Just build it!

I apologize for bursting in here and shouting out statements ;-), but I believe I found the reason why my RepRap is still not producing parts. Maybe this post helps the one or other reader who is stuck in the middle, just like me.

I am a perfectionist. If I build something, I want the result to be reliable, repeatable, and perfect (a very German way to approach a project, I admit).

But RepRap is different in one very important way: RepRap is the machine that *will* build the perfect part for me. But to do that, I have to get it running first.

So my advice is: just build it. Who cares if the first extruder design is made from scrap wood and will last no more than four parts. As long as two of those parts are a new, better extruder ;-)

Happy building, Matthias

Heh. I'm also a bit obsessive, and, while that may perhaps be a bit of a motivator to build the RepRap in the first place (to get precision, computer-controlled part production), it has slowed my RepStrap progress a bit (more than a bit, actually).

Thanks, that's excellent advice. It's nice that it's coming from someone other than myself (my right brain does nag me so).

matt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Who cares if the
> first extruder design is made from scrap wood and
> will last no more than four parts. As long as two
> of those parts are a new, better extruder ;-)
>

I'm milling my own extruder design parts will the Tommelise 2.0 positioning robot.

I've got a Darwin more or less running. It's using the PIC electronics and the 0.8.3 software. It's not the latest version of everything and it's not pretty but it's stable.

For the most part, I "just built it". I wasn't too picky about most things. As far as I can tell, the two places where attention to detail matter most are the extruder and the bed alignment. Everything else is fairly forgiving.