Hi Everyone

Glad to be a part of the community- hello to anyone reading.
Lately I've been learning all I can about 3D printing and RepRaps, and am extremely anxious to get started.
My main goal is to build a RepRap machine capable of producing high quality/low surface roughness prints.
I am impressed by the high quality prints of machines like Cubify
Especially the smoothness of its prints:
Also, I am interested in the Replicator 2 by MakerBot
And the intricate prints it can produce:

But I am NOT interested in the proprietary aspects of both machines, or the price. I want the freedom that a homemade RepRap offers (i.e. no proprietary cartridges, etc.), but also want a high quality print. In addition, I am hoping to keep the startup costs as low as possible.
I assume that a well made Prusa Mendel (v.2) could offer the same quality as the before mentioned machines, but I am not sure. Most videos I find on Prusas are focused on production speed, and not as much on quality. My first questions to you all are;
1) Can a Prusa Mendel produce the kind of prints I am hoping to achieve?
2) If so, could such a Prusa be made for $1,200 or less?
3) If not, what type of RepRap machine would you recommend?

I know many of you are in a constant quest to improve your machines, and I am hoping to learn from your experience.
Thank you for reading.

All the best,
Riff Raff

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Prusa is great.

When you get right down to it, most FDM printers nowadays all have about the same limit of detail. The difference between things like the Replicator and homemade items is the amount of calibration needed. For a homemade machine, it's your job to fine tune and tweak things like extruded amount, steps per mm, etc. For a store bought machine, most variables should be removed. For example, if a company makes a printer, then the same motors, extruder, belts, and possibly even the filament will not change between machines. THis means that once they calibrate for one machine, they have calibrated for all machines.

Repraps, on the other hand, vary wildly. Expect to spend days/weeks of time calibrating your specific bot to get that level of detail.

Thank you for the reply, Pomeroy.
What you are saying makes perfect sense.
I imagine the forums here will be a good place for me to get help once I start the calibrating process. Are there any other places you'd recommend looking for help with calibrating?
Also, I have a question about how I am making my gcode.
I am using Meshlab to convert a VRML file from Chief Architect to a STL file, then I was going to use something like slic3r to generate the gcode from the STL file.
Is there a single program out there that will allow me to go directly from VRML to GCODE? (preferably free)
Thanks again for your time and advice!
All the best,
Riff Raff

You will probably need an intermediate step from that STL to gcode, because the model that Chief Architect exports is not suitable for printing. The walls are hollow, and there are a lot of intersecting planes. To start with, you should make a version of your plan that has the simplest walls possible, because it creates a plane for every siding, insulation, wall covering, floor covering, etc.

You can run the model through Netfabb Studio Basic (free) using the automatic repair, but you will lose a lot of detail, like door panels and window lites. You can also try Cadspan Pro (30 day trial) which "shrinkwraps" the model, and leaves more detail. Cadspan is for printing models of the exterior only. If you want the interior, you will probably need to model the walls by hand somehow, because with Chief Architect they are created as overlapping hollow shells.