I am happy to announce I am adding a new category to the blog: 3D printing. For years I have wanted a 3D printer but I never found exactly what I wanted. I came across a cragslist post for a lot of 3D printer parts for a great price and I had to take the plunge. The seller was trying to build a MindelMax 1.5. He acquired about 90% of the parts but never started the build.
The lot of parts excluded all the Aluminum extrusions bars, all the plastic parts, RepRap Arduino Mega Pololu Shield (RAMPS 1.4), an Arduino Mega 2560, 5 GADGETS3D A4988 G3D Drivers, an LCD and SHIELD v1.0, 214mmx214mm MK2a PCB Heated Bed and a few other parts. He also through in 4 Vexta high torque stepper motors (PDF)! They are 2-phase with 1.8° step angle. They were wired in a Unipolar configuration so I had to had to rewire them to be bipolar to work with the G3D A4988 Pololu Drivers. I used this diagram.
After the motors were ready I soldered leads to the mechanical endstops, a thermisitor, fan and cleaned up an old power supply to power the printer.
