CARP Box Buyers Guide
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Contents
Full Kit
CARP Box is not commercially available at the moment. It should not be, as I do not have the production capacity and it is published under CC-BY-NC-SA license. It was meant to be an universal basic set-up which you can customize and build on your own, so you can achieve the best price and features that suites your needs. The total price of required material for dual head version is way under 350 EUR (400 USD) when you use parts imported from China with free shipping.
Building Our Own Setup
As with other DIY 3D printers, construction requires some basic skills like drilling, fastening, soldering, hooking up electronics, measuring with calliper and multimeter, editing and uploading firmware.
Time Consumption
To build the a complete printer from scratch requires approximately 8 to 12 hours so it can be done during a weekend.
Aluminium Parts
Most parts required for the construction are made of laser cut aluminium sheets. Other materials, like steel or plastic may be used too, but have its disadvantages for which I would rather recommend to avoid them.
My parts were ordered on internet from company that have 3 and 4 mm thick aluminium sheets available on stock and ships all over my country. I think that with a bit of googling you may find similar workshop in your neighbourhood.
Electronics
The easiest and cheapest way to get hands on electronics like, the controller board, drivers, thermistor, endstops, heatbed, display and even fully assembled hotend and LED power supplies is to order it from aliexpress or similar e-shop. Just check what duty and VAT will be added to the total sum to avoid unpleasant surprises. Eventually you may divide the order to smaller parts that will fit under certain limit.
Wires, Sockets, Plugs, Switches
Well equipped local store should be the easiest way to go. If not, I am sure there are plenty of internet shops with required stuff all over the world.
Fasteners, Rods, Bearings
Most of the screws nuts, smooth and threaded rods are common stuff in local hardware store. If you will find difficult to obtain for eg. bearings, they may still be found on internet.
Belts, Pulleys, Z Joints
Again another set of parts that are the best to be ordered from China.
Stepper Motors
For stepper motors you should rather check if local shop near you is not cheaper than aliexpress as they are usually not shipped with free shipping.
Extruder gears
From the most part you can get the gears in the same workshop that would make the aluminium frame. With one exception. Gears are best to be made of stainless steel 1mm thick. Worm gear is machined from a common M12x25 screw, though it may be difficult to find a company that would be eager to do such small job. Due to high precision required I do not recommend to drill it at home, unless you have a turning lathe.
