Ready to get my first printer - have a couple questions

I am ready to get into 3d printing. I am a CNC programmer with 20 years experience and also use CAD/CAM software so i understand the mechanics and automation of how this all works. But i have some questions before i spend my money.

I am leaning towards the RepRap Prusa model or Makerbot Thingomatic. I want to be able to print with high accuracy, printing speed isnt really important to me.

I have noticed that alot of the pics ive seen of printed parts look like a stack of spaghetti noodles glued together. Is this the best finish that can be printed from the cheaper models? Can you print a part with a flat surface on top and sides or is the spaghetti look just the nature of the beast?

How accurate can the print be made dimension wise? Can you hold a tolerence of say +/- .005" or is that unrealistic for these type models?

This is the most accurate print I have seen 0.01 layer height

Aha. Thats the type of finish quality i am looking for. 85megs of G-code is not that large for mold making and 3d machining. So is that just a standard Prusa model or is that a modified model? I have done alot of reading but so much of this hobby seems to be self made or heavily modified machines, its hard to know whats what.

I own both a Thing-O-Matic and a Prusa Mendel. See the 3d printing section on my blog, linked below, for many posts on the build process for both as well as many photos and videos of the prints and their quality..

If you want to get printing right away, the MakerBot is the way to go.

If you want to tinker and tweak, the Prusa is the way to go.

The ToM has a clearly defined build guide. The Prusa has so many different flavors and variations, you may have trouble getting your exact kit built without lots of help.

Both machines are capable of great quality....it really depends on the model, the hotend, the filament, the slicing/skeining method and a million other factors as to how well your print will turn out.

You can build a Prusa for half the price of a ToM....if you don't count your build time.

The Prusa has a much larger potential build area. If you're planning on printing large objects in ABS though, you can't easily enclose a Prusa like you can a MakerBot to make a hot chamber to prevent cracking/splitting.

Really depends on what your comfort level for building a bot and if your goal is to print or to enjoy the adventure of building a printer.

Keep in mind the ToM is bascially discontinued....the Replicator is the new MakerBot on the block so you may not even have the ToM as an option unless you buy a clone.

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[johnbiehler.com]

The prusa in the video is a makergear prusa which you can get in kit form for $825 from here.

Ok. I think the Prusa looks like a good candidate. Now can i use any type of software i want on any type of machine? Or are you stuck with using only some specific software for each brand of machine?

Depends on which electronics you use but generally there are a few options for slicing and running the bot.

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[johnbiehler.com]

Most of the reprap developed electronics will run most firmware and software combos. If by any software you also include CNC software then I have no idea. If you have a lot of CNC experience you might take a look at seemecnc.com as they are selling a huxley variant with parallel port based electronics and standard CNC software. Might ease the learning curve for you. On the other hand, you will find far fewer people here that can answer questions about such a setup.

Yeah depends on which part of the software toolchain you're talking about

to do the 3d modelling, pretty much anything you find comfortable working in will work.
from there you need to convert it to an .stl file if you're lucky your favorate 3d modelling program will do this or have a plugin to do this.
after that you need to slice it, I'd recommend slic3r to start with, though there's also sfact and skeinforge.
slic3r is easiest and if everything else is good you're likely to get some good prints straight off.
skeinforge has more options, many of which slic3r just takes care of under the hood. these will output your gcode.
after that you've got a couple of options for interfacing with the printer, I've really only tried pronterface at this point.
on the printer itself you've got the firmware, which will probibly either be sprinter(easy to setup) or marlin(less so)
marlin does some things better, though there's also the experimental branch of sprinter which levels the playing field so to speak.

Ok. So whats the difference between the Mendel and the Mendel Prusa? I see some used Mendels out there for a reasonable price.

GITRDUN Wrote:
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> Ok. So whats the difference between the Mendel and
> the Mendel Prusa? I see some used Mendels out
> there for a reasonable price.

This may help you understand the genealogy -- [reprap.org]

Mostly frame design.