Which RepRap 3D printer to build?

Hi

So I am doing a university project building a RepRap 3D printer and was wondering which would be the best to build? Ideally one that is relatively cheap,easy to make and easy to source parts for.

Thanks

Jonathan

Is the goal of the project to build someone else's design and essentially learn about where to find parts, or is it to design a printer and learn something about mechanical design and where to find parts?

Do you have access to tools? Machine tools (mill, lathe, etc.)?

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

What other features do you need? heated bed, lcd, what hotend do you want, etc.
What precision do you want? What are you trying to demonstrate?

Building a RepRap from scratch will not be cheaper than buying a RepRap cloner kit from china,
it is VERY hard to be cheaper than a TronXY X1, or Prusa clone.

Buying one off parts from ebay is more $ than the chinamakers buying in bulk prices.

Or what parts do you already have available to you? extrusions? wood or metal shop? bearings?

Quote
JonathanC
Hi

So I am doing a university project building a RepRap 3D printer and was wondering which would be the best to build? Ideally one that is relatively cheap,easy to make and easy to source parts for.

Thanks

Jonathan

Business school ?

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"A comical prototype doesn't mean a dumb idea is possible" (Thunderf00t)

yes the goal of the project to build someone else's design, learn about where to find parts, learn about the Reprap community and come up with some alterations to the design and validate these alterations. I have access to some tools provided by the uni like laser cutter, 3d printers, drills, saws, etc.

First lesson: a lot of the parts come from China. Lunar New Year is upon us, which shuts down everything in China, including shipping your parts, for about a month. You can get parts from other sources if you're willing to pay more.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2018 12:40PM by the_digital_dentist.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

So perhaps best to pick a design that needs a lot of improvements.

If you have access to a laser cutter/ 3d printer, go for an ultimaker 1 clone ! (and change the hotend for an E3D this is a very good machine even today. It won't be the cheapest, but the print quality is very good.

Otherwise you could go for a Prusa clone, follow thomas salanderer video and cut the frame with a laser cutter... [www.youtube.com]

I Mysef build a kossel XL, the delta machine are very interesting in terms of design... And the print quality is better than my ultimaker 2
But if it's your first experience, it will certainly not be that easy...

For around 500 euros you can build pretty much anything...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2018 04:03PM by Archiclem.

If one of your learning goals is supply chain, you will get an eye opener.

I also would suggest a prusa type, and Tom Sanladers videos will be a good start, there are several others out there too RCJOSEB shows several machine builds in excrutiating detail.

Tuning and troubleshooting will be your main headaches with a scratch build.

Smartrap on thingiverse, more an ecosystem than one machine, starts out simple, the number of mods is mind boggling.
I have revised almost all the parts in CAD, original author only put out STL files, using SolveSpace as CAD.

This where I learned and still learning about parts supplies now. china.

Good luck.

Another excellent video series is by Tech2C on youtube, building a CoreXY machine.

He researches and compares results of steel, aluminum and carbon fiber as guide rods.

Amazing work.