My RepStrap is up and running!

I have completed the wonderful cupcake CNC kit and am happily extruding objects. I hope to start work on a real next generation reprap soon. It seems a shame to just have it sitting there a lot of the time, I should have it spitting out reprap parts to give out.

It would be cool if there was some site for people to sign up and list what parts they need, once people that have repstraps/raps print parts, they can send them to the person at the top of the list, with the understanding that when you complete your reprap, you contribute at least 2 sets of parts back to the people on the list.

It can work for more than just extruded parts, for instance I have various gen 1 and gen 2 electronics boards I don't need any more and would send out as well.

Sounds like a very good idea.

What continent/country are you in (postal-wise)?

Marcus

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I would gladly take some of the electronics off your hands. I could also use a set of printed parts for a pinch wheen extruder or a normal extruder. I am in the middle of my repstrap build (mcwire variation) and the extruder is what is holding me back.

I've been debating between a lasercut repstrap and a Darwin. I'd go darwin if I can find someone with parts! I actually have someone locally who wants the first set of parts I print, too!

(wisconsin area)

I can't believe it. John, you had the exact same idea I had verbatim, including the 2:1 ratio. Except, you had it first :p

I must be psychic ._.

I have a server and some coding skills.. perhaps I should make up this site. I was thinking of using the google maps API so people can plot their approximate positions on the map.

First thing's first though. I'm going to get the acrylic repstrap I bought up and running.. one project at a time ^.^

John Meacham Wrote:
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> It would be cool if there was some site for people
> to sign up and list what parts they need, once
> people that have repstraps/raps print parts, they
> can send them to the person at the top of the
> list, with the understanding that when you
> complete your reprap, you contribute at least 2
> sets of parts back to the people on the list.

There is the RepRap marketplace for that, or did you mean something else?

If you're trading for money and such then the reprap marketplace forum or ebay would be best, but I believe John and I are thinking that it would be nice to have a tracking system for people to be able to search for the closest person willing to give some away for free (With the understanding that you'll give at least 2 away for free in return) and tracking those contributions.

Might be nice to track people with completed machines, whether or not they got the parts that way.

Imagine meetup.com combined with the reprap marketplace.

That is a good idea. I can't find anyone with parts to give at cost, so I am just going to build a RepStrap and use it to make my parts. If you guys get this set up I will happily contribute two sets at cost!

This idea of one person helping to build another two is great but I don't see it working. There has to be an incentive a reason to give. How about the following plan.

Step 1
Someone uploads a picture of themselves with a table full of all the non-reprapable required parts to build the reprap. This shows serious intent as they have put effort into obtaining the parts not just a whimsical wish to make a reprap.

Step 2
Someone with a reprap provides them with the reprapable parts with the understanding that they will provide two people with the latest reprapable parts.

Step 3
If they don't provide two people with the latest reprapable parts then they are added to the wall of shame. (picture from step 1)
The wall of shame is an html page of all the people who broke the chain and therefore the trust of the community. The first picture on the page is the last person to break the chain. Maybe a javascript program to throw virtual tomatoes at them as well.

Obviously you need someone to start the thing off and an organisational website to connect reprap wannabe to reprap owner.

Is this too evil a structure?

regards

Stephen

I would do the opposite. Make a Reprap family tree page were you would see the parent machine with all it childes and grand-childes etc...

Stephen,

Just my two cents, but shaming people can quickly turn to bad mouthing, and cause people to look down on a project. However I love the idea of posting a sharing site and tracking who shares parts, you could even use this to make a "RepRap family tree" (In a visual format), it would look really awesome and the incentive to share your parts could be to see how your two contributions spawned many many more?

personally, i quite like this idea. (not the tomato throwing but the karma-enhancing paying-it-forward spore-seeds-spreading-in-the-wind idea)

i had a notion like this when i first found out about the site earlier in the year. we've had basically the same idea, give away two sets on the condition that they do what we did, namely give away two sets to someone who will....yay recursion! simplest way of doing it is just have a list of people who put their hand up to receive a parts kit. to get on the list just post a photo with all the additional stuff you need (which is more expensive, but easier to get a hold of) and state location. once they've got it up and running, say within 3 months, then they send it off to whoever's next on the list. if they don't get it done in time or situations change then they can just pass on what they received, because, lets face it, things can change, and you might not get any notice about it. but if you've got all the parts, getting it running inside of 3 months should be quite simple. especially given the level of support for it.

if you've already got one, you can add yourself to the donor list where the receivers go once they've got their stuff. payment of shipping may be an issue, personally i thought it might be an idea to send one internationally and one to your own country, that way it can spread more, and the shipping costs are more even. and spreading out helps the exponential growth factor.

probably the biggest reason i like this concept is that it involves a whole bunch of people giving things away to people they've never met with the full understanding that they will get nothing back for it. this is a nice, simple definition of karma in the modern age: giving someone the ability to give. this means that every time someone gives another set of parts that you're an ancestor, you're getting karma for it. is it good karma? hmm, it increases attachment and grasping so i'm not sure, but it does make people happy! : )

wow, overlong post...

next step is to see if people are interested in this concept. if the demand is there, easiest thing would be to make a new forum group called Karma Project or whatever and start declaring donations and receivers.

then, take over the world. no really.

Very good idea.
It's hard to keep up to date with the modifications everyone is making.

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I would be very interested in this, I'm going to be needing the printed parts and the lasercut parts for Mendel soon, and I can barely find a place to get some wood laser cut. This is an amazing idea!

I was thinking about doing something similar, maybe we will need to start another topic for that because it is quite away from the initial post.

I just posted a new topic there:
[dev.forums.reprap.org]
Basically I would be happy to help with that, but please reply on the new thread.