Complete kit of all parts

I am very interested in this project and would very much like to build my own RepRap.

However, I would really appreciate being able to simply order all the parts necessary to speed up the process.

Whilst most of the components are available off the shelf, the PCBs and custom parts would be time consuming to create.

I think you should try to find out how much of a market there would be for this to determine whether it would be practical.

Regards,

Jim

Yes, we are also interested in making a kitset available and we have some people that can do that for us.

There is a little more fine tuning and testing required before we can commit to a larger scale run of kitsets. It would be horrible to get them made up and then find we need to make some changes. Stay tuned though, they will be coming.

And is the kit ready yet?? wanted to build one too but if the kits are comming... i'll wait a bit longer

Great project ! already warming up some friends to get ready to buy kits too and start programming a library of items (is there a library up yet ?)

nm about the library the big words "Object library" the words were read but didnt register

Please, please, please make a kit of parts. Me have PhD in Genetics, but useless with electronics!

wow! it seems like there is quite a bit of excitement about kits. i know it am.

let me just say this: RepRap will be providing kits one way or another. Either as an official thing done under the project or as a side thing I do personally, they will be available =)

I've already decided to start playing around with trying to build one of these - but I wanted to add my interest in a kit.

great! we're probably not quite ready to get to the kit level, but its definitely something i want to pursue in the next month or two and beyond.

the thing with reprap is that a complete kit for the project is pretty large. there are a variety of systems in the robot which are each pretty complex. it might be a good idea to assemble each sub system into a kit and then work up into a larger kit.

Systems:
* Extruder - structure, motor, electronics, nozzle
* 3D Cartesian System - the XYZ axis setup with gears, motors, belts, structure, and electronics.
* Electronics - the boards should probably just go in their own separate category.

What about gearing the motors for that extra bit of positional accuracy?
It seems to me there would be two ways to go about it.
One, instead of directly driving the shaft with the motor, drive a small gear with the motor, and drive the shaft with the gear.

Judging from the picture, this would work for all three axes.

The other method would be to drive a separate shaft with the stepper, but one with a significantly smaller pulley than is used by the actual screw shaft.
This appears to be feasible on at least two of the axes.
If the z-axis belt is toothed, this would either require the base be stretched into a pentagon, reminiscent of the home plate in baseball, (or a child's rendition of a house,) or else, a second belt rapped around one or more of the shafts, but not more than three, and the motor pulley, situated in the middle of the cage.

If the belt is not toothed, it might be possible to position the motor under the platform, and deform the belt into a crude 'c' shape.

Of course, if you gear down all four steppers, and reduce the diameter of the paste stream accordingly, by about 1:10, it might take approximately 1,000 times as long to produce anything. (10x X, * 10x Y, * 10x Z)

Hey, jsut wnated to add that i am very interested in this project, however the website is sort of confusing as to how to get started. Is there any way to get the 3D files of each piece, with dimensions and such that i can convert to .stl later, and more specific instructions on where to begin, material lists, where to get motors, electronics, etc. and the like? Thank you!

james: check the sourceforge page. there you can download all the STL files for darwin. the extruder files are in subversion. we'll make a release at v1.0 that contains all the files.

also, on the wiki, check out the 'how to build it' page which is our 'authoritative' guide so far. if you have any specific questions, we'll be eager to answer them.

> the thing with reprap is that a complete kit for
> the project is pretty large. there are a variety
> of systems in the robot which are each pretty
> complex. it might be a good idea to assemble each
> sub system into a kit and then work up into a
> larger kit.
>

I think that would be the way to go. It would make it easier to get off the ground, and also the sub-systems could be useful for different applications outside reprap. You could even split the Cartesian system into two kits: one for XY control, and one for full XYZ.

> Systems:
> * Extruder - structure, motor, electronics,
> nozzle
> * 3D Cartesian System - the XYZ axis setup with
> gears, motors, belts, structure, and electronics.
> * Electronics - the boards should probably just go
> in their own separate category.

