I'm keeping watch on any useful things made from plastic that might be reprapped some day. I just found this: Clever invention, and made from ABS-plastic. I wonder if one could print anything similar with a 3D-printer, and would the printing resolution be sufficient to make the required threaded couplings tight enough? Here's something related: How about the patents? Do they apply if you pby Kartturi - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
Vik, you said: >I'm native German speaker, can understand Russian and comunicate in English, so there is some basis for interaction, ... So therefore I ask: Could you (or some native Russian) please take a look at and give us a brief summary what it is all about? Especially, what is currently included in that price, and with what kind of license they sell it? And what does MNTC actuallyby Kartturi - Russia RepRap User Group
If one can realistically reprap a hand-crank with a simple gear mechanism like this: (See more photos given as FP_*.jpg attachments at the bottom of my previous posting ) then one could use it, apart from a manual "food processor", also in numerous other tools that would make life easier in many parts of the world. The following tools come to my mind: - hand-powered spinning reel? (See e.gby Kartturi - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
Dear Reprappers! Some months ago I bought "Swift Chopper", a "manual food processor" with 21,90 euros from a promotional sale at the up-scale department store here in Helsinki: I also recently saw a similar looking product from Tupperware in a local second-hand shop. Note that the only metal (non-plastic) components are those three blades, and those three screws which keep bottom and top parby Kartturi - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
Seriously, does anybody have any inkling, how easy it would be to "liberate" this technology of printable electronics for the DIY'ers? (After all, haven't the researchers used the inkjet printers in their labs?) Any pointers? Here is just some standard forward-looking hype: Some equipment makers are listed at: After some googling: I found this: (Doesn't look exactly cheap...)by Kartturi - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Check also "Unidym" for CNT-inks. Probably out of our reach for now... And here's some "state-of-the-art" in "printable electronics" from Japan: (E.g. "a nonvolatile RAM with a capacity of 1,024 bits.") Actually, the scale of the conducive strands look quite large. Maybe on the purpose, for the fair demo? PS. Although I'm not affiliated in any way with Nikkei BP, I want to advertise their siby Kartturi - Plastic Extruder Working Group
>Loved it so much I went and stuck these .stl's in my SLS Machine. >Aluminum/Nylon 11 by 50/50 weight mix, Companion Cube! >Need to sort out this blistering effect I get from Al mixes How does this mix work? Doesn't Nylon decompose thermally long before Aluminium even melts at 660.32 °C, 1220.58 °F ? (Apparently not?) Also: What kind of SLS-machine you used, and how much it costs? Cheby Kartturi - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
Siis oma mailiosoitteeni on mun-etunimi.mun-sukunimi@gmail.com Sukunimi muodostetaan handlestäni poistamalla -ri ja lisäämällä yleisin suomalainen sukunimen pääte. Löytyy myös jos seuraat tuota FPGA-linkkiäni (www.iki.fi) tuolla jossaiby Kartturi - Finnish RepRap User Group
Elmo: Anna mailiosoitteesi, niin kerron yksityiskohdat!by Kartturi - Finnish RepRap User Group
Elmo: Nyt ois tiedossa hyvä hakkeritila, joka vieläpä lähtisi hyvin halvalla, jos sen vaan sais karilta irti. Toinen ongelma on siinä, ettei sitä saa ankkuroida Helsingin vesille.by Kartturi - Finnish RepRap User Group
Elmo: I don't think they would bend, as the rails feel stiff enough. However, I'm afraid that as they are only 8,5 mm thick, the roller bearings might not have enough contact with them, and might "slip off". How thick are your bearings? (I.e. the "height" if you just lay them on the table). BTW, at what times you are in Kumpula? It would be nice to meet you and talk face-to-face. .. Anttiby Kartturi - Finnish RepRap User Group
Elmo, What's the status of your McWire RepStrap nowadays? Just today I found six aluminium rails, 58,5 cm long, 3 cm wide, but only 8,5 mm thick. (From Kumpula's library actually! Left for salvaging at the bottom floor). Otherwise would be ideal, but I'm afraid they are not thick enough, when I look at the images at But of course it depends on the dimensions of the roller bearings. Any good pby Kartturi - Finnish RepRap User Group
Thanks James for an excellent bit of information!by Kartturi - Finnish RepRap User Group
Elmo: I'm ordering my Arduino-board or kit this week, but I have not yet decided which one to order: the standard Duemilanove (with USB-port), or either Boarduino or Sanguino (this latter has a larger microcontroller, for possible future versions of RepRap, as they say?). However, I reckon that I need also this USB->TTL cable with it: with the extra price of $20. Is there anything else inby Kartturi - Finnish RepRap User Group
And of course you can mail me. Follow the FPGA-link I gave above and you will find the directions there, at the bottom of the page. .. Anttiby Kartturi - Finnish RepRap User Group
About Hacker Spaces: I participated between something like 1986-1994 in "Intsu"/"Monttu"/"Luola" scene, first as a "satellite", and for some years as a paying member. (Well, I almost lived there sometimes). Timo Vby Kartturi - Finnish RepRap User Group
Cheers Zzorn, Cheers Elmom! I'm writing this right now at Kumpula Campus. You can meet me here, at least when I'm attending "Solmuteoriaa kombinatorisesti" course by Vadim Kulikov (it's the room D1XX-something in the Exactum), at Tuesdays (16-17) and Thursdays (14-16). (Kby Kartturi - Finnish RepRap User Group
I wrote: >And indeed, it would be nice in the long run, if one could use recycled >standard thermoplastics. (Maybe by using a separate machine, that >makes from the recycled plastic shreds appropriate fiber, good for >feeding into RepRap.) And just a couple of threads towards the bottom of page, found this one: Sorry.by Kartturi - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Also, I wonder how one could recycle the plastic in all the botched prototype-prints, so that they don't accumulate in one's workshop or the nearest land-fill. And indeed, it would be nice in the long run, if one could use recycled standard thermoplastics. (Maybe by using a separate machine, that makes from the recycled plastic shreds appropriate fiber, good for feeding into RepRap.) Being a neby Kartturi - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Just got hooked to this idea for good, after following from some links from Arduino-site and from I think this will be really BIG and SIGNIFICANT, at least as significant as was MITS Altair 8800, Stallman's manifesto and the first Linux kernel. So, now I start collecting money to obtain my first RepRap. Something from myself: I have a strong background in software, but have also wasted a loby Kartturi - Finnish RepRap User Group