Techzone has rocked the RepRap communities world again.
They are offing a full Lasercut Mendel kit to 10 Beta testers for $894 over at Ebay, and on the RepRap forum
They have not posted the files yet, but considering they are sending these 1st 10 out to help write the instructions, the design might not be final.
This changes SO MUCH I don't even know where to start:
-IF they continue to sell this kit at $894, it would be cheaper than a Makerbot Deluxe kit, for twice the build area, and a stepper extruder.
-Even if they sell this kit for $1000, that basically kills the $350+ RP pieces for Mendel, because the lasercut kit would be cheaper.
-If they are using the 5mm birch they used for the lasercut peices I just got from them, the design could be cut on almost any lasercutter, even the lighter ones.
Well, I guess that answers why they went though all the trouble of gearing up their electronics and lasercut production. We now have FOUR Open source, RepRap derived printers on the market!!!!
Makerbot Cupcake
Bits From Bytes Rapman
Brett's Isaac Mendel
Tech Zones Lasercut Mendel.
We also now have 3 independent sources of pre assembled electronics... It's going to be an interesting year!
This is EPIC.
ReplyDeleteMy TEClub is going to cut out 8 sets as soon as the files are available on the school's cutter.
You forgot ShaperCube http://www.reprapsource.com and also the GRRF http://www.grrf.de (that is working on a McWire kit).
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it could be made with a laser cutter attachment? Then, you could do all mendel parts, in half the time. Some pieces would have to be broken into two pieces, but I'm sure it could work.
ReplyDelete