I'm just wondering how darwin is coming along. Are there many changes that need to be made to its design? I'm just curious because I'll have working circuits within a week and i'm interested in the next stage of setting it up. if there arent any forseeable change in the reprapped parts, would it be possible for me to get a set printed on the strat? if the slush fund cant handle it, i'd be wilby ZachHoeken - Developers
well, i think kicad flips it internally before going to print. what it renders to .ps is not the transparent view you see in kicad, but rather the view from bottom, except mirrored. then, when you put it toner side down on the board (regardless of whether its paper or transparency) it is shown correctly. its just a bit confusing that kicad shows you the board in super xray vision mode. =) Onby ZachHoeken - Developers
Heya, In an attempt to make the board printing process easier for users, I've added pdf conversions of the relevant postscript files to subversion. Dont worry though, because I also added a script called convert2pdf in the main electronics directory that calls ps2pdf on each of the ps files. ps2pdf is a common utility included on the vast majority of linux distros. Just to be clear, and to avby ZachHoeken - Developers
Hmm. I understand what you're saying. However, that would mean that we need separate files for both toner transfer and the photo transfer. (That is a bad thing.) The way I'm suggesting is to have the board and text normal in Kicad, but do the mirroring in the Plot section of kicad... when it gets output to postscript. Then it should be on the right side when you go to etch. You should be abby ZachHoeken - Developers
hello, I'd like to edit the css files for the wiki, but unfortunately it looks like you need to have access to the server to do it. would you mind giving me ftp access or uploading files manually when i send you changes? ftp access would be easiest, since css changes require alot of 'test and reload' stuff to happen. i basically just want to make the tables format a little bit better... theyby ZachHoeken - Developers
i fixed one small bug... the reprap text was mirrored. on the design it needs to be normal, the mirroring gets handled when you do the plotting. On 3/4/07, Zach Hoeken wrote: > fantastic! i'll put this into subversion, and this week i'll actually > fabricate a couple. i'll be taking lots of pictures for the wiki > entry. it should be an easy update... the only thing that has >by ZachHoeken - Developers
fantastic! i'll put this into subversion, and this week i'll actually fabricate a couple. i'll be taking lots of pictures for the wiki entry. it should be an easy update... the only thing that has really changed is the layout of the circuit. also, on the universal controller howto there are tests you can do to make sure that the board works... is there anything other than verifying that theby ZachHoeken - Developers
Hey, I was doing a bit of research on what a good connector might be for stepper motors and stumbled on the suggestion of Molex 4pin power connectors for hard drives, etc. These seem like they would be a great fit for a couple of reasons: 1. they are designed to handle a good amount of power. 2. if you're converting a PC power supply, you have 4+ connectors ready, you just have to cut them, spby ZachHoeken - Developers
here she is. i think this board will be much easier for your average person to create. we'll find out however, when i make new boards this week. i still think the first ones i made will eventually work, but i'm confident i can fabricate these new ones easily. one thing i'd like to do once this gets approved and in subversion is to edit the files and remove the islands from the opposite sidesby ZachHoeken - Developers
well, i worked away all afternoon in kicad... (i'm really starting to get the hang of it) anyway, here is what i came up with. there are still a couple drc errors, but i think those are just pads that it doesnt realize are connected yet. feel free to look through it, fix any errors, etc and send it back to me. it doesnt have any zones yet. i tried to do a variety of things with this design.by ZachHoeken - Developers
when i talked to simon about it, he said he didnt do it in kicad. i tried to replicate his design in kicad... i think i got it. attached is my version of the powercomms board. please look it over and make sure its correct. double check the 5v regulator is correct... the netlist file was broken, so i had to go in and edit it manually. *interesting note... you can re-load a netlist file in a boby ZachHoeken - Developers
oops, forgot the kicad file again. On 3/3/07, Zach Hoeken wrote: > well... i sent out that email about the via's but forgot to attach the > updated kicad file. > > i've done most of the via's but now i'm going to try and move the > board to a bigger size. i'll be working on this quite a bit today. > heres the copy from last time. > > by the way... what is a good max sizby ZachHoeken - Developers
well... i sent out that email about the via's but forgot to attach the updated kicad file. i've done most of the via's but now i'm going to try and move the board to a bigger size. i'll be working on this quite a bit today. heres the copy from last time. by the way... what is a good max size for you... i'm working with 5"x6" boards, is there similar metric size so we can just have one board thby ZachHoeken - Developers
have you tried other com ports... i'll alert one of the developers and see if they can help you.by ZachHoeken - General
