Building a 3D Printer Turntable

 

I built this turntable for my Ultimaker 2 3D printer. Why? Because each time I changed the material on it I needed to go from using the interface on the front to dealing with the spool and filament on the back of the machine three times. Minor annoyance, I know, but I had had enough!

Scrap 3/4″ MDF and a donated bearing

Measuring out a 16″ square base

Improvised saw guide

Finding center

Appropriately sized circle

Aligning the hardware

Countersinking base screw holes

Screwed into top from inside, to bottom from beneath

Hope I aligned it well enough

Sneaking a peek

You can’t wing this too much or things won’t line up, so I did some careful measurements and aligned things well enough that when I blind screwed in the bottom it worked. There are strategies for doing this with large holes predrilled at a 45 degree offset from square so you can screw them in and see what you’re actually doing, but where’s the sport in that?

Now I’m already regretting not making the top piece a circle or gear pattern so I can motorize this for stylish stop motion photography of timelapse printing, but I think I can add that feature later.

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