Construção de uma impressora 3D de baixo custo utilizando hardware e software de código aberto

Abstract

The use of 3D printing is on the rise, more and more industry and civil society are showing interest in the subject and this interest is the result of the popularization of the technology and its advantages in enabling the creation of prototypes or final products, often with the lower production cost, when compared to those produced by other means of production, in addition to shortening the time to transform an idea into a product. Given this growth in the use of 3D printers, the motivation for this work came from the challenge of building a 3D printer, using parts that are easily found in ecommerce stores and codes that are developed and made available by employees around the world. Therefore, the general objective of this work is to present the production process of a 3D printer, with the specific objective of low cost through the use of open source hardware and software. The process of building the 3D printer was divided into five chapters. The first chapter refers to research on theoretical foundations and materials related to the subject. The second chapter presents topics explaining the structural and mechanical parts of the 3D printer. Then, the particularities involving the electronic part of the 3D printer are discussed, where we talk a little about each of its components and functions that each one performs. At the end of this chapter, the assembled 3D printer is presented, with its mechanical and electronic parts already arranged in the structure. Next, in the chapter involving coding, the modifications that were carried out to adapt to the characteristics and parameters of the 3D printer are highlighted. Finally, the result of the comparison between the 3D printer assembled in this work and some reference 3D printers sold in the market is presented. After having carried out all the steps described in the chapters, it was concluded that, although the final cost of construction of the 3D printer was not much below the cost of purchasing commercial 3D printers, it is evident that it is still viable, and more cost-effective, self-built 3D printers.