
This thesis presents the design, construction, and calibration of a 5-axis FDM 3D printer using a head/table configuration. Two additional rotary axes (B-axis: extruder head; C-axis: print bed) were added to a 3-axis Cartesian platform. Calibration of the rotary axes was implemented using polar and spherical coordinate transformations within the Mach3 CNC control environment, driven by a Novusun NVEM V2 controller board and NEMA 17 stepper motors. A custom temperature control system was developed using an Arduino UNO interfaced with the NVEM board's spindle function, enabling G-code-based hotend temperature control up to 300°C with NTC100k thermistor feedback. Two prototypes were constructed and evaluated. The second prototype achieved stable rotational movement on the C-axis with zero angular error across repeated runs, and sub-1° angular error on the B-axis. Results confirm the feasibility of converting a 3-axis FDM printer into a functional 5-axis system using accessible CNC hardware and coordinate transformation methods. The work identifies key areas for future development including firmware upgrades, auto-calibration routines, and multi-axis slicer integration.
