Printing in Plastic: Build Your Own 3D Printer (Technology in Action) [Paperback]

Patrick Hood-Daniel (Author), James Floyd Kelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 2011 | ISBN-10: 1430234431 | ISBN-13: 978-1430234432 | Edition: 1

Printing in Plastic: Build Your Own 3D Printer is your gateway into the exciting world of personal fabrication. The “printer” that you’ll build from this book is a personal fabricator capable of creating small parts and other objects from drops of molten plastic. Design a part using a modeling tool such as Google SketchUp. Then, watch while the fabricator head sweeps back and forth and upwards, depositing plastic in all the right places. You can build anything from a replacement tab to hold a bookshelf in place, to a small art project, to a bashguard for your bicycle. If you can conceive it and design it, you can build it, and you’ll have fun doing it!

Printing in Plastic is aimed at creative people comfortable using power tools such as a table saw, circular saw, and drill press. Authors James Kelly and Patrick Hood-Daniel lead you through building a personal fabrication machine based upon a set of blueprints downloaded from their website. Example projects get you started in designing and fabricating your own parts. Bring your handyman skills, and apply patience during the build process. You too can be the proud owner of a personal fabricator—a three-dimensional printer.

• Leads you through building a personal fabrication machine capable of creating small parts and objects from plastic
• Provides example projects to get you started on the road to designing and fabricating your own parts
• Provides an excellent parent/child, or small group project

What you’ll learn

• How to assemble your own 3D printer
• The ins and outs of design software
• How to design and produce three-dimensional parts made from plastic
• How to replace small plastic parts in household objects
• How to create art objects

Who this book is for

Printing in Plastic is aimed at creative people comfortable using power tools, such as a table saw, circular saw, drill press, and so forth. The book is aimed at those who want to create and fabricate tangible objects from plastic. Crafters, carpenters, electronics hobbyists, and others comfortable working with their hands will find the instructions easy to follow and the projects rewarding.

Table of Contents

1. What to Expect
2. Hardware and Tools
3. Tips & Advice
4. Cutting the Parts I
5. Cutting the Parts II
6. Advanced Cuts and Drilling I
7. Advanced Cuts and Drilling II
8. Advanced Cuts and Drilling III
9. Advanced Cuts and Drilling IV
10. Beginning Assembly
11. Sub-Assembly Work
12. Adding Structure
13. Motors and Movement
14. The Extruder
15. The Filament Feeding Mechanism
16. Mounting Electronics
17. Final Assembly Check
18. Software I
19. Software II
20. Trial Run I
21. Trial Run II
22. Self-Replication
23. Troubleshooting

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Floyd Kelly is a professional writer from Atlanta, Georgia. He has written numerous books on multiple subjects, including LEGO robotics, open source software, and building your own CNC machine as well as a 3D printer. He is the editor-in-chief of the number one MINDSTORMS NXT blog, The NXT Step (TheNXTStep.com), where he is joined by fellow NXT experts who share their knowledge and designs with other robot fans around the world.

Patrick Hood-Daniel is a hobbyist. By day, he is an urban designer trained in architecture and city planning at the University of Miami and the University of California. But in his spare time, Patrick puts skills from a previous career as a computer programmer to good use in building and operating computer numerically controlled (CNC) fabrication machines. He is the creative force behind BuildYourCNC.com and is well-known for designing CNC machines that can be built at low cost by normal people, without any special or expensive tools.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (June 2, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430234431
• ISBN-13: 978-1430234432
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Computers & Technology > Hardware > Peripherals
  • #52 in Books > Computers & Technology > Graphic Design > Printing
  • #67 in Books > Computers & Technology > Graphic Design > CAD

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Better download the plans and put a CD with your book November 5, 2011

By Steven J. Greenfield

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The book is just the written instructions to go along with the videos and plans from the author's website. The book by itself is nearly useless as there isn't even a small print of the plans with dimensions in the book.

Before you buy this book, I strongly suggest going to the author's website at buildyourtools dot com. Download all the plans, watch all the videos, then decide if you need the book.

If the website ever goes down or the author decides not to support this book, you'll be out of luck. So if you buy this book, I'd download all the files related to it and burn them on a CD or put them on a flash drive to keep with the book.

The main component, the plastic feed head, is an amalgam of DIY and parts from Makerbot's 3D printer. No instructions are given on building the melt head itself. You could go buy that and add it to just about any CNC mill to build a 3D printer. There are a lot of open source projects out there.

The goal is laudable - DIY something cheaper than the existing kits out there now. I just think the book could have been better thought out.

FYI- while I'm writing this review, I find the author's website, buildyourtools(dot)com, is currently unavailable. Only a temporary thing, but as an owner of this book that makes me nervous.

Update: After a lot more reading and thinking about it, I've decided to return the book. I've never returned a book before, but the lack of plans in the book and the lack of dimensions on the downloadable plans really bothers me. It feels like half of a book.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Printing in 3d book July 16, 2011

By woodenduck

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Very good book with tons of information about building a 3d Printer. Also, includes info to change it to a small router with a Dremel Rotary tool installed. Included are lists of required hardware and online web links to resources.

I was very impressed with the book. Also the full sized plans can be downloaded, and the assembly videos are available, as well.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-Documented Project To Build A Powerful 3D Plastic Printer October 11, 2011

By Ira Laefsky VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This well documented and well illustrated project oriented guide to building a 3D Plastic Prototyping Printer is by the same authors and follows a similar format to Apress's "Build Your Own CNC Machine". Given the increasing popularity of "Hackerspaces" and kit-based 3D Plastic Printers like Makerbot and Reprap there will be a wide audience for this book that fully describes the process of implementing a completely do-it-yourself 3D Plastic Prototyper in the form of a complete book rather than some on-web instructions. The assembly of this device the whiteAnt 3D printer requires more woodshop skills then either Makerbot's Thing-O-Matic or the Reprap system but these are thoroughly documented in the book. In exchange for some extra woodshop requirements the whiteAnt system can easily be converted to a limited CNC fabricator with modification instructions contained in an appendix. Also while providing a powerful system whose assembly and use is fully described in the book and accompanying website the fabrication of the whiteAnt might cost considerably less than Makerbot's Thing-O-Matic (while sharing similar electronics).

I would suggest this book to anyone who has been fascinated or is assenbling the similar Makerbot and Reprap products having this additional information and illustration is invaluable to any interested in Plastic Prototyping.

--Ira Laefsky, MSE/MBA
IT Consultant & Researcher retired from the Senior Consulting Staff of Arthur D. Little, Inc. & DIGITAL Equipment Corporation