First Steps

I suppose as a first post the logical place to start is an introduction. I'm Zach, and the purpose of this blog is to chronicle my work on what will hopefully be several generations of 3D printers working my way up to the goal of producing a 3d printer with a multiple cubic meter build volume that utilizes automated fiber integration and resin deposition to produce cheap, precise, and strong composite parts.

Why? I'm glad you asked, for starters because if you can print composite parts you can dramatically reduce the time required and skill set need to build experimental aircraft. I'm sure one of the reasons Rutan named the LongEz that is because they often times take a decade to complete. Slightly more ambitious is I would like to demonstrate printing cryogenic compatible composite tanks suitable for space applications. Space is my end goal, as evidenced by the title of the blog. In the long term future I'd like to try and experiment with printing using analog materials (lunar and martian regolith simulant) to demonstrate insitu manufacturing techniques for use on the moon and Mars.

I chose today to start this blog because I just order the extrusions for my first generation device, which is going to be a scaled version of a MendelMax. I order the extrusions from Misumi, I'll be following the basic MendelMax design but I've scaled the design by adding 200mm to the extrusions. This will necessitate changes to the Y carriage as well as other minor changes but I will document those as they occur in the build. Generation zero will be a stock Ultimaker owned by my friend David which will allow me to print the 'repraped' parts needed for this first build.