New Forum

Thanks Sebastien for setting up this group.
I have not met anyone else in Winnipeg working with or interested in RepRap.
I am an artist working in electronic media, I have never worked with rapid prototyping so this is a new area for me. If you are reading this and are interested please join the forum, the more diverse the skill set the better.

Hi Erika

I've been working with rapid prototyping in Winnipeg for a few years now, but haven't done anything with the RepRap machines or anything comparable. I've got a CNC milling machine in my basement and I've worked with the engineering dept at U of M on their SLA machine. Other than that, I'm not sure who else in winnipeg is doing "3D printing" in-house. U of M was supposed to be setting up a lab for the design and architectural students with another 3D printer... it was going to be FDM I think. And there's probably lots of CNC mills about.

Of interest: we had a presentation at our office from the guys at Gold Business Machines from Winnipeg. They're apparently going to be selling the Z-Corp printers.

www.zcorp.com

I took a look at your home page. You are doing some extremely cool stuff! VR, video and electronics! You're amazing!

Bob Green
Green Pixel Projects

Good to hear from you. I got in touch with the Industry Technology Center itc.mb.ca they do not have 3-printers but apparently have some local contacts.

Hey all, just found this place.

I've been kicking around the idea of building a RepRap-based 3d printer for awhile now, and I'm actually at the point of being interested enough to put some time and cash into it. I actually went to Home Depot yesterday with the McWire parts list and got everything I could find...and then when I got home, decided that McWire wasn't a design I was interested in. So back to HD I go tomorrow...lol

A little background, I work in manufacturing, designing sheet metal-based structures for HVAC. So...I spend 40+ hours a week using SolidWorks. I also have limited access to laser and water cutting. I spent last summer working in a CNC manufacturing facility using various lathes and milling machines as well.

A few issues I'm having with this project so far...

1) The documentation, while extensive, is murky. RepStrap? Mendel? Cartesian bot? I've figured out the direction I want to take in this, but I think if these folks want to attract newbies, laying out the various ways of getting into 3d printing in "roadmap" style would be nice.

2) For me, the part quality seems too crude! I read somewhere that 0.1mm is the reproducible accuracy of the moving parts. That's about .004", which is very good for pretty much anything I'd be trying to do. The finished products, however, seem to be a far cry from that .004" the machine is capable of.

This tells me that the current extruder setup is what needs to be refined, and that's what I want to try and improve.

3) I don't really have the time or patience to machine the complicated parts that form the unit. I saw the unit built using the plexi parts available from BitsFromBytes, and that's inspired me to redesign some of the complex 3-d parts to be cuttable on a waterjet.

I don't like that plexi is so brittle, so I'm going to try and source some high density polyethylene or the like for my parts.

Otherwise, I think this is a great project...I really dislike the throwaway economy that exists here in North America, and I think the ability to make replacement parts for household goods is a great way to help curb that problem.

Anyhow, I don't know where everyone else is in this project, but I'm very interested in collaboration, so drop me a line!

Cheers,

Kevin

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2008 06:27PM by Kevin H.

Hi Kevin,

From your post I would have to say that you are farther ahead than I am, at this point I am still in the thinking about it mode.

Well...yes and no...I'm still doing the conversion to SolidWorks. From there, I'll have to redesign some of the 3-d brackets into something that can be cut on a waterjet.

I'm still wrapping my head around improving the part quality. I think the nozzle has to be smaller, so it puts out smaller amounts of material at a time. This will give it better control. To do that, the plastic has to be heated more than it currently is, so it's not as thick. This will improve the parts by the successive layers better melting to the previous ones, hopefully.

And I'm no huge fan of using the 3mm filament, since it appears to be somewhat scarce. Something that uses granules would be better.

But then again, I've found a source of UHMWPE with a heat-acivated adhesive in 3mm x 10 foot lengths. I think this would be a good material to play with. The only trouble is it would require more heat to get it to an extrudable state.

And finally, adding more heat always means more heat has to be extracted from the part after a layer is applied, or the part will eventually sag, or worse, warp as the plastic cools unevenly. Ideally, one layer would go down, be halfway cooled as the second is applied, and by the time the third is going down, layer one is already hardened sufficiently to support itself and the weight of everything above it. So for anything, that means a method of heat extraction that's more effective than airflow. I'm thinking sit the whole unit in a tank, and after each layer, it submerges all but the most previous layer in some sort of coolant. This would keep the top layer from being wet, so the next would still go down well, but it would keep the plastic from sagging.

Just thinking out loud here...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2008 02:08PM by Kevin H.

Good to see that some others are also thinking about building one of these.

