RepRap Log Phase

Selling my RepRap again on Ebay:)

2011-10-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

I can't keep all 3 of my printers busy enough hours of the day to make since to have 3 of them, so I am going to sell off the other 2. This bot has worked 100% for over 100 hours of printing, no self replications for this one but a lot of spare parts for me and other folk.

Unlike most sellers I try to always keep up with the people I sell printers to, so anyone who gets my machine will get my personal phone number and I will work how ever long it takes to get the person printing, which with this machine SHOULD be 2-3 hours, but if it turns into a few weeks I don't care.

Nothing in the world is sadder than a 3d printer that does not work.

2 hour in the bidding is up to $100, hope for gods sake I at least more than break even, if it goes for less than $600 I am going to cry.

As always if you need help you can almost always reach me in the RepRap and Makergear IRC at:
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=reprap,makergearv2,hackerspaces,arduino

BTW the link is http://www.ebay.com/itm/RepRap-Prusa-Mendel-Rapid-Prototyping-3D-Printer-Including-Software-and-Support-/180733556929?pt=COMP_Printers&hash=item2a148f38c1 I forgot that part.

The final death of Makerbot #469

2011-06-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

After 18 months of ownership, and literally not going more than 3 days ever without printing or being took apart, my Makerbot has finally died. She lived a very hard life.

-1st 4 months was spent rebuilding the hot end on a nearly weekly basis (back then, all of us Makerbot folk where purely convinced that the reason our Mk4 extruder crapped out all the time was because of "nozzle blockage"... Well it was a crappy idler that was causing it the whole time. We all learned that lesson the hard way.

-I did my very 1st Demo last year at the 1st Annual Makerfaire in Raleigh NC. I had over 40 different kids print off those awesome Zodiac pieces from thingiverse.

-After that I sort of got demo fever, I have done demos at over 5 different schools in the last year.

-They wrote an article up on my and my Makerbot for the local paper, they even interviewed Bre for it.

-Eventually because of repeated issues with my printer I designed the Brutstruder. To be followed very shortly by helping Rick at Makergear design his Brustruder that is used to this day on his kits.

-I got sick and tired of the Z wobbling all over the place so I replaced them Acme Rods.

-My Heated build plate died several times. I used every single iteration of the Makergear heated build plate, and found every way to screw up it's construction and fry it.

-I jumped in both feet on cheap plastic from 3d Ink, only to find the only way to break a Makergear hot end. Feed it filament that seems to have sand in it (no crap).

-I had to replace the relay board, I had to replace the motherboard, I had to replace the extruder controller... TWICE. I had to replace a stepper controller. I went though over 15 thermistors, 25 feet nichome, 5 PTFE thermal barriers, and 1 PEEK (how to you break a PEEK? cross thread it that's how :) ).

-The final death came when Makerbot decided to no longer sell extruder controllers and mine died. So my Acme rods and Brustruder have moved over to a friend at the hackerspace who has never managed to get his Mk5 extruder to act nice.

Final Tally:

-33 total RepRaps printed, 8 being Sells Mendels, 1 Huxley and the rest Prusa Mendels (Of those 5 are at the hackerspace and still "mine". Plus the ability to give away over 10 extruders in the old loaner program, and very casually print replacement parts for people with broken extruders, gears etc.

-I think RepRaplogphase is one of the most subscribed RepRap related Youtube channels and blogs in the community, of course behind Nophead, reprap.org, and Makerbot... But that’s still not bad for it just being me.

-My Makerbot made out hackerspace, literally. Even though I have always had RepRap (since I manged to print my 1st one over a year ago), my Makerbot has always been my bread and butter machine. The people who helped start the hackerspace partially joined to have access to that machine.

So as I sit here, and look at my Makerbot, with the motherboard sitting in the build chamber, no Z axis, a whole in the front for the manual control for my 1st HBP, and wood that is almost black in places where skin oil and silicone has stained the wood.... I can't help but smile.

As much as I have hated this machine at times, it's the best purchase I have ever made. Now it goes to the attic for my grandkids to marvel over in 30 years when they clean up after my death (Don't worry kids, people picked on the wood box printer before it was even new!). And the Steppers are going to live on in... you guessed it, another RepRap.

Thank you Adam Mayer, Zach Smith and Bre Pettis It was a great machine and I will always be in your debt.

Full Sized Prusa Mendel, Fully Assembled and Calibrated, T minus 10 hours :)

2011-04-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180645671068#ht_500wt_1156

I feel dirty doing this on by blog but WFT why not? My Mendel is now at $812, and the auction ends in 10 hours. I guess I am nervous because I messed up the title and said everything but RepRap in it :). So if you search reprap you don't find my machine.

Anyway, back to being a good dev and not some used Robot salesman :)

Selling my Mendel for $1

2011-03-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

She has done great, she printed for 14 hours straight at Posscon, did a 18 hour straight print for a 1 shot replication, and did another in smaller chunks till I had the bed level enough for the 1 shot print. She has copied herself twice, printed a ton of odds and ends to test designs, and now it's time for her to go out into the world. I wanted to be fair, so I posted her for $1. Let the market do what it will. I will do anything I can to help the person that get's her have a good experience with it. Here is the link.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180645671068#ht_500wt_1156

I really hope this goes to a good home, with someone who will print with her 24/7. It's a heck of a machine. God I am a little teary over this.

BTW as with all my sells, the proceeds for this just goes to make more Mendels. I want everyone in the world to have these things, best invention ever.

I thought I had done something pretty cool

2011-03-16T01:04:00.000-07:00

My 1st time printing with my Prusa Mendel in Starbucks. I was disappointed, no one even noticed.

Come to find out Rick over at Makergear likes printing in Panera Bread.

The girl sitting in front of me never even turned around for a 30 minute print... disappointing..

I mean I know your Mac Book Air is cool and all, but a RepRap doesn't even score a turn around?

So where have you printed for the fun of it (demo's don't count, just random printing)?

It's just can't be that easy can it?

2011-02-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

On the left is my 1st calibration print with my Prusa, on the right is my Prusa Mendel motor block. I am officially heart broken.

I use Makergear .5mm big head nozzle, heatercore, PEEK thermal barrier, ACME threaded rods, a Brustruder, Teflon filament feeder tube from my horizontal filament spool... I have spend a YEAR getting my Makerbot calibrated to the point where most people can't believe I get the quality I do. I mean, heck I have had over 1000 people download MY calibration set on Thingiverse.

And here I am !1ST! print off my Prusa, and it looks better than my Makerbot print. This Home made Prusa just blew my Makerbot out of the water BEFORE calibaration.

I don't know if you can see it in these photos, but there is no visible Z wobble on my Prusa, but even with the ACME rods, there is a very slight wobble in my MB.

Here is a video of my getting as excited as a little school girl over a box :)

And here is a video giving you the sound difference between my two machines

Now I go onto printing on Makerbot, Calibrating Prusa White, and building Prusa Pink. I know I am hugely behind on the goal for the week, 2-3 family emergencies, and learning the eccentricity of Gen6, Repsnapper, and 5d firmware took a bit more than I was expecting. But it all came out in the end :)

On to printer 3!

BTW Prusa White thank you list.

Mendel-Parts.com for the Gen6 Electronics & motors
Ultimachine.com for the PLA
Ultimachine for the Skeinforge Settings
Makergear for the Hot end
Eckerteck for the hobbed bolt
Lowes Hardware for the wood
My local plastic supply Triad Plasticfor the Acrylic
My local fastener supplies Automotive Fasteners and Salem Supply for the fasteners, tool rod, and threaded.

But the largest thanks has to go to Makerbot & Makergear. Makerbot for getting me off the fence about the kit over a year ago with their great price at the time, and Makergear for spending a year giving me wonderful customer service helping to get my Makerbot reliable.

And of course Klimnent, Prusajr, Tesla, Makergear_Rick, arspitfire, Camiel, Spec, and ALL the others for answer 1000 stupid questions in the RepRap IRC

Day 1: One step ahead, right into a wall

2011-01-25T07:45:00.000-08:00

On the up side:

-I got one set of RP parts printed on day 1, I assumed I would not get much of anything done
-Installed ~~Redsnapper~~ Repsnapper (I keep calling it redsnapper, and people get getting hungry), found an out of date RepRap Wiki page for Repsnapper. Luckily half the dev community for RepRap are in and out of #reprap in Freenode IRC all day and night. Tim Schmidt, they guy that runs the github for Redsnapper was in there and straightened me and the wiki page out. Check it out, he has written a a pretty great on how to install Redsnapper
-Ordered $500 worth of parts for the printers (all money from prior RP sales)
8  4218L Nema 17 steppers from Alltronics (I have two others in my office, so that's enough for two more printers
1 Groovemount for Makergear's Groovemount thermal barrier
2 36mm brass barrels from Makergear
1 .35 Bighead nozzle from makergear
2 V3 Hybrid Groovemount 3mm thermal barriers  (I have the rest of the stuff in hand to finish off 2 hot ends), and I plan to use Rick's Groovemount as a jig to make more (sorry I am cheap).
1 5lb roll of 3mm Natural PLA from Ultimachine
1 set Pre-Assembled RAMPS Kit from Ultimachine
1 1lb roll black PLA (for calibration, from what I understand black is easier to calibrate with)
32 PLA sliders for Tesla893. I can't print in PLA and he decided to help me out with PLA sliders. He is awesome

So there goes $500 in about 20 minutes. But that should give me everything I need to get up to the testing point on 2 more Prusa. Still need more stuff but I am sure I can sell enough RP sets to get me further along.

On the down side:

-My god forsaken Makerbot DC gearmotor died again. That's 5, FIVE freaking motors failed!
I understood the justification when we didn't have gears worked well, but why would Makerbot put DC gearmotors in the ToM, a freaking $1200 Machine, when they have KNOWN for the last year that they are fail prone. The Thingomatic seems to be a great Cartesian bot, but it's extruder is junk. I am done with the DC gearmotor extruder on my MB, time to go stepper.. on that note.

-When one asks a vender to not include the printed parts so you can get a few dollars off on the parts. It's a wise move to go ahead and print those parts BEFORE your extruder breaks. That way your not stuck with no printer to print the RP part you need to put together your new extruder for your Makerbot. Not that I would EVER do that, just a note. :) When stupidity meets procrastination, fun things happen

-I now have to solder stepper driver board for a stepper extruder for my Makerbot.  God I hate soldering. I killed 3 opto end stops when I put my Makerbot together last year... I have got much better, but none the less the all or nothing aspect of soldering scares the heck out of me.

-Speaking of Makergear. I wanted to go Geared Stepper Extruder on all my bots, and use Prusajr's HBP on them all.. But SOMEONE has grabbed up all the really nice HBP and good priced geared steppers in the world.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/makergear/5382716290/

Ohh yea, Makergear hogging all the "good stuff" for his customers... In the words of James T Kirk " RRRRRIIIIIICCCCKKKK!!!!!!!!".

Anyway, now that I got that off my chest. That's a freaking nice kit for $825. Self aligning brass bushings, 1.75 filament, HUGE 200x200 build area, Ramps electronics, floating Z motors to get rid of Z wobble, spring tensioned Z nuts to alleviate Z binding... That's one mean looking machine.

God you would think this guy pays attention to what the RepRap folks want and builds it or something.

Conclusion:

Ahead on the RP, need to list, anyone want a set of Prusa RP parts for $100 plus shipping to anywhere in the world?. guess I have to get the Mendel going to print the replacement part for the Makerbot. Unfortunately a day of soldering... yay.

Arcol's mean little hot end

2011-01-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

http://koti.kapsi.fi/~kliment/photos/commissions/hotend/mountinstructions/IMG_4612.JPG
photo from Kliment of Prusa / #reprap fame

Arcol, of the http://blog.arcol.hu/ blog and the Planet RepRap feed (the more selective version of my RepRap Google feed) has a new hot end he has came out with. As you can tell it's loosely based on the BfB Rapman nozzle, but he has took the design and took it into open source overdrive. He has some prettier pictures out there (go looking though Kliment's website) but there is something about the look of a used nozzle that just feels more honest.

Per Kliment, who is the owner of this example, the brass get's warm, and the 4 hex spacers stay cool to the touch. This makes it a MUCH cooler nozzle than the Stock Mk5 and BfB Rapman nozzle sets. With it's benign thermal characteristics, and captured PFTE design, it should give trouble free service in what ever bot you decide to marry it to.

Arcol is in the process of setting up a web store, but if you want one of these he is asking 69 euro ($95), which puts his hot end right in the middle of the pack on price point. He has mounts for Brutstruder, Mk5, Mk4, BfB Rapman, Prusa Mendel, and Sells Mendel (Sells Mendel requires a altered X carriage). Until he get's his store up and going you can find him in the #reprap IRC or email him at order[at)arcol.hu.

Anyway I am a sucker for Steam Punk, and that my friends is a Steam Punk beauty of a hot end. I wish Arcol well, and it's nice to see we have a growing group of developers that are strongly aligning themselves with the RepRap organization.

18 day RepRap Marathon

2011-01-23T12:16:00.000-08:00

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2732/4251453506_9281900f25.jpg

A experiment in self funded exponential replication.

For the next 18 days, it's just going to be me and my RepRap hobby. It's something I have wanted to do since I first read about RepRap 2 years ago, and finally I have the time to do it (Use it or loose it vacation days, got to love them :) ). This will be an experiment in how exponential growth works in the real world of RepRap.

