[ELECTRON] RepRap - have set up separate list now

[Andrew Back]

On (18:15 06/05/10), Martin Ling wrote:

<<SNIP>>

> There seemed to be a bit of a bottleneck on availability of the printed
> plastic parts when we started, so we're going to wait till we've got the
> electronics running before trying to get those. It looks like they're
> starting to appear now though, see http://forums.reprap.org/list.php?175
> 
> Note that prices are high (e.g. $350 for a recent set on eBay) because
> it takes a lot of machine time (and hence human supervision, in
> practice) to print them even though the raw materials cost is low. Also
> people are trying to recoup some of the cost of their own machines (or
> a bit more on top...)

I spent quite a bit of time at the Noisebridge hackspace in San Francisco
last month, and someone there was putting many hours in just trying to print
a single new part to upgrade their MakerBot. It seems that there are lots of
variables to fiddle with and it can be quite time consuming just getting the
settings right for a particular design. He also recommended building a
RepRap from scratch rather than getting a MakerBot, suggesting that the
latter wasn't quite as rigid and was prone to overheating, acrylic parts
expanding and causing the machine to jam.
 
> There are savings to be had by getting some or all of the parts from
> people who produce them in other ways than printing, e.g. CNC milling
> them from solid blocks of plastic. If you get a working machine that way
> you can always replace them with your own parts later, selling on the
> milled ones.

There is also the PayItForward 'Altruistic 3D Printing' initiative:

http://payitforwardprinting.com/

Which seems to be starting out in London, but is a great idea and could be
taken up anywhere.

Cheers,

Andrew

-- 
Andrew Back
a at smokebelch.org