Frankenprinters

My army of loyal readers (hi, Mom!) will recall my fondness for and fascination with the promise of 3D printers, and similar robotic manufacturing techniques. I should have acquired several by now, but I am famously cheap thrifty and so never indulged this particular whim..until just a bit ago when I acquired three not-working printers from a cosplay parts dealer named Alder (last name redacted, because I never learned it) for a bargain price of a hundred bucks apiece.

They each had at least one major thing wrong, and all had some disconnected wiring. The middle one had a missing limit switch on the y-axis and a missing adjustment for the z-axis (it’s still missing; I am going to try and fix that this evening–look for exciting updates) limit switch.  I can’t tell what else is wrong with it until I stop threatening my build plate.

The left one needed a bit of wiring (fairly easy to find wiring diagrams for the boards attached, with a bit of intuition) and an adjustment to the z-axis limit switch and a new motherboard. The right one needed (may still need) a new heated build plate (I am currently using it as a PLA printer, so a hot plate is not so critical), wiring, z-axis adjustment and some patience, as I was a little too stupid to fix it myself when I bought these guys a while back.  I had to grow in confidence before I could troubleshoot. In fairness, the exhausting regimen of commuting between my work and home on weekends (six hours one way) really dampened my spirits.  I’m not usually such a coward.

I forget how many of them needed new hot ends or thermistors (two, I think) and rewiring to accomodate them.

Lastly, all needed new blue tape (very important; no adhesion without fresh tape!)

and one needed new glass.  The first print (with new tape) did not photograph well:

I attribute poor image quality to beer; cameras should never drink.