RepRap build, £500 budget

Hi

So I've an unexpected £500 (€603/$795) available, lucky me!

Could I do a decent RepRap Mendel build with that budget? I would prefer to take more of an assemble-from-kits approach rather than DIY from the ground up - simply because I want to use what limited time I have doing the projects I'd like to use the RepRap with rather than building the thing itself for months!

When I say kits I mean parts kits, not a complete single kit solution. I want to make an actual RepRap rather than a variant.

Thanks
Jim

See Mendel-parts.com for hardware.

Otherwise you need Gen3 Electronics and stepper motors.

Since you listed pounds (£) first I will assume you are in England so you might try the United Kingdom User Groups for information from people located where you are.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2010 11:04AM by rhmorrison.

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Jim,

On ebay I have seen a Laser cut mendel kit for 800 dollars. The Nice thing about this kit is you can build it, print your parts off, then sell the wood back on ebay for somebody else to build one. The biggest problem with the mendel is sourcing the plastic parts. Everybody want $400 USD for the parts ( I can understand why 32 hours of printing!) But a person in England sells these cast part that I have heard good reviews about

[cgi.ebay.com]

You might be able to contact him for a direct buy?

If you are in a hurry buy the Makerbot Gen 3 electronics, but if you wait a couple of weeks the gen 4 electronics should be coming out. And for the hardware I would suggest Mendel-part.com

[www.mendel-parts.com]

Mark F

$800 (sorry I am American), at that price you COULD afford a Techzone or Makerbot kit, but I think there is a better way to spend your money.

1st check the Hackerspace Map and see if there is one within a decent trip of you. If there is try to partner with them to get started

2nd mine the RepRap and Makerbot google maps, and try to get again someone within a reasonable distance to help you, and print your parts in trade for supplies (plastic, nozzles, electroncis etc)

3rd If those fail buy your Electroncis & motors 1st, they will operate the same no matter what kit you build. Get them going. (That will cost you $150 if you try to be a trailblazer with the Arduino Mega/Pololu route, and $250-300 if you go the Makerbot/TEchzone route).

THEN after you have your electroncis get your RP, or Lasercut, or Cast parts. The reason I say hold off is the overall price of these kits are being driven down by competition, the longer you wait to get your structural parts, the cheaper they will be.

Remember the cardinal rule, unless you have seen MANY non affiliated with the seller people successfully build a kit or a design, don't give them your money. This is open source, there is no official, there is no guarantee.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

RE: Techzone Laser Cut Mendel

I bought one of those on eBay and strongly advise NOT to give them any money, especially if you live outside driving range to their HQ as they do have serious issues with running their business.

From my experience, they sell something they have not in stock, so you will have to wait for months until you get something they say it was a complete kit.
I have been waiting for them to deliver since May and they still have not fulfilled what they were supposed to. They sent me an incomplete kit with a note that there would be "a couple of days delay" until I got the extruder - this was 6 weeks after I paid for the kit.

A further 6 weeks down the line, I am still waiting for missing parts of their so-called "complete kit". They sent me a geared extruder kit without the heating element, for instance, and they will not answer any of the emails I sent to resolve the problem. On top of that, the extruder parts are poorly designed and manufactured, which means the kit you get is not going to work unless you resolve serious misalignment problems.

Even if you got lucky to get a complete kit, you will still have to handle the very poor build quality not to mention the almost endless design flaws.
You need to have a well-equipped workshop to get anywhere near to making their design work and please bear in mind that there is very little documentation on the web and nil support from Techzone (I don't even want to start thinking of the problems I could face with the electronics as I still haven't had the time to setup a test board since I received the missing controller a few weeks ago).

I have put this project on halt (case still pending, eBay customer support has to sort it out now) and ordered a RepMan kit from UK based Bitsfrombytes. Even if their kit is both above your budget and not a Mendel, you should still consider going down that route as it could spare you a lot of time and money on the long run.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2010 02:04AM by LittleGreenMan.

Hi Jim,

I think my build has cost me less than £500 so far (I am in the UK) and I think i have everything, most expensive bits are ;RP parts - mine cost £150 for the cast parts, Electronics also £150, and £50 for the motors, the rest you should be able to get for less than £150 but it will be close, actually the belts can be pricey. I'll have to see if I can put an itemised list together to see how much it hass all cost.