To keep myself honest, I am going do to 1 blog post each day telling about the progress i have made toward my goal, and what I have learned. It should be interesting considering my pension for doing stupid things and telling the world about it. :)

I go into this project with

1 95% completed Prusa Mendel

1 50% complete set of Prusa RP parts set to SAE fasteners
1 100% at this time operating MB Cupcake (with DC gearmotor, so let's see if it holds out)
1 1 set of the Makergear Stepper extruder kit to replace my DC gearmotor if it dies
2 Set of screws, smooth , and threaded for Imperial Prusa Mendel
1 Set of screws, smooth, and threaded for Metric Prusa Mendel
2 sets of PEEK barriers from Makergear
2 NEMA 17 stepper motors (two different makes, so must me by X & Y)

My goal is to by the end of the 18 days have enough money coming in from RP parts sells, and enough experience with the Prusa Mendel Design that I can reach exponential growth (If only mathematically for a few days).

I am going to set a lofty goal, 6 new printers in 18 days, all funded via selling RP parts online. I feel I can use what I have already because besides my Cupcake I got 14 months ago, everything else has been paid for by selling RP Parts.

The "Plan" assumes that I will not have the Prusa printing parts until Friday, that the Makerbot holds out for 18 days at a 20+ hour printing pace (We will see), that I will at no point have more than 2 printers functioning at one time, and that I have a quick turn over on the Prusa Mendel RP sets.

To this end all RP parts sold from this project will be only $100 ($50 less than the going rate), so that they go quickly. All parts will come with a certificate stating how what number replication it is for me, and what machine made it.

My "base" build will be as follows
$50 4 http://www.alltronics.com/cgi-bin/item/28M056/55/Lin-Engineering-4118M-02-07RO-bipolar-stepper-motor 63 oz-inch stepper motors
$220 1 http://ultimachine.com/content/ramps-pre-assembled-kit Ramps Electronics and 4 connectors for motors
$165 http://www.makergear.com/products/plastruder 1 plastruder kit from Makergear, if they are out of stock I will just get 1 more stepper motor and $87 http://www.makergear.com/products/operators-pack an operators pack and mount
$40 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110538227436&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNAFP:US:1123 a 20A power supply
$35 http://www.mcmaster.com/#9368T115 12 brass bushings, and http://www.mcmaster.com/#7959K24 8 foot of .2" xl 1/4 inch wide belting.
$50 Local fastener store all the Tool & threaded rod and fasteners.

So $560 that's the simplest, easiest way to build a Prusa, I could cut that by $200, and likely will if it seems practical, but considering I am going to be printing 20+ hours a day, I might not want to get into complicated soldiering :)

I go into this project with $600 from selling RP parts, so on Monday I will order 1 of everything I need for Prusa2

So for the 18 day run, this is my "plan"
1. Finish partial set, and 1 more for getting ahead on Prusa Mechanicals
All components for 2nd Prusa ordered
2. Sell 1 Prusa Set ($100)Altronics
3. Sell 1 Prusa Set ($100)Ebay Power supply
4. Sell 1 Prusa Set ($100)electronics
5. Sell 1 Prusa Set ($100)belts/bushings
6. Sell 1 Prusa Set ($100)Hot end
All components for 3rd Prusa ordered
7. Sell 1 Prusa Set ($100)Alltronics
8. Sell 1 Prusa Set ($100)Ebay
2nd Printer online
9. Sell 2 Prusa Set ($200)Electronics
10. Sell 2 Prusa Set ($200)belts/bushings/hotend
All componetns for 4th Prusa ordered
11. Sell 2 Prusa Set ($200)Electornics
12. Sell 2 Prusa Set ($200)Motors/Hot End
13. Sell 2 Prusa Set ($200)belts/bushings/powersupply
All components for 5th Prusa ordered
14. Sell 2 Prusa Set ($200)Electronics
15. Sell 2 Prusa Set ($200)Motors/Hot End
16. Sell 2 Prusa Set ($200)belts/bushings/powersupply
All components for 6h Prusa ordered
17. Sell 2 Prusa Set ($200)Electronics
18. Sell 2 Prusa Set ($200)motors/Hot end
All components for 7th Prusa but hot end belts and bushings ordered

That would mean that in 18 days I could supply the world with 27 new Prusa Mendels, and they would return the favor by giving me 6 1/2 back. of course there are a lot of ways this could not work out.

-My MB loves to eat DC gearmotors, if this happens before I get Prusa1 up and going the Geared Stepper falls into the critical path.
-The parts could not sell, but I think at 1/3 less than the going rate I shouldn't have an issue with that.
-It could take more than a week to get Prusa1 up and going (All I need to do it put the build plate & hot end on, calibrate, and I am good). Not likely, but with the help of #reprap in IRC I think I will have no issues
-The Great Gremlin, we don’t' talk about him, but Makergear and Prusa designs are mostly Gremlin resistant.

Next post tomorrow evening. I made Day 1 pretty easy considering I work 14 hour days on the weekend, and those days are hard. Wish me luck, and if you see me in #RepRap tell me to print faster. :)

Still Extruding

Death of the "sub $1000 Desktop Factory"

2011-01-21T18:03:00.000-08:00

Bre Petis just announced today over at the Makerbot blog that after a small hiatus the Cupcake will be brought back for a 250 set run, and then the Cupcake is over. It's a pretty good assumption that the death of the Cupcake also comes the death of the Gen3 Electronics, but I might be wrong.

THEN

Around 18 months ago I had to make a decision, I had just finished watching Adrian Bowyer's Poptech speech.

I wanted a Darwin, and I wanted it BAD. Looked into getting the RP parts, no luck, professional printed was going to be $1700 plus just for the plastic, and I could tell a repstrap was going to be outside my technical ability. So it was a kit for me. At the time there where two choices, Rapman by Bits From Bytes and Makerbot Cupcake. To me at the time the Math was obvious:

Rapman:
-$1250 for the kit
-200x200mm build area
-single source nozzle
-Expensive electronics (what happens when you loose a board? Which I read happens a lot)
-Superior Build Quality

or

Makerbot Cupcake
-$750 for the kit
-100x100 build area
-All the parts where source able from different venders
-RepRap based hot end
-Cheap Electronics ($175 for complete kit or $150 for DIY at the time)
-It used the official RepRap electronics
-Loudest printer on the market

Well if you’re reading this blog, I went with the cheaper, more open design.

NOW

Up! by pp3d
-$2700 for a pre assembled printer
-140x140 build area
-1.75 filament stepper extruder
-Single source everything

Rapman: (some things don't change)
-$1275 for the kit
-200x200mm build area
-single source nozzle
-they don't even sell their electronics any more
-3mm stepper extruder nozzle
-No heated build platform
-Multiple print heads available

Makerbot Thing-o-matic
-$1225 for kit
-96x108 build area
-3mm DC gearmotor extruder
-Single source nozzle
-Expensive electronics ($100 dollars more than Rapman's electronics’ where)
-still the loudest printer on the market

Botmill Axis 2.1
-$1025 for kit
-200x200 build area
-RepRap nozzle, stepper extruder-3mm stepper extruder
-Single board electronics (1 thing fails, the whole electronics fail)

Mendel Parts Mendel
-$950 for kit
-200x200 build area
-RepRap nozzle, stepper extruder
-Single board electronics (1 thing fails, the whole electronics fail)

Makergear Prusa Mendel
-$825 for kit
-200x200 build area
-only kit printer to offer 1.75 filament option
-Only kit printer to use RAMPS electornics based off the "offiical" reprap printed electornics

Self Source Prusa Mendel
-$525ish
-Find Prusa Mendel parts on Ebay, http://www.emakershop.com/, RepRap IRC, or in the RepRap forums
-Get your electronics form Ultimachine.
-Get your Extruder from Makergear
-Get your hardware at the local fastener supply (type in your zip code and fastener supply in Google Maps)

I love Makerbot, and I love my Cupcake. But the reason I bought my Cupcake was it was solidly the best deal PERIOD in RepRap at the time, and it had a great brand image.

But that was last year, now the Thing-o-Matic has the smallest build plate, with the least reliable extruder, the most expensive electronics, and the most complicated printer to put together. I have been suggesting the Cupcake as a great alternative to the Mendel kits, but now MB has not a single product I could recommend. It's a shame really.

Heekscad 0.16 for windows is now avialable

2011-01-20T19:43:00.000-08:00

You can get it over at it's Google code webpage.

HeeksCAD is always my 1st suggestion for a solid modeler for several reasons.

-It will run off a Thumb drive no problem
-It's free
-It works
-It's easy
-It's GUI is dead simple easy
-It can handle all the major file formats (iges, dxf, jpg, stl, step, & svg)
-They don't make you jump though hoops to get it, just go there, download, and your good.

If you just need to design a part to print, and don't want to have to spend hours learning how to program 1st, or spend $50-$3000 on a design program which has lots of features you just don't need, well this is the program for you.

Cleaning ABS from a RepRap (or MB Cupcake) Nozzle & Barrel

2011-01-18T06:38:00.000-08:00

Yet another in my series of how to do things in RepRap. BTW I know that :

-ABS let's off some strong fumes when burnt (I have the windows open, and fan on high)
-ABS when burnt let's off black soot (I know, I had to dust the house after my wife tried to kill me)
-My had was under the drop zone for the plastic about 1/2 the time

Ohh and I let myself run low on alcohol, a 3 foot tall fireball is what ended the video (and a section of my eyebrows). This will not happen if you don't let the alcohol get as low as I did (about 1cm).

Welcome to these Chinese Ebay, land of the $1105 Mendel

2011-01-16T15:47:00.000-08:00

Ebay may be king in the US and the rest of the world, but in China, it's taobao.com.

Thought it would be intersting to see how RepRap is going in China, so I did a search for RepRap. They have 1 person selling cast parts for $265, and a full mendel kit, using what looks like knock off Gen3 electronics for $1105.

You can go crusing for stuff in the reprap search translated to English via google here.

Considering how little competiton is going on over there at the moment I can't beleive the prices are so good. One thing that was amusing, no pp3p Up! in their Ebay yet. :)

I have been trying to figure out how to list parts from the US on there for the last hour, how fun would be be to sell RAMPS boards and Prusa Menel Parts into THAT market :)

Cheap skates guide to a $510ish Mendel ($360 if you have access to a 3d printer)

2011-01-16T12:59:00.000-08:00

(This was a much longer and more detailed post, but Blogger ate my 3 pager, I am not typing out all the details again, I don't love you that much :P)

Just a few shopping notes, getting ready to start building my second Prusa (3rd one will be a lobotomized Cupcake turned into a Prusa, poor MB) , and was going to use some of my lessons learned to make the next one a little cheaper.

Cheapest Electronics: Ultimachine DIY Kit $162 or $170 with shipping

I tried buying the generic Arudino off Ebay, or stepper controllers direct for Pololu. Didn’t matter what I did, it was going to be $162 or more. You can usually get the power supplies for dirt cheap at your local computer repair shop, just remember you need 60W plus.

Cheapest Full hot end: Makergear Hybrid Operators Pack $70 or $80 with shipping

The cheapest and most respected hot end in the community. Mendel-Parts came close, but Shipping put it way over the top.

Cheapest Motors: Alltronics ~43n-cm NEMA17 Steppers $9.95 a piece or $55 with shipping and $5 more for the clips from Ultimachine

You will need to add the plugs for your ramps, and likely extend at least 3 of the stepper's wires, but if you need cheap, that's cheap, and the steppers are strong enough to each run an extruder.

Cheap Hardware: You can get all the hardware for a Prusa Mendel locally. The bearings from a skate shop, hardware from your local fastener supply (you have one local, I promise, and they are cheap on screws, threaded, and A2 tool rod). I got all the hardware for my Prusa Mendel for $50. If you try to buy this stuff online any savings is likely going to get killed by shipping. If you’re scared to hobb your own bolt you can pick those up on Ebay for $10.

RP parts (the plastic bits): CHEAPEST place is likely always going to be #reprap IRC, the RepRap forum, and Ebay. Currently Prusa parts are going for $125-$150. Just keep in mind if you get a "normal" Sells Mendel, you’re going to pay $100 more for the plastic, and then $100 for the added hardware it needs for no benefit in build quality.

Next cheapest place, but (unless order from the right person on Ebay) higher quallity will be the Webshops that sell RP parts. These include Makergear, Emakershop, and a few others I can't think of right now.

So the total is:
Electronics $170
Motors $60
Hot End $80
Hardware $50
RP Parts $150 if you need them

So that comes to $360 is the cost of a second RepRap, and if your new to the hobby a Prusa can be self sourced for $510. Of course this is trying to minimize cost. If you want a HBP, or not to have to solder much, etc etc then the price goes up. Getting the Electornics done by Ultimachine and getting the motors from him so you don't have to deal with any soldering outside the hot end would add $100. HPB is going to run you $50+ from Ultimachine or Makergear.

2 years ago the official RepRap was Darwin, and at the time the official cost to self source (if you had access to the RP Parts) was over $1000. A Year ago a Sells Mendel costs $600-$700 if you had access to the RP Parts (And VERY few people did). Now we as a community are down to less than $400 dollars. Amazing times my friends.

The power of a good name.

2011-01-15T01:10:00.000-08:00

A year ago I bought my Makerbot, It printed 2-3 times then it broke, I then bought some replacement parts from Makerbot, and followed some advice from some guys in the Makerbot Google Group. Sage advice like "Crank the Heck out of the idler wheel", I then need new idler wheels from Makerbot, and "Turn your temp up higher", and then I need to buy a new PTFE after it comes off the barrel, and then my favorite "You have a clog, you need to rebuild your hot end", whole new thermistors and nichome. 5-6 times. MONTHS of no printing. This is heart breaking when you where promised a 3d printer.

