Soon to be a new Makerbot owner

[Eric Smith]

I ordered a Makerbot yesterday, so I should be getting one out of
Batch 9, which they say will ship on December 1. I can hardly wait!

$50 for 5 lb. of natural ABS filament originally sounded a bit
expensive to me, but after I did the math it seems quite reasonable.
The density of ABS is 1.04 g/cm^3, so 5 lb works out to a hair under
133 in^3. The cost is $0.376 per in^3. For comparison, TechShop now
charges $20/in^3, so the Makerbot will cost me 50x less to run.

I need a larger build area on one axis, so once I've got it working
well, I want to investigate replacing some of the case and drive parts
to double one axis. All other things being equal, I think I'd like to
make it twice as wide.

I'm interested in laser-marking some of the objects I produce with the
Makerbot. There are additives to ABS to support laser marking, so I'm
looking into getting ABS filament with such an additive.

[Tox]

> I need a larger build area on one axis, so once I've got it working
> well, I want to investigate replacing some of the case and drive parts
> to double one axis.  All other things being equal, I think I'd like to
> make it twice as wide.

Once you have the hang of it, you should just be able to get a longer
strip of belt material, longer precision ground rods, and then edit
the artwork for two panels, cut out a pair of replacements at TechShop
on their laser. I'm told you might get a bit more lash to belt stretch
on the major axis, but haven't tried it.

Bre's also experimented with doing a tall version, w/ longer z screws,
which I suppose would have less lash.

Depending on the cost and availability of the doped feedstock, it
might be easier to coat the filament as it goes into the plastruder -
the makergear folks have done pastel-colored parts by hitting the
filament with magic marker.

Let me know if you'd like a hand w/ assembly once it comes in.

Consider in advance what (if anything) you want to use to
coat/paint/seal the wood. On my bot, the backside of the panels was
really rough, which is why I only stained the dress side, and painted
the interior. Saw a bot that was built last week, and it had much
nicer backside finish that really would have led me to just clearcoat
the whole think before punching parts out.

Tox

--
Scott Small

[Eric Smith]

Thanks for offering assembly assistance. I'll most likely try to
assemble it while I'm in Colorado. However, if I don't get it working
I might ask for advice or assistance when I get back, probably in mid-
January.

I'm considering McCloskey Man O'War spar marine varnish for the wood,
since I've used it on wood furniture. On the other hand, Rust-Oleum
offers a lot of interesting looking finishes.

If I procure the laser-marking additive, New Image Plastics says that
it would be no big deal to make me custom filament.