CopperRap

Ive been messing with the idea of building my own Reprap for quite some time now, and Ive finally got round to making a start, introducing... CopperRap!

Ive used 15mm copper pipe and copper pipe fittings for the main frame, and Ive got to decide whether I solder the fittings or glue them on.

Im going to use 17mm drawer runners to hold the XY table, you can see them in the photo. The basic frame is 550mm long so I will be able to slide a table about 300mm square in between the uprights. The X stepper will be fixed to the base and the Y stepper will be fixed to the XY table and will move with it.

The Z direction will be fixed to the uprights and uses the smaller drawer runners. Initially, I will use a dremel as a milling attachment, and will move onto extruding later.

Im building a stepper driver to plug into an Arduino. I can then play with the software side of things, no idea which direction I will go in but I do like the idea of using a web based app to control the Arduino, driven with PHP.

I will be setting up a web site to chart the progress but will also post updates here as Im sure there will be lots of mistakes that you guys can spot before I make them!

Great site, project and community, thanks for the inspiration!

Phil

Hi Phil,
Mine is in MDF - and yes, changing from plumbing pipe has led to a few problems.
I tripped up on the MDF being thinner than the original pipe, so that meant that the screws going through the x-stage (holding the roller bearings, or in my case PTFE disks) hit against the floor = x-stage doesn't move.

Ditto with the y-stage above the x-stage, because I used the disks, which means that I have to use 2 screws where roller bearings only require one and therefore a different length screw. Which catches on the stage below.

So watch what you change!

Have fun doing it, however you do it. Good luck. I'll keep a look out for your progress.

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Hazel

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