SpaceXULA Union

I have found out that of the sets of Mendel I have printed, only 1/2 have been assembled at all, and NONE are printing. No matter what people think, there is no money in printing Mendels, or honestly any RepRap, even if it was only 2 hours to print, you couldn't really "get your money back". I print parts for people because I want to spread the hobby, obviously I have failed.
I am starting a Credit Union for Reprap over at the Reprap Wiki. I came up with a very original name for it SpaceXULA Union.

[reprap.org]

Here are the terms:
The Fees:
$100 Mini Mendel (Current Version as [www.thingiverse.com] back if you replace within a month)
$30 Prinstruder II [www.thingiverse.com] back if you replace within a month)
$40 Wades Extruder [www.thingiverse.com] back if you replace within a month)
The "Terms"
-To receive parts you must have Hacker space or group with multiple members (And have some way to confirm this to SpaceXULA's satisfaction).
-You must promise to form a bank once you have an operating RepRap.
-You must pay a deposit before I send the parts
-You must be within the United States (Sorry, Import dues make international shipping unfair to the receiver)
The Benefits
-SpaceXULA promises to support you though to completion of your project, you are getting a relationship. You get the parts, and if you need more parts because you break them, or the design changes before you can get your own printer operational, he will provide them as 1st priority prints.
-If SpaceXULA receives a set of parts back from you within 1 month of the day you receive the parts, he will PayPal back to you 1/2 the cost of the part to you.
If your interested, please add your RepRap Wiki user name under Aplicant, and I will contact you right away.
I have 5 Wades Extruders, 2 Prinstruder II, and 1/2 of a Mini Mendel ready to go.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

I have found out that of the sets of Mendel I have printed, only 1/2 have been assembled at all, and NONE are printing. No matter what people think, there is no money in printing Mendels, or honestly any RepRap, even if it was only 2 hours to print, you couldn't really "get your money back". I print parts for people because I want to spread the hobby, obviously I have failed.

Spacexula, I appreciate the sentiment, and your current sense of frustration. I think NopHead went through the same process.

Any interest in helping bootstrap the RepRap Loaner Program?
It is sort of the same idea.

I'd suggest you try "Donate 1 to the loaner program (in the care of a RepRap User Group), Sell 3 at full market price on ebay, Donate 1 ... "

It may be more rewarding and effective than your current strategy

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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!

SebastienBailard Wrote:
> Any interest in helping bootstrap the RepRap
> Loaner Program?
> It is sort of the same idea.

When I asked why they didn't put the part together, they said "I don't have the money", or they "got distracted". I sold most of those sets for $100-$200. I lost significant money on them, because I wanted the help spread the hobby.

I can't get with the Loaner program because I really need some type of money to reimburse my family for costs of plastics, electricity, and replacement parts. This hobby is only funded by the product of the hobby, so giving 60 hours worth of spare parts and plastic away means I could eventually get stuck spending my food money on plastic

The Loaner program you have set up leaves no skin in the game for the persons that gets the parts. Mine stimulates them to reproduce the parts, in the hope of getting their money back. Also by restricting to groups it means that (hopefully) it's less likely to be dropped.

I want the sets I distribute to be built, and to make more baby printers.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

... I'd suggest you try "Donate 1 to the loaner program (in the care of a RepRap User Group), Sell 7 at full market price on ebay, Donate 1 ... "

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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'm confused why you think there is no market and that you can't "get your money back". Just because people don't follow through and actually finish a Mendel doesn't mean the money they paid you didn't get deposited in your bank account. If you sell at less than the market is willing to throw away... er I mean pay you because you want to help spread the hobby might make it harder to break even. I applaud your efforts and I'd also suggest Sebastien's idea to sell/give away 1 for every few you sell at full market price. I've sold several Wade extruders (plus hardware nuts and bolts, etc) through ebay and those kits regularly and easily sell for about $50 or more. I also always have it listed for $40 on etsy, but I still get more sales on ebay. I think that's kind of crazy, but hey if thats what the market decides, more power to them. I know of at least one person who says it has gotten their mendel to actually print, so I'm happy. I sold a set of Mendel parts a few months ago and so far as I know, it still isn't finished and they haven't replied to my last email, which makes me sad. However, these people are funding my hobby now and I'm very grateful that it lets me do more experimentation!

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Tony Buser http://tonybuser.com * http://reprap.org/wiki/User:Tbuser#Projects

It takes an enormous amount of time to put one of these things together.
It is also easy to get stuck.
I applaud your decision to "support" through completion.
That should be of enormous benefit to anyone taking up your offer.
I bought (paid for) a Techzone kit back in the middle of May. Between waiting for it to arrive, assembling it, working out how to get around various design issues, finding the appropriate firmware, understanding the various software packaged involved, I only just attempted (and failed dismally) my first print last weekend. As it stands, I have an extruder that doesnt extrude well, and I'm not sure where to go next. If you have advice on what I should do extruder wise, that would be great. I have been quite persistent and it has still taken me more than 2 months to fully assemble my non-functional mendel.

As one of the many people who have bought stuff from nophead, I too got stuck in my build. Unfortunately, as much as I'd like life to just put stuff on hold so I could finish it, things such as moving house, being ill, and being sent interstate on work jobs can't always be put off, and they all take priority over my Mendel build.

Fortunately for me, I'm back in the building phase. Now excuse me while I go out into the garage and cut down the steel rod I have, as for some reason it's all 5mm too long. :/

Hi Cefiar,
I don't think it will matter if the rods are 5mm longer as long as the jigged distances are correct. Most rods will simply project a few mm from their brackets, or nuts. I think only the x-bars will clash with anything if they are too long.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Sebastian has convinced me. I will go back to selling, but I am going to give away stuff also. It just really ticked me off. We have so many people that REALLY want to do this hobby, and some people with the money to play at the idea. Still going to offer the Union though.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

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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!

Don't let it get you down. How many corvettes are in the hands of "drivers" that couldn't drive their way out of a grocery store parking lot? How many 12 inch telescopes are in attics of guys that have looked at mars and jupiter and then given up? How many RV kit planes are gathering dust in hangars around the world? How many GHz digital storage oscilloscopes are sitting in basements because the owner can't figure out how to turn it on? (OK probably none It comes with the territory. And don't discount the fact that this hobby is pretty hard. It's easy once you've done it, but before then there are so many things to figure out. It takes either an extremely focused and intense effort over weeks by an experienced tinkerer, or a months long plodding effort by someone less focused and/or less skilled.
And there is still hope for the parts you sold. I am an occasional tinkerer too, so many of my projects get sidelined by the newest most interesting project of the picosecond (short attention span). I generally return to them eventually. If not they will end up given away once the owner decides it's too much and someone else will finish them (someone gets a free set and you still got paid . Plus many of those guys also bought electronics, motors and stuff before running into the problem that stalled the build, so our supply chain is still growing even if the projects are on hold.
So far I have given away two sets, one is still at step 0 many months later. No big deal. When the muse sings he'll start. The other is grinding away trying to re-purpose printer driver boards. That's cool too. And even if they don't complete a printer they will know a lot more about reprap than they did before and they might just be the one to turn someone else onto the hobby.

OK that was way too long.

BTW Sebastian, how is that loaner program going? It looks a little dead on the wiki. Have there been very many requests?