Upcycling Used Inkjet Printers Into a 10€ 3D Printer

Ever since the RepRap Project was started more than a decade ago, there has been a kind of arms race among 3D printing enthusiasts to…

Cameron Coward
7 years ago3D Printing

Ever since the RepRap Project was started more than a decade ago, there has been a kind of arms race among 3D printing enthusiasts to improve FFF (fused filament fabrication) 3D printer designs. Usually, the goal is either to improve the printing (quality and/or speed), or to make the printer cheaper. Over the years, we’ve seen huge strides in achieving those goals: 3D printers are now astonishingly affordable, and even the lowest budget printers usually have impressive print quality.

While we’re probably close to reaching a plateau for those goals in the commercial realm, the hobbyist market continues to push those boundaries. Michele Lizzit may have found that boundary, with a fully functioning 3D printer built for just 10€ (about $12 USD). The key to keeping the cost so low was salvaging almost all of the components from used (read: free) inkjet printers and a scanner.

The only parts Lizzit wasn’t able to salvage were the hotend and a few of the electronics, like the ATmega328 and motor drivers. The low cost of the printer alone would be enough to impress us, but Michele’s ingenuity really shines when it comes to the method of motor control. To keep costs down, most modern inkjet printers uses DC motors paired with optical encoders, instead of the stepper motors most 3D printers use.

There are plenty of arguments to be made about whether stepper motors or a DC motor/encoder combo is better, but the latter is what Michele had to work with. However, in order to make that work he had to write his own custom firmware to take advantage of the closed-loop DC motor system, which requires constant feedback from the encoders. With that taken care of, Michele now has a functioning 3D printer that cost less than a spool of cheap filament!

Cameron Coward
Writer for Hackster News. Proud husband and dog dad. Maker and serial hobbyist.
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