Over here at Hackaday, we love stuff made from other (unrelated) stuff. Maybe it’s the ingenuity behind the build or the recycling of parts… or it could be both. Either way, it’s cool and a side benefit of re-using parts from the junk drawer is that it keeps the project cost down, maybe enough that the project wouldn’t even be feasible without the re-use of parts.

That brings us to the topic of this post, a Delta-style 3D Printer made from recycled parts not typically seen in such a machine. It was built by DIYer [hesamh] and is almost unrecognizable visually. The usual extruded aluminum or precision shaft frame has been replaced with 5 pieces of MDF, finger-jointed together at the seams. Attached to the 3 vertical MDF frame pieces are rail and carriage assemblies scavenged from Epson dot matrix prints saved from the scrap yard. The best part is that these rail/carriage assemblies already had stepper motors and belts installed!

The end effector is also unique among delta-style printers. This one is made from aluminum plate and provides a mount for the extruder. There is no need for a bowden tube setup when the extruder is mounted on the end effector, although the increase in mass may reduce the printer’s top speed. That’s fine by us as we’d rather have a good-looking slow print than a fast ball of spaghetti. Another scavenged stepper motor is used for the extruder. The accompanying belt pulley acts as a direct drive feed gear.

The print bed is a re-purposed flatbed scanner. The guts were removed and a heating element was placed under the glass. The bed heater is controlled separately by way of a household thermostat. An Arduino Leonardo and 4 stepper drivers replace the normally used Mega/RAMPS/Pololu combo. Overall, this is a cool build that shows what is possible with a little thought and resourcefulness. The only part used in this build that was actually made for use in a 3D Printer is the hotend!