After a bit I realized that Rick at Makergear was actually willing to help a person instead of just filling orders. I starting going to Makergear because they where on average 20% cheaper than Makerbot, and the Makerbot Google Group was making me a very regular purchaser of extruder parts, I kept going to Makergear because over the course of a few orders my Makerbot started to work as a printer and not a Science Fair Electronics Project Kit it had become.

Now I wake up in the middle of the night, and see that Rick at Makergear has managed to sell out of the 1st batch of his Prusa Mendel kit, and is on batch 2. We have not seen a picture, nor a video of it printing, heck we don't even know how close to the current Github Prusa it's going to be or how he is going to power that HUGE HBP. But you know what? I have NEVER, in all the 300+ blogs I follow though the Google Aggregate feeder, nor in my obsessive following of the RepRap/Makergear/Makerbot forums, or my near constant vigile in the #reprap and #makergear IRC channels EVER seen Rick not deliver everything he has ever promised, and a little bit more.

Wiki's and Forums are great, but sometimes having someone around who cares enough about his good name to spend dozens of hours a week doing the customer service and design work to fix the flawed designs of others, well it's humbling.

Congratulations Makergear, I am glad you guys have a commercial success in your kit, and I know Rick will not sleep untill all those Prusa are Grimlin ~~Proof~~ Resistant.

I'm still extruding, are you?

First Robotics Design Principles.

2011-01-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

It's not RepRap, but good design is universal.

This will be a good series to follow. Do you have a 1st in your area? Unfortunately the nearest one to me is over 2 hours drive :(. We as a community make the perfect mentors, and resources for these teams.

11 Predictions for 2011

2011-01-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

1. By the end of 2011 the majority of Printed parts sold on Ebay will be of the Prusa instead of Sells Mendel variety.

2. Ultimaker will be released by Erik, and he will have found a solution for the latency issues of the bowden extruder, which will drastically improve the build quality of those style extruders (and paste extruders)

3. RAMPS by Ultimachine will continue it's improvement, and become the de facto of electronics for RepRap in 2011 as Gen3 by Makerbot was in 2010. RAMPS will have HBP, Multi Extruder, Bluetooth, Print from SD, and be a SMD board.

4. The wedge "Mendel" design will continue to be the mainstay of RepRap design though 2011 for FDM, but RepRap will officially add a pic-n-place either detla or arm based, and a "offical" CNC Router design.

5 The Makergear Prusa Kit will become the most popular "RepRap" kit, because Makergear is the only kit seller that does not rely on forums to do their Tech Support. Relying on Forums/Wiki for tech support isn't community; it's just lazy/cheap if the seller is not active in that wiki/forum.

6. By the end of 2011 more 1.75 filiment will be sold than 3mm.

7. Makerbot will offer a commerical "plug and play" 3d printer in 2011. It will retail between $3000 - $4000, and will use the Gen4 Electronics. I think Gen4 was not designed for Thing-o-Matic (it could have been run on Gen3 or Ramps just as easily). Gen4 I think is the brain for that industrially manufactured non kit printer, and Thing-o-Matic is being used as a field test for those electronics. I don't believe Makerwave is dead yet.

8. Legal action will be threatened against Thingiverse some time in 2011 for distributing proprietarily designs. It will make big news in the real world.

9. By the end of 2011 more of the "who is making what" photos on Thingiverse will be RepRap printed than Makerbot product printed.

10. Before the end of the year the average cost for the RP parts for a full sized 20x20cm print area Mendel will be $75 (with some being as cheap as $50), full "kits" will be available for $550, and fully integrated and tested RepRap will be avialbe for $750.

11. Someone is going to offer an injection molded 3d printer before the end of the year.

And RepRap comes off the Top Rope for 2011!!!!

2010-12-25T08:35:00.000-08:00

2008 Was a Year of self Made RepRap Kits. Ponoko Darwins, and various RepStraps/Junstraps

2009 Was the Start of the Commerical RepStrap Revolution, with the BfB Rapman, and the Makerbot CupCake.

2010 Has been the Year of Transition, with the explosion of Makerbot Marketing, and maturing of the RepRap Design, with Mendel, and the supply chain filling out with Makergear, MendelParts, Botmill, Techzone, Reprapstores, the German RepRap Foundation, and Ultimachine. 2010 saw the 1st year where RepRap had multiple venders offering interchangeable parts, based off a common design. It started with the extruders, and by the end of this year expanded to include the kits themselves.

2011 is the year that RepRap will come to the forefront, I know this because like all good declarations, it happened a month or so before it was declared. 2011 will be the 1st year where the price and quality points are more on the RepRap side than the RepStrap side. The era of the Lasercut kit being the better choice than the RP kit has ended. Let me give you a few examples why:

MakerGear Prusa Mendel Kit: $825!!!!

With Makerbot having decided to end the Cupcake standard kit, they have officially ceded the low ground in the RepRap/RepStrap community to Makergear. MakerGear is officially the cheapest off the shelf 3d Printer kit that I can recommend, and boy is it not a compromise.

Prusa 20x20cm PCB Heated Build Platform
Ramps Electronics
High Quality printed Parts printed on an Up!, and RepStrap printer (second only to Stratasys is FMD build quality)
All hardware and Bearings
Makergear's Planetary gear extruder (The only extruder available with a metal planetary gear)

All that from a company where you can find the owner in IRC almost all the time, and the most responsive customer service in the community.

MendelParts.com Sells Mendel Kit: $916!!!

MendelParts is something special, they are taking the RepRap concept to it's logical conclusion that all of us have surely thought of. Build a Mendel, print the parts for a second and sell them, use the funds to build more. Well Camiel now have 6 folk running full blast running over 8 machines 24/7 printing Mendels for the world. Poor fella isn't sleeping or seeing his friends any more, but his loss is your gain at this price point. :) Again No compromises here either.

Gen6 all in 1 board electronics (developed by Mendelparts, and shared on the RepRap Wiki)
Aluminium build plate
PLA printed parts printed on a Mendel, they way all RepRap's really want to be
Adrian Extruder, with Mendel parts v4 hot end
Stainless or Zinc rods

BotMill's new Sells Mendel Kit: $1165!!

The issue always I had with Botmill was that they used the Gen3 Remix electronics by Techzone, which are known for having issues (read the RepRap forums). Botmill has remedied this by going to the Gen6 electronics (I do not know if these are sourced through MendelParts, or if they are a copy. If they are sourced from MendelParts they have a proven track record of reliability). This is an awesome kit also.

Professionally printed RP parts produced off a Stratasys 3d printer (The gold standard of FMD printing)
Looks like only 1 color is now available (yellow?)
Prusa Heated Build Plate
Gen6 Electronics
Adrian Extruder

All of these kits have something no lasercut kit can offer:

You can replicate each one for 1/2 what you pay for your 1st kit.

RP based printers using 1/2 stepping are ghost quiet (even a lasercut kit using 1/2 stepping can't say that)

All parts for these printers can easily be upgraded in the same material, in the same color as your base printer, so upgrades don't make your printer look like a Frankenbot.

His name is RepRap

One year ago RP parts where going for $750 dollars, we only had one choice in electronics, there was a 2-3 month wait for a Makerbot, and not even the best of us could print the RepRap parts without warp issues. The majority of interesting research was being done by the core team that had been with the community from the beginning like Zack and Adrien.

Today the hottest new RepRap was designed by a DJ from the Czech Republic (Prusajr), & the hottest electronics come from south of the Mason Dixon Line in the US (Ultimachine's Ramps Electronics). In this short year RepRap has exploded. The number of designs on Thingiverse has doubled, as have the pages on the RepRap Wiki.

It's only the beginning folks, the RepStraps have served their purpose, they got RepRap jump started, now it's time to see how how well this bird flies. Merry Christmas!

Automatic Mechanical Self Replication

2010-11-23T06:11:00.000-08:00

Automatic Mechanical Self Replication (part 2) from chead on Vimeo.

Posted by NickC in RepRap IRC

Here is the paper that this video is based off of.

http://vxheavens.com/lib/mlp01.html
I had never heard of Lionel Penrose before, but his work was intersting. I bet he would have loved RepRap, shame he isn't around any more. Read up on him over at his wiki page.

Wouldn't this be a wonderful tool to teach the concept of replication without intelligence in schools?

Anyway back to printing, thanks for indulging me.

Contemplating a Pod Cast

2010-10-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else besides me seen a real need for a weekly video podcast for RepRap? I LOVE watching videos by/about other people in the hobby, but most interviews I see are by people who don't know much about the hobby, so you spend 3 minutes with them asking questions like "So that's plastic right? When will the robot revolution come? What can it print?, and Bre, how do you do that with your hair?".

I would love to see a Weekly vidcast for RepRap that had:

-Little tips that people tend to have a hard time grasping, like how to wrap nichrome, to set up and operate skein forge, the difference between the electronics, etc

-A non company view of the printers. How awesome would it be to see an interview with the Makerbot, UP!, Mendel-Parts, Botmill, Techzone, The RepRap core team, Ultimaker, Makergear, Ultimachine, 3dink, BfB, the list goes on and on, where the questions come from the community (sent via twitter), and they all get to show off on a show directed at our community.

-How great would it be if we had someone from our community going around interviewing people at the NY Makerfair? I wanted an Interview with Rick from Makergear, and Tony Buser, Someone at Makerbot besides Bre or Zack, or how about the other folks that where there, I saw some awesome bots in the pics, but we don't know anything about them.

I could think of a 100 things I would love to see in a nice 4-5 minutes pod cast each week, the only issue is I really don't want to do it myself, mostly because.

-I am a overweight white dude, not exactly the image I think we want to portray.

-I am from the Southern United States, and I have an accent that does not convey... intelligence :)

-You have likely seen my videos, the video quality is good, but the production quality is really poor, I don't have a communications degree, and it shows.

Should I:

A. Start a pod cast and hope someone comes along and does it better than me and lets me off the hook.

B. Just drop it, there is no need/let someone with more skill start it.

Please do me a favor and respond in the comments, I am very on the fence about this idea.

BTW I got my Gen6 Electronics and motors in, and 1 of my Prusa Mendels is nearly completed, and 2 others are started, videos and pics hopefully later this week :)

So many intersting things in the last few weeks..

2010-10-09T00:18:00.000-07:00

Hot Rod Makerbot

Nice little kitty right? Must have been printed on a UP! or BfB Rapman right? Wrong. A Makerbot with MakerGear Compact Plastruder. The drive is an abridged version of the Brustruder, and the hot end is new Makergear compant hot end using professional grade 1.75 mm orange filament with support material enabled in skeinforge.

Seriously, printed on a a Makerbot, who knew a Makerbot could do that? I guess that's the end of Up! and others uploading stuff to Thingiverse that no Makerbot can print, go Makergear!

So many different RepRap Electronics are now in stock! (How much 6 months can change things)

Ultimachine's Arduino based electronics ($195 complete kit)

Johnnyr of Ultimachine has done some wonderful work on these electronics, and they are written up in the wiki. Adrian and Johnnyr are neck and neck on the RepRapable electronics for RepRap "race". Adrian's version is written up in the wiki also (but to my knowledge are not currently commercially available).

Makerbot Gen 3 Electronics ($199 complete kit)

They have been in stock for a few weeks now, this has to be a record. But considering how many alternatives there are now, and the fact that Makerbot has now shown the Gen 4. These are very likely to stay more reliably in stock now. To my knowledge Makerbot electronics and firmware are still the only ones that allow for Printing from SD cards, which I am slightly addicted to.

Mendel-Parts.com Gen 6 Electronics ($210 complete kit ($180 without End Stops )

Mendel Parts newly introduced Gen 6 Electronics. These boards are in pre-order currently, but according to Camiel there is only a 2-3 week lead time, and he is scaling up quickly. These are professionally designed boards, so look for good things to come from these.

Botmill's Gen3 Remix Electronics ($179 complete kit)

Botmill / Techzones shrunk version of the RepRap Gen 3 Electronics. One point I must bring up, these are based off the Makebot manufactured Gen3 Electronics, but they are not a component for component copy, so even though they are "Gen 3" they bare very little in commonality with the Makerbot manufactured Gen3 Electronics.

OR

RepRapstores community shop Electronics ($143 w/ power supply)

Seriously WTF. RepRap Electronics for $143 with a power supply? I knew Botmill/Techzone had sort of a bad name in the community for not shipping quickly/not responding to emails/minor issues with quality of the electronics, but RepRap Gen 3 Electronics for less than $150 with a power supply? Seriously, if you have ordered these recently, please comment, do they burst into flames when you plug them in or something, or are they just being aggressive as heck on their pricing? If they work that's a GREAT deal.

German RepRap Foundation Gen 3 Electronics ($267 complete kit)

These are to my knowledge a component for component copy of the Makerbot/RepRap Gen 3 Electronics (I might be wrong). But non the less they are not Makerbot sourced, so again, each "Gen 3" is different. These are not Makerbot or Techzone sourced Gen3.

I think that's all of them. The ones that have peeked my interest are the Makerbot's Gen 4, Ultimachine's Arduino Electronics , and Mendel-Part's Gen 6 electronics. But RepRap is entering a whole new world of commercially available, open source electronics, in stock even.

Brustruder, STILL EXTRUDING (and a little red in the face)

I designed the Brustruder because I honestly got sick of all the headaches I was having out of my Mk4 Extruder. I have not had 1 issue in the month since I installed it in my Makerbot. But the coolest thing is it's been downloaded over 80 times in the 30 days it's been up, and I have not had one person say they have had issues out of it. Which is just the best feeling in the world.

