Finally a great update!

So I have been busy with the printer and we are up and running! I'm still in the calibration stages but moving along and making progress. It's not out of the box ready and some purchase but I feel I will get there soon enough. After my power supply arrived I was able to get thing rolling and feel I'm about 3/4 of the way there.   I am getting great layer height and the ABS is sticking well to the heated bed with Kapton tape on the glass. I'm trying to get rid of the buggers building up on the corners but with some help from the forum, I am going to work on that today. I found out that I have weak motors and that is one of the keys to success is motors that can handle the work load. I will shop around and when this next purchase is made, we be getting some good motors. I laxed on getting a BOM list going but I plan to do that very soon and put that up on the blog as soon as I can. As of right now, I believe I have about $500 in parts to build this machine. Its going to raise about $100 after I get new motors and possibly a new hot end. Sure I could have bought the whole kit but when money has to be used in small chunks rather than the whole ball, you do what you can do and take some of that wasted money on the chin and move ahead. Ok enough of that and enjoy some pics. I included some short video clips as well.

Here are some links that have helped me
www.reprap.org
Google Groups
www.lulzbot.com
www.makerstoolworks.com
www.thingiverse.com
Ebay seller - Plastic parts- 3dfactory
www.makerfarm.com
Filament - www.3dprinterstuff.com
Ebay Seller -Electronics - reprapdiscount



Here is the first Ramps 1.4 test that some have seen already. You can see it on youtube with a short explanation of what I did.

Hot End is built. I broke off some ceramic around the resistor and had to order a new one. It came with the 6 ohm version and I bought a 5.8 ohm one and it really heats up quick and the matching thermistor keeps the heat steady

Thermistor 100k

The elusive 12v 30 amp power supply

My rendition of a filament spool holder. I am going to print one up very soon!

Mr. Arduino hiding in the back. Once I get things at a somewhat production level I plan to make my housing complete with more space and fan supports.

And we have some crapola for first prints

But things are looking up! This is a calibration cube that came out not too bad and boosted my confidence.

And almost done with the second section.

And the final part was a little fragile and maybe a little too much heat/filament feed

This print was going good on another square/circle calibration print until the filament spool got hung up and sent it crazy across the bed

We are getting there day by day

The extruder doin' it!

And a couple shots of the unit as it is today. My ghetto rig spool holder had to be turned so the filament would roll better to the extruder.

ok 2 more video's