Twin Cities, Minnesota (burrr)

Please add the Twin Cities, Minnesota to the list.

Bob Teeter

Forum created. Please hop in and introduce yourself. You are very welcome to announce the forum on the builders blog, builders.reprap.org, or if you like, I'll mention it on the main blog, blog.reprap.org

Hi Robert,

I live in maplewood.

I have most of the parts but I haven't found the time to knit them together.
How far along are you?

I was lucky to find a 3 axis robot with really good hardware. I will need to work a little on the motor controllers and a lot on the micro-controller....

I may order an extruder kit ...

Lewis

Hi Lewis. Bob here. I live in Hastings so it looks like the cities are between us. I have most of the hardware in hand the rest should show up later in the week. I have the boards and Arduino's in hand and the electronic parts should show up tomorrow. So it looks like Christmas will be real nice this year. The only major item that I don't have yet is the extruder but that should not be a problem when Zach gets back from Christmas Vacation (there watching that stupid movie upstairs as I type this). I am on vacation for the next 2 weeks. I told them at work that I was done working this year, check with me next year. So after you make the mug what are you going to make?

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Bob Teeter
"What Box?"

Hi Bob,

I think after the mug I will work on building something for my son... not sure what that is yet...

I will take some pictures of mt 3 axis machine so you can take a look.
I have had it for about 6 years now in my garage...
I knew I would find a good use for it... (The Pack Rat Mantra)

I read about others using the Arduino, and not to put you on the spot but why are you going in the direction?

I'm not much of a PIC fan and I really think its use here is a mistake. They are using 4~5 of them, why not use a more powerful micro with some room to grow...

The Arduino is based on an AVR micro of which I am A huge fan but it seem pin limited. I suppose you could use two.

I'm thinking of using the Parallax Propeller

[www.parallax.com]

It is a very powerful micro though it only has 32 IO Pins I think I can make it all fit...
The biggest problem is I would have to port the PIC / Arduino code. ( Not a small task)

Lewis

Lewis - The 2.0 electronic boards do not use Pics but use the L297/L298 chips for driving the stepper motors. All of the connections will connect to a single Arduino and Zach has posted the code so that it can be downloaded. My question is why use more stuff than is necessary to build the unit. The design that is being supplied will work just fine and all I have to do is put it together and all the code works. Yes the Propeller chip costs 12-13 dollars but you still have to make a pc board and all the normal support hardware to use it. The arduino cost $35 and you just use it because all the hardware is present. And it has enough pins for this usage. I just got my stepper motors in the mail and am waiting for my electronic parts shipment due in later today. Lewis if you send me your phone number at my email address (bobt at teeter dot com) I can call you and we can talk about this. I also have several other projects that I am doing at this time that are real neat.

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Bob Teeter
"What Box?"

Greetings All!

I teach CAD at Hennepin Technical College in Brooklyn Park, MN. I'm considering using the Reprap project as a class project. At the end of the course, our contribution to the project would be a working set of drawings for all the components that "fall from heaven" in the form of STL files. These drawings would allow others to create the parts from other parts and materials than just rapid prototyping. (Our machine shop could create them from steel, for instance.)

One question that I would pose to the other members in Minnesota is where do you get your purchased parts? (Resistors, capacitors, ICs, wire, motors, wire, etc.) Do you think the advertised cost of $500 is realistic? I can create all the rapid prototyped parts at school, but I don't know how much all the other pieces are going to cost.

Another question that I have is in regard to the "evolving" designs of the Reprap project. There seems to be several versions of the Reprap. Darwin seems to be the stable, tried and true version. Is there some advantage in creating the other versions?

Thanks for your help...

Rick.

This would be a great class project. I would buy the boards from the RepRap store to save time. I get electronic parts from Digi-Key and Mouser, but I would just use the order tool to get them from Mouser. My electronics cost me about $107.00 U.S. plus shipping. I was able to stuff and build all the boards in about 6 hours by myself. Be sure to buy the Arduino board too from the Make store. Motors from the RepRap store and the rest of the parts can come from Home Depot. You want to build the McWire RepStrap first and then build the RepRap once you can make your own parts. Or if you want since you have a shop that could do it, you could jump right into the RepRap. Just remember they are two different machines.

Rick - I agree with Cheap!. I bought my boards from store.rrrf.org. Zach is very prompt and works very hard to keep all the parts on hand. The reason that I am building a RepStrap system is because it uses Industry standard chip of L297/L298 to drive the stepper motors and so you simply build the boards and test. Also I am working with Zach to build a parallel interface board to the stepper motor boards so that standard CNC equipment can be built from them cheaply. Cost of 3 boards is $22.50 and parts is about $72.00 add 3 stepper motors that Zach stocks at $75.00 and you have the electronic part of a CNC machine. You can then use EMC2 (opensource CNC software) to run a lathe or a mill. What a blast....
Rick send me an email to bobt@teeter.com with a phone number and when you can be contacted. Maybe we can arrange with Lewis to get together and discuss this.

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Bob Teeter
"What Box?"

Hi Rick,

I would love to get together.

Bob I'm sorry I haven't called you back, My brother was in town for new years and We were working on a DMX project for him.
I will try and call you on Monday...

