Next RepRap

I've been lurking for a long time, but haven't read everything on the wiki - perhaps should have read the history section. But anyway:

Who decides on the next RepRap - I know its a community project but someone must be spearheading it.
When will be the next RepRap - fairly open ended question - and where do I learn of its development - probably the development section

Thanks

Who decides on the next RepRap - I know its a community project but someone must be spearheading it.

Bwahahahaahah!

Do one up in the wiki and then I'll flip a switch on the webserver and tell everyone they should be printing yydoctt-mendels and selling yydoctt-electronics to the punters.

And then we'll all have a laugh and they'll print and sell whatever they like.

I think we're technically a crypto-meritocracy.

We keep telling Adrian that he's in charge and needs to tell us what to do, but he keeps telling us it's not so.

So if you do up a new machine, some nice electronics, or new materials/processes, those are probably spearheading the project.

Please tell me if you want me to order to you to do up some electronics.

- and where do I learn of its development - probably the development section
The official reprap-dev mailing list. It's compulsory to read it since you're now an official develpoper:
http://lists.reprap.org/mailman/listinfo/reprap-dev

Welcome aboard!

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

and where do I learn of its development - probably the development section
http://reprap.org/wiki/Special:RecentChanges
is good. Otherwise you'll miss out on stuff like
http://reprap.org/wiki/Electrochemical_Machining
which is being done up in the german forum.
http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?35,83032,83290#msg-83290

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

Interesting thanks for the links.
No, not a dev, just these things interest me.. no yydoctt-extruders or mendels, im afraid, though it is for the best

yydoctt Wrote:
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> No, not a dev, just these things interest me..

Everyone is a dev :-)

Yup. We made it a rule.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2011 04:33AM by SebastienBailard.

I dont think there will be a definitive "Next version"

I see the sells Mendel staying relatively the same for a while. the prusa and huxley maturing/evolving for a while, and a few others sprouting up in parallel. I think there may be more divergence over time as the project grows rather than a straight line. This will undoubtedly make it more difficult for a newcomer without a mentor. Luckily I think the mentor system is in full effect between vendors, friends, hackerspaces, universities.

This will undoubtedly make it more difficult for a newcomer without a mentor.
Not necessarily.

We can easily have a few "popular flavors" which will accumulate good documentation in the wiki.

The more a machine breeds in the wild, the more people will want to polish the docs.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

I think although there are a lot of different ideas around for how to expand RepRap, it will all boil down to which prints the best 3D - and the community will follow that.
I think that some of these other ideas are fantastic, pcb printing, pick and place, etc and I think they will become their own projects before becoming refined and sometime later down the road joining back up with the RepRap development. That's when DIY will overtake the professional solutions (perhaps not in print quality but in terms of rapid prototyping).

As it stands now, I'm not a fan of what Makerbot and Ultimaker are doing - I prefer their machines to RepRap (well I prefer ultimaker, not makerbot) but elevating the price by using non-standard parts is not progress, in my opinion. Standardised parts, if utilised properly, will always provide a more stable structure. I can't understand the laser cut wood - is warping really not going to be an issue, then again I live in a sauna AKA Hong Kong.
Why does nobody use misumi extrusions? It's so cheap, strong and readily available....

yydoctt Wrote:
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> Why does nobody use misumi extrusions? It's so
> cheap, strong and readily available....

They are! But then there is much less of your Reprap that can self replicate, which is one of the nice ideas behind it.
[www.reprap.org]
The repraps don't need to be quite so heavy as something like a mill or router, as the tool head is generally lighter and it is not pushing through a material to cut it. So the frame can be light and cheap, and a few bits of plastic and some metal rods is cheaper than extrusions. The larger expense is the electronics and motors. I'm looking to build a CNC router after I finish my reprap, and will most probably use aluminium extrusion rather than MDF for that, certainly worth it once you get past a certain size, though we don't suffer the humidity problems you have in HK here in the UK.

Ahh true true, I forgot about the self replicating goal, I was more speaking about Makerbot and Ultimaker though - as their wooden structures aren't self replica-table (word?) - They are however, very nice pieces of design.

I'm trying to decide which printer to get actually - Makerbot seems like the least value for money - as RepRap appears to have a better print quality and a larger stage. RepRap is too hard to source - though with a couple of kits - nopheads plastics combined with Ultimachines RAMPS and someone else's Rods, bearings etc. Could be doable without breaking the bank.
Ultimaker looks like the best print quality with best speed and big stage, and also comes in a complete kit - Though is gastronomically priced...

