The crazy kids at Tropical Labs have devised a Delta style 3D printer by re-purposing the frame and heating element of a coffee maker.

Mmmm, coffee. It’s impossible to start the day without a steaming cup of java, right? But have you ever looked at that coffee machine and thought it would make a great 3D printer? Nope, neither have we.

But if you were to study a conventional coffee maker more objectively, you may notice some untapped potential. That hot plate at the base of the machine, for example? That’d be perfect for double duty as a heated bed, no?

Well that’s exactly what Tropical Labs have done, embarking on a unique project to convert a standard household appliance into a fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printer.

Featuring true Delta kinematics, the unit has three stepper motors for motion and another to feed the 3D printing filament. An Arduino Mega manages the whole operation, together with a RAMPS 1.4 shield.

See an early build of the coffee maker Delta printer in action in the video below:

This Ain’t No Ordinary Coffee Maker

The folks at Tropical Labs have been documenting the project on Hackaday and on their site, providing sporadic updates on their progress. They explained their motivation as follows:

“There are many DIY 3D printer designs available on the internet. While there are dozens of designs out there, almost all of them require precision rails/bearings. Most printers require two precision rails and at least three linear bearings per axis, for a total of 6 rails and 9-12 bearings. Even so called “delta” printers tend to actually be linear-delta machines, requiring just as many rails/bearings. It’s these precision components that really drive the trade between price and precision in a DIY printer….”

With an eye towards the open source RepRap philosophy, it’s pretty cool that you can build parts for a 3D printer on a 3D printer. But what if you don’t have a 3D printer in the first place? Obviously — according to Tropical Labs — the answer is to hack a coffee maker.

If the name Tropical Labs sounds familiar, that’s because they recently concluded a successful Kickstarter campaign for Mecharduino. This is a powerful open source industrial servo motor, and 420 backers pledged over $64,000 dollars to make it a reality.

Plus, this coffee maker Delta printer is not the only crazy contraption to emerge from the same source. They also enhanced a Prusa i3 3D printer with an ornate gilded picture frame. Whatever rolls off the print bed, it could already be considered a work of art.

Whatever is it you’re smoking, Tropical Labs, can we have some?