Hello Tronto Group

Hi everyone.

My name is Shane, I'm a high school technology teacher and a Mechanical Designer.
I would greatly appreciate some help getting started and would gladly offer my assistance to others if it is required.

My Goal is to have my own machine that i can visit classrooms with. I would love to make new acquaintances through the RepRap.

Best Regards,
Shane

P.S. I have attached a part for fun (Step 214).

Hi Shane,


I just discovered Reprap recently, and being and industrial designer (and a bit of a Car-nerd), the sheer "geekyness" of building my own FDM machine has made me decide I want to build one as an over-Christmas-break project.

There seem to be so many "options" for the purchase of parts out there I'm a bit ovewhemed at exactly what I should be looking for. Maybe it would be fun to take this journey together...

Grant

Hey guys, I built my first Reprap out in Toronto, but I'm in Vancouver these days. Send me an email (wbortz at gmail dot com) if you've got any questions regarding where to find stuff in Toronto - I've probably already been to most of the places you'll need to go. Interaccess was a great help when I was out there - I used their workshop for my initial build, when I didn't have access to any workshop space.

Interesting part there Mr Anderson - it will need support material to print as is, but if you move the spokes of the wheel flush with one side, it should print just fine. I've been having a lot of success printing spur gears; you just have to design with the reprapping process in mind.

Wade

Hey All, thanks for the posts and the advice! the part i attached is from an old 1960s steam engine - not really a candidate for the RepRap but i felt the need to make a statement that says "I can contribute!" as opposed to "Hey HELP".

Is there an option to make support material out of a different material (As is the case with some other machines)?

Grant - Yes i would be interested in doing a joint project. I have set aside some money for a DIY CNC machine that is more useful to me - this project is a must-have and i would love to assist you in the building of yours and then embark on my own. I also have a friend that may want to build one too.

Shane

I had one of those steam engines in the sixties,,,, guess that dates me.
For educational purposes eh. I just so happen to have a number of Mendel parts that aren't quite up to sales quality, they are still quite serviceable though. If you don't mind parts in several different colours, I’m sure that I could convince the guys to donate a set to your endeavor. Suppose you could paint them.

If you're interested
Bruce

Sounds great.

I'm elbows deep in trying to figure out who to buy parts from at this point.. I can't seem to find decent detail photos of parts from sellers to compare "build" quality...

I think sometimes the photos are intentionally blurry. Sometimes you can save the picture to your computer and then open with an image viewer to get an expanded view.

We do sell RP parts by the way http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?175,66359,66359#msg-66359

However if you and MrAnderson manage to get together on the classroom printer you could print your own set.

Bruce,

Your parts look good.. If you still have some I might consider purchasing them up from you.. but at the same time with Christmas approaching fast and me wanting to build this thing by New Years I am also searching for "affordable" complete kits I could more or less "bolt" together.

After figuring out how this thing all works maybe I can print the parts for Mr. A and carry on the "self-replicating machine" legacy ...


Any opinions onf the Huxley version of the Reprap? why would/should (or not) I choose one of those over a Mendel?