Now what is not the best feeling in the world is having Make Magazine pick up a video where you accidentally punch yourself in the face with a Kysan Gear motor, and run it on their national blog. Then it get's even less fun when people at work find out... Explaining to your coworkers why you where straining pickup up 20lb of water, or what you mean by "steal extruding", while groaning, or why your floor is dirty, not so fun. :)

I kid, it's flatting that so many people like the Brustruder, and that over 4000 people watched the video, and the fact that every time I go into the RepRap or Makergear IRC people pick about "Still Extruding". Thanks for the Fun!

Bits from Bytes acquired by 3d Systems

So many litmus tests have happened in the last few weeks for our community. 1st it was the Makerbot/Techzone Electronics Drama, then the Up! Printer Drama, now BfB has been acquired by 3d Systems. Before I comment, a lot of Folks in the community don't really know who 3d Systems is, and what they are known for.

-3d Systems was started by Chuck Hill, who was the creator of the 1st rapid prototyping technology, Steriolithography, and created the STL file format. He was also the 1st one the bring 3d commercial printing to market in the 80s.

-A little over 1 year ago 3d Systems acquired Desktop factory, which was at the time a failing 3d printer company, that never really managed to sell their promised "revolutionary inexpensive 3d printer" at $5000. Some say the death keel for Desktop Factory was Makerbot squeezing them on the low end with their $750 kits and Z-corp's Z-150 ($10,000) on the high end. 3d Systems likely acquired them for a song.

My personal take is this is a VERY smart acquisition for 3d Systems. With this acquisition they get the product that Desktop Factory always wanted to be able to sell, the BfB 3000 Panther. The Panther, which at this time is being pathetically marketed by BfB is a full up 3 head, multi material 3d printer for $3200, a full $1800 less than the promised Desktop Factory price.

But what I don't quite understand is where does the Rapman 3.1, and the Bits From Bytes brand name fit into the picture? It would not suprise me to see the Panther sold under the 3d Systems moniker as one step below the V-Flash $10,000 printer. But the Rapman does not fit the 3D systems model at all.

1 year after Desktop Factories acquisition their web page is little more than a redirect to the low end V-Flash $10,000 printer. I don't think BfB will suffer quite the same fate, simply because they do have 2 products, and a valuable brand name. So what would be the logical, and profitable reason to acquire BfB, and not just build a BFB 3000 printer alternative in house?

Just Speculation

If I had to guess, I think 3d Systems has read the same tea leaves a lot of us in this community have. 3d printing is exploding, and I think 3D Systems is getting ready to use the BfB brand name to come in hard on the personal market. I think the purchased BfB for the brand name, and the Panther. So this is what I think is going to happen:

-V-Flash shows up on BfB website
-The BfB 3000 Panther shows up in a few months as a cartridge unit on the 3d Systems website
-BfB will release a new 3d printer to replace the Rapman 3.1 in the next few months. This will be their new competition for Makerbot.

The new printer would be optimized to be quicker and easier to assemble, the harder bits to assemble would come pre packaged (The X axis and the Extruder), and be a part for part copy of the Panther. It would look like a cross between:

Fab @ Home

and

The Panther

Think of the possiblity for such a machine. It does not have to compete with the Cupcake, so as long as they can keep the same price point as the Rapman, it would be price competitive with the Thingomatic.

Makerbot really needs a competitor, I was hoping Up! would be it, but they just priced themselves out of the Market by trying to sell a a visually cheap printer at the same price that BfB is asking for the Panther. I was hoping Botmill/Techzone would be that competitor, but they don't seem to know how to hire someone for $7.50 an hour to answer email questions and send tracking numbers. I was hoping that the Old BfB would be that competitor, but they never seemed to learn how to market their obvously superior product. I even hoped that Profound Devices would be that competitor, be he just turned out to be an over promising hobbyist with a inflated ego.

So if I am reading the tea leaves right, I hope Makerbot has some more ammo in that clip, because I have a feeling the 3DS/BfB is going to come out with all guns blazing in the next few months, with a mission to become the defacto 3d printing brand that Makerbot currently is.

If you have read my blog, you know I am a Open Source fend, but in the end it really doesn't matter to me if the printer is open source or not, as long as it prints RP and is a good price. If 3DS/BfB can compete with Makerbot on price, I know they can beat them in quality.

Honestly I can't wait to see the real reason 3DS bought BfB, but no matter what, they are going to use that Brand name for something, and I have a feeling it's going to be fun to watch.

And as fast as it started, the Mendel Price war is over!

2010-10-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

It would help if I had basic third grade reading skills. Thank you goffrie for pointing out my error.

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.

Mendel-Parts.com is the current Mendel Pricing champion at $965!!

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.

A Mendel price war

2010-10-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

Mendel-Parts Mendel Kit $965

RepRap printed parts, with professionally printed gears available in Black, Blue, Green, Natural, Silver, and White.

Gen 6 Electroncis All 1 board electronics,(dead quite)

Botmill Mendel Kit $940

All professionally printed parts (not just the gears) available in Lemon Yellow, Fluorescent Red, Bright Blue, and Black.

Generation Techzone Remix Gen 3 electronics (soldiering required)

It really is amazing how this market has changed in the last few months. A fully functioning Mendel kit for what I paid for My full Makerbot kit a year ago? Amazing. These kits are almost identical, except for one uses the Techzone Gen3 Electronics, and the other used the Gen6 Mendel-Parts electronics.

One guy asked me which I would buy, and I would have to go with Mendel-parts, only because I have read so many bad things about Botmill customer service, and seen so many people brag on Mendel-Parts service. Also I have seen video of the Mendel-parts Mendels printing, but never a video of the new RP Botmill kits printing (if there is a video, please post it in the comments!).

Also if you are selling full kits for Mendel in the sub $1000 price range, and I didn't list you please mention it in the comments.

Throw the Makerbot Ultimate Kit at only $899 (which now includes a Automated build plate AND a Mk5 extruder) into the Mix and a person deciding on what to buy in the sub $1000 price range in RP hobby has some real thinking to do.

And here I though RepRap was the coolest thing ever

2010-10-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

This is a real, honest to goodness robotic walker, with evil death grip claws, for KIDS! It was posted on Next Big Future. This is real, it's $21,000, and it's quite possibly the best think I have ever seen.

Reenact the loader vs alien scene from Aliens with the neighborhood dogs, check
Let your kid knock on the neighhood bully's front door with the claws of death, check
Just look at it and giggle like a schoolgirl, check.

Anyone willing to give me $21,000 for a slightly used Makerbot?

What the heck is a Thing-o-matic?

2010-09-24T21:52:00.001-07:00

World Maker Faire New York 2010
Originally uploaded by Laughing Squid

Did http://laughingsquid.com/ just scoop Makerbot's announcement? That don't look like no Makerwave to me, but it sure does look pretty.

Looks like:
Internal electronics
Only 1 Rod to lift an all wood Z platform (No belt?)
X is now on the trolley instead of Y
Looks larger than your average Makerbot
Open on all 4 sides (one side looks sorta open)

Could this be the big announcement?

Don't Play MineCraft, espeically considering it's free for the next few days.

2010-09-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

My Brustruder is working perfectly, I have it on the loosest setting using 3d Ink cheap natural plastic, and it chugs along like nothing ,and what is weird, it it's super quite. I can't even hear the motor when the axises aren't moving, which I didn't think was possible for a gearmotor.

Went ahead and dropped $75 on a set of Acme Z rods from Ebay.

So between the Brustruder, My Makergear heated build plate, my .35 nozzle, and my freshly leveled build platform, I can for the 1st time just print, no need to keep the toolbox in the office with my printer (It has not left the office in the 9 months I have had my printer, till last week).

So now with a perfectly operating 3d printer what am I doing? Playing Minecraft and not printing a dang thing. I havn't designed anything in Heekscad, haven't turned a bolt on my Mini Mendel/Huxley, I even stopped printing my 7th Mendel (I know I said I was out of the Mendel business, but I can't get the idea of having a Makerbot, Darwin, Mendel, Huxley and Mantis 9.1 all in my office out of my head).

I hope I get over this Minecraft addiction soon, I have schoolwork I need to get done.

The Dangers of Extruder development, accentually punching one's self in the face

2010-09-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

I was doing failure testing on my new Brutstruder. I was very proud of myself when my 1st version lifted a 2 liter of coke. Well, after a few modifications, this one got up to 3 1/2 gallons of water, or about 27 lb worth of lift strength. That's not quite a wades extruder, but considering the 1st 1/2 of the video was with 2 springs, the later I put 3 on, and they are compressed out, so this has a lot more pulling it can do with proper sprints, and 4 of them.

I would suggest watching the whole video, but if you are sick like Rick From Makergear, you might want to skip directly to 3:10 where I punch myself in the face with a Kysan Gearmotor. No blood, but my nose is still sore.

Brutstruder

2010-09-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

I have started the wiki page for my new extruder at the RepRap Wiki.

I thought I would be smart and put all four spring on the extruder for it's 1st test run, it literally squeezed the ABS so tight that it came out the other end flattened out (but by god it didn't slip!). I think I need to test it with only 2 half springs tonight :).

Almost done.

2010-09-04T12:13:00.000-07:00

There are 4 people on the Makergear IRC (Basically the official IRC of the Makerbot folks, considering most of us that have operational Makerbots have some of Rick's goodies ) that have kept steering me back to this project. Well It's finally "done". I just need 4 new Wingnuts, a 5/16 jam nut, 4 smaller springs (the one's I have are almost 3 inches long unspring, WAY too long. and a 1 inch bolt (Everything I have is metric, and getting a 8mm jam nut is not likely at Lowes).

This extruder was originally designed as a super small gearmotor extruder for the now Huxley, but since I have hit 5-6 snags on the Mini Mendel, and I sold my extra set of electroncis, this is now a Makerbot Extruder.

Here are some design charateristics of this extruder:

-608 spring tensioned bearing idler (stolen from Wades Extruder http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1794)
-Viewport for the drive gear, and the hot end integration (stolen from juniortan's breach extruder http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3178)
-Mk5 drive gear (Stolen from the Mk5 extruder http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3290)
-Legs (Stolen from Zaggo's prinstruder legs http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1912 I use 2 sets of his left legs (two left feet, get it!), Funny thing is I had to extend the extruder 11mm on the x axis to reach even that. But I don't think I am up to designing a whole new leg system)
-A heaping helping of advice from the folks off Makergear and RepRap IRC, thanks folks!

It has extruded, but I will not upload it still it can print. We have enough semi-functional stuff on Thingiverse already.

If you already have an extra gearmotor, mk5 drive wheel, and springs and want to Alpha test it just let me know.

Now that's timing

2010-09-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

New 550 watt ATX to replace my burned out PSU ✔
New .35 Nozzles from Makergear ✔
New Aluminum Idler from Makergear ✔
Person going to show up to give me $500 for my Mendel (Giving him the RP on loan, he owes me that back when he gets printing)✔
Slotted Channel cut for my new experiment ✔
Pick on MakerBlock for selling his soul to Makerbot ✔
Folks showing up for 1st real Hackerspace meeting ✔

Botmill just changed the game again.

2010-08-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

I am blown away.

Spent all night thinking about the Mk5 extruder and how it changes the game.

Then I go onto the RepRap Wiki.

I notice Botmill had updated the Buying guide.

And I see this:

$1245, fully assembled Mendel, (or unassembled $945) printed on a professional printer, only lacking motors and electronics!

Ohh I forgot to mention, it is available in Blue Black Green Yellow, and Red.

How big is that? 1 year of blogging and I have never changed font size, I had to go and find out how to do it :)

Why is this big? I mean seriously you can get RP parts from Ebay for $200-$300, and the rod and bearing set for $200, and the Thick sheets for $35. So you can get basically everything that is in this kit $945 kit for $550 is you shop around.

It's big because these parts are not printed on a RepRap, they are printed on a professional grade printer, aka you know the quality will be as good as the top 5% of our hobby. The lowest cost that these parts could be found for before this was from Protovantage for $1500, dropping that price to effectively $700 is mind blowing ($945-$35-$200).

Also given that they are likely sourceing the parts from a factory, part availableity should not be as much of an issue. Also, from what I have heard and seen Botmill has improved in the last few weeks. I no longer see the unresolved customer service issues, and they are much more active than they where at one point in the wiki, IRC, and forum. I still see confusion on their electroncis, but you see confusion on all electroncis.

What a week. To think in the past few weeks these things have happened:

$35 6lb rolls of ABS, confirmed to be reliably printable (I have printed with Mk4 extruder Makerbot. If it will print there, it will print anywhere!)

China joins the Game with a $1500 (to start) folded steel RepStrap, that uses a heated build plate and stepper out of the box, and news is they will be adding Paypal payment soon.

BTW they are now posting pics over at Thingiverse, lets hope they share designs (and posting on the wiki too, might make us all much more comfortable with them (even if it's only a little).

X-axis prototype, motorized, originally uploaded by prusajr.

Prusa Mendel

Prusajr's doing a wonderful job cutting down the printed mass on Mendel, he posted a video of it over here.

If you haven't been keeping up the Mendel Part's "Generation 6" electronics, They are estimating there electronics price as being $175 with their opto end stop cables.

It's been a heck of a few weeks, has any noticed that the pace of expansion/improvement in this hobby is accelerating at a incredible rate?

The Makerbot Mk5 Extruder has exited the Botcave

2010-08-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

I love my Makerbot, I hate my Mk4 extruder. Ohh the pain it has caused:

-Idler wheel loosening up over time
-Idler wheel snapping in half
-PFTE bulging
-PFTE popping off (before the bolt became standard)
-Nicrome frying itself
-Broken retainer rings
-Gunked up drive pulleys

I looks like Makerbot has eliminated the possibility of all the common Mk4 failure modes.. Now don't get me wrong, I am absolutely sure we (at least me :) ) will figure out how to break this thing, but it looks like the weak link of the Cupcake, the extruder, has been solved (we hope).

