Custom 3D Printer Design Req's for Mfg; Parts, Software, Supplies

Tim,

Weed is legal in Washington and I see you are taking full advantage of its creative enhancement qualities.

3D printing is more well suited to low volume production not the "high" kind, as it relates to your state of mind.

"Biaxial" printing is not 3D, but rather 2D.

Print speed is finite, so the volume/number of parts needed will dictate the number of machines you would need in the "real" world. A place you seem to have escaped, for now.

Check out Maker Bot and other machines for starters. You will see that high volume is not their forte, but rather a quick "proof of concept" part making source for a small price.

Now, "to fit all that into unifyied climate control, ventilation and automation for ganged setups with the carbon-footprint of components in mind" you will need much more inspirational partaking of the creativity enhancer.

Getting those metrics the easiest way" will come, in time, when you have reached the Nirvana of true "high" volume angle of "3"D printing.

In other words, don't hold your breath. (Never mind, that was a silly thing to say, given your present state of mind)

Good luck with your research.

Seems that reply missed the point of machine functionality entirely, 3D printing created a parts supply-chain for them, this has nothing to do with what the parts can be used for in 2D but why does that matter, without the 3D market there would be no parts selection?

So, a standard machine isn't appropriate as-is to produce many parts repeatedly but that doesn't imply you can't take some of those printer parts and get what you need at a lower price per printer.

This means if you build only part of the typical printer and it still can produce the part, it's cheaper to replicate that to produce parts, less capital costs setting up, less footprint, less power used, aka less carbon-footprint from simple metrics so faster payback all around, real money talking.

3D printer hacking is worth the time.

Tim,

I just not smart enough to follow you.

A square drawn on a piece of paper has 2 dimensions, in my world. That's what my plotter does when I plot a drawing.

Anything with 3 dimensions has form and substance.

I'll leave this discussion now.

I am not quite sure what you are talking about either after reading through all this 3 times.

Are you talking about buying some manufactured 3D printer parts and then 3D printing the remaining parts to reduce the cost and carbon footprint of 3D printers rather than just buying a kitset 3D printer?

If so, yes this has been done (to various degrees of success) using recycled computer parts (etc) that would otherwise be E-waste scrap. Heck, people have even built almost entire 3D printers out of E-waste giving a pennys on the dollar 3D printer. Quality is not that great however.

Plenty of plans on the internet for build-it-yourself 3D printers of various grades and accuracies, and no reason why some of the parts couldn't be substituted for 3D parts. I believe there are plans for DIY mostly 3D printed 3D printers also, worth a look!

You seem to be babbling nonsense....check this link to see if it has anything to do with what you are talking about.....and if not, why not....

http://www.instructables.com/id/Combination-CNC-Machine-and-3D-Printer/