Noob needing direction.

I came across this community while browsing files Heeks CAD/CAM and have been impressed so much on what I have seen (on people's videos) and the whole concept of a 3D printer that duplicates parts to build more that I have decided to join in the fun

I would like the first step to be the best. There are a handful of other people offering "kits." Or is buying parts cheaper and just as accurate? (I don't want a sloppy half ass thing... especially to start with.) Using other companies as a "repstap?"

What is your opinion and why?

Thanks appreciated ahead of time for anyone willing to give some insight.

-J

cr4ck3r

hello, and welcome to the community. building from self sourced ( buying all the pieces not in kit form) parts tends to be the general consensus within the community and can save you considerable money. I have built an original mendel and i am running techzone electronics. techzone is not a recommended company to purchase from. if you want to build the mechanical part more, i would suggest building a mendel. If you want a quick assembly then i would recommend building a prusa Mendel. Any electronics can be put onto any of the machines, and the community appears to use the ramps electronics.

if you want to build not from a kit, you will need to buy printed parts, hardware( threaded rods, things like that), electronics and motors. along with a good hot end. The hot end is where the plastic is melted and is attached to the extruder. the extruder should come with the printed parts, and there are many options available. A good hotend to buy is the one from makergear, and is a complete hot end kit.

if you want to buy a kit, makergear makes a good kit. some other searching may turn up some good results. one company to be carefel with is botmill. in the past it appears they have been unreliable , but they are working to turn their image around. so they may be reliable in the future.

feel free to search around, the forums are great for learning from others experience.


Morrist

As regards to kits, it often pays to source from the country you reside in as replacements are often quicker to get

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Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand

Welcome!

Finding a local reprapper and/or hackerspace would be the very best solution, as they are more than happy to give out tips and local suppliers.

If that fails, join #reprap [reprap.org] and ask for someone there to print you a set, and source the vitamins yourself. People at #reprap take great pride in their print quality and support. Sourcing yourself will take longer, and you have to do a lot more research, but you will learn a lot.

But kits is also a valid option, Makergear have a good reputation and give good support from what I hear.

morrist Wrote:
> if you want
> to build the mechanical part more, i would suggest
> building a mendel. If you want a quick assembly
> then i would recommend building a prusa Mendel.

I disagree, Prusa is better than Sells Mendel in every way unless you have a thing for nuts and bolts. Yes, I've built both, Sells is a joy to assemble but a enormous pain to calibrate.

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-Nudel
Blog with RepRap Comic

The first choice I had was the Mendel but shortly after I was looking at the Prusa so....

Who here is in the Miwestern United States?

Southern Wisconsin to be more exact on my personal lacation.

Originaly I was lead to believe building a mendel to begin with is hard. I kept reading people suggesting to user something like say a makerbot as a "repstrap" and print your parts. These replies here give me the hope I once had when first using linux and compiling from source... It can be done, just do it right

i did some google searches and there are several hackerspaces in your area.

face to face is the best way to learn if you are a new to electronics, and programming. these people often can answer and explain how things work for you.

btw this cool site came up [hackerspaces.org] it shows you hackerspaces from all over

[hackerspaces.org] directly links you to ones that are in your state

* Bucketworks
* DHMN
* FAIL
* MakeBit
* Milwaukee Makerspace
* OrangeWorks
* Sector67
* UW-W Hackathon
* Wausau Collaboration Center


now i will proceed to find the nearest to me as well.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2012 08:52PM by jamesdanielv.

We're thinking of hosting a 3Dprinter "rally" here in Northern Indiana this spring. We're about 2hrs. from Chicago, by South Bend, IN. We have a few of our members up there in waterloo area and similar, check our yahoo group page and look for them in the directory Here.

Thank you all for your responses. I also discovered the whole hackerspace community through this thread.. very interesting as I am alway wish I had more room for projects I am currently watching the forums on printed parts for sale. The people including the extractors... are these extractors proven to be good? I just like to do things right the first time and research before I make desisions. (Unlike my 40 watt 532nm laser project that ended up being a money pit. Lesson learnded)

Extractors? you mean extruders? They are the most important and difficult component on these machines. Buying a ready made extruder from an on line company may work just fine. But beware they arn't all good. At least for the established designs there are many points of view that can help you draw your own conclusions. Unlike laser cutting, that is dominate by chinese build components, you can pick up printer components in your own country.

Yes, sorry, I meant extruders. I was interupted at least 6 times during that one post.

I ask about them because people offering parts are sometimes selling the extruder in the "kit" that their parts are built for.

What companies for extruders are reputable/recomended? I see people offering the parts along with the extruder and want to make sure I go the right way.