Just to clarify, before any other flaming starts;
The reasons that i find the arguments on this thread tedious is
because of the banality of the problem.
It all stems back to communication.
Kal lends a nice resource, which is an almost functional Reprap to the
space.
It then bounces back and forth between varying levels of functionality
as members with varying degree's of skill and knowledge add in their
tuppence worth. As there was only intermittent communication between
each of these people, sometimes they ended up dismantling things that
someone else had just built. Cue more arguments.
When it's finally functional then, after it running for a couple of
months, Kal wants it back, as quite rightly, it is still his machine
that he LOANED to the space.
What you may not know, is that Kal works for a start-up creating
different recipes for materials for engineering firms. He's provided
several different kinds of filament, saying "Try this one. Let us know
how it works..." Sure he's interested in the results, but we're
getting to take part in his beta-testing and we're getting the
opportunity to try new materials, provided by the people who came up
with them in the first place.
The Stratasys was having problems that were caused by the hot end of
the extruder being sized for the materials that they had in 1992, but
we're using materials developed in 2012. Different grades and flavours
of filament giving Chris the chance to get some great practical
experience in extruder construction and repair...
Kal, using his machine, that he loaned to the space, will now need to
do more testing on the filament recipes that he's creating. So, yes,
he needs his Reprap back. We'll probably have to help him extend and
re-build parts of it too, as the new materials with different
properties come out.
I vaguely remember some form of sticker on the machine (PH/DNH, can't
remember.) It didn't stay there long, as the reprap was being tweaked
and poked by enthusiastic hackers, including me. This lack of
communication via temporary stickers is one communication problem.
There was no documentation on the wiki, about the fact the reprap was
on loan, not a donation. There's another communication problem.
The "Too Many Cooks" problem that caused some of the other
functionality issues, is another aspect of the same communication
problem.
There's a number of us who have helped get it working. Clare's
reaction is understandable, as she sees someone walking off with what
she sees as a shared community resource. The fundamental dis-respect
that she sees for the effort that was put in by volunteers, is
possibly one of the things she feels most strongly about. ( Clare, If
i have got the wrong end of the stick, then please correct me.)
Dont get me wrong. I knew that the reprap i was working on was Kal's
and Sam's. When i was re-soldering the leads, i knew i was repairing
someone else's machine. The mini-lathe is the same. We put work into
it, to get the functionality we needed, and to learn how to do this
for ourselves. It is still Nigle's machine, and if he wants it back,
then it's his. Thank you for the loan of a fascinating tool.
If there are other people like Clare, who didn't realise that it was
loaned, that put work and effort into working on it, then they
shouldn't feel bad or pissed off about Kal reclaiming HIS reprap.
It is HIS machine. He paid for it, bought the parts, and initially set
it up for other people to use, when he did not need to do this.
If we did not communicate any of this effectively, then collectively
it is ALL our fault, that we don't communicate well.
Half of the things that are currently being grumbled about in the
space tidying, could probably just be improved by better
documentation, so other members can see the utility of the tools that
we share.
As for practical solutions, rather than un-necessary argument, there
is an almost-complete set of Mendel Version 1 parts, that Sam and Kal
printed, that were donated by them to the space.
There is another complete Prusa frame, that Sol and Chris gave me,
that i brought back into the space. I'll happily donate it, as it was
a gift to me in the first place. That way it's explicitly stated, it
will be the Hackspace's Reprap.
It needs the Nema 17 stepper motors, and it needs someone with a
subtle hand at SMT soldering to debug the control board that Chris
gave me. And as i asked earlier, it needs an extruder.
If the space will pay for the motors, and someone can fix the board,
and someone prints the extruder parts, we can make the rest of the
components out of stock materials that the hackspace already has
available.
I don't want another on-line argument or flame-war, I just want a
functioning reprap to play with.
Russ; would you or someone else please order the necessary motors?
Will anyone with skill in SMT soldering please look at the control
board? Chris can fill you in as to what needs doing.
Glen, Kal, or anyone else with a functioning reprap, would you please
print us the parts needed for the extruder?
We'll work on making the extrusion nozzles from scrap brass stock.
The wiring we've got already, as stock material.
Volunteers to help please shout... :D