New to Reprap - Advice needed

Hi folks,

I'm new to Reprap, followed a link on the internet and couldn't stop finding more things people had made - absolutely impressed. Showed my wife and I have been ordered to build one !!! Not only me, but my Son's are going to help me, one of them is starting a cybernetics degree course in September.

I've been in IT for over 20 years and the programming, CAD design is easy, it's the electronics that scare me, so any chance of some advice

1) Where can I get the cad drawings for a reprap machine (Mendel, huxley etc)

2) I've sourced some stepper motors, but they are Nema 16's - Are these suitable or do I need Nema 17's ?

3) The Electronics - Do I have to make the circuit boards or can I buy them already made from somewhere ?

4) Plastic supplier ?

5) Extruder head - Buy or Make ?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

ITWhiz Wrote:
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>
> 1) Where can I get the cad drawings for a reprap machine (Mendel, huxley etc)
>

Mendel Files

> 2) I've sourced some stepper motors, but they are Nema 16's - Are these suitable or do I need Nema 17's ?
>

What is important is the holding torque of the Stepper Motors.

> 3) The Electronics - Do I have to make the circuit boards or can I buy them already made from somewhere ?
>

Nowadays the better question would be: "Which electronics do I want to use?"!

There are a lot of choices:

1) Original 'Makerbot' Generation 3 electronics
   a) Makerbot (assembled or as kit)
   b) GRRF
2) Improved/Reduced Techzone Generation 3 electronics
3) Pololu Electronics
4) RAMPS
   a) Ultimachine
5) Generation 4 Electronics
   a) Makerbot
5) Generation 6
   a) Mendel-Parts
6) Generation 7

Virtually all of them can be bought as kits or pre-assembled from different companies/individuals.
I am using the old tried and true Generation 3 electronics; one set bought direct from Makerbot and running well; the second set bought from GRRF and waiting to be built into Mendel #2.

> 4) Plastic supplier ?
>

Printing Material Suppliers

> 5) Extruder head - Buy or Make ?
>

This depends on what you trust yourself to do and what tools you have.
It should be possible to create you own hot ends with only a table drill press.

A lathe however would be very helpful.

I didn't feel up to the task (especially with drilling a 0,5/0,35 mm hole) so I bought mine.

Now there are a number of places where you can buy hot-ends e.g. Mendel-Parts, MakerGear, and etcetera.

One RepRapper in Germany sells a complete wade extruder with hot end for 65€ which is what I am currently using and obtaining very good quality and so far no problems.

If you are planning on printing with PLA then I would recommend one of the new one piece designs like that sold by Mendel-Parts and documented in the WIKI because if the nozzle screws on then the PLA eventually squeezes through the threads and drips on your object - NOT GOOD.

> Any help would be much appreciated.
>

Start by READING THE WIKI!

I can also highly recommend nophead's blog.
Read it from day one and you will have learned a great deal about FFF.

I am planning on adding an LCD and Keypad to my Mendel with Generation 3 electronics.
I am following the plans provided by Revar who already implemented this on the Makerbot with Generation 3 electronics.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2011 03:21PM by rhmorrison.

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Hi

I have just started to gather parts for mine.

I brought printed Prusa Mendel parts from nophead on eBay, and a complete Prusa hardware kit from Thingfarm.com.

I can build electronics etc. but think I can get going faster by buying pre-built electronics etc. and I am going to buy the GEN6 board, stepper motors and hot end from Mendel-parts.com just as soon as he reopens his web shop, probably this weekend.

The Prusa Mendel page on reprap.org has what looks like good instructions, I'll be able to comment better once I start construction next week.

I too can recommend nophead's blog, and his printed parts are excellent quality.

Hope this helps,
Geoff

Hi ITWiz,

I am new to RepRap.org but not home made CNC machines. You sound like the kind of chap that would rather build your own than pay an awful lot of money £400 to £800 for what is, mechanically, only limited by your ingenuity and ability to manufacture parts. Mechanically you only need to produce X,Y,Z axis movement as accurately as possible driven by motors including positioning. The size of your motors, I do not believe to be significant, only insofar as they are powerful enough to drive the axis and the current rating of the stepper driver boards are adequate. For the last year I have been gathering and modifying bits and pieces together and constructing just such a machine. The working volume of mine is about 4ft.x 2ft x 2ft. I used the tracks and carriages off a draughting machine for the X and Z axis and the tracks off a ski machine for the Y axis or whatever you want to nominate them. I picked these items up for a song in charity shops. I had in mind using drawer slides that you can get in most hardware shops, if all else failed.
The electronics and software are something else. To me, although I am not bad with electrical stuff, the electronics, soft and firmwares, where and how they are used is a bit of a teaser. I am very slowly getting to grips with it myself and for what it is worth, I would advise you to do it the same way if you do not want to spend a lot more than you need. For example, you can get an AT power supply almost anywhere for or next to nothing or strip it from an old computer. Check current rating etc. A 2Amp stepper controller will cost between £5 and £10 each. An Arduino mega board somewhere around £45. I am lead to believe all the software to take you from an ?.STL file ( triangulated conversion of a sold software model ) through Gcode to output stepper+ control, are free somewhere on the relevant internet sites. I have yet to get to grips with this part myself but my point is, like most people, it's probably a hobby thing and you want to spend as little as possible. You can see that it should, with a little perseverance, be possible to to get good results for less then 1/4 of buying kits. I'm probably going to get bad vibes for saying this but those who give there time free should be applauded and encouraged.
As I have said, I need help with the electronics, soft and firmware so would appreciate anything you find out.

@geoffd I'm in exactly the same place you are - it looks like we must have done very similar research and ended up making the same decisions.

I'll second what you said about the quality of nophead's parts, mine arrived this morning and they're quite inspirational. If I can achieve similar results then I will be very pleased indeed.

Cheers,

Doug.