How it you build going?


Lewis

Lewis - I have gotten the electronics built and tested. I have built the pipe frame for real this time instead of just screwing the things together. I have ordered 2 extruders and am waiting for them to come in. It appears that I have all the material to actually build the the "Seedling". Now to figure out the physical size of the different parts to make the x-y-z cart bot. Other than that just working in the shop finishing the building of the vertical milling machine.

After making the mini mug I plan on starting the design of a 1/5 scale model of my master project that provides power for a house plus heat, cooling and water. I figure that making the model will allow me to correctly design the unit to be able to make it.

Lewis call any time you can.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2008 01:48PM by Robert Teeter.

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Bob Teeter
"What Box?"

Greetings All!

Thanks for your input. Since I have a large class this semester, I could get one group creating drawings on the RepRap and one creating drawings on the RepStrap. I still have one week to decide. If the class gets the bug, there may be more people posting messages on this Forum!

After the course is under way, I will then consider actually creating the device.

Thanks for the input; I'm sure you will be hearing from me in the near future.

Rick.

Rick - I do have a request. If after your class has generated the drawings can they be put into pdf format. That way they can be posted. Anyone will be able to look at them. Also we do need them fully dimensioned.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2008 05:15PM by Robert Teeter.

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Bob Teeter
"What Box?"

Hello there. I am another Minneapolite intersted in the RepRap project. Parts are ordered and I hope to make it with a bunch of friends within the next month. Good times.

Greetings Twin Cities RepRappers!

I need to get some stepper motors, and it looks like rrrf is currently sold out of them. Are the stepper motors specified by the RepRap folks special or is there a standard equivalent I can get from Digikey or Mouser? Since the stepper motors are moving parts, I'm planning on buying extra. I'm currently considering getting between 7 and 10. I have enough steel to build two Cartesian Robots, so I want at least seven (six for the two projects and a spare). Any other ideas for obtaining stepper motors?

Rick.

Greetings All!

My class is now over. I asked if any of the students were willing to share their drawings with the community, and at least one said yes. I will be converting his SolidWorks drawings to PDF format in the next few weeks. I also made some sample drawings that I could submit to the project as well.

The next time I teach the course using this project, the students will be working in teams rather than individually. The grading got to be too much for me! Imagine looking over 21 different versions of the same part. Now look at the number of rapid prototype parts in the bill of materials. That's right! At least two reams of paper were consumed by the drafting department. :-)

Rick.

Rick, You can buy steppers straight from Keling. Their is a link from the reprap.org page on steppers.
[reprap.org]
They always seem to be in stock but they are $29.95 VS. $25 from RRRF.

I am a little confused by this since the RepRap page references the Keling_KL23H51_24_08B but links the page for the
Keling_KL23H251_24_08B (Note th 251 vs 51)

probably worth asking about his in the electronics section of the forum if you plan to buy anything.

Scorch

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/03/2008 09:57PM by Scorch.

Any of you people have a reprap that could produce pieces. I just got started, and I don't feel like buying lasercut parts for a repstrap.

You may be able to find plastics at american science and surplus. It is an awesome surplus site. If you could make me the parts just name the price.

Hello Ivraine!

I am not able to (yet), but feel I could be really close. I have a full machine built, but it has not yet been calibrated or used yet. I've been renovating my house recently and that has taken priority for me. Maybe I'll dust it off and see how much progress I can make on it sometime soon?

BTW, what sort of price range are we talking? Would you be willing to spend the same amount for official reprap parts as the laser cut parts? I was laid off recently, so possibility of income might pop fixing up my RepRap up to the top of the priority list...

God bless!

Sincerely,
Andy D.

Andy,

Did you ever get your RepRap up and running? I am just getting into this so am curious how well it works after building your own.

Regards,
Frank

Hi, Frank!

I built it, and got it working a bit (uncalibrated, and quite sloppy), then had to take a break because I was buying and fixing up an old house. I tried to pick up where I left off, but after updating to the latest firmware and software, there is some sort of communications issue that I need to sort out. The main issue is I've lost mmy Reprap momentum and have since started other projects. So, in summary, I built it, but it is not working.

Where are you in the process?

~Andy

Hello Fellow Minnesotans!

I thought I'd chime in here to see if anyone would want to split a lot of 100 - 624 roller bearings? I see them online for around $100 which would save about $15 off of buying them as singles. Or does anyone know who can beat the $1.31 price?

I'm up in Nowthen and have ordered many of the parts. I used American Fastener in Circle Pines for the hardware side and they saved me almost $70.

I just have to find one more stepper, some misc. extruder parts, the bearings, and then I am going to hand fabricate the RP parts from cnc'd acrylic.

Nice to see Rick on here...I had you for a teacher back in 2000.

Best Regards,

Justin

Hi, I am considering making a Prusa for my first 3d printer. Is there anyone in the Twin Cities area (close to Eagan would be great) who could print out the plastic parts?

I have seen some kits with the metal parts online, but they seemed to be rather pricey for what you get. How hard is it to find the other parts on your own?

I think my son might get interested in this, maybe he'll pause his video game for a few minutes.

Thanks.

Doug