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Forgoing traditional aluminum for a welded steel frame, Angelo Casimiro’s “DIY Bambu Lab killer” is truly a sight to behold.

The Filipino YouTuber, who goes by TechBuild on the platform, has painstakingly documented the process of building a CoreXY machine capable of meeting the 12-minute, 38-second Benchy created by the Bambu Lab X1.

In the nearly half-hour video, Casimiro visits a hardware store to purchase the steel and have it cut – at a total cost of around $4 (“cheaper than a burger at McDonald’s”, he says). Then he welds the frame himself. He scours Manila markets for components like linear rails, digs through piles of his own spare parts, and even designs and 3D prints his own to bring the hefty machine to life.

The result is what Casimiro calls a “Frankenstein build”. A CoreXY 3D printer that runs on custom Marlin firmware, and takes the spirit of RepRap to a quasi-industrial level – eventually hitting travel speeds of 700 mm/s, a true print speed of 350 mm/s and acceleration of 15,000 mm/s2. Aesthetics-wise, the printer would be right at home on a workshop floor, with a minimalist-yet-robust design that looks tough enough to survive an explosion.

While the machine manages to meet the Bambu Lab X1’s Benchy record, Casimiro thinks the finished product leaves something to be desired. For this reason, he wouldn’t recommend building a fast 3D printer “from scratch” – unless, of course, you enjoy the build process. Though, we can’t help but wonder how much the gap would close with input shaping and linear advance in the mix.

As for cost, Casimiro claims he was working within a $300 budget – and the BOM is less than half that, not counting tools or optional quality-of-life upgrades. However, what we’re seeing is Philippines pricing. Try building a similar machine in a Western country, and you’re apt to experience a significant price jump – one YouTube comment claims $140 for the frame alone.

So the final product may not have turned out to be a “Bambu Lab killer”, and Casimiro caps the video off by expressing his own interest in the X1C, but the build is impressive, nonetheless.

While there’s not a ton of practicality here, a welded steel frame – and the stability you may be able to get from it – does hold rather interesting implications for industrial 3D printing. For now, though, as Casimiro suggests, this is a build-focused machine that’s more about exploration than application. Still, should you want to give it a shot, the BOM, plans, print files, and other related information are available for free download.

Even you’re if not keen to put a build together yourself, Casimiro’s video is certainly still worth a watch, if only out of respect for the level of effort that went into its creation. Walking viewers through each step of the build, explaining the reasoning behind the decisions he makes, and presenting both problems and their solutions – coupled with the printer itself, the essence of Casimiro’s entire production is a testament to what 3D printing is all about.

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License: The text of "This Open-Source CoreXY 3D Printer Has a Welded Steel Frame" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.