I though it would be a fun excersize to play "find the fix" with this design. Like all good ideas, it's a copy's a lot of other designs that work well.

The Mk5 drive gear:

Hobbled gears have been around for a while in the hobby, but they where made famous by Wade's wonderful geared extruder. The 1st time I ever saw one works was Nophead's Tiny Stepper Torques Big post. Ever since the 1st time I saw it, I wanted that for Makerbot. I have used my Mk5 drive gear in my Mk4 Makerbot since the 1st day they offered it, and honestly it really does improve the Mk4, but it didn't fix it. The Mk5 looks like the final Fix.

Tensioner

The Tensioner was 1st introduced by Charles Pax for his Paxtruder 0.1. I remember reading his blog and thinking, god I wish I could buy that thing... well it only took a year :) I still think the spring and 608 approach is better, but for a laser cut design, this is likely as close to perfect as you can get.

The Power Resistor Heater

The heater looks to be derived from the work of Nophead's. Funny how SO many things in this hobby go back to Nophead, we need to throw him, Adrian, and Zack a party.. Oldest reference i can remember actually using power resistors was his Pear Shaped Post. Cool thing is if you want something like this on the Mk4 you can buy a kit over at Makergear, but it does not require a relay, and only uses 1 smaller Power resistor. I have not used it yet.. My hot end is still working, and I have a backup that Rick over at Makergear put together, but I hear it heats up slower than Nichrome. The Mk5 looks like it will heat up nice and quick with it's relay:).

Thermal Barrier

The Thermal Barrier looks to have been heavily inspired by the Bit's From Bytes Thermal Barrier

PFTE tube constrained by a stainless tube. It's brilliant really. Slick, strong. It's great stuff. I 1st read about it at the Rapman Blog. Unfortunately it's not "Fab-able". But as the Rapman has shown for over a year now, it's a rock sold and relaible design.

The Nozzle

The nozzle looks basically the same (besides now being a male instead of a female), but honestly looks much closer to the Makergear Big Head Nozzle than the old mk4 nozzle. I know the people who have tried the larger headed nozzles have found that the larger head acted as a thermal battery, holding the heat and allowing for a more consistent extrusion.

Plastruder Mk5 looks like the a true changing point for Makerbot. There was very little difference between the Mk1 and the Mk4 Plastruder. Sure there where changes, but in the end it was always the Child of the Hercules. Mk5 brings marks the end of the Hercules generations of Plastruders, and begins the Paxtruder generations of Plastruder..

As much as I like this design, it does mark 1 real change for Makerbot. No longer can it be said that you can build the Makerbot extruder with a laser cutter and a drill press. The hot end has now entered the only makeable with a lathe world. Guess I can't get too bent out of shape over it, Adrain's new nozzle is a Lathe only design. At least RepRap and Makerbot both did a LOT OF WORK making the fab-able nozzle design as relaible as it could possibly be.

Makerbot now has a Paxstruderesque tensioner, Wades Extruderesque drive gear , a Rapmanesque thermal barrier, a Nopheadesque heater core, and a Makergear big head nozzlesque nozzle.

That's why open source is so great, we all build on the shoulders of Giants. How long before we see this hot end on a Wades Geared extruder, for the ultimate extrusion Machine! :)

Hopping Mad, changing direction.

2010-08-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have found out that of the sets of Mendel I have printed, only 1/2 have been assembled at all, and NONE are printing. No matter what people think, there is no money in printing Mendels, or honestly any RepRap, even if it was only 2 hours to print, you couldn't really "get your money back". I print parts for people because I want to spread the hobby, obviously I have failed.

I am starting a Credit Union for Reprap over at the Reprap Wiki. I came up with a very original name for it SpaceXULA Union. :)

Here are the terms:

The Fees:
$100 Mini Mendel (Current Version as http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3581($50 back if you replace within a month)
$30 Prinstruder II http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1980($15 back if you replace within a month)
$40 Wades Extruder http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3069($20 back if you replace within a month)

The "Terms"
-To receive parts you must have Hacker space or group with multiple members (And have some way to confirm this to SpaceXULA's satisfaction).
-You must promise to form a bank once you have an operating RepRap.
-You must pay a deposit before I send the parts
-You must be within the United States (Sorry, Import dues make international shipping unfair to the receiver)

The Benefits
-SpaceXULA promises to support you though to completion of your project, you are getting a relationship. You get the parts, and if you need more parts because you break them, or the design changes before you can get your own printer operational, he will provide them as 1st priority prints.
-If SpaceXULA receives a set of parts back from you within 1 month of the day you receive the parts, he will PayPal back to you 1/2 the cost of the part to you.

If your interested, please add your RepRap Wiki user name under Aplicant, and I will contact you right away.

I have 5 Wades Extruders, 2 Prinstruder II, and 1/2 of a Mini Mendel ready to go.

Wasn't going to Blog it, but Jay/Makerblock said I should :)

2010-08-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

My daughter got in trouble at Bible school a few weeks ago. One of the boys brought a Transformer to class, so my daughter started telling the other kids about her father's robot that sang songs,and made toys. She went on and on about it, talking about how it woke her up at night, about it's 2 babies, and how it would bite you if you put your hand in it's mouth. The teacher told her that she needed to stop lying. My daughter, with all the dignity that a 3 year old girl can muster (which is a lot), told her that she was telling the truth, and didn't appreciate being called a liar.

About 30 minutes after this my wife picked up my daughter from school (she was still in the corner, now crying because she had been sent back 3 times because she refused to admit she was lying). My wife asked what she had done to go to the corner. The teacher told my wife about the "lie" that my daughter was telling. Needless to say my wife insisted that the teacher apologize to my daughter.

Best hobby (and daughter) in the world.

Brutis is dead, long live Brutis!

2010-08-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

Instead of focusing on Brutis, I am going to dedicate my time to getting the fully metric, 606 bearinged, NEMA 14 mini Mendel working 1st. I think Brutis would have worked, but I am not going to touch it for a few weeks. If you want the design files they have been uploaded to Sourceforge here.Take it as your own if you want. Any questions don't hesitate to PM me.

I have my Mini Mendel put together, and have been trying to run the Bowden extruder. I can already tell that unless someone does some very slick codeing, or we put a second booster motor at the hot end, it's never going to print at a quality level anywhere near even what Makerbot does, which is not exactly the highest of quality out the box.

Problem is they went with a boden for a very good reason, NEMA 14 are VERY low toque, and any height added to the trolley directly reduces you maximum build height. I tried attaching a Prinstruder onto the trolley, but both it, and a Wades where HUGE on that little trolley (looked like an elephant riding a donkey).

I needed a smaller high torque extruder that could fit on a Mini Mendel X trolley. I came up with this:

It's the Kysan/Makerbot gearmotor using the MK5 wormgear and a 608 bearing idler like a wades extruder. I printed off a copy last night (something wrong with being able to print an extruder in 30 minutes :) ). Even with the filament being a little off it was able to lift itself, and the gearmotor up a length of HDPE filament, good sign on the grip end of things. Added the hot end today, and tonight I am hoping to have my 1st extrusion with it, but that brings me to the sad news.

The thermistor port on my Extruder board just gave up the ghost. Swapped the thermistor, reloaded the firmware, even taped the thermistor to the back of the board, nothing. Thanks to some guidance from Kliment looks like I could install a thermistor off the A7 port and change the firmware slightly to take the temp from that port instead. As a work around I took my Mini Mendel extruder board and put it over on my Makerbot. I will do my exstruder testing off my Makerbot and deal with the soldering when i finish up the mini.

I hate Windows Movie Maker, it takes SO LONG to bring videos into the library, and then over 1 1/2 hours to process 15 minutes. If anyone knows a faster option that allows for videos to be edited, double speeded, and and the ability to add titles, let me know.

Back to good news. My 3 year old daughter decided she needed to be like daddy and take apart random pieces of electronics. Unfortunately she chose as her first victim my microphone (it was already broken). Didn't realize it until I found the outer casing of it reattached with silly puddy. She claimed to have fixed it, which amazingly enough meant the speakers where twice as loud, but the microphone still didn't work any more.

Birthday was good, got a Drill press from Harbor Freight for $60 bucks, and a new microphone. Fun Stuff!

Interesting Repstrap

2010-08-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

Doing my weekly blog search I found This Gem Out of Utrecht. Mmmm, So pretty.

Added their blog and a few others to the Google Reader feed , We are now up to 266 blogs.

A guide to getting into RepRap (only my opinion)

2010-08-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

I am always seeing people trying to get into RepRap Printing, but there is always the question of price. I am no expert, but I wanted to lay out in a Post what I have seen. I will go from the lowest price to highest price.

Community!

Cost: Free up to your 1st born child
Difficulty: depends
Reliability: depends

My 1st suggestion to every person trying to get into RepRap is to try to find a local RepRap/RepStrap owner. There are several ways to track these people down, but some of the best resources are:

The RepRap Map
The Makerbot Map
Remember both of these have multiple pages, so look though all the pages each has different pins!
Regonal User Groups Sebastian over at the Wiki and forums has been nice enough to start a Regional User group for almost every area in the world (how does he find the time?). If you have a printer, or want a printer update the RUG page in your area. You never know who you might find!
The Hackerspace Map (They don't always have RepRap/Repstrap, but they will likely have some of the tools you need)

WolfStrap

Cost: There has been talk that this can be put together for $3-400 dollars, I have only seen the original
Difficulty: Home made Repstraps are always an adventure
Reliability: Depends

The wiki page shows some details, but this is looking like the "official as it gets" RepRap.org RepStrap.

The Wild World of the Mendel/Sudo-Mendel

This is the contentious section of any list. EVERYTHING is debatable because no one to date has really built up a track record. To keep the price comparison reasonable I am only going to compare the prices of their RP parts replacements. Keep in mind that Once yo have your RP part replacements you still need your electronics, hardware, motors, belts and lasercut parts. All these together will be $557 plus shipping if you spend $260 for your hardware, belts and bearings at Ultimachine, Get a Wades extruder off Ebay (there is usually at least 1 up at all times now) for $30, Thick Sheets from Techzone/Botmill for $37 and $230 for electronics (4 major sellers of electroncis now, of varying levels of quality, check them out before you send them money!).

Remember add $600 to any of these prices to arrive at what your cost will be for the printer (using conservative estimates)

RepRap forum, Ebay, Etsey or Sellsemp.ly RP parts printed on another RP printer.

Cost: $60 - $400
Difficulty: Parts are usually printed in either ABS or PLA (HDPE has went out of style). Easiest parts to put together.
Reliability: The VAST majority of all Mendels to date are made made this way.

If you can get these parts, they are the best to go with, but the supplies are VERY limited because they take 40-60 hours to print, and that is a challenging amount of time.
Folon Labs on Ebay

Cost: He has sold parts for $65 - $297, but the price is usually $150-$200
Difficulty: The parts are Resin cast, so you will have to process them, and I have heard both good and bad things about his product (you always do). I have not seen one assembled in the wild to date.
Reliability: Not enough info.

His website is Fotonlabs, and he usually has at least 1 set of cast parts up on his webstore.

BotMill/Techzone

Cost: $199 - $202
Difficulty: Parts are made to be drop in replacements for Mendel, but I have seen many people have issues with the assembly. I have not seen a blog entry to date of one built "in the wild"
Reliability: Not enough info

There are 2 variaites of these parts, the processed, and the unprocessed. Unproccessed parts are sold at Botmill for $199, and the processed parts go for $202 at the Techzone Ebay site (These are the same parts, Techzone sells parts to Botmill). From comments in the forum the processing is quite intensive, and if you don't have a wood shop, you might want to get the proccessed parts, or go for the full kit (later in this post).

Fleming cnc Isaac Mendel

Cost: $245-$270
Difficulty: These parts are made on a CNC, not a laser cutter or cast. The parts SEEM of a higher quality than all but the RP parts (which vary wildly in quality). They should not require processing, but I have not seen anyone blog a build in the wild)
Reliability: Not enough info

FlemingCNC has been selling their kit, the Isaac Mendel, for a few months now. I have not seen anyone blog a build, but the kit has changed material, and included the belts and gears.

The "other ways"

Ponoko Darwin You can still get the parts for a Lasercut Darwin (the daddy of the BfB Rapman printer), for free or for a small donation to one of our favorite designers Vik. It costs between $300-400 if you have Ponoko cut the parts, or between $200-$300 if you use BigBlueSaw.

Cut your own Techzone Mendel This should be possible considering they have uploaded the source files. I don't think anyone has done it to date.

Laser cut Mendel by Decru This lasercut Mendel was Decru's master's thesis. I dont' know if it ever printed, but again, you can upload the files to BigBlueSaw, Ponoko, or your local laser cutter and give it a go!

Cut your own Makerbot. It can be done using Charles Paxes Muffin, The Makerbot svn, or the Routerized Cupcake CNC Body Panels by pandelume. ( Believe it or not I have seen many more non Makerbot sourced Lasercut parts for Makerbot produce working printers than I have seen non RP Mendels print. But that makes since in a way because Makerbot is the only lasercut design designed from the ground up TO BE LASERCUT. All the other designs are coping a printer designed to be printed and shoehorn it into a laser printer ).

I don't know of any other RP replacements, if I missed one please Email me and I will update this post and repost!

The Kits:

I am only including full kits, with basically everything you need in the box.

