Parts list

I sadly broke the fan and would like a new nozzle. Anyone that knows where I can purchase them? And RepRap - it might be a good idea to publish a partslist?

I would like the manufacturer and/or Farnell part # for the 3-way header socket connector shell, so that I can replace the 2-way ones supplied with early kits for the hot end fan and y-axis endstop looms.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

@Astute,
In anticipation of possible problems and planning to do some development I contacted RepRap some time ago and Sally Bower sent this (extract) email to me:

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We normally sell our spares through eMAKERshop......,
We aren't currently selling spares for the Ormerod, although some items used in our Huxley and Mendel kits are also in the Ormerod kits.
We have the hot end kits for our Mendel kit as described here:
[www.emakershop.com]

You can email Sally via info at reprappro dot com for price and delivery updates. It is a useful set of spare parts.

@dc42, email Ian and he will send you the empty shells. If you are doing this at the same time as a DUET replacement it will save postage as will combining with any eMAKERshop orders.

All parts for all our kits are available from us; to buy anything, email Sally. We're in the process of updating our website, at which point all parts will be available online. We have marked most things 'out of stock' on emakershop before Christmas, because we were too busy!

Send me an email (or RS, they should be able to supply them now!) to get the 3-way crimp housings. On RS, they are: [uk.rs-online.com]

BoM list: This is a tricky one. We don't publish a full BoM, or specify who our suppliers are. That's our commercial interest. For our customers, the packing list and the parts lists on the bags should be sufficient to identify parts, and for us it's easy to change a bag list, if we modify something. The instructions are specific about all the parts listed for each section, too. While we are an open source company, we don't feel we have to give EVERYTHING away, and make it very easy for other companies to clone our products: I already get emails from people expecting us to support them, when they have bought cheaper, let's-just-say Far East sourced versions of our Huxley and Mendel kits, with a crappy ripped-off copy of our instructions!

Even if you decided to build an Ormerod from scratch, it really isn't difficult to go through the instructions and make a list.

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2013 12:08PM by droftarts.

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droftarts
Even if you decided to build an Ormerod from scratch, it really isn't difficult to go through the instructions and make a list.

So that doesn't do anything to deter cloners then, but it does make RepRapPro less open, and life more difficult for genuine customers alike. The whole point of Open Source and RepRap is to allow cloning. I see that RepRapPro have made use of other peoples Open Source material.

It is always disappointing to see Open Source companies so quickly abandon their principles in order to protect their profits. With RepRapPro doing most of their development in private and with commercial partners, it seems RepRapPro is going the same way as Makerbot.

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What is Open Source?
What is Open Source Hardware?
Open Source in a nutshell: the Four Freedoms
CC BY-NC is not an Open Source license

@bobc

I think you are not fair to RepRapPro (I'm not in any way affiliated with RRP). Makerbot DID CLOSE it's sources - it even deleted a lot of files/ webpages of Makerbot T-O-M - which was build with much help from the community and was open source. They decided to go after the big money and go (semi-)professional. Also have a look what (nearly) happened to Thingiverse and their recent attempts concerning their patents.
It happened I just returned from 30C3 (biggest hacker convention in germany with thousands of participants) and talked to a lot of (3D-printer) people. Bre Pattis is a red flag there because of what he did to the community - I think RRP won't do the same mistake because their target customers are much different (fingers crossed - never say never ). At the convention there was NOT EVEN ONE SINGLE Makerbot product shown/ used (and there were a lot of 3D-printer). I think that says a lot.
It's quite easy to source and replicate the Ormerod and rebuild it using the awesome building instructions (btw the community helped to iron out a lot of things already and still is doing so, just look into this forum).
All firmware is open, all files available, parts are listed in detail with every single step to build. I'm not sure about the licenses maybe one should have a more closer look at that. But at least that is what I call open source.

Markus

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2013 03:18PM by markbee.

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XBee & electronics blog: [lookmanowire.blogspot.com]

Even if it is my own fault (broke the fan and the nozzle seems problematic); getting spares are essential. If you don't see it as an area for earnings.... it is important for me purchasing again.

And a very good saying "It's not what breaks but how fast you fix it - that determines the size of the problem". So if I break a nozzle (that essentially is a very small part of the whole system) - but have a hard time getting it = large problem. If i burn the PCB (that is a larger part of the system) and get easy access and replacement the day after I see this as a small problem.

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bobc
It is always disappointing to see Open Source companies so quickly abandon their principles in order to protect their profits.

I'm nothing to do with RepRap other than a happy customer. I believe this is a great open source example, with excellent documentation and product details. I'm sure I could replicate it if I felt inclined and could add my own features if I wished to, so there is enough information.
Most parts are readily available I don't see the that the level of detail including the supplier info is that important.

What do we get with the current 'open source' arrangement?
Great responsive support from RepRap. The project is evolving at a great rate of knots.
Excellent product design by a good team (including the community).
Special parts available (fan, nozzle and much more) [www.emakershop.com] at a reasonable price.

To get this level of action they do need to fund their team or we would just get the slow plodding response like some of the non-commercial open source projects. For me this has been a great experience venturing into open source 3D printing.

@Astute: You can order any part from us via email, and we'll get it to you as quick as we can. emakershop has always just had the most popular parts. Our new website will have everything.

@bobc: If you feel like asking Adrian Bowyer or Jean-Marc to release the full BoM, and why they have "abandon[ed] their principles in order to protect their profits", email info at reprappro dot com. But really, I think you're making a massive issue out of a tiny thing that isn't a commercial decision. As you point out, it's not hard to assemble a BoM from the instructions, but at least by going through the instructions, anyone self-sourcing (which we absolutely support and encourage) will have a really good feel for what they are going to build. The only commercial part is not specifying our suppliers. I don't see why we should make it transparently easy for larger companies than us to clone our products and compete purely on price, not on service, which has been our experience in the past.

Ian
RepRapPro tech support