Why a 3D printer?

Why not! It's been ages since I've challenged myself, and given some of my other interests (electronics, EV's, tech, computing) and now some emerging needs (missing or modified plastic parts), the 3D print revolution has arrived just in time for me to "have a go" and get some results.
I'm hoping my finished product will look something like this:

(image borrowed from here)

My materials will predominantly comprise "stepper assemblies" recovered from discarded printers, MFC's or scanners. If you're considering a project such as this using such discarded items, my tip is go for MFC's (MultiFunctionCentres) which print and scan, that way you'll end up with three drive assembles per unit. While some of the units I've torn down use actual stepper motors, I'm finding the newer units I've recently attacked have DC motor drives incorporating slotted disks or strips for the fine positioning control. It appears the manufacturers may find this more economical than steppers? Any way, I've decided that the interrupter type using photodetectors is what I'll use for my axial drives, but I will be using one stepper drive to feed the filament into the print head.
On the control side I've committed to an Arduino clone ETHERMEGA made in Australia by FREETRONICS. I decided to "get all the fruit" as this unit has a built-in etherenet 10/100 NIC and an SD card slot for future developments. I'm learning heaps about Arduino very quickly, but my usual strategy of copying what works will be my main approach to getting this stuff working, I make no bones about that. In this blog I'll include links to sources I've relied on so you can emulate my findings for your project. Similarly I'd welcome any reader of this blog to add their ideas or alternative solutions by way of comments