Big 3D Printer Complete!

I’ve finally finished (more or less) building a very large 3D printer! Here’s a photo of the frame:

This machine was originally designed to test the blood of newborn babies for pathogens, and with the help of Chris Meyer and the denizens of Sector 67, I have converted it to a big, fast printer. Here’s a photo of an in-progress print:

And the same print completed (with bike helmet for scale):

I embarked on this project with the goal of creating large-ish representations of the algorithmic music that I compose, and the above print is the first such representation that I’ve printed at such a scale. I also ended up writing my own G-code generator, which accounts for the distinctive grid structure of the print. This grid structure will be particularly amenable to nifty dynamic backlighting (thanks Scott and Jim for this suggestion!).

Next step: buy more plastic.