¡Hola Makers! hoy vengo a contarles sobre como conseguí mi primera impresora 3D, el proceso de armado y la aventura de traer un aparato desde Paraguay a Argentina pasándolo por la frontera.
Hello Makers! Today I'm here to tell you about how I got my first 3D printer, the assembly process and the adventure of bringing a device from Paraguay to Argentina across the border.
A principios de 2020 decidimos con mi familia viajar a Paraguay para visitar a familiares. En un principio no estaba muy convencido de ir, prefería quedarme y hacer otras cosas, pero mi madre me propuso comprarme una impresora 3D a cambio de que fuera y los acompañara.
At the beginning of 2020 my family and I decided to travel to Paraguay to visit relatives. At first I was not very convinced to go, I preferred to stay and do other things, but my mother offered to buy me a 3D printer in exchange for me to go and accompany them.
Realmente no sabría decirles con certeza de donde mi madre conocía este tipo de aparato, yo había visto algunas cosas que se podían fabricar, pero nunca le preste mucha atención hasta ese momento, me puse a investigar y realmente me atrapo así que acepte el trato.
I really couldn't tell you for sure where my mother knew about this type of device, I had seen some things that could be manufactured, but I never paid much attention to it until that moment, I started to investigate and it really got me so I accepted the deal.
Realizamos el viaje, llegamos a Paraguay y yo tenia unas dos semanas aproximadamente para encontrar un lugar para comprar la máquina, paso el tiempo y en todos los lugares donde preguntaba me decían que tenían que hacer el pedido y que el envió tardaba mínimo un mes (Tiempo con el cual claramente no contaba), así que empecé a buscar proveedores desde el Google maps).
We made the trip, we arrived in Paraguay and I had about two weeks to find a place to buy the machine, time passed and everywhere I asked they told me that they had to make the order and that the shipment took at least a month (time which clearly did not count), so I started looking for suppliers from the Google maps).
Encontré un lugar, seguí investigando, hable y resulto que era una persona autónoma. Usaba el código abierto de la Prusa i3 para armar la versión genérica. Me asesoro sobre las especificaciones de las maquinas, le comenté que estaba estudiando diseño industrial y me servía para fabricar maquetas y prototipos para la carrera.
I found a place, did some more research, talked, and it turned out he was a freelancer. He was using the open source Prusa i3 to build the generic version. He advised me on the specifications of the machines, I told him that I was studying industrial design and I could use it to make models and prototypes for my career.
A todo esto, solo me quedaban unos 5 días antes de volver hacia Argentina.
At this point, I only had about 5 days left before returning to Argentina.
Nos vimos y le dije que, si quería la máquina, me comento que iba a tardar unos días en imprimir las piezas, conseguir algunos componentes que le faltaban y esas cosas. Aprovechando el momento le pregunte si podía ayudarlo a armarla; de paso me iba a servir para conocer las piezas, el armado y otras cosas que hasta el momento desconocía.
We met and I told him that if he wanted the machine, he told me that it was going to take a few days to print the parts, get some missing components and other things. Taking advantage of the moment I asked him if I could help him to assemble it; by the way, it would help me to know the parts, the assembly and other things that I didn't know so far.
Me dijo que sí; tenía que ir durante 4 días desde las 7:30 de la mañana hasta las 17hs para ayudarlo a ensamblar todo. Hubo algunos días donde me fui antes porque no era necesario que me quedé, pero en total fueron unas 24hs de ensamblado.
He said yes; I had to go for 4 days from 7:30 am to 5 pm to help him assemble everything. There were some days where I left earlier because it was not necessary for me to stay, but in total it was about 24 hours of assembly.
El primer día me levante, llegue al lugar y empezamos a juntar los tornillos que íbamos a utilizar para la base de la impresora. La estructura, de MDF (Madera prensada) cortada con láser, la pintamos con aerosol blanco para protegerlo, cuando se seco tuve que ensamblar las piezas y atornillarlas logrando una estructura firme, lo cual evita gran parte de las vibraciones de la impresora.
The first day I got up, arrived at the place and we started to put together the screws that we were going to use for the printer base. The structure, made of laser cut MDF (pressed wood), we painted it with white spray paint to protect it, when it was dry I had to assemble the pieces and screw them together achieving a firm structure, which avoids most of the vibrations of the printer.
Los días posteriores consistieron en el ensamblado de los ejes X, Y y Z, comprobar que todos se desplazaran con normalidad, colocar los finales de carrera (Sirven para detectar la posición de un elemento, en este caso los ejes), ver que los motores funcionaran y montar el extrusor (Parte fundamental que funde el plástico). Ordenamos los cables, los aislamos y presintamos para que queden ordenados y no estorben a la hora de usar la impresora. Pusimos la pantalla led y la placa madre en donde conectamos todos los cables.