I think I'm leaning toward RepRap Prusa but there are no RAMPS kits anywhere - is Ultimachine the only place to get them?

you can make a ramps, ultimachine is supposed to have a new board soon.

I have RAMPS boards available

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reprapworld.com
PLA, ABS, PETG multiple colors (3 and 1.75 mm) €16,49 / kg
Megatronics 3.0 €79.99 / Minitronics €37,19

Since this is a thread on next gen repraps (and no one has mentioned any specific ones I thought I might as well chime in with the ones I will be watching. You should check out the Orca by mendelparts.com and the hacklab revision of the prusa mendel. Orca is supposedly comming out soon and is to be cheap and high quality, and the hacklab bot has seen some recent dev work and I'm hoping it will have a testable version soon. Orca might be the entry level commercial kit to beat in the near future, and hacklab has done some amazing work getting the printed parts print times way down, so I think it will attract a lot of interest from would be prusa builders. I'm hoping for an 8h, 1 plate, "all parts" tray sometime in the near future. Hacklab might be the bot to do it.

I see it as a bootstrap process. Right now reprap is focused on getting a cheap, self-replicating device out there. But In the longer run, self-replication as such isn't why we want the machine.

We want the machines in order to create other things. We want people to have them in order to enable other people to create other things. And, ideally, we'd like there to be no limit to the things that we can create with these devices. The ultimate goal isn't just a plastic extruder, it's a fully automated shop or factory with "economies of scale" that apply to short runs or single-item production.

So the reprap itself is just an early stage in the bootup process for a complete shop. Maybe you can reprap a drill press. Maybe you can use the drill press and the reprap to make a mill. Maybe you can use the mill and the drill press and the reprap to make a vacuum forming table. Maybe you can use all of that stuff to create a pick-and-place robot. And so on. Maybe eventually you have all the stuff you need to produce the 'vitamin kits' -- the non-reprappable parts of all the things you've built so far -- and robots that can automatically assemble them into finished products.

To me, it's the shop, not any individual device, that needs to be able to produce (and ASSEMBLE, damnit) all of its own parts. And, of course, all the other devices we want to build.

Bear

bryanandaimee - Great information - I actually stumbled upon the Orca last night. Although its an interesting build I'm not sure whether it's any better than a Prusa. The prints are fast but there is a lot of strings, zero flow control. I suppose there isn't enough information on it yet to make a decision.

progomez (http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?94,76220) is making a £299 printer with a work area of 150x150x120 - looks makerbot style but cleaner. I'm following this one quite closely.

I hadn't seen anything on the hacklab version so thanks for pointing me toward it, I couldn't actually find all too much on it - but will follow it also.

Bear - I think some people are very focused on the self-replicating nature of the RepRap, it was one of the initial goals after all. It is the machines that have dispelled the want to self-replicate that have a lot of potential right now - but then again the Prusa is still way up with them.

I don't know if the goal will change but It's certainly handy to be able to print yourself another printer at any time So I sit on the fence on that one.

Sorry, most of the cool pics and explanation of the hacklab bot has been on the blog. Here ya go. [blog.reprap.org]

Hadn't seen the progomez bot yet. That looks great!

If the BUZZ is correct the ORCA is a much easier machine to build and get calibrated!
I am myself VERY interested in that machine.. But I guess time will tell what rely happens!
For me I think a good sized printing area is very high on my list... like Ultimaker and Mendel.
Does anyone know the size the ORCA will have?

Buzz? I didn't think there was one - after much forum stalking and wiki browsing it was only yesterday I saw it. Think its been in development since start of the year. From what I've seen on mendel-parts forum, it doesn't appear that everyone is all too pleased with the service either. That's not to say the Orca is not awesome - but if you watch the videos I'm not sure it is (lots and lots of web)
I think its a 200x200 build area but there are no specs yet. Mendel-parts is already selling a kit V0.2 (as apparently there is a big want), but V0.3 is the most current. V0.1 is in the videos (they seemed to have skipped showing 0.2 in any way) 0.3 may be the best thing ever made, ever. Who knows. I'm going to follow it but don't see it to be as promising as you do.