Building my first RepRap! Help appreciated!

Hello! I recently became interested in 3D printing and have done a decent amount of research so far, I concluded that i want to build my own RepRap or atleast purchase a DIY kit so I can learn about the parts of the machine. I am looking at the Prusa i3 at the moment because it seems like a pretty basic first choice. I am here to seek some advice before diving into this thing on my own, my main questions would be:
Do you suggest I build a Prusa i3 from scratch my first time?
Is Prusa i3 a good choice?
Any advice on things to look out for?
Any websites recommended for ordering parts?
Any other video/guides that helped you?
I have a friend who owns a XYZ de vinci printer and he could possibly help me out by printing some of the parts I may need, what steps do I need to take in order to make that happen? I also go to a university that has 3D printers and it is possible I could use those as well.
And lastly anything I am missing or should know about at all (I am a huge noob!)
Thank you so much for reading and I am excited about starting my first build!

I have yet to see a quality i3 kit. You'll spend as much time trying to debug it and get it printing as you will building from scratch. If you build from scratch you'll learn about mechanics and 3D printers. If you get a bad kit you'll learn that it's a bad idea to get a bad kit.

See the link in my sig, below, for more input.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

I have built from scratch and didn't regret it.
For our first printer my friend and I wanted a quality printer that would just work - we didn't want to have to rebuild it a dozen times over to get it right.
I documented our build on Instructables
[www.instructables.com]
Since that build I've built the re-work design of the original Prusa i3.
I'd recommend a scratch built re-work - you get to use quality parts (if you want to).
Kit's seem to be a race toward the bottom as far as price & quality, these forum pages are fill of people who have bought cheap kits and had problem after problem.

Steve

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My updated Instructable on our Prusa i3 Build
[www.instructables.com]

Hi,

There's actualy no perfect kit.
Building from scratch means to be adaptive.
Maybe it's a bit risky for the beginer.
You'd rather follow a BOM with mostly OEM components.

++JM

How much did this build end up costing you? This guide looks very well written I will being using this for sure. Thank you!

I have had my Prusa i3 that I built by sourcing parts myself. All together I spent around 400ish USD to get all the parts. Here are some things I learned:
1) Don't Plug things in with the power on. I learned this the hard way. I ended up destroying my Arduino and Ramps board, as well as had some bad stepper drivers which leads me to #2
2) Be very cautious on buying electronics (or kits) on Ebay, Alliexpress, etc. They often have bad soldering which leads to shorts which leads to issues. If you can try to get your electronics from reputable retailers such as Amazon that you could return broken electronics to easily.
3) If you use a Ramps Board check for your jumpers under stepper drivers. Too many people (including myself) forgot to check for them and had problems with the motors not moving correctly
4) Get a high quality hotend and rigid frame from the start. If you go the Prusa i3 route get a metal frame with supporting wings on the back. A good economical choice for a Hotend would be a e3d lite6 from E3d. It is a economical choice at around $30, is part of the modular E3d ecosystem, and prints PLA and ABS. Also anything advertised as "E3D J-Head" are FAKE.
5) Get high quality filament. Hatchbox is a fairly good brand, I have had only 2 jams in 4 months of printing. Also I have heard eSun is fairly decent.

There are many more tips but those are some of the main things I have learned. Remember you get what you pay for, and if it seems to good to be true, it probably isn't.

To test your printer:
Test Code

Also I highly reccomend Thomas Sanladerer's Videos especially his how to guides. He has videos on Lcds, Octoprint, and many other topics.
Thomas Sanladerer

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2015 02:44PM by gmckee.

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Prusa i3 Rework - Ramps 1.4 - E3d Lite6 - Full Graphic LCD Controller

Hi,

Well, I bought a genuine E3D V6, a very expensive component indeed.
Several months later I bought a chinese copy.
Actualy, I'm not able to make any difference between them, aspect or printing.

LM8UU bearings are pretty the same whatever the price of your kit.
I can see first price Ramps boards on kits between $250 to $650.

What realy makes the difference are version of the plastic parts,
if hopefully they're printed well. Some kits use v1.0 prusa's parts,
while actualy there's great improved version with endstops implementation,
or belt tensioning features.
The component's choice is realy important.
Some kits don't use the threaded rods as Y chassis, and that matters,
as the quality of the frame does too.
Some uses 8mm ACME threaded shaft nema 17 motors with bronze nuts,
and that's a great upgrade.
Some uses 10 or 12mm smooth rods instead of 8mm,
or like Makerfarm's i3V v-slot aluminium profiles.
Some kits provide more powerfull motors too.
Some have advanced electronics : Rambo board or drv8825 drivers.
To me, that's more important than component's origin,
which is mostly chinese anyways.

++JM

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2015 04:52PM by J-Max.