Botmill/Techzone Lasercut Mendel

Cost: $799
Difficulty: I have only seen one printer put together in the wild, and the guy said it was a hard printer to assemble (I can't find the link now, sorry).
Reliability: Not enough info.

Botmill sells them at their webstore, and Techzone sometimes puts the same kit up for sell on Ebay, but they are always available at Botmill. They are the new guys to the game. They seem to be having more issues than Makerbot did with Batch 1, but that is to be expected with any new kit. I personally wouldn't buy it, but I am also the dude that had cash in hand when batch 1 went on sell from Makerbot, and STILL waited till batch 9 to buy. $500+ is serious money.

Makerbot CupCake

Cost: $950
Difficulty: The easiest printer to put together, It would have took me 9 hours if I hadn't shot video. The cartiean bot is almost perfect, but the Mk4 extruder can give you head/heart ache. I love mine, but be preparts to buy some replacement parts! :)
Reliability: Very once you learn to use it, till then it's evil

The full kit at Makerbot has been $950 for a year now, which is great because their demand is though the roof. They could price gouge, but they haven't yet. For me it was a toss up between the RapMan and Makerbot. I chose the Makerbot because it was smaller, and had a stronger support base in the US. I have regretted that decision at times, but in the end I love my Makerbot (30 hours not shut downs at this point woho!).

Bits From Bytes Rapman 3.1

Cost: $1,270 at current exchange rate
Difficulty: More difficult to assemble that Makerbot, due to it's larger piece count, and acrylic material (don't over tighten those bolts!). Able to print 4 times as large of area, and is significantly more acurate than Makerbot. Also it can print independently of a computer (it has a LED screen where you can print your stl directly)
Reliability: Very once you learn to use it, but not as steep of learning curve as Makerbot

Rapman by Bits from Bytes was the 1st Commercial RepStrap, and is very much based off the RepRap Darwin. It is still being sold, and is a rock solid printer. The support base is thin inside the US, and even in Europe it doesn't seem to have sold nearly as well as the Makerbot. Any person that considers a Makerbot, should also consider this printer, It's definitely worth the $300 difference if you can afford it.

Up! by pp3dp

Cost: $1,500 (will rise to $3000 once they have sold 100)
Difficulty: They seem to sell it as a out the box printer.
Reliability: Not enough information

PP3dp is selling their printer for $1500 for the 1st 100, then raising the price to $3000. You can't use a standard web interface to purchase, they have to send you a purchase order. They have only been our for 1 week, so I really would be very warry, but their printer does look awesome!

Shappercube

Cost: $2,565 at the current exchange rate
Difficulty: They come mostly assembled, but I can't say
Reliability: I have seen them print online, but there have been only 12 so who knows.

RepRapSource sells this kit on their website, and honestly it's sexy as heck. It's the only all metal RepStrap, and looks mean as heck. I don't know much about it, but just look at it! :) It needs rally bars.

BFB 3000

Cost: $3,185 at the current exchange rate
Difficulty: It comes mostly assembled.
Reliability: It's a Bits From Bytes product, so likely pretty good.

This is currently the most expensive RepStrap avialable, but your likely getting what you pay for. This machine looks like someone over at Bits from bytes took the joke Apple 3d printer a little too seriously:

If budget is not a consideration, this is likely the printer for you. This is the machine that likely the folks over Stratasys where really hoping would not happen. Good job guys, way to make the Mercedes of RepRaps, or I guess since they are British, it would be the Lotus.

And here come the Chinese.

2010-08-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

Degroff over at the Makerbot Google pointed out this video. The company Personal Portable 3d Printer is offering a "RepStrap" with a heated build plate, stepper extruder, and metal frame for $1500 to the 1st 100 orders, then the price goes to 2,999.

I love the design, but wow this is a shot across the bow of Makerbot, Bits From Bytes, Techzone, and the other commercial 3d printers.

Here's the fun part. To order you have to fill out a purchase order, email it to them. Then they will email you back to confirm the order and tell you how to pay. It's shaddy as heck, but this is likely some dude in a small village. :)

I need design advice? And who better to ask than a community of Developers?

2010-08-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

I have a choice, and I can't really figure out which direction to go. If I keep the build plate 6 inch, and continue to use 608 skate bearings, & place the extruder on the X trolley, Brutis will only have +- 50mm travel in the Z axis. I could very easily end up with only 40 mm in the Z axis by the time I give myself some margin. This is enough travel to be able to print all the Mendel parts, which is the main design goal, but it would give a build area of 150mmx150mmx40mm which looks really sad...

I see a few directions I could go here, any advice?

a. Since the top vertexes are already different than the bottom axises, I could make those vertex much bigger (same size as the Mendel, but with only 6mm/ 1/4 rod), and turn the gear motor sideways and design a whole new extruder that can fit between the upper threaded rods.

b. Forget having the extruder on the trolley and just go back to assuming bowden extruder (which adds cost, reduces print quality, and makes this harder to calibrate).

c. Make the build area bigger, therefore adding 5mm in the Z for every 10mm I add in build area. I have to be careful here because the point here is to keep the print time below 20 hours.

d. Since 40mm is enough for Mendel say the hell with it and just let it be.

e. Something that I am missing that you would be kind enough to share?

I know I need to alter the placement of the Y motor (needs to go lower), to allow more room for the smooth rod supports. Also I need to move the cross beams that support the Z axis down below the side bars to again allow more room for that y stage. But she is looking good in my opinion. But I am at a point where either I have a lot more work to do, or I get to start making printed prototypes on Monday. What do you say?

How many different ways can you mess up a Z axis? 9 so far.

2010-07-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Brutis, my Mini Mendel rework is coming along nicely. Because all the parts are so small, I can change the design, print off the part and attach to my test frame 20 minutes later, then throw the off part into a vat of Acetone to punish it for it's insolence.

I have settled on a different form of idler than I have ever seen for the Z axis, hope it works once I cut my belts. The motor bracket floats on 2 parallel threaded rods, one only attached to the Z base, one that is the frame side bar. To tighten you will just tighten 2 wing nuts to move the motor bracket further from the Z base. It's a knock off the Mendel Z Leadscrew Base with Motor Belt Tensioner by nicholasclewis, but in 2 parts instead of 1.

I was going a complete different direction with the X trolley, then I saw the rhys-jones's Mendel Multi Extruder Carriage. I will have to rework my trolley (that's why you don't see it in the pic) because his would add 10+ mm in the inside capacity of the trolley. Might just be enough to put the extruder on top of the trolley :). Considering this project is only concerned with making a self replicating printer, if I only have 70 - 80 mm in the Z axis I don't care as long as it can print all the Mendel parts.

My run of trouble free printing ended. My hot end started acting up. Funny thing was Rick over at Makergear got a little perplexed, because he had never seen PEEK have a flowback issue with ABS, and all but demanded I send it too him to let him take a look. So I sent him my hot end and went to a backup. There's something profoundly embarrassing about letting another person look at your nozzel, but I think my constant issues with the Mk4 hot end has finally made him snap (he claims that his hot end is Gremlin proof, we shale see :) He has never seen Gremlins like mine..

Also I just ordered the Power Resistor Heater Block from Makergear (hot end the Nophead way baby!). I personally didn't like his ceramic heatercore, fire cement and I just don't get along (which hurts because everyone else who uses them LOVES them... go figure), and the workings for a new hot end (big head nozzel, barrel (turned down on both sides? never seen that), and a new PEEK thermal barrier. Wife and kid will be out of town next week, so it's just me Makerbot, and my 3 half finished Mendels.

In other news HeeksCAD just released version 0.14.0, and this one is great for our community. Now STL don't cause the huge memory leak, or crashing if you hit undo. I have managed to run it now for 5 hours straight without a single crash, also the colors look a little better. Dan & his group did a lot of work on this one.

It warms my heart to see Tony Buser has really ran off with my Printable Filament spool over at the RepRap wiki. I like how he has made the sides stronger, and moved it over the Openscad, Can't wait to see his setting under his Mendel!

If you ever get bored and want some good reading, check out the Recent Changes at the RepRap wiki. They are now up to like 20-30 updates a day, there's a lot more than just Mendel instructions over there now and days. Ohh and check out the Wolfstrap, and Eiffel repstraps. Those projects are quickly becoming the new and improved Mcwire.

That's all for this week, well besides did you see Adrian's Ninja electronics set? I swear I didn't know it was even possible for a RepRap to be that quite.

Edit Just saw this. MSC industrial has PFTE tubing CHEAP, like $2-3 a foot cheap. Lots of other goodies over there also. Good job tesla893 over at the reprap forum! Edit further.. PTFE tube bearings for a buck? God they have EVERYTHING cheap. I am in heaven.

Death by Wife

2010-07-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

I am SO dead. I purchased 6 foot of the PTFE Tubing, and a 6 foot stick of 6mm smooth rod without consulting the wife 1st. $40 will be noticed :). Even though I don't plan on using my Mini Mendel, other than as a base for my own build, I am going to start uploading videos to Youtube of the build, and I don't feel right not doing everything by the book if other people are going to use it to help them build.

By the end of next week I hope to have a fully assembled Mendel, & Mini, and a 1/2 completed Brutis. Let's see how far I get.

A week like no other.

2010-07-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

The gremlin which has resided within my Makerbot for the last 7 months left my printer and started eating other random pieces of tech in my office. My camera stopped working, (I think he had help from my 3 year old). Then a few days later when i tried to do an updated HeeksCAD tutorial I found my microphone was busted. But the good think is now my Makerbot is working PEFECTLY. When I say perfectly:

-Makergear Heated Build plate heats up in 5 minutes flat to 115 and stays within 5 degrees no mater what I do. The other thing is it gets hot enough to not need sanded Kapton, which makes the parts look like glass, sweet!
-TeamUSA has created a mod of RepG17 to allow you to use the raftless script in RepG, this is the best way to print raftless. It slows down the feed rate on the 1st level, allowing you not to pull the printed parts off before the Kapton bonds well to them. It can be found here
-Filament has not stripped once since I installed the Makergear idler wheel and Makerbot Mk5 worm gear.
-I have not had to touch my plastic once since I installed my Printable Horizontal Filament spool. It just works. :) Here is a little tour of what it looks like and how to put it together.

-After installing the filament spool I found that the filament tube was coming close to my 2nd Thermistor that is plugged into my extruder board. I got concerned with it was putting stress on the plug and board so I went ahead and moved the extruder board, temp sensor board, and Makergear High output control board onto the side of my machine. While I was at it I went ahead and installed plugs on all my wires, so next time my extruder fails I will not have to mess with anything electric besides 3 plugs. Here's how I rewired it.

-I finished these Mods on Friday of the week before last, and worked all weekend. On Monday morning I got back to messing with my Makerbot, and something amazing happened. My Makerbot never broke. I managed to get though all of a Mini Mendel in less than 19 hours straight through. I then started printing Mendel. I got all the way though to the last 3 plates on Friday. So I managed to basically print a Mini Mendel, and a Mendel in the same week! Eventually I decided to move from the Aluminum plate that Makergear includes with their HBP to a Stainless steel one, allowing me to pop parts off the builds like MakiYoshida's build plate, I do want to know how he keeps from smaking his clips into the Z stage. Also I wanted to be able to swap the build plate faster so I altered my start.txt and end.txt to allow for a modified production G-code (cool side note, now that RepG has profiles you can have multiple start and stop.txt, which is all sorts of awesome)

Now when a print ends the end.txt runs "G1 X0 Y0 z100 f1000" moving my extruder out of the way of my swap. It also leaves the Build plate & nozzle hot. I then just unclip my plate, replace it with another steel plate (the plate gets up to temp in about 2 minutes), use the control panel to drop 50Z manually (while confirming my temps), recenter, Zero, and build from SD. Start text is still basically the standard HBP start.txt. Here is a video of me doing the swap. Ohh a little hint, put an X on your Build plate (under the kapton) at the true XYZ zero of you Makerbot. Remember we don't have access usually to all 100mm in the Y axis,

I did my 1st International sell last week to a Gentleman in the Netherlands. Shipping was $45 dollars, and after we shipped it he had to pay some sort of fee to reiceive it. I will not be shipping international again. That was horrible.

Another mistake I made was trying to order Gearmotors directly from Kysan. I figured "heck, They sell the makerbot gearmotor for $8, and Makerbot sells them for $20, I need to cut out the middle man". Well the middle man cut me :). Kysan allows you to place the order without shipping, so I though the shipping was free. About 12 hours later I get a very nice email asking me to send $55 more dollars for shipping on my $100 dollar order.... >:( I had already transfered the 1st chunk of money, and I have had issues in the past with Paypal on refunds so I just sent them the money.

To make it make since to order from Kysan instead of Makerbot, you would have to order 5 flippin motors. Ugg, that was not smart.

Lesson learned, the gear motors are expensive at Makerbot for a reason, Kysan is cheap to buy from, and expensive to receive from :) I do have 3 gear motors and 3 NEMA 17 steppers in the mail, so that brings me to 7 NEMA 17 motors 3 NEMA 14 motors, & 3 gear motors, and 1 extra set of Makerbot Electronics.

I received a sample pack of the new buy3dink supper cheap ABS from a gentleman named Mark. The sample I received looks much better than the stuff I have seen in prior photos, this looks very similar to the Village Plastic I am used too. I will check the diameters and roundness this week, and test it in one of my RepRaps once I get it working (hopefully this week).

I have started documenting my build of a Mini Mendel, which will be humorous because some parts are having to be Dremeled into submission to get them to work (my nema 14 was too big to fit, Dremel fixed that. I hope to actualy get it working, and then peddle the design over to something more practical to build. I will be documenting my alterations over at the RepRap Wiki "Breeder" page I made.

