Botmill does not include Electronics with their kit, meaning if you purchase their kit, you have to purchase the electronics separately, bringing your total to $1165.
Ran though the checkout process, and with Shipping to the US it comes to $1050. This places this kit firmly between the The Makerbot Ultimate kit, and the Thing-o-Matic. At their $960 price point it is cheaper to get the kit from them than to self source, unless you can get the plastic parts for less than $260.
The thing that is most awesome about this kit is he is using Mendels to produce the RP parts for these kits. That's right folks, this is to my knowledge the 1st time anyone has followed the logic of a self replicating robot to it's logical end, a self replicating bot farm!!
I sincerely congratulate him on being one of the 1st, but I have a feeling he will not be the last if he is successful with this..
Now all we need is an Automated build plate for Mendel.
Why do we need an automated build plate for Mendel?
ReplyDeleteAs far as i know, ABP only works with rafts.. (correct me if im wrong please)
And well that is something i dont want to do ever again. I printed the first two months with raft.. and believe me.. it probably takes longer to clean the parts then to print.
(but as always.. MBI is good in hiding this stuff).
So ABP is imho just an advertisement.. blabla theory, but in practice, its not what you think it is.. it just gives you more work. As alot of stuff from MBI. If they have such a good 3d printer.. how come their printers are still made out of MDF mainly? why not 3d printed plastic parts?
I think simply because MDF is cheap, and they have a proper working laser that can handle production, but why didnt they build a plastics production farm? They are in this field for some time now.. While we just started. Well maybe im a bit wrong here, but these are just my thoughts at the moment.
And about Botmill, I think its a bit scary, people selling 3D printers, while they cant seem to print themselves. How can they support their customers then? Correct me if im wrong here.. and ps. with printing i mean 18h/day production.. not just one lucky shot ;).
I think ABP for Mendel will be a challenge just because of the 200mm across build area makes lifting at the corners of a belt much more likely, but at the same point the ability to do 18-24 hour prints with zero interataction would be usefull.
ReplyDeleteAs far as why makerbot it Plywood and not RP, you have to remember up until 6 months ago NOONE was doing full bed production prints with Mendel or Rapman. Makerbot had JUST got a heated build plate, and they where powering it off the fan, causing lots of warp issues (and burnt Motsoff).
As far as Botmill I have heard two stories, one is they are running A Stratysis out of their office printing the parts, and they are contracting out of China/India to have them printed. Don't know which is true.
I think what you are doing is likely the future of RepRap production, a few people who have 5-10 mendel running in parrell putting out full kits (or just pointing to a vender like you for the "kits" and just selling the RP.
Can't wait to see more of your electronics!
Hi Neil,
ReplyDeleteyea, i have to readjust my comment..
Makerbot/BFB paved the road for reprap, so ppl like me can try to make it a bit commercial too, so it can grow faster.
Like myself, i think most ppl start reading about reprap via makerbot etc.
So I feel a bit sorry for my last post.
All i want is to bring 3d printing closer to the consumer. And well every company has its owns strenghts etc. So again i regret previous post now..
It were just a few very emotional last few days and im very tired.. should think a bit more before making quick posts :).
Time flys in this hobby, seems like forever ago that HBP, and Kapton/PET tape, and production plates where figured out. It like folks that scream "4 lead screw for the Z axis, how stupid!", or "DC gear motor, that does not make since", or "bushings suck".
ReplyDeleteMakerbot was a HUGE step up from Darwin (which is what the Makerbot folks 1st build). At the time having enough torque for extrusion was an issue, that's why they used a DC gearmotor, Gen 2 Electronics would outrun the processor, that's why they went to the separate processor for the extruder. And at the time noone was using bearings, so that's why they used bushings.
I know Nophead and Adrian have stated that a full "plate" is around 8 hours worth of printing, is that your experence also? Also would you be willing to share your production plates with the community?
Botmill's LC Mendel includes electronics for $779. Is that any good or is LC parts really inferior? I guess you can print replacement RP parts then.
ReplyDeleteRead around a litle bit, it is quite challenging to put together, and unless you get the pre processed parts you need a wood shop to get it together.
ReplyDeleteA good way to tell, how many pictures, videos have you seen of a LC Mendel operating?