GearHeads Corner

I'm interested in making a 3D printer head for my Sherline mill. I know this is not optimal for 3D printing, but I plan on doing some cylindrical, spherical, and other complex motion printing and am not concerned with speed.

Has anyone here done this or know where there is info?

Thanks.

Justin:

  I have heard of this being done, Ive even considered it myself. Id search the 3d printing forums for
some liek cnc 3d print mod or addon..I imagine somelpace they have such a thing. I hear theres
a mach3 plugin to control the head...

Art

I wrote an article for the Digital Machinist Magazine about how to retrofit an existing cnc machine to do 3d printing. It explains everything you will need to know.  It was published in the Summer edition. If you go online to the digital machinist magazine web site http://www.digitalmachinist.net/downloads you can get a copy.
While my machine wasn't a Sherline the concept behind it is the same. I've attached a picture of the cover of the magazine.
Dan Mauch
20th Anniversary in CNC
www.camtronics-cnc.com
dmauch@camtronics-cnc.com

JustinO wrote: I'm interested in making a 3D printer head for my Sherline mill. I know this is not optimal for 3D printing, but I plan on doing some cylindrical, spherical, and other complex motion printing and am not concerned with speed.

Has anyone here done this or know where there is info?

Thanks.

Here is the addon for Mach3  http://cnc2printer3d.wordpress.com/software/    Looks like I'll have to do it now that it is a MACH controlled printer. Not sure what I will print but I can't resist :>) Dan

dansfoundry wrote: Here is the addon for Mach3  http://cnc2printer3d.wordpress.com/software/    Looks like I'll have to do it now that it is a MACH controlled printer. Not sure what I will print but I can't resist :>) Dan

I used Nuri's thermostatic controller with PID for my machine. And yes I used his interface but ran into some issues. I then created a new mach3.xml file just for my printer and it works great.
Dan Mauch
www.camtronics-cnc.com

Thanks Dan for the article, very informative and thanks for the xml file. I will now print something.  Dan Keith