Out of curiousity, is there any estimate as to roughly how much such a kit would cost?

yup. we're basically in our infancy here still with getting the BOM and kits ready to rock. as the project picks up steam, better kits will start to be offered. soon we will be selling kits, and after a bit, we'll sell RP part kits, and then hopefully electronics kits, and soon after that, full extruder kits, then cartesian robot kits, and then finally kits for the entire bot!!!

yup. for raw parts (electronics / mechanics / motors / etc.) we're looking at somewhere around $400 depending on location and such. keep in mind you'll also need various tools to construct it (drill/drill press, saws, power drills, soldering iron, etc.)

fortunately, the estimates and early costs are likely to be the highest cost ever for the machine. as a project, we have a vested interest in the lowest price possible. it means more people building bots, and with more people building bots we can also harness economies of scale, further driving down the prices. for example: the printed circuit boards are $45 / set right now, but if we do an order that is 10x as large, they cost ~$12 for all the boards. very exciting indeed.

This project is exactly what I've been looking for. I have 90% of the skills needed. So a complete BOM would be a great help. I have ideas' for additional uses for the stage assy. A Laser table or even wood working uses. Great Job, thanks for sharing your efforts.

What is the print resolution to these machines?

Thanks
Bill

Hi all
I just find this amazing project and i must say I LIKE it. But short to my self.
Im a German Engineer who live in China for now 5 years i make here productdesign engineering organise production in well controlled factorys. So my idea will be to produce a first volume of RepRaps to initial the selfreproducing or make the dificult parts or kit sets avaiable for all. If some leading member of the Project read my coment and has interesting so feel free to contact me at Peter@vola-p.com sorry my english sucks but i hope this ok

That is a very handsome offer Peter. I am going to put your proposal before the RepRap development team.

heh, you just did... i fired off an email to him. hopefully something comes of this.

I got a small Problem it will be hard to translate the STL files to a Engineering Format means STP SAT IGES maybe someone here can translate the files or save it in one of the formats.
THX
Peter

wow....
this community gets better every day!

Well, in the RepRap repository on sourceforge [sourceforge.net] they have an archive of all the parts in Solid Edge .par and .asm formats under trunk/reprap/miscellaneous/Darwin_part_files/Darwin v3 Solid Edge files (untidied).zip. Are these formats any more helpful to you? If not, someone who owns Solid Edge will I'm sure be able to save them as a STP or IGES, those are really common formats and it would make sense for Solid Edge to be able to export to them for you.

Hi the Solide Edge files i have found allready but is also not really helpfull. SAT STP or IGES will be ok also DWG its a really bad thing with the diferent cad systems solid edge is more for make design or impress a costumer but not really usefull for engineering. Maybe someone can translate the files.
BR
Peter

Here's an interesting tidbit. Adrian? Zach?

[www.techrd.com]

A complete kit of parts would be a very attractive to those of us in countries where cost of parts and availablity can be an issue. Nothing much has been added to this forum for some months - is there anything happening that hasn't been added?

hey brian,

nope, we're working on it. here's a quick rundown of our status:

circuit boards are available from the store. we also should have australian suppliers located for the components. try: [bom.reprap.org]

extruder kits are under production, so those should hopefully be done soon as well. i'll be posting to let you guys know when they are in stock.

the cartesian bot is the last major system that we're working on. we're basically in a test stage at this point. there are about 4-5 sets of darwin part 'in the wild' we are now putting them together and trying to build things. once we are actually successful at printing parts, then we will start offering them for sale on the RRRF store. until then, your best bet is to either buy a commercial 3-axis system, and attach an extruder, or attempt to build one from scratch.

we're definitely working very hard on it, but these things take time. especially when most of us here also work full-time. our stated goal has always been 2008, and i think we're on-track to hit that goal. stick around... its going to be very exciting =)

What type of IGES Peter? 143, 144, IronCad, luses? name the type of IGES system and I will check to see if I can save the STL's in that format.

Roach_S Wrote:
> What about gearing the motors for that extra bit
> of positional accuracy?

Gears introduce slop. For a gear to work, it has to have enough play for the teeth to slip between each other. This introduces errors since you don't have control over the play. That's why you rarely see a stepper motor geared down -- steppers provide precision which gears take away.

Hi!

> store. until then, your best bet is to either buy
> a commercial 3-axis system, and attach an
> extruder, or attempt to build one from scratch.

Where can you buy a commercial 3-axis system? What else, besides the extruder would it need to become a full RepRap machine?



> us here also work full-time. our stated goal has
> always been 2008, and i think we're on-track to
> hit that goal. stick around... its going to be
> very exciting =)

I really hope you hit that goal! I would buy the kit immediately.. Any idea in what range the price for a complete kit would be?


Igor