I am in lust with this machine.

whosawhatsis over at thingiverse has managed to sqeeze a 8x8inch build plate on a slightly expanded Mini Mendel without drastically changning the Mini's parts. That's impressive enough, but the yellow kapton with black ABS, and Silver zinc rod makes this printer look NASTY :).

He didn't post the picture till I included his part in my abridged Mini Mendel Build set on Thingiverse, and he really didn't document all that much, but he is gathering all the stuff he has posted on his website and there is a good conversation going on over there.

I will shut up now :) Hope some of this helps!

Fundementally changing Mini Mendel in HeeksCAD

2010-07-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

After installing my Makerbot MK5 worm gear, and a Makergear idler wheel my Plastruder has printed almost 40 hours non stop without a single hiccup, which is unprecedented for me.

In case you didn't know Makergear's version of an idler wheel is almost twice as thick as the Makerbot standard one, I honestly can't imagine anything breaking it. If you need a replacement idler wheel, get their $2 4.5mm idler wheel before you invest in one of the metal ones.

I am in the process of trying to change up the Mini Mendel to make it cheaper, especially for us Americans that can't get Metric Rod Locally.

The changes I am making:
-NEMA 17 motors, because they are easier to find, and cheaper to buy
-All 608 bearings (can be picked up at the local skate shop)
-All 1/4 inch smooth and structural rod
-M8 Z drive rod, so I can use 608 bearings.
-A bed raised on m3 nuts like a Makergear heated build plate, and a ceramic build plate from the start.
-Electronics mounted like the techzone alternate electroncis mount at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2174

I thought I was going to get away with reusing allot of the Mini Mendel parts... no such luck. The bearing and motor changes means almost every parts needs to be redesigned. Luckily some parts have already been moved to Openscad, so I can easily alter them to fit Imperial, such as Erik's standing feet http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2200 , and Whosawhatsis's y bar clamp http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3437 .

I looks like the most challenging part will be getting 360 bearing chases around a 6.35mm rod with 8mm bearings. It works, but I am having a hard time getting a printable knuckle that holds the bearings tightly.

Does anyone know an easier way to do this?

I also have a Bearing/Spring idler extruder for the gear motor I have been working on for a few weeks, but unfortunately my Heekscad was recently possessed by a demon. No matter how many times I reinstall, I can't Undo without it crashing, I can't go 15 minutes without it crashing.. Honestly if I look at it wrong it crashes, which really hurts when you get things lined up just right...

Another project I am working on is a printable rip off of the Maker Bot Filament box. It uses 5/16 rod 608 bearings, 2 wing nuts and a length of 1/4 plastic tubeing. Haven't got to print it yet, but It looks like it will work.

I haven't uploaded any of this to Thingiverse yet because they all have either not been printed, or were printed, but could be better if I do just a little more work on them (The extruder works, but the idler is off center a little).

Added after the fact:

I did make a printable Sorobansu Abacus, but my daughter ran off with my printed copy, once I reprint (or find where she hid it) I will upload to Thingiverse.

Anyway if you guys have any advice, want the design files before I upload them, or just want to berate me for my obviously undiagnosed Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, exasperated by access to a RepRap printer and free Cad programs, just comment :).

Google RepRap feed update

2010-07-07T07:25:00.000-07:00

We are now up to 250 different feeds on the Google RepRap feed.

With this new update we now have:

Live updates of all RepRap, and Makerbot related items on Flikr, Photobucket, Picassa, Ebay, Sellsimply, & Etsey.

We are up to 7 languages covered, all automatically translated into the language you can understand best.

No repeats of older posts (something that Yahoo pipes does a lot, which I don't understand).

The feed pushs out around 20 a day, all new content, and keeps you on top of the new items being sold all over the internet. This is one of the ways I am always finding new stuff to blog about.

If you want to subscribe, just go to the right side of my website and hit preview, or go directly to the preview page.

Again if you know of any blogs I have missed, or know of some service that the community might like to get auto updates on, just drop me an email at Proxyhacklab@gmail.com.

Have fun!

Good Deals, and a little bit of Vanity

2010-07-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

My RP parts for Mendel over at sellsimp.ly finally have bidders, they are at $155 now. I will be sending the parts out Tuesday the 6th, no matter what they are going for.

The Winston Salem Journal came over and did an article on me. They interviewed Bre Petis Also! It was fun and 3-4 locals have contacted me about the printer, hoping this helps out the Hacker Space project.

Nop Head pointed out the benefits of PET tape for printing with ABS, well Deal Extreme has 24mm rolls of it with free shipping here for $4.99 Deal Extreme PET Tape.

Price war on ABS. buy3dink.com has some REALLY cheap ABS ($30 a 5lb roll). They even carry HDPE for the old school among us for $30 also.

Digi Key has a $8 blower fan that I have fell in love with. 12V 2.28 Watt (190ma), and it pushes 8.5cfm at 41db. Not bad at all. It's 75x75x25mm, but the air port is only 25x25.

That's all the good deals for now. Putting together my Makergear High Output build plate, should have it done next week, will post a video... it looks awesome. Also I installed the Maker bot worm gear. Best $10 I have ever spent on my Makerbot.

RP mendel parts $200? I hate Ebay

2010-06-27T14:48:00.000-07:00

If your interested they are at http://sellsimp.ly/69. Heck place bid on it, It's not official till I accept it. I will send it any way you want, so if you want to pay for next day air you can have it on your desk on Tuesday :)

More views at
http://twitpic.com/1y0x9w
http://twitpic.com/1y0xcl
http://twitpic.com/1y0x4q.

All the parts have been processed, you can see them go together here:

It's nice to see Cyrozap has joined me over at Sell Simp.ly, a dollar is a dollar. (Better than $20+ at ebay) If these parts don't sell by Wednsday I am going to just sell them on Ebay, likely get a lot more money doing it that way, but considering we don't make minimal wage printing the parts, it's not really about the money :).

All parts have been already assembled once. I didn't bother printing an extruder for it because you can buy one off the shelf at:

http://store.makerbot.com/toolheads/plastruder/just-the-lasercut-parts-for-the-plastruder.html

or here

http://www.makergear.com/products/plastruder

or here

http://www.makergear.com/products/plastruder-replacement-parts

$30 more than the laser cut parts from Botmill, for a quieter printer, that is easier to put together? Can't go any lower than that :).

$250 for a set Mendel RP components printed on Makerbot #469

2010-06-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

For sell here http://sellsimp.ly/5p This is the same set that was videoed in my series on how to put together a Mendel on youtube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UFP0lcE4sY

I am glad to see the prices for RP parts are falling, means the community is becoming more healthy, but it hurts when you try to sell :).

Nice Recipe for Machineable Wax

2010-06-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

I have been working on the Xerox Mendel for a bit, and I keep running into issues with the wax shrinking too much. I found out that I need to let the Wax cool down slower, which makes it leak out more. I am going to have to find a good balance.

Found this website: http://www.machinablewaxes.com/machinable-wax-recipe/ they have a great description on how to make machinable wax at home. All you basically do is melt LDPE in a deep fat fryer full of paraffin wax. Basically you raise raise 4lb of paraffin wax to 95C for LDPE or 110C for HDPE. You then add 1 lb of LDPE or HDPE very slowly. Any amount can be made. Considering the limitations of a Maker bot drimel toolhead, this could be a great substrait.

The store this is from looks like it's dying, so I will quote it here:

"You may be looking for a cost effective solution for machinable wax.
One basic composition of machinable wax is simply standard parrafin wax, available at most craft stores, and polyethylene.
What is polyethylene? It’s most basic description is that it is a thermoplastic and it is derived from petroleum. The two main types are Low Density and High Density polyethylene, commonly referred to as LDPE and HDPE respectively. The following is a list of common LDPE/HDPE items:
* Grocery store bags
* Garbage Bags
* Paint drops (plastic sheets)
* Lawn Chairs
* Cutting Boards
* Plastic Lumber
* Milk Jugs
* Commercial Bathroom stalls
One of THE most common uses is in plastic grocery store bags. This is also probably the best source of LDPE/HPDE for use in making homemade machinable wax. It’s readily available as most people have 50 or so stuffed away in a pantry or cabinet. Perfect to make a little machinable wax with.
Alternate sources for use in a machinable wax recipe, would be plastic drop clothes used in painting. They can be purchased at most home improvement stores.
Most plastics are usually marked with LDPE or HDPE and have a number 4 or 2 (respectively) located on recyclable polyethylene.
In general it’s easier to melt down LDPE for use in machinable wax. LDPE has a lower melting point, and hence mixes better with the parrafin. LDPE’s melting point for continuous heat is 203F (95C). HDPE’s melting point with continuous heat is 230F(110C). It may be helpful to note that in general Target uses LDPE and Walmart uses HDPE.
What to use for melting??? You everyday kitchen cooker will work fine. It’s HIGHLY recommended that you dedicate a cooker to your machinable wax recipe. Temperature control that lists numbers is better than just lo/med/high. Do not use a double boiler, they generally only get up to 212F(97C). That’s only barely hot enough to melt LDPE, and it would take a lot longer.
So you have your block of candle wax, a few handfulls of grocery store bags, and a cooker. A METAL kitchen strainer will be very helpful as well. The large ones used for pasta noodles are best. You also need a mold to poor your machinable wax into. Use metal molds, plastic tupperware will melt or warp from the heat.
The general machinable wax recipe is a 4:1 ratio of parrafin wax to LDPE/HDPE. Your machinable wax recipe could vary depending on how hard or soft you want the wax to be. Obviously, the more plastic you add the harder it will get. But like sugar in a glass of tea, eventually the polyethylene will stop disolving and you will get large clumps of polyethylene form in the pot. If you poor it in a pan without straining it, it will look like goo in your wax and will not carve very well.
We will use a 4lb wax to 1lb LDPE in this machinable wax recipe example. So you will end up with about 5 lbs of machinable wax.
Start out by melting the wax in the pot. Get it good and hot, about 250-275F, max 275F.
Once you’ve reached temp, start feeding in small pieces of the plastic. If you can, cut up the plastic into small strips before feeding it in. It will melt better and more consistently than just dumping whole bags in. Stir constantly and use good ventilation.
You will know you’ve added enough because the plastic will stop melting as well. It will start balling up into clumps.
Now you can use the kitchen strainer, poor your wax through the strainer into your mold. This will remove any unwanted clumps from the mix.
For cooling, try to slow down the cooling as much as possible. You can wrap the mold with an old blanket, or use a small space heater to keep the area around the mold warm. Some warping is unavoidable. You can either plane the finished product, or use a CNC router to shave down the top.
You will be left with a good quality machinable wax. Refine your machinable wax recipe. You may try different types of wax, or different types of polyethylene in your recipe.
We also offer kits of shaved LDPE and HDPE. Our kits are sold by weight and use LDPE/HDPE shavings that will melt better than most types of plastic you may find."

Trying out Sellsimp.ly for selling RepRap Parts

2010-06-18T23:06:00.000-07:00

The CFO of my house has defunded my RepRap hobby. In other words I have to sell my Mendel if I want to finish my 3 other mini Mendels (yes I have a problem).

I read about Sell Simply, which is a VERY simple selling site where you start your listings, and have all your interaction through twitter. Selling is a flat $1. That's it, no commission. All transactions are handled though Paypal.

There's two options with this sell $450 for all the RP parts, or $1500 and I will send the whole RepRap, electronics, motors, RP, rods, belts, and Lasercut parts. I will load it all up in a 1560 Pelican case and send it on.

If your interested go to http://sellsimp.ly/5p

Riding the Thingiverse way back machine

2010-05-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

I have been intersted in RepRap for 2 years now, and honestly I had completely forgot about some of the older designs in Thingiverse, it's really a gold mine of inspiration to look at the old designs, some of which are just begging for new life.

[Go to the last page of Thingiverse]

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:457Who knew Makerbot Batch 1 designs where uploaded 1 year ago 2 weeks ago?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16Bre's sun glasses REALLY need to be printable! (Have fun comparing Bre's hair color in the pics and his Thingiverse profile)

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:92 Dino Girls Rawr-saur really wants to be a printable STL

http://www.ooeygui.com/?p=187Who knew the Plastruder was inspired by a blog post by a guy with no intention of building it?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:289 Or that the 1st prototype had a rubber band on the idler wheel?

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:480 Zach Hoeken's Wings are screaming out for a OpenSCAD redo. A 1 stop programmable airfoil? That would be liquid awesome.

It just keeps going really, There are over 220 pages of stuff, most of which could use updates... Honestly if 30 minutes flipping though Thingiverse doesn't make you want to sit down and party with OpensCAD, HeeksCAD, and a cup of coffee, I don't know what will.

Mendel Mechanical Construction Video Series.. Done

2010-05-05T21:14:00.001-07:00

Yahoo aggregate feeder sometimes doesn't show it, but all 18 parts are in this post, you might have to click though.

Next up will be My mini Mendel, then a Darwin.
Mini Mendel Videos will start next week.

10 Hours of being the "Rapid Prototyping Profit"

2010-04-26T10:33:00.001-07:00

VID00333_003
Originally uploaded by Spacexula

Maker Faire NC in Durham was nice enough to let me have a booth at their 1st Maker Fair. I didn't set up my printer 1 time, each and every time I let a kid (and a few child like adults) do the setup. They did the zeroing, they did the warm up, 2 of the kids did my skeinforging. At the end up the day I added it up and my printer ran for 10 hours straight, with 32 separate prints. 30 kids set it up and 2 adults.

