Having started with a makerbot myself, and then built a prusa self sourced, I would say that it is a much faster way to get started than self sourcing and building from scratch. And if you can get the funds to buy a pre assembled printer that's even better for an inexperienced group. But building from a kit is not very hard and would teach you many things you need to know to continue with your cby bryanandaimee - General
You might be able to self source and build a similar bot for less, but by the time you factor in time spent shopping all over creation, shipping from all the various companies, plus the time you'll spend getting everything to work together, you won't really save much over a $675 kit. (Unless you are a genius scrounge.) So it depends on how you value your time. Not to mention that for many, goingby bryanandaimee - General
The vertical X axis contest is going great. Much better than I expected. I have 10 contestants working on some impressive designs. The end of the contest was extended to Dec 12 by vote of the contestants so hopefully even more designs will be forthcoming. The Vertical X standard setting thread on this forum got good participation, and I think we came up with a useful standard. Though for the lifeby bryanandaimee - Developers
Though I think if the core team were to come up with some sort of problem set for the next gen mendel to solve (faster printing, quicker replication, using third world available bulding materials etc...) and requested all hands to submit proposed parts/do research they would get quite a bit of collaboration. As for Sarah's observation about alternative parts, I don't see why the prusa/sells menby bryanandaimee - Developers
It's an active area of research. See as one example.by bryanandaimee - Developers
I haven't been around as long as Traumflug but I sort of have a different view of the causes of the situation. It seems to me that there might be two things going on. First reprap doesn't "do" official. So in what way could an improved design be incorporated into the "official" next gen mendel? It seems that there aren't any obvious ways for new developers to contribute to the next mendel versionby bryanandaimee - Developers
And do up a wiki page on which old printers have the best salvageable parts.by bryanandaimee - General
Or no one has compiled it yet for win7, or those who have haven't read the post yet. The forum is a little slow sometimes. Maybe try the IRC channel. And welcome to the wild world of reprap. Good luck on the Prusa build.by bryanandaimee - General
And when I asked for a discount on pololu drivers purchased for the vertical x axis contest they just donated them instead. Nice guys, fast shipping, good support. What's not to like.by bryanandaimee - For Sale
But then when the said poor person is ready to design a new part that he/she needs to become the village supplier of trinkets and corner the market on thumb screw holders, does he/she need to contract with a 3D designer who has a computer to do the design and then with a EE to translate the design into punch cards? Would the cost of such a process equal the cost to buy motors and electronics fromby bryanandaimee - Developers
Prizes have been updated. Thanks to Lulzbot.com for donating the pololu drivers!by bryanandaimee - Reprappers
Prizes have been updated. Stripboard for a ghetto HBP for 2nd and third, and likely a real Prusa HBP board for 1st prize in addition to the current prize packages. Gotta sign up by Oct 12 to be in the running. Contest ends Nov 12.by bryanandaimee - General
I don't think any have been shipped yet. Looks like the only one in the wild is the prototype.by bryanandaimee - General
I think it's a cool idea. You may be right about 70 mm being too much for the horizontal distance though.by bryanandaimee - Developers
Did you also switch the suspect driver out to another axis, or just switch a good driver in?by bryanandaimee - General
You just need to post a link to your project page by Oct 12 to the contest page. It doesn't have to have anything on it by then. Contest Pageby bryanandaimee - Developers
Actually, Oct 12 is only the deadline to enter. Nov 12 is the end of the contest, so there is still quite a bit of time.by bryanandaimee - Developers
I see that this is listed as an intro price. What do you see the retail price being? In other words, are you just selling at or near cost now or do you envision your price being significantly below mendel-parts price long term? If so how are you able to get the price down?by bryanandaimee - For Sale
Hmm, cookies, I've been wondering what to add to the prize pool. You may be on to something. An no offense taken, I enjoy a lively discussion as much as the next guy.by bryanandaimee - Developers
I agree with Andrew, it is far more complicated than most people are assuming, and therefore there's not much point in arguing the physics, it will come down to real world results in the end. For instance, a horizontal x axis does not automatically distribute the weight evenly. On my prusa the center of mass of the extruder/hotend is roughly 1 cm from the center of the bar closest to the belt. Soby bryanandaimee - Developers
I used this one but I actually have to add friction to it or a slight imbalance will cause the spool to roll forward at some point and the slack filament then jumps the spool and tangles.by bryanandaimee - General
4988's have some thermal protection and a couple other enhancements, it is a newer replacement for the 4983's I think.by bryanandaimee - Controllers
Special thanks to Lulzbot for donating a set of pololu drivers to the contest. Since I don't have to buy pololu's I may add to the prizes soon. Stay tuned.by bryanandaimee - General
Maybe at least post a drawing? I don't quite follow what you are saying there. And as for simpler bots, take a look a the Prusa variant of the Mendel printer.by bryanandaimee - Developers
I understand about being busy. It looked like the Z motor mounts were pretty standard, so I pretty much expected the z rods to be 30 mm. What is the spacing between the X smooth rods? And good luck with the new store. It's exciting to see so many electronics designs and new bot designs running around these days.by bryanandaimee - Developers
Probably saving a couple hours print time by my rough estimate.by bryanandaimee - Developers
Looks nice! Can you comment on time savings on printed parts for your x axis parts? Looks like the extruder will be significantly faster to print than a prusa carriage and wades extruder. Also how do the rod spacings compare to the standard that we're trying to get started. Any interest in the contestby bryanandaimee - Developers
I think you could pretty easily add an external power transistor board. Just make sure to connect to an unused pin that has PWM if you want that feature. Or even a relay board like the Makerbot heated bed add on board. I can't imagine that would be as much trouble than trying to set up a whole new board. Now would probably be a good time to dive into the config file and see what pins are set upby bryanandaimee - Reprappers
Thanks guys. And I'm hoping for more even than four contestants. Time will tell. I think the more exposure the contest has the better the participation will be, so please feel free to post on your blogs etc. about it. Entries are open till Oct 12. By the way, pictures of the prizes are up on the contest page now.by bryanandaimee - General
Of course we should all remember the wise old adage, "The dose makes the poison." or its cousin "Dilution is the solution to polution. " I'm willing to believe that there are health hazards associated with working in a shop cutting MDF all day long 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. But to worry about single small appliance like that in a home seems a bit over the top. I doubt that there would bby bryanandaimee - General