On Wednesday 10 January 2007 22:49, Marc Nicholas wrote: > Sebastien, > > You rock! > > Despite my jokes, programming a PIC isn't an issue. Although I'd be > inclined to re-invent the wheel and use an SX chip as that opens up people > to using SX/B[asic] -- bigger potential audience than us PIC folk. > > Reading through things it does seem like the extruder head both crucial a= nd > the biggest stumbling block. But are the fab'ing materials also hard to > source? > Not really. We need thermoplastic in a filament form factor. Luckily, = there's already an industrial application of this; plastic welding rod - a = soldering-iron like device that squirts melted plastic into and onto plasti= c = objects that need to be repaired. We can buy plastic welding rod from manufacturers or pay them to process sm= all = lots of plastic into filament, if we're interested in a plastic they don't = carry. Right now it looks like we'll be use polypropylene and ABS a fair = bit. We'd like to figure out how to process recycled objects and virgin = granules into filament ourselves - that's something of a medium priority. > Are you able to provide any pointers to someone myself (and others) could > pay to fab one? > There will be a bunch of loaner machines floating around. The user rules w= ill = probably be something like "You can use this RepRap to make your own RepRap= , = as long as you make another loaner machine as well." I think we'll also evolve a cottage industry of RepRap machine sellers and = 3D = printing job shops pretty quickly. The machine selling side of things = probably isn't going to support very high margins - maybe you can sell one = laying hen to a guy for $1000, but if they only cost $500 to make, he might = just turn around and start selling them to the market at $600. > LEGO is interesting to me and shouldn't be underrated! > Agreed. = http://reprappers.blogspot.com/2006/11/legostrap-repstrapping-with-legos.ht= ml Happily, I don't think the user agreement on Lego sets forbids the user fro= m = using them to make a rapid prototyper that can be used to make legos. > Thanks again. > > -marc > Cheers, -Sebastien > On 1/10/07, Sebastien Bailard wrote: > > On Wednesday 10 January 2007 20:54, Mike snyder wrote: > > > On 1/10/07, Sebastien Bailard wrote: > > > > On Wednesday 10 January 2007 03:57, Alan B. Pearce wrote: > > > > http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10922-desktop-fabricator-may-= ki > > > > > > > >ckstart-home-revolution.html > > > > > > > > > > > >>From the article: "The standard version of their Freeform > > > > fabricator > > > > > > > >> =96 > > > > > > > > > > Hmm, the "reprap" that they also link to seems interesting as wel= l. > > > > > > > > I lurk on this list. Are you interested in building one? > > > > > > > > Regards, > > > > Sebastien Bailard > > > > RepRap.org - self-replicating 3D printer project. > > > > > > > > -- > > > > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > > > > View/change your membership options at > > > > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > > > > > I am interested in building one also and any words of wisdom besides > > > > what > > > > > on the website would be appreciated :-) > > > > Well, first you'll need a PIC programmer... > > > > Here are the relevant links: > > > > http://reprap.org/ > > http://reprap.blogspot.com/ > > http://reprappers.blogspot.com/ > > http://objects.reprap.org > > > > There's about a half-dozen ways to build one; what follows is a > > cut-and-paste > > from an email I sent to Ben Fry of processing.org last night (note that > > there > > are two different machines, the RepRap and the RepStrap; the RepRap is > > the 3D > > printer-built machine that makes copies of itself or other objects, and > > the > > RepStrap is the home-build 3D printer that can make a RepRap or other > > objects.) > > > > "There are many pathways. It depends on your physical and financial > > parameters. I would recommend that you buy a cnc-ready Taig benchtop > > mill from http://www.cartertools.com/, > > http://computersculpture.com/ > > or a cnc-converted mill from ebay or someone selling a used one on > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taigtools/ > > This is how I am doing it. You end up with a nice solid 3 axis > > positioner, > > which you can also use for milling, which you might find useful. > > Total cost ~$USD1.5K, maybe $2K with tooling. This may be outside of > > your budget, and you may not be interested in having a tool for CNC > > machining/PCB > > prototyping around afterwards. > > Other candidate mills: unimat, sherline, or clisby. These are all > > smaller mills. (In the case of the clisby, much much smaller, and no o= ne > > online reported being really satisfied with them.) They're cheaper, but > > for all the > > fuss, you might as well just get a taig. A taig is only a bit larger, > > but it > > has a lot more power. > > > > Another way: > > Buy a benchtop/tabletop CNC router, or a CNC router kit, and adapt it > > into a > > RepStrap. Make sure you have at least 3" of vertical clearance; vertic= al > > clearance is equivalent to how tall an object you can print/machine. > > > > http://cgi.ebay.com/CNC-Router-Engraver-Milling-machine_W0QQitemZ260073= 61 > >5277QQihZ016QQcategoryZ57122QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I'm having trouble > > digging up a good recommendation for a particular model here (EDIT: > > People seem to really like the cnc router plans at > > http://solsylva.com/ ). Try cnczone.com and ebay. No one has used a c= nc > > router as a RepStrap this way, but it should be a good way to do it. > > > > Another way. > > Vik Olliver's machine is based on copper pipe. It costs ~$200-300? > > > > Forrest Higg's is made from wood using hand tools. Again, ~$200-300. > > > > There's also someone making his out of lego. ???" > > > > You guys will find the pcb side of things easy. To fabricate the > > extruder head and the pcb board, if you have a mill or router, you can > > machine the extruder head easily. Otherwise, you just have to find > > someone to print the > > parts for you or borrow a loaner. > > Regards, > > Sebastien > > > > -- > > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > > View/change your membership options at > > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist -- = http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist