RepRap 3D Printer for DHMN use.

[Tim Bertram]

Some of you already know, and have seen the printer but I wanted to
take a few minutes to formally announce it.

After the 3d printing session at MadCamp this year I decided I really
wanted a 3d printer. With some help from Joe Kerman at Sector67, we
were able to make that happen. I am extending use of this printer to
any DHMN member, I only ask that if you can contribute to the plastic
donation bucket to do so. Joe is getting ready to place an order for
plastic and 5lb spools are are about $50 to $60 for the stock colors
(natural, white, glow in the dark, red, blue and green) and more for
the custom colors. A 5lb spool goes a fairly long way, and I'm
planning to try to get at least one spool. If you have a certain
color you are interested in, let me know and we will see what we can
work out. I would like to get at least one or two spools so we have a
few colors to play with.

I hope to be able to make as many make sessions as I can, and would be
willing to make house calls. If you have a larger project that might
take days/hours to print we can also attempt to work something out.
If your looking for some idea of things to print, check out
http://www.thingiverse.com

-Tim

[Mike Putnam]

Thank you Tim!  Thank you Joe!

[Alex Hunt]

Tim,

I assume you will be using ABS all the time? (I already have some PLA if you want to experiment.)

Can you estimate how many pounds of plastic it took to print your Prusa?  At some point I will want to print out the parts for my own printer.

Yes, I will contribute.  Please tell me which color you are going to order.  I'll order a different color so we have some variety.

Alex

[Bob Waldron]

Tim -- congrats on getting your RepRap running! Thanks for the offer to let DHMN members use the printer.

One thing you might want to consider is 'making' a couple short videos of the Rep Rap printing small products (maybe videos that have both normal speed and timelapse since printing can take a while).

More thoughts about getting the most out of your RepRap, but will wait until I connect with you in person at a make session or elsewhere.

L-Dron

[Karl P. Niemuth II]

I have a standard speed hd camera if you need help shooting video of it

Sent from mobile device

[Tim Bertram]

Alex,
I don't know the weight of the printed pieces at this time, but I am
working on printing a set of the parts for another printer. At this
time I have no plans for said parts besides to spend time with the
printer, and wanting to print something that could be used one day. I
can weigh them and get a better idea of the plastic cost once I get
more parts printed.

-Tim

[Bob Waldron]

We could 'make' a scale to weigh printed parts. And witches and ducks. If we made the scale shown in the YouTube video linked below, it appears we'll need to drink Busch either before or during construction...

http://www.circuitsdiy.com/working-of-digital-weight-scale/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkp4mE_CW8k

[Joe Kerman]

A full set of prusa parts is slightly under 1lb (and about 21 or so hours of print time).  So one way to think about plastic cost is that even if you run the printer for an ENTIRE day, youve only used about $10-$15 worth of plastic. 

I cannot *wait* to see what you guys make! :D

[Jason Gullickson]

Hey Tim, very cool project!

I'm planning to put together a RepRap myself, I've been leaning toward picking up a kit from Makergear but I keep hearing about guys like you around here who are building "from scratch".  I'm intrigued by the approach but I was worried about spending a lot of time tracking down vendors for the various parts, not knowing what level of "quality" to expect (I've heard some horror stories, especially around bearings...) and such so I've been leaning toward a kit.

That said, it sounds like you've had a good measure of success with this route; would you recommend this over going with a kit?  Is there a substantial difference in cost?

Also I'm curious as to what size filament you went with.

Thanks!

Jason

[Pete Prodoehl]

I'm the guy who thought a kit would be better for me... instead of spending time chasing down all the individual pieces, dealing with multiple vendors, shippers, etc. and figured MakerGear would be a good bet.

Of course, I'm so busy I haven't even opened the box yet! YMMV if you've got more time/patience than I do...

Pete

[Tim Bertram]

I saved bunch of money by not going with a kit.

I will say from what I hear makergear has a nice kit and everything
you need is in one box. If your going with a kit on the market right
now, I think I would go makergear.

By dealing with Joe Kerman from Sector67 you can cut your vendors down
to a minimal number. Joe currently doesn't have full kits but he is
working his way up to that point. The hotend that I'm using is Joe's
design and doesn't have the testing that a makergear hotend has, but
so far I've been happy with it. You could also still buy a makergear
hotend if you wanted to. The other thing I am using is the teensylu
electronics, not as tested as some electronics, but so far just as
functional, and saved some money by doing so. I think Joe said he is
working on getting stuff together for two more so he is getting good
streamlining parts sourcing. For the stuff he didn't have he was able
to tell me where to get it.

I would really like to see Pete's machine if he ever pulls it out of
the box, and his build may be a little more organized but overall my
build went very well and would do it the same way over again.

-Tim

[Joe Kerman]

I would say that the quality of your printer and output is 95% how you assemble it, and 5% the quality/source of the parts.  Its all down to how many hours you want to spend ordering parts from different vendors.

The makergear kit (VERY highly recommended for a prusa kit) is about $900, and includes absolutely everything you need. I think you even get mini allen wrenches and a roll of kapton tape.

Self-sourcing can be as cheap as $350 if you are willing to go as far as manufacturing your own hotend, and doing surface mount soldering.  I am excited to see how petes kit goes together, it will be a great contrast to tim, who self sourced as many parts as humanly possible.


The only reason Im not doing full kits, is that it requires me to stock a whole bunch of parts with very very little markup. So I am only stocking the "hard" parts at the moment. Im sure tim can speak more to how hard it was to get the parts together with my help, but my plan seems to be working!  I hooked him up with electronics, and a hotend, and heated bed PCB. and links to mcmaster, and motor manufacturers he got on his own.

[Joe Kerman]

I am only using 3mm filament at the moment.  There doesnt seem to be any practical benefit to upgrading to 1.75mm filament, unless you are trying to run two extruders on the same axis (which most people dont do, since the code is not quite there yet)

you dont /really/ get "higher quality" because the output filament size is based on the nozzle, not the input size.  all you get is less pressure required to extrude. But those benefits are mostly consumed by having to turn the motor more than twice as fast to get the same amount of plastic through it, so your motors end up about as hot.

Makerbot is pushing 1.75mm has "better quality", but most reprappers I know cant tell the difference, and go back to 3mm because its cheaper to obtain

[Pete Prodoehl]

Oh yeah, I look forward to seeing what my experience is compared to Tims... heck, I may just open that box tonight and get started. ;)


Pete

[Tim Bertram]

I all really want to build a second printer because I really enjoyed
building the printer. I'm unsure if i will build a cnc mill or another
reprap first but both are on my list. I can say build a reprap has
increased my confidence that I would be able to build a tabletop cnc
machine.

[Joe Kerman]

Im still looking to sell my CNC'ed X2 mini mill btw!

[Jason Gullickson]

Interesting, thanks for the info!

What would it cost to get one of you guys to print me up the printed bits?  I have a lot of spare parts in the basement, a couple of well-stocked local hardware stores and I maybe I could recycle some of the electronics bits from my laser engraver project...

...would give me something to hack on until I get frustrated and decide to buy a kit ;)

[Bob Waldron]

Sounds like it's time for a Wisconsin 3D printer session at Sector67!!