Reprap for the Hackspace

[Iain Allardyce]

Hello everyone!

Just back from the Hackspace where there was beer, pizza (and potato wedges) and we got to have a look at Phil's newly re-wired Makerbot 3D printer as well as one of my Reprap Prusa's printing some coat hooks (door stops and probably a wall mounted bottle opener to follow shortly)! 

It seems there is a fair amount of interest and at least 3 or 4 people who want to be involved in building a 3D printer (Reprap) to live in the Hackspace.  So if anyone else would like to participate in the build or even build their own 3D printer please let me know!  This will let me prepare what needs to be printed off in terms of parts etc.

For those of you who haven't seen the space, jump onto our IRC and check when people are heading down next and I am sure something can be arranged!

Happy hacking,

Iain

[bill fletcher]

Hi,

Thanks for hosting this. It was really interesting. Sorry I couldn't stay for the pizza (I was the bedraggled cyclist on my way home). My plans for world domination are already quite advanced with Arduinos, wiimotes, a few servos, a large tub of K'Nex and a couple of junior henchmen. I'm exploring thingiverse for printable servo bracket design that I can hack to be sympathetic to K'Nex geometry, since this doesn't seem to have been done so far. If I pop up with an STL file, I guess we can talk?

Cheers

Bill

[Iain Allardyce]

Hi Bill, 

No problem, I plan on doing much more in the future and getting a working Reprap in the space is a priority / goal of mine!  Give me a shout when you have the STL, can knock up a few test pieces to see what works!  If you can't find anything and can't find an STL, let me know as well and I can design a bracket / translate your design into what you need!

Arduino is something I've been meaning to get involved with for a long time, but making Repraps work / having a job / keeping understanding girlfriend... understanding... has taken most of my time!

Cheers,

Iain 

[Dave Blencowe]

I'd definitely be interested in building one. Been looking in to it
recently :) About how much do the materials cost?

[Iain Allardyce]

HI Dave,

Right off the top of my head, I would say roughly £300 (but this depends on particular decisions in materials  / electronics / hot end etc).  The so called "vitamins" of the bars, studding, fasteners etc becomes negligible once you buy a couple of machines worth (£30 ish).  The expensive bits are the stepper motors ( required at around £12 each), the electronics (which I have bought in kit for for £30 + £30 for stepper drivers... no reason why we cannot buy bare board then source components ourselves, I do no since I am not electronically confident enough to do so!), then the hot end which has a couple of choices globally, 1 in the UK, 2 in Europe and 1 in the US (that are worth owning and are tried and tested).  Again... no reason we could not build our own if we had access to a lathe, but this will require testing, development and most likely a couple of iterations in machining / design.

I just realised I've hit you with a wall of text.  I reckon £300 is a decent figure, I would expect to be able to purchase filament with that as well (and would look to reduce the cost beyond this if possible).

Cheers,

Iain

[bill fletcher]

Hi Iain,

I knocked up a carrier for 2 servos. STL and .scad attached.

Maybe you think it "es muy fragil", but the author of the original claimed it was good in ABS:  "20% infill and 3 layers for the solid surface thickness". This is greek to me.

Please take a look.

Bill

[bill fletcher]

... now really attached (oops!).

Cheers

Bill

[Phil Leichauer]

Very up for building a RepRap of my own too. Could help keep costs
down.

Who wants more beer and pizza tomorrow? I'm happy to bring the
makerbot along again.

Cheers,
Phil

[mark heseltine]

I'm in.
--
mhese...@acm.org
+447709902928

[Iain Allardyce]

Beer, pizza.... 3D printing.

If I get my firmware tweaks done, I'll bring the Reprap as well! Hopefully it will be working from the get go tomorrow :D

[Matt Willsher]

I'm interested too. What time?

[Peter Tangney]

I'm keen too. Will head down for about 6.30-7ish.

Peter

--
Peter Tangney
pe...@peterland.net.nz
http://peter.tangney.co.nz

[Iain Allardyce]

I'll aim for 6 - 6:30 as well... got some kit to drop off!

@Bill, 

I got your file, I reckon it should print no problems!  If I calibrate things properly tonight if you are down the space tomorrow it might even be printed! (in PLA as ABS I am leaving alone till I get this printer properly tuned)!

[bill fletcher]

Great - hope to come down about 7.

Cheers

Bill

[Hamish Harvey]

Hi folks,

Sorry that I'll not be able to make it again, Here's hoping that
things will improve soon.

Just paid for two months membership - I'd lost my card reader thingy
and couldn't make payments to new payees. I hope the delay didn't
break the bank.

Have fun with the printers,
Hamish

--
Hamish Harvey
twitter.com/hamishharvey