a little bit of both. we have interest from a decent amount of people in the forums and the blogs, and i'm personally interested in a couple sets of boards. it shouldnt be too hard to find homes for 25 sets of boards at a price under $50.by ZachHoeken - General
wow, thats a really good rate. gotta love the open nature of reprap... many eyes make prices cheap =) i'm going to investigate their process and i think we should go ahead with it soonish.by ZachHoeken - General
hi bruce, i looked up thermistors on mouser, and i found a couple hits. here is the search page i got: * i cant give an authoritative answer, but i will alert the core guys and i'm sure one of them can say for sure.by ZachHoeken - General
wow... just got an email back from the guy. he gave me the promo code for $500 off. that means if we get 25 boards, it will be $20 / person for all the boards they need, $40 total for all the components they need. totally sweet! i'll be ordering some promo boards sometime this week to test, and if that works out and we cant find a cheaper place, lets use them!by ZachHoeken - General
okay, i looked up some prices on here are their prices: 100 universal boards = $6.20 / ea. = $620 25 powercomms boards = $15.41 / ea. = $385 total = $1005 for a total of $40.21 per person. thats $10 cheaper. also, we would get a much nicer price break if we ordered more powercomms boards. unfortunately that board will probably change to usb for v2.0, so it doesnt make much sense to orderby ZachHoeken - General
cool. we need to get a couple things wrapped up before we start: 1. connecter part #'s on mouser. right now we're just using plain pcb headers which work, but they are not ideal. they dont have keys, and you have to make your own connectors. we need to figure out a better way. once thats out of the way, then we will be good to go. 2. figure out the board supplier. sebastien said he had soby ZachHoeken - General
fantastic... with a manufactured board, everything can be much smaller. if we could get it down to a bunch of 9"^2 boards it would drop the price to $29.40 / board. that is pretty sweet. total: $50 for electronics to run a reprap machine. you still need steppers, belts, gears, etc but you're much closer and over the biggest hurdle of the project.by ZachHoeken - General
i've used mouser's project feature and added all the parts to projects. i bought the right amount of each project and it came out to be around $20 for all electronics per person. total with boards is around $75. final shipping per person would be super cheap in a padded envelope or something. now... the only question is do we have enough interest? =)by ZachHoeken - General
after the interest in the group buy of circuit boards, i decided to check out prices. the only place that would give me a quote without having to register was the boards we need are: 4 - universal control boards (we could make < 19"^2) 1 - power / comms board (we could make < 9"^2) at the best price ratio on their site: $940 / 100 = $9.40 * 4 = $37.60 $398 / 25 = $15.92 total per peby ZachHoeken - General
slightly paranoid, but true. however, there is a nice loophole. you only need to collect sales tax in a state where you have physical presence. that means if i ship it to a different state, it doesnt matter. when was the last time you paid tax on something over the internet? we're not talking millions of dollars here, we're talking about getting boards made up to send out to contributors.by ZachHoeken - General
yeah... i'd definitely be interested in pricing on that and/or getting in on it. one of the things i'd like to do is setup a shop and supply things like boards, components, and reprapped parts. if we end up doing this group buy and can find the right price, i'd be willing to throw down a few hundred dollars and then provide boards to newbies for cost + shipping.by ZachHoeken - General
yeah... kicad does it really well. its just a bit confusing the first few times you try and use it. see the posts on the powercomms board on the main blog and wiki, all the files are generated via kicad.by ZachHoeken - General
i just remembered one of the main reasons we wanted to move to a pcb setup is that we will probably want to get some pcbs made professionally in the future. if we're already doing it that way, it should be pretty simple to transition.by ZachHoeken - General
multiple syringes you say..... let me do some calculations. the largest syringes are 60ml each, and there are 10 / pack. thats 600ml, which is a decent amount of material. it would be pretty ridiculous, but then you would also be looking at a crazy print head. that being said, your volume definitely is decreased.by ZachHoeken - General
great! we're probably not quite ready to get to the kit level, but its definitely something i want to pursue in the next month or two and beyond. the thing with reprap is that a complete kit for the project is pretty large. there are a variety of systems in the robot which are each pretty complex. it might be a good idea to assemble each sub system into a kit and then work up into a larger kiby ZachHoeken - General
hey corey, thanks for your interest. actually, our circuit boards are in pretty decent shape, and they are pretty stable (in that they are tested and the schematic isnt going to change for a while) if you're interested in the experimentation side, by all means go ahead and assemble it on a breadboard. if you want to work on the circuits, you should DEFINITELY install kicad. it had all the ciby ZachHoeken - General