D for generating the g-code. The spool holder is an open source design designed by Undeviljur and this is the thingiverse link:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1546811
This is the table for 3D printed Parts
| désignation | nombre | build time (hour:minute) | plastic weight (g) | lenght (mm) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Box base | 1 | 13:14:00 | 175,15 | 5840 | |
| Box-top | 2 | 18:46:00 | 194,86 | 64812,3 | |
| Eceres | 10 | 3:17:00 | 31,31 | 10412,6 | |
| extruder housing | 1 | 15:39:00 | 254,32 | 84588,4 | with support |
| FF_housing | 1 | 2:14:00 | 26,91 | 8949,7 | with support |
| Frame-protection-power | 2 | 6:23:00 | 80,49 | 26772,2 | |
| Front protection frame | 1 | 7:14:00 | 96,78 | 32188,5 | |
| hinge | 4 | 1:41:00 | 16,45 | 5472,4 | |
| Laser-housing 1st | 1 | 7:05:00 | 80,07 | 26632,7 | with support |
| Laser-housing second | 1 | 7:06:00 | 80,07 | 26629,8 | with support |
| LMF_16UU costum | 2 | 5:00:00 | 39,65 | 13187,5 | |
| Mors-mobile-extruder | 1 | 0:41:00 | 7,02 | 2335 | with support |
| Rod support | 1 | 1:28:00 | 16,02 | 5327,7 | |
| Rod support 2 | 2 | 2:59:00 | 32,36 | 10762,6 | |
| Spacer_5_10 | 4 | 0:20:00 | 2,25 | 746,9 | |
| Support bed & Glass | 1 | 10:06:00 | 121,82 | 40517 | |
| support end stop | 2 | 0:27:00 | 4,42 | 1470,5 | |
| Support FF For SFU1 | 2 | 2:02:00 | 21 | 6985 | |
| Support on Hinge | 2 | 1:23:00 | 14,73 | 4899,1 | |
| Support Rod Bottom | 2 | 3:04:00 | 33,01 | 10979 | |
| Spool Holder (all parts) | 1 | 10:46:00 | 123,32 | 41015 | with support |
| Tool holder | 1 | 16:48:00 | 191,99 | 63855,4 | |
| Tool holder Top | 1 | 3:51:00 | 43,46 | 14421,6 | |
| Total : | 46 | 141:40:00 | 1687,46 | 508800,9 |
You can find clear details in the docs folder in this repository.
MakerSpace uses Marlin Firmware runing on arduino Mega. The configuration changes have been applied into the configuration.h file, you can find it into the configuration folder. The most important modification into the code are for laser and CNC (if we use a variable spindle). To use MakerSpace as laser, you need to connect the laser driver ttl pin to a PWM pin from the ramps (Arduino). To do that I suggest using pin 44 (See AUX-2 from ramps) defined as FAN_Pin and control the laser like a fan or to define pin 6 as the second fan just add this line to Configuration.h:
- #define FAN1_PIN 6 // 2nd fan output attached to laser TTL input
You can then control the laser from your G-code using M106 P1, like so…:
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M106 P1 S0 ; Laser off (P1 = 2nd fan output)
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M106 P1 S128 ; Laser at 50%
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M106 P1 S255 ; Laser at 100%
NOTE: You can use Fan0 if it is available, in which case you will not need to define the above. As of this edit, Marlin can control up to 3 fans via M106/M107. The same commands for variabble spindle (Still need to test)
For CNC Cutting or engraving, we use Fusion 360 to generate the g code using GRBL as post process.
As laser cutter and engraver machine, MakerSpaceis is equiped with 2 watt laser usefull for cutting papers, 3mm wood, 3mm acrylic and engrave on it. To Generate the G-code, there are diffrent softwares and methods.
The first test for laser was generated using inkscape and JTP laser tool plug-in realy usefull and easy interface & the g-code generated is compatible with Marlin Firmware.
The second software tested was LaserGRBL which is one of the best Windows GCode streamer for DIY Laser Engraver. LaserGRBL is able to load and stream GCode path to arduino, as well engrave images, pictures and logo with internal conversion tool. (more details the website) we used this software to test image engraving and it is also compatible with Marlin Firmware with some modifications.
The fabrication of the parts mainly relays on standard Fab Lab equipment. It will be therefore possible to make MakerSpace in any of Fab Labs worldwide having it. Below a list of the required tools and machines:
- C02 laser cutter:
- able to cut 3mm acrylic
- large format wood CNC machine:
- ShopBot or similar, size 2500x1250mm
- to machine the aluminum parts (bed, Z axis supports)
- to machine the 8mm MDF parts (frame)
- 3D printer:
- a small one (30x30x30cm) is sufficient
- to print all 3D printed parts
- Lathe:
- To turn two SFU 1204 ball screw
- to turn some aluminum parts (Baguge for steppers)
- standard set of tools:
- spanner key set
- hex key set
- DIN 875
- calipers
- screwdriver set
- player set (grabber/cutter etc..)
- rubber hummers
All MakerSpace parts have been modeled Solidworks and all the files are in CAD folder . Using Solidworks is possible to export/prepare the parts for production in the following ways:
- right click save as STL, on a body that needs to be 3D printed
- right click export as DXF, for laser cutting
For more details about the tools and once you have all the fabricated parts available, refer to the for step-by-step assembly instructions and tips: MakerSpace Building Manual
MakerSpace laser engraving at Fab Lab ENIT "Makers for tunisia: Machine building workshop"
The development of this machine has been funded by:
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Funds implemented by:
OpenLab Hamburg
Helmut-Schmidt-Universität Universität der Bundeswehr
Laboratorium Fertigungstechnik
Holstenhofweg 85
22043 Hamburg
MakerSpace is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This documentation will be continuously improved as soon there are updates and/or improvements on the machine.