You could say that my Mendel will not be an actual RepRap because the RP parts are cast not printed, but it will certainly look like one and be able to print it's own replacement parts.

If you want an easy to build kit then cast parts are probably not a good idea there is alot of drilling involved.

http://jsrreprap.blogspot.com/

JSR

Quote

If you want an easy to build kit then cast parts are probably not a good idea there is alot of drilling involved.

This entirely depends on how these casts are done. Casted parts can easily be more precise and stronger than reprapped ones. For precision holes in casted parts put steel rods into the molds, which are to be removed after the material hardened. For strength, add something like cotton flocks or short glass fibers into the resin.

That said, drilling predefined holes isn't exactly a complex task if you're proud owner of a drill press.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

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Casted parts can easily be more precise and stronger than reprapped ones.

They could be, but not if the moulds are made from reprapped patterns.

[jsrreprap.blogspot.com]

[kevins3dprinter.blogspot.com]

Nor are they strong, ABS reprapped parts would not break in the post.

[jsrreprap.blogspot.com]

The common thermoset casting materials are more brittle than ABS. Has anybody completed a machine with these parts?

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

From what I have read in many different forums on " RepRap" commercially bought kits and components seems people are lining someone else's pockets

It can be very frustrating dealing with people from far distance countries and specially once you have handed them your hard earned money.

If one opts to buy a kit form to cut corners and save some time that is their choice. Waiting in excess of 6 to 10 weeks for a reply one could of made the component from a scrap piece of plastic and possible better than the purchased unit. Bad business practises can be scary to deal with.

The parts should be available in drawing software ( correct me if I'm wrong ?? maybe it is available already but I'm not aware of it ??? " that is freely available to the hobbyist and people just make their own components. Like many ideas that start of as a hobby ( open sourced help ) most turn to a commercially viable financially rewarding profit making machine.

Maybe the first RepRap does produce 50% of its own components but one must ask was it, "the egg before the chicken or the chicken before the egg "? Well who cares ???

Reading all these threads/post makes me more and more hesitant in purchasing a kit form of anyone. Define the word " reputable businessman ???"

Head down bum up still continuing to read more and more before i dive into the deep waters, my 2c worth

Any Melb Australian members on this forum ??

cheers

Thanks for the helpful replies everybody.

By "kits" I guess I mean kits "of parts" such as the stuff on Mendel-Parts.com rather than all-in-one solutions.

FTV GTp: I am in Gosford (100km north of Sydney) and drive up and down to the Gold Coast & Brisbane regularly. I have started puting my parts together and intend to do a timber (pine) version of my own something along the lines of the MakerBot. I don't have the motors yet so mayeb we can get them together. Also, I am going to build my own electronics (that's my real interest) based on a Propeller chip - should also be cheaper in the long run.

Forgot to mention I will be using the same stepper x4 (so stepper for the extruder) although I don't have a specific one in mind except it will be NEMA17 size. I have some ideas for the extruder so expect to craft my own.

The threaded 7.97mm (5/16") rod is available from Bunnings. However, I have not found 7.97mm or 8mm round bar yet (only 6mm) at Bunnings.

Ray

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2010 08:35PM by cluso99.

FTV_GTp: Yup. A number of us Australians here, and I'm in Melb... I'm actually in the process of building my Mendel (no where near finished, and found I'm missing a few key things which are currently shipping or that I'm yet to purchase). I've got all the RP bits though. Work and other things have intruded into my build time.

FTV_GTp: Also check out CCHS (Melbourne Hackespace). They've got a Makerbot and are printing parts for a Mendel. There are other Hackerspaces around the country that are also either building Mendels (eg: HSBNE has theirs going, but needs calibration and tweaking) or working on similar stuff. Plus, the Hackerspaces are a great wealth of knowledge.

cluso99: Apparently 5/16" stainless steel bar is used a bit in marine applications. You might want to look to marine places.

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nophead
They could be, but not if the moulds are made from reprapped patterns.

All the samples you kindly provided are nowhere near what can be achieved with casting. Sorry for the gentlemen blogging about their work, but those parts look worse than anything else casted I've seen yet. It's really a matter of good mold preparation and adequate material. Well done, parts casted at room temperature are even more precise than injection molded parts.

For a good sample, see [reprap.org] .

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY