Building a 3D Printer

Yes, folks, I've decided to join the 21st Century and build myself a 3D printer. It's delivered in weekly parts, as a magazine subscription, courtesy of Eaglemoss publications:

I've built it in stages, collecting a few months worth, and I photographed as I went. First the x-axis is constructed:

The rather chunky stepper motor is hidden behind the gearing, connected to a test circuit. The y-axis is fixed to the frame of the printer:

This shows where the print head is connected: the head moved across, while the piece moves perpendicular and vertically. The piece is printed on a heated plate:

When I got most of the structure assembled, I took a little video of the z-axis working:

This weekend, I put in the power supply and the covers:

The next phase will be to connect up the printer head, but I've installed the software that's used to load the models into the printer and connected it all up and switched it on, and it all communicates, so thumbs up so far. 21st Century, here I come!