Price of a Mendel - realistic

Hi everyone. First post here.
Im surprised that after 1600 topics I did a search and found no topic with the "price" related.
So mine has one now. I have basically three newbie questions:

1) Whats a realistic price for setting this up with a kit, printer, etc.

2) Will someone with no previous knowledge realistically manage to build one

3) Being made of plastic, will it work on small pieces of wood?

Thanks for your inputs
Luis

i am not sure apout the price, i think most people are more or less charging for time from the better people.

i would not suggest this project to just anyone just yet, there are still allot of hickups in the firmware and software that get some people flustered, but if your the type who likes to learn how things work, and likes to trouble shoot than i would suggest this one for ya. if not look at makerbot or a up printer.

yes there is a few designs for wood out there. there was a new one out there i liked but i am unable to find it now, it only had 2 sized pieces of wood you needed to cut

Price / Cost call it what you like, but it all depends on how hard you are prepared to work and your own view of how much things like this should take to get running and then the cost to keep them running.

1) -
If you want a full unassembled kit with electronics and motors, then 650 - 800 Euro's

But you can get the plastic parts for under £100 and build up a set of RAMPS electronics and a MEGA motherboard for about £60 and these are all simple modules you just need to solder together and make up some cables.
Motors and all the fixings can cost £150 or less.

In reality it will cost you at least £400 before you get printing in you are in the UK.

2) -
Yes, if you have no experience of software and electronics there is no reason you can't still build this up, you may just need to buy more of the pre-made parts like extruder and hot-end parts if you don't fancy doing the harder bits.
The rest of it is like building Lego (sort of)
You will need to learn things and follow steps on the Wiki

Take a look at the new visual build manual - it's really good -

3) - Do you mean will it mill / machine small bits of wood or do you want to make a Mendel out of small bits of wood?

Good luck and glad to have you onboard.

Rich.

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[richrap.blogspot.com]

The Price and difficulty depends also on the design you choose: Sells Mendel (original Mendel), Prusa Mendel or Huxley.
The Prosa is probobly the best choice out of the three for a beginner

There is this 1 reprap 1x2

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You can take a look at this blog post, a little dated but still a good start for price.
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