The following days consisted of assembling the X, Y and Z axes, checking that they all moved normally, placing the limit switches (used to detect the position of an element, in this case the axes), making sure that the motors worked and assembling the extruder (fundamental part that melts the plastic). We ordered the cables, we isolated them and we pressurized them so that they are tidy and do not get in the way when using the printer. We put the led screen and the motherboard where we connect all the cables.
El ingeniero se encargo de hacer unas comprobaciones rápidas de movimientos y configurar unos valores en Arduino para estar seguro de que todo haya quedado bien, normalmente él tendría mas tiempo para probar la impresora y ver que todo haya quedado en optimas condiciones para su uso, pero como yo no contaba con ese tiempo hicimos unas pruebas rápidas. Todo parecía ir bien, funcionaba correctamente.
The engineer was in charge of doing some quick movement checks and configuring some values in Arduino to be sure that everything was fine, normally he would have more time to test the printer and see that everything was in optimal conditions for use, but as I did not have that time we did some quick tests. Everything seemed to go well, it worked correctly.
Le agradecí por la experiencia de trabajar con él y armar la impresora, termine de pagarle y guarde su contacto para poder hacerle consultas, ya que no iba a contar con un asesoramiento presencial porque me volvía para Argentina.
I thanked him for the experience of working with him and assembling the printer, finished paying him and kept his contact to be able to ask him questions, since I was not going to have a face-to-face advice because I was going back to Argentina.
Cuestión que ya tenia mi impresora, pero ahora venia lo complicado, pasar por la frontera argentina con la máquina. Para los que no saben hay muchas restricciones con las cosas que se pueden traer del exterior sin declarar, así que con mi familia decidimos poner la maquina en una caja y encima ponerle la ropa sucia que no llegamos a lavar antes de irnos.
I already had my printer, but now came the complicated part, going through the Argentinean border with the machine. For those who do not know there are many restrictions with the things that can be brought from abroad without declaring, so with my family we decided to put the machine in a box and on top of it put the dirty clothes that we did not wash before leaving.
Llegamos a la frontera, nos detienen a inspeccionar las cosas y… la encuentran. Recurrimos al plan B, le habíamos pedido a la persona que le compramos la impresora un recibo por una reparación, como si nosotros hubiera llevamos la maquina y el solo la hubiera reparado. No nos creyó, así que me padre para desviar un poco del tema al policía de la aduana le dijo que tenía un Drone, para ser más exactos un Phantom 4, apenas lo nombro fue a verlo y a pedirle los papeles; pero si pudo demostrarle que era suyo ya que tenia la licencia para volarlo y videos grabados. El policía de la aduana creyó que todo lo que traíamos era usado, así que nos dejó pasar.
We arrived at the border, they stopped us to inspect things and... they found it. We resorted to plan B, we had asked the person we bought the printer from for a receipt for a repair, as if we had brought the machine and he had just repaired it. He did not believe us, so my father to divert a little of the subject to the customs policeman told him that he had a Drone, to be more exact a Phantom 4, as soon as he named it he went to see it and ask for the papers; but he could prove that it was his since he had the license to fly it and recorded videos. The customs policeman thought that everything we were bringing was used, so he let us pass.
Después de 24hs de viaje en auto hasta mi casa procedí a buscar un lugar para la máquina, no cuento con mucho espacio en mi casa, pero luego de mover algunas cosas que no usábamos y poner un escritorio le encontré un buen lugar en el living donde el ruido no molestaba a nadie. Unas semanas más tarde comenzó la pandemia y me entere que había grupos de makers que se encargaban de hacer mascarillas sanitarias para repartir de forma gratuita en hospitales. Investigue y logre entrar en un grupo llamado CORONATHON allí me brindaron filamento para la fabricación de vinchas sanitarias y con mucho esfuerzo y una curva de aprendizaje importante logre fabricar muchas mascaras para hospitales. Fue una gran experiencia para iniciarme en el mundo de la impresión 3D y estoy contento de haber podido ayudar en la crisis sanitaria.
After 24 hours of traveling by car to my house I proceeded to look for a place for the machine, I do not have much space in my house, but after moving some things that we did not use and put a desk I found a good place in the living room where the noise did not bother anyone. A few weeks later the pandemic started and I found out that there were groups of makers who were in charge of making sanitary masks to hand them out for free in hospitals. I investigated and managed to join a group called CORONATHON where they gave me filament for the manufacture of sanitary headbands and with much effort and a significant learning curve I managed to make many masks for hospitals. It was a great experience to get started in the world of 3D printing and I am happy to have been able to help in the health crisis.