I know what you mean about poor documentation, there is lots of info presented but I found that you had to hunt for everything... I wanted to know what it would cost to purchase all the parts for a unit (minus all the parts that can be purchased at Home Depot) but I got fed up...

I am thinking about purchasing a CNC machine so I might go the route of installing the plastic melt head to the CNC machine. I like your idea about making it more precise.

Regards,

Alan Parekh
[hackedgadgets.com]

I think your the closest reprap group to me.

I am hoping to start a group in my area.

I am in the middle of trouble shooting replicator G. I have the start of a cobbled together cnc I hope will be making PCB soon.

I am an artist and a research scientist.

Do you guys meet at all? or give classes?

Peace!

Hello,
My name is Jeremy, and I'm very interested in building a RepRap machine as well. Like Kevin, I've found the instructions available to be 'murky'. Has anyone in Winnipeg had any success in building a finished machine? If so, I would be very interested in hearing from you, and maybe get some advice on how you acquired all the parts required.

I live in winnipeg and can print your plastic parts for you or anyone for that matter. As for the hardware you might wanna try home depot. Let me know if you're interested.

check out

www.assentworks.ca

Hi Glenn,
I need to 3d print a small enclosure if you can help me.
Thank you
Larry

Greeting fellow Winnipegers!


I have finished my own Prusa Mendel build, lots of lessons learned in the process.

A fantastic source for threaded/smooth rod, nuts, washers, screws is Fastenal.
A fraction of the price that HomeDepot charges, the staff (at least at the St. James location) were very friendly and helpful.

Bearings can be bought from Royal Sports or West49. I'd hope any sporting goods store that services skateboarders or rollerblades should stock the 608 for a decent price.

I haven't located a source for the belts, I ordered mine from mixshop.ca. Decent shipping and you might as well order a heated PCB build plate while you are at it. Don't bother with their hotend kit or their hobbed bolt. Both are of unacceptable design and quality.
They are currently out of stock for filament, no idea when they will start stocking again.

I haven't located a local source for motors, so I suggest eBay. For a hotend, I've tried the Mixshop kit, several versions of the Wildseyed and the JHead. The JHead (www.hotends.com) is $55 and works without fuss. You can adapt it between 3mm and 1.75mm with minor changes. Don't waste your time, buy a proven, machined hotend from the start.

I built myself the Gen7 electronics. Was quite the undertaking but so far worth it. UltiMachine has a $50 DIY RAMPS kit. Not a bad option as the parts alone to build a Gen7 were over $100 from Mouser.

Cheers!

-Kyle

Hey Folks!

Just found this thread. I'm a Winnipeger. I currently have a hobby CNC mill that I use to make custom PCBs. I'm working on getting together an etruder and hot-bed so that I can use the same platform for 3D printing. My machine will be a touch on the slow side for a reprap, but should be workable. It maxes out at ~40 inch per minute. With a lot of fussing, I can make double sided PCBs with 10 mil traces/spacing and 20 mil vias.

I've got all the guts for an extruder and hotend and also 1kg of filament. I was hoping to mill an extruder but I've had limited success as it is difficult to find plastic stock large enough for the gears. I would be extremely interested in meeting some others in Winnipeg and "talking shop" as it were. I would also be very interested if somebody could help me by printing the extruder bits that I need. I can supply filament or I can just reimburse you for the filament that you use.

Either that or we could trade if you have any PCBs that need milling, or anything else for that matter.

PM me or reply to this thread if anyone is interested.

Cheers.
Mark

I have founded a kids eco club in the town of Ste Anne of about 8 kids (8-12 years old) and would like to find someone who would be interested in demonstrating 3D printing to the group and how it could be beneficial for the environment in all sorts of ways. Would anyone be willing to volunteer for this? Perhaps 1 hour total on sunday Jan 6th. I would be willing to pay for expenses. In french would be best. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please contact me at (204) 422-8838 or at this email address

Hi Robert,

Unfortunately, I think the Winnipeg RepRap forum is pretty much dead. I havent seen any new posts since mine in July. I'd be interested in helping you, but my reprap is still a work in progress and is not really functioning yet.

The only other suggestion I can make to get some kind of demonstration would be to contact the local hacker space, SkullSpace. They are located in downtown Winnipeg and is could be described as a local group of like minded people who like to tinker with code and electronics and part of their purpose is to support and promote technology and it's use amongst the greater community. They also share a space with a local business called Assent Works that makes 3D printing and other prototyping technologies available on a commercial basis.

If you contact them, they may be able to do some kind of demonstration, but I cant make any promises for them. They may not be able to transport a working 3D printer but perhaps they could bring some printed objects and/or a video of the machine in action?

The hackerspace can be found here: [www.skullspace.ca]
Assent Works: [www.assentworks.ca]

Good Luck!