reprap and renewable energies?

Good morning, im new in the forum, i was wondering if its possible to have a reprap machine working only with renewable energies as sonal panels? Do you know if there are projects involving digital fabrication and renewable energies?

thanks in advance

H.

Try this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzo-M5c_73Y

Perhaps not exactly what you care looking for, but interesting nevertheless, and demonstrates another way of harnessing renewable energy for 3D printing: [www.markuskayser.com]

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garyhodgson.com/reprap | reprap.development-tracker.info | thingtracker.net

ah yes, I thought of that too, but couldn't find a link

If you were going to power your RepRap from solar panels, I't want a big beefy marine battery to go with it. Nothing would suck more than having your print abort right in the middle when a cloud passed overhead. Powering a heated build platform would be a challenge too, methinks.

How about passive solar water heating for the bed? - a water channel matrix under/inside an ally table?

Lucastar Wrote:
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> How about passive solar water heating for the bed?
> - a water channel matrix under/inside an ally
> table?


Well.. this heated bed issue is kind of the reason why the Gada prize is so hard. Also this is why people put their machines in turkey bags to conserve heat. Professional 3d printers have heated chambers, also to keep the heat from escaping. Running open heated platforms as we do is SEVERELY inefficient. AND, we are fully capable of building things without using a heated platform, we just need to allow for it in the design by putting in holes to isolate the warping stress.

OR, just build a greenhouse around the reprap. Instant heated chamber, heated by the sun! Except you'd have to make the greenhouse fit ONLY around the build platform and the print head, so the plastic that the reprap itself is made of won't melt inside its own heated chamber.

@destroyer - Ha ha - I don't think my Mrs would be pleased If I start printing in her greenhouse!!

Where I work, we have a HP Designjet Color 3D Printer (ABS) and the heated build chamber heats/maintains 99 degrees - we tend to leave it switched on 24/7 whether is being used or not! (crazy, but true..) - point being, surely even pla shouldn't cause any problems at that temp?


I saw on hack-a-day (if I recall) that some guy had made passive air heating for $100 using a load of beer cans; drilled & painted black.
Cant find the original one, but http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLNViUsRCVU&feature=related this one gets the point across..

So I suggest a Reprap inside a black beer can housing (probably not very controllable though!) - although a cold air vent, and a fan might solve the overheating issues