Guide for Newbies

Hello all,
Long time listener ,first time caller.
Ive been reading up on this site for a while now and as someone with no experiance in this type of thing, i found it a little bit diffacult So i hoped someone could awnser my questoins and maybe make this into a sticky type of thing for new users?

1. The current latest versoin of the reprap idea is darwin 1.2?
2. it works by moving in the x-z planes applying a layer of "material" about 0.3 mm thick onto a "base", the base then clicks down 0.3m , but the line width is about 0.5mm? the feed is sort of like a glue gun, a solid pole of material is fed into the machine, which heats it up while spreading it?

3. the initial line of material is heated up greater than others to allow it to stick easer onto the base?

4. are there any charts for recommendid heats for certain materials?

5. its hard to see how detailed the machine is by pictures but an accuracy of 0.1 for momement and 0.5 for detail (with viscosity etc).

6. it cant do anything over 45 degrees from its base , like a 30 degree triangle?

7. when it does a odd angle that isn't supported it makes its own surport from a water soluble material,to clean off later?

8. in the future it may be able to route each layer for a nicer finnish/greater accuracy , also possible to use more materials and possible to create a sort of plastic circuitboard?



Im very excited by the idea of reprap and im hoping that i will not only be able to build one soon but possibly contribute to the project, i will keep my ideas under my hat untill ive built one and experimented.

4. yes there are datasheets for all and any plastics you can commercially find - search the web

6. you cant do overhangs more than 45degree without support material, in essence its hard to make the plastic stay floating on nothing.

7. support material extruder isnt yet widely used and design isnt yet perfected but it will be one good day

8. yes there are endless future development ideas, we have no shotrage ideas, its the implementations we lack

> 1. The current latest versoin of the RepRap idea
> is Darwin 1.2?

Near as I can tell, RepRap 1.1 "Darwin" (1.0 + support extruder) is not yet the 'current' design. That would make RepRap 1.0 "Darwin" the latest version.

> 2. It works by moving in the x-z planes applying a
> layer of "material" about 0.3 mm thick onto a
> "base", the base then clicks down 0.3m , but the
> line width is about 0.5mm? the feed is sort of
> like a glue gun, a solid pole of material is fed
> into the machine, which heats it up while
> spreading it?

"The cartesian robot is mechanical element of Darwin. The assembly moves the tool heads around in the X & Y planes to print each layer shape and drops the Z axis down one increment when each layer is completed."

The first toolhead is the Thermoplastic Extruder which, yes, acts much like a hot melt glue gun.

The dimensions of the plastic extrusion will depend on nozzle size, Temperature, Material, Flow rate, Motion speed... I think it's something you'll have to calibrate when you get your RepRap working.


> 3. the initial line of material is heated up
> greater than others to allow it to stick easer
> onto the base?

I've seen mention of that.


> 4. are there any charts for recommendid heats for
> certain materials?

I saw a recent posting where "nophead" lists the three temperatures he used for each of four materials:

HDPE.raft_temp = 200
HDPE.first_layer_temp = 240
HDPE.layer_temp = 220

PCL.raft_temp = 0 // no raft
PCL.first_layer_temp = 130
PCL.layer_temp = 120

ABS.raft_temp = 200
ABS.first_layer_temp = 215
ABS.layer_temp = 230

PLA.raft_temp = 0
PLA.first_layer_temp = 180
PLA.layer_temp = 160


> 5. It's hard to see how detailed the machine is by
> pictures but an accuracy of 0.1 for momement and
> 0.5 for detail (with viscosity etc).

Was that supposed to be a question? :-)


> 6. It cant do anything over 45 degrees from its
> base , like a 30 degree triangle?

You can't extrude into thin air and expect the molten plastic to hang there. The plastic has to hit the previous layer to stick to it. The current specification say that an overhang angle of 45

I defently will contribute, Ive got some ideas but im going to go off on a slightly differnt tangent, So work could possibly be combined later on. Im guessing people often come on here full of ideas,in which others help and then they go and nothing happens, i want to show im commited before i start talking to much