By the end of the day I hadn't ate in 8 hours, had lost my voice, and was missing most the the parts for my extruder (saw a kid run off with the big gear from Adrian's extruder, couldn't blame him really, it's so steam punk looking)

I did a interview with Spectra magazine, and ran out of Maker bot flyers 4 hours into the faire (I had a stack 4 inches thick!)

The fun part was watching the pride on the kids faces.

Mendel Build Video Log

2010-04-21T23:06:00.000-07:00

My Mendel Reprap video build log. I hope it helps someone when they build their's.

There are 4 other videos on youtube, and another 15 some more to process and upload.

HeeksCAD, my favorate Open Source CAD/CAM software

2010-04-18T06:08:00.000-07:00

I have been using HeeksCAD for a little over a month now, I started using it because I only use Open Source products with my RepRap (I only have windows on my laptop because my wife prefers Windows). It has the look of Sketchup, but with a much more "clean" CAD/CAM GUI. I have used OpenScad, and it's great for modifying existed objects, but I just can't think that abstractly when prototyping. I need the ability to "draw & measure" my prototypes. Unfortunately, even though HeeksCAD is a great software, their Wiki and tutorial choices honestly leave a lot to be desired.

This program has a lot going for it:
-Able to import STL, STP, DXF, STEP, IGES, and Gerber
-It can export as STL, STP, DXF, STEP, and IDGES
-VERY easy boolean function.
-Python scripts available
-Active development
-Open source
-VERY good GUI, with very long Undo Redo string

The current documentation can be found at:
http://code.google.com/p/heekscad/ (offical site, including VERY bare wiki)
http://groups.google.com/group/heekscad-users (very underpopulated user group)
http://groups.google.com/group/heekscad-devel?lnk=srg (amazingly active development forum, when was the last time you saw a development forum busier than the user forum?)
linuxgraphics.org a french forum, with a gentelman named Andre who is the moderator, great guy, and has made some awesome tutorials for this program. I have linked to Google translate version of this site for us anglophones.

I no longer use blender to modify my STL for the most part, this program renders STL in a much more informative manner than Blender (even though it only allows you to reorient, not modify the actual STL)

I have created a 5 video series on how to uses this Open Source CAD/CAM to make items specifically for RepRap printers. I also uploaded the 1st in a series of project videos showing how to make STL files, and then use Skeinforge to troubleshoot your parts. These are the project videos that I have shot so far, or made more than once and ready to film.

1. Wine Glass (took about 4 minutes to make and skeinforege), already uploaded
2. Spiral Shot Glass (shot, but not uploaded, going to see if there is any interest before I do more work :) )
3. Circuit Board Spacer 4 off re design (shot but not uploaded)
4. Bed spring 4 off (introduces arcs, drawn but not filmed)
5. Frame vertex 6 off (drawn but not filmed)
6. Drive pulley 3 off (drawn but not filmed, I show how to "cheat" a gear out of stl)

Anyway here is the 1st set of videos. I have also filmed the full construction of the Mendel X and Y carriages, but the video still needs to be edited, unlike these screen casts. If I should continue this project, please let me know in the comments.

LASERCUT MENDEL!

2010-04-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

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!

Getting Ready for Makerfair NC in Durham

2010-04-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well I have sent off my paperwork, for the Maker Fair in Durham NC on the 25th. I am hoping to have some fun stuff to show there. At this point it looks like I will have:

-My Makerbot #469, with an as of last night 113C heated build plate ala Makergear(up from 80C),
-95% complete Mendel (missing power cable, usb board, ribbon cables, extruder barrel)
-My next Mendel will be in the proccess of being printed when I arrive, will try to print this in such a way that the parts can all be assembled before completeing (I will basicly print my new production files backwards)
-Some fliers from Makerbot and Thingiverse (Thanks Bre and company!)

I need to sell more parts, the project is now broke, and the Queen is sick of this project sucking up funds!

Trying to figure out what I should print and have on hand at the Fair. What to have it printing while I am talking, and what to have for people to handle. Also I want to print some stuff off to give the kids.

I have settled on the Zodiac puzzle, it's small, I can print them by the plate, and if they take them, I don't really care

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1453 Seanmichaelragan's zodiac puzzle

Demo Prints Stuff I will be printing while I am there to show people what it does

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1466 Nate True's Dragon Head
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1535 Andy's face
http://reprap.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/reprap/trunk/mendel/mechanics/solid-models/extruders/geared-pinch-wheel/driven-gear.stl?view=log The Big gear from Adrian's new extruder

I hope some of you guys show up!

BTW, I am using a new "production sheets" system. Basically it's all the updates by Vic and others from thingiverse, all organized into smaller plates (I stay within the 80mm plate unless absolutely necessary). It is also organized in order of construction. So basically you can just print 2 plates, and start putting your Mendel together, and print as you work though the rest of the files.

Updated Reprap Aggregate Feed

2010-04-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

We are now up to 133 feeds, and 100+ subscribers. I have added the RepRap Recent change wiki to the feed. This will allow the community to follow the Wiki like a blog... in theory.

At the very least it will allow the community to have MANY more eyes on updates.

If the noise level gets too loud tell me and I will remove it from the feed.

As of late I have found the photo stream, video stream, and ebay streams the most interesting.

If you want to preview the feed go to this link

1st set of Mendel parts for sell

2010-03-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

Decided to go with the Reprap forum for selling my 1st Mendel set. I posted it over in the RepRap For Sale forum. If it doesn't sell there by Wednsday I guess I wil put it on Ebay, but would prefer to avoid that.

I will be using the funds from this sale to build my 2nd Mendel for myself. I already have the screws, bolts, threaded rods, extruder parts, and electronics for my 1st, so all that's left is the Rod, belts, motors, and other odds and ends for it.

I got the following from McMasters:$44.91

1 9 ft. 7959K24 Trapezoidal-Tooth Neoprene Belting XL Trade Size, .200" Pitch, 1/4" Width Monday morning $1.82 ft. 16.38
2 1 each 6484K509 Trapezoidal Tooth Neoprene Timing Belt .200" Pitch, Trade Sz 370XL, 37" Outer Circle, 1/4" W Monday morning $5.09 each 5.09
3 2 each 5544T27 12L14 Carbon Steel Tight-Tolerance Metric Rod 8mm Diameter, 6' Length Monday morning $11.72 each 23.44

From Alltronics I purchased: $59.47

24M014 Lin Engineering Nema 17 1.8deg 24V 2A bipolar stepper motor $12.95 $38.85
28M063 Lin Engineering 4218L-01D-02 bipolar stepper motor $8.95 $8.95

From VXD : $59.47
1 kit9060 - 48 Bearing 624ZZ and 2 Bearing 608ZZ:Shielded $49.95

From TECHZONE on Ebay : $$47.45

RepRap Laser cut Thick Sheet Set
Item# 300411320929 $36.75 USD 1 $36.75 USD

In hindsight, I think next time I will be buying Ultimachines Kit, and Technzones Lasercut Kit & Techzones Electronics kit.

That would have left me with only the $60 from Alltornics for the motors, and $25 from Mcmasters. for basicly everything I would have needed.

$210 Hardware Ultimachine
$60 Altronics
$25 Belts Mccmasters
$37 Lasercut Techzone
$226 Electronics Techzone (And you get your powersupply and USB connector included)

That's $560 for basically everything you need for Mendel besides your Extruder parts and RP parts. I will be making my own RP so that's not really that bad. I think the way I did it turned out more like $600, but considering it was my 1st time, mistakes where made. I am sure more mistakes will happen.

In defence of Makerbot/Bre

2010-03-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

A lot of people are up in arms over Bre's post on the Makerbot Blog. They say he over reacted. As someone who works with intellectual property rights as my day job, I just have to inform the nay naysayers that Bre had an absolute right to get annoyed, he honestly had the right to call a lawyer if he had chosen too. Here is why.

-Under GFDL, uploading your designs replaces righting a check as the way you "pay" the person who designed it, and gain the right to sell it as a commercial product.

-The person who runs Techzonestore on Ebay has been offering Gen 3 based boards for sell on the RepRap forum for 8 weeks, that's 2 full months, and had not made any move to publish the design. Not a thing was said until they had sold likely over 30 full sets and unnumbered individual boards. I can only assume SOMEONE at Makerbot has to go to the RepRap forum every so often, or I at least hope they do.

-Even after being informed that they where breaking the GFDL, they continued to post new boards on Ebay, and if you read the forum, it sound like they where dragging their feet on uploading the files (They didn't refuse, but they definately didn't seem in a hurry either).

-Makerbot, or more specifically the guys that run Makerbot are not hard to contact, just type in Makerbot NY phone number and google gives you their office number. I am sure if they had called and said "We modified your files for gen3 electronics, but can't figure out how to upload them to comply with GFDL, can you help?" I am sure that they would have receive all curtisy. Before you call fowl, how many modified versions of the Makerbot are posted on Thingiverse? If they wanted to protect their profit, they wouldn't be there.

As far as the people who are accusing Makerbot of having some form of profit motive in this, get real. If Techzone had done what they did to Makerbot to my company (or any other medium sized company), the CFO would have sent layers and demanded back payment, and compensation (which would have been in their right), not posted a slightly terse blog post.

Bre is a passionate guy, he looks like he is going to cry or dance whenever he talks about 3d printing. I don't think Bre was mad, I think Bre was hurt. Luckily it looks like Techzone is going to upload the files, and Sebastian the head of the Wiki gnomes will make sure they are in a modifiable format so the letter of the law is followed.

Just remember folks, you pay for the design you modified by inviting FURTHER MODIFICATION of your design. If you deviate from this path, it will start with terse blog posts, and it will likely end with lawyers and pain for the community.

Updated Google Reader Bundle

2010-03-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

Reader bundle is now up to 118 different blogs, I did a few changes.

-Found 4 more non English blogs
-The Automatic Ebay update now includes the whole world, not just the US. (I didn't know some dude in Ireland was selling fully cast Mendel parts, can't wait to see one of those put together).
-Removed the Makergear and Makerbot user forums, they are full of great infomation, but with the two of them, They where the majority of traffic. With them removed we are now back down to around 20 posts a day, all new.

If I don't have you in the list, or you can think of some way I could improve this bundle let me know!

If you want to preview or subscribe to the feed go to this link

RepRap/Makerbot quick reference sheet

2010-03-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

I am working a RepRap/Makerbot/Rapman quick reference sheet currently. Trying to include all those little things that are easy to forget, but are also hard to find/ learn when you start. Currently the sheet has:

-All the common G & M codes that you would ever likely alter. Basically how to turn on and off the extruder, set the temps, and move the head. Not including the no longer used G/M codes, they will just confuse you.

-A quick break down of the main Skeinforge settings, separating the skein-forge settings into 2 families descriptive (speed, temp, diameters, heights), and manipulative (all the ratios, and manipulations like oozebane, stretch,)

-All the basic Blender keystrokes to move and manipulate in basic ways solid objects in Blender. Also a list of useful scripts python scrips for blender like align (aligns objects along their maximum axises), batch import of stl files, and a few others that I don't see how you use blender without.

-a small Imperial/metric conversion chart

-conversion chart for mm/s (how skein forge Judges speed), to G code F values (mm/minute)

-Melt and max temps for ABS,& PLA.

Can anyone else think of stuff I need to added to this (or is useless and should be took out)? Most of this stuff is already on the sheet, it's two sided, with the Blender and Skein forge stuff on the back, charts on the front.

Once I do any changes you suggest, I will upload it to Thingiverse as a ods and pdf

I love this image

2010-03-07T11:31:00.001-08:00

http://blog.daum.net/sasundae/32

A Korean language news site did a write up on RepRap, unfortunately they don't posted the article as a image, so no way to translate. They did make this AWSOME image. Is it theirs or has it been in the community for a while and I haven't seen it?

Also they have a GREAT photo of Adrian.

Odds, ends, and scratching my head

2010-03-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

Lots of little tid bits of interest have came up this week, that I haven't seen posted elseware.

-In Ireland, foton-atd has put a full set of Mendel parts, that where cast in Polyester resin up. Only 23 euros with 11 hours left. He admits that the parts are low quality. I feel sorry for the guy, $23 Euros isn't going to cover the cost of the resin (after the %8 for Ebay). Makes me wonder how many of these parts are workable.

-The drama over Profound Device's Repstrap continues. James has been selling his "Mendel kits" for 6 weeks now, he has a listed of over 30 kits sold on his website. He has uploaded dozens of videos showing you everything but the device printing, or moving along by strings of gcode. The natives are getting restless over at the RepRap forum for good reason. His asking price started at $300, and is now up to $500. That means he has took in $9,000-$15,000 thousand dollars, on a printer that hasn't even printed yet.

He claims to have sent out 5 kits to date. Honestly if he has sold 5 of these kits, I am in the wrong business. $500 for glorified Mcwire, that hasn't printed yet, vs $750 for a Makerbot that has HUNDREDS of functioning bots all across the whole world... Caveat emptor...

-The Google Reader Reprap feed is now up to 110 feeds. I have been digging the internet trying to finding none English blogs, and have found quite a few that I have never seen anywhere else. To subscribe jut go to my page and hit subscribe on the right. It sort of fun because it pulls up all the photos & videos from the main sites, so you get a preview of blog posts to come, and some photos of Repraps that aren't being blogged about.

-On ebay, and in the RepRap forum sale section there are aluminum retainer rings for Makerbots available. Never broken a retainer ring before, but DANG that thing looks tuff.

-Mendel is spreading like wildfire, in just the last few weeks it looks like Mendel has went from 2-3 to 10+ in the wild. LOTS of people are building it. Makes me wonder how long till we have more Mendels in the wild than Darwins.

-Be sure to check out the vender page I set