Motherboard PCB (V1.2)

Hi,

I am new to these forums and starting construction of a reprap 3d printer. I am trying to source a PCB for the motherboard (v1.2) in the UK, does anyone know anywhere I can get one that won't cost an arm and a leg? I know I can get one from the States but its over 20 dollars just for P&P!!

Regards,

Milly.

Reprapsource.com & Makerbot.com are the only two sources I know of for true reprap boards. You could etch them yourself with some simple supplies and the downloaded designs

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

Thanks for the reply, I had visited reprapsource.com, but they don't seem to sell the motherboard PCB on its own, as far as I can tell! Shame really, as they arn't that far away so I shouldn't imagine the shipping should cost too much!

Is the PCB single sided then? Its been a long time since I last tried to etch my own PCB, not sure how well it will go with such small tracks for the SMD components!

Milly.

There are two smart ways to go about it, both of which are only avialable because RepRap is open source.

-Check online at the professional PCB printing companies and see how much the screen burn will cost you. If you can get the screen burnt, the follow on prints are actually not that expensive, and then you can sell the PCB in your country online for much less than people would be able to source them from Makerbot.

-Save up some money and buy 10 of each board from Makerbot, then sell them as sets in your country. Again you could likely turn a small profit by distributing them in your country.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

Thank you for your help, I have taken the plunge and ordered 10 motherboards from Makerbot, when they arrive I will keep one for myself and sell the other 9! I'll probably use e-bay as a convenient way to sell them, but will post a link on the For Sale forums.

Cheers again,

Milly.

I wish I'd seen this earlier. I just ordered 30 motherboards and will have 5 left for selling. I'm also buying components in bulk so as to build fully assembled and DIY kits.

I'll advertise them on my site, once it's up and running and I have the materials.

I'll also have stepper V2.3, Opto V2.1 and Extruder V2.2 boards and kits.

Let me know if there is anything you need.

Just to let you know, I'm in Belgium, so shipping in the EU should be pretty good, more details soon.

The motherboards finally arrived today! I ordered 10, so there are now nine available on eBay to anyone who wants one! Posting to the UK, or Europe only unfortunately!

[cgi.ebay.co.uk]

I'm selling them at zero profit, I know it seems a little more expensive than the 8 dollars from Makerbot, but I got stung with 20 dollars P&P then customs and excise wanted an additional 20 quid!

Regards,

Milly.

i am glad to see how you are selling them at no profit i am curious to know how fast you can sell them.

I am sorry to see you are selling it at no profit. If you do this at no profit this is likely going to be a 1 off hobby. It you turned a profit you would be more likely to keep doing it.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

They're not exactly zero profit (they would cost 8,2 pounds if they were), but I agree with spacexula anyway and would rather you sold them with a little something on the side, even if it just means that your board is free for you.

Selling things with very thin margins makes it difficult for people to start distributing this stuff more readily and easily (unless you live in the states and have makerbot around the corner)

i have noticed allot of people from the UK in here, i am surprised to see that makerbot is not considering putting up some sort of business there.

I recently approached makerbot to become a distributor of their stuff here in Europe, but they said that they weren't ready for that yet. So, I decided to go ahead without them and start up my own shop. Should be up and running next week

i would think all they would need to do is just give them to one store a better rate so that they could sell them closer to there cost in the us, they would sell more and save there customers money there. but i guess i can see there point.

do i dare ask how many things you bought from them.lol

I thought they'd see it the same way, but I understand that they have their business plan. I was just testing different possibilities in the beginning. I'm still kind of hoping that they'll want to join forces later on anyway to keep the dream alive!

I went as independent as possible, so didn't get that much stuff from them, mostly PCBs. I am also having some pcbs made up independently. I also ordered all the electronic components and will put in the elbow grease to assemble them. With shipping and import into europe, it's really restrictive to go through makerbot. Plus, it's taken 13 days so far and my stuff from makerbot is still sitting comfortably in customs. God only knows what they're doing to it there...

I dig their ideas and attitude toward the project, they're doing a great job, but unless you're in the US, it is difficult to spread the love. They also have quite a few side projects and I'm trying to focus on reprap for the time being.

I must point out that Milly will not be making a profit!

As any one in the UK who orders from Makerbot will find out.

You will get charged VAT this is a minimal cost of 17.5%.

On top of that cost you will then be charged an additional handling charge from the Carrier.

For example last year I was charged these amounts on imported orders:

An Extra £8 by the post office.

An Extra £10 by DHL

An extra £13 by Parcel force.

These Extra charges contains 15% VAT
So this year they will be 2.5% higher now that VAT is 17.5% again.

These charges may have also gone up since last year.

When the RRRF shop was running, the parts were sold as Experimental parts, samples or some such other description.

This meant they were Zero rated VAT thus no handling charge was added.

I do not mind paying VAT I do mind the extortionate handling charge.
Particulaly as the postage has already been paid why should we pay twice?

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Quote
Bodgeit
Particulaly as the postage has already been paid why should we pay twice?

agreed!

Bodgeit,

Thats exactly right, I was a little irritated to find I had to pay a £9 handling charge when I actually went and picked the boards up from the depot myself, saving them the bother of delivering it to my door!

It is a valid point about trying to make some money on the side to encourage distribution, however I have a very full time job which puts me well and truly in the realm of the hobbyist so I purchased the extra boards purely to try to bring down the cost of P&P with Makerbot (which, having looked at the receipt was actually $33), incidentally, at the time of ordering I was unaware I would get the extra sting in the tail from Customs!

In retrospect buying 9 extra extruder boards and some extra motor driver boards to go with them would have been a better idea as people will most likely want a full set. I did consider this when I put my order in but when I filled the shopping cart up with the PCB's my eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw the total price and I really couldn't justify the expense unless I could guarantee that I would sell on all the extra boards.

If these 9 motherboard PCB's don't sell then I can just about write-off the £90 I will loose (but it might take some time for my wife to come down from the roof), although having said that, with my limited SMD experience I could probably do with a couple of spare boards!

I'm keeping my eye on the other threads and nervously crossing my fingers with regard to sourcing the extruded parts needed for the Mendel frame. Its going to take me quite a few months to get the electronics up and running because of my limited spare time so I'm just going to have to cross that bridge when I get to it!

Milly.