It’s most likely protected to say that almost all of us began our journeys as makers with LEGO bricks after we had been youngsters. However sooner or later, we transfer on to extra refined fabrication strategies, like 3D printing. Nonetheless, LEGO produces a mind-boggling array of elements which can be extra versatile than you would possibly assume. YouTuber Artistic Mindstorms has confirmed that point and time once more, with many spectacular builds. And the way he’s achieved one thing that appears nearly unattainable: a very purposeful 3D printer constructed solely from LEGO elements.
That is really the fourth time Artistic Mindstorms has constructed a LEGO 3D printer. The primary try was about six years in the past and although spectacular, it printed poorly. Every subsequent try was an enormous enchancment and this latest iteration is able to printing fairly effectively—on par with the earliest hobbyist 3D printers from a few a long time in the past.
Each half on this 3D printer is a LEGO product, with one exception: the extruder/scorching finish. LEGO hasn’t ever made something that would fill that position, so Artistic Mindstorms used a handheld 3D printing pen. However the whole lot else, all the way down to the leadscrews and controller, are elements that had been offered by LEGO sooner or later in time.
Structurally, this design is just like a “bed-slinger” Prusa i3 3D printer. The mattress strikes within the Y axis on plastic LEGO screws pushed by LEGO motors. The X axis gantry is analogous. The Z axis strikes by a rack-and-pinion system, as a substitute of leadscrews. The entire axes have restrict switches for automated homing and there’s a small motor to actuate a mechanism that pushes the 3D printing pen’s extrude button. On the prime, there’s a filament spool holder that accepts 1kg rolls of PLA, identical to every other 3D printer.
The controller is essentially the most stunning a part of your entire undertaking. It’s a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 P-Brick, which is definitely, basically, an entire single-board pc with a built-in consumer interface. On this case, it’s working the official MicroPython picture out there from LEGO. The customized code written by Artistic Mindstorms is just like every other 3D printer’s firmware. It accepts commonplace g-code (created by Cura slicer software program) saved as textual content recordsdata. There’s even a file selector, so the consumer can select the mannequin to print.
The ensuing prints are fairly spectacular. They will’t compete with these from trendy 3D printers, in fact. However they’re excellent and the imperfections are largely the results of utilizing a 3D printing pen (they’re not nice) and the dearth of half cooling. It’s arduous to think about getting higher outcomes than this with out “dishonest” and utilizing actual 3D printer elements, however perhaps Artistic Mindstorms will make extra enhancements in a few years.