Building 3D Printers - Max, Logan, Micaela, and Sophia

We are Max, Logan. Micaela, and Sophia. 3 of us are Seniors, and the last is a Junior. We named our printer “The Goats”, and so far the building process has been….well, a process.

We started off really strong, but had trouble at times trying to understand the directions. Max had pulled up one of the tutorial videos on his phone, so we would watch a bit of that, and then read the instructions, and then back and forth from there. When we finally got everything built we struggled a bit with the leveling and even when we thought we were done, we weren’t. After a couple of failed printing attempts, we were tipped off that our screw had been too close to the motor that was controlling the y axis, scrapping the metal and messing with our prints. We had that adjusted, and our printer has already printed one cat and one dog figurine.

Currently, we are trying to decide which add-ons we are going to print. Some of our potential prints are a notebook holder that would attach to the side just so that we don’t get mixed up with other groups. Another idea is the piece that attaches to the top for the filament, just so that we can keep that from getting tangled and such. Another idea was a tool holder that would connect from one end of the top. We also really like the idea of adding handles to the sides of the printer so that it’s easier for us to grab it.

Our first print though, has been decided to be the filament separator. We think this would be our best option because it’s crucial to our future designs. We do not want our filament to get tangled mid print. Our second print will probably be the handle bars, just to make it easier on ourselves, or the tool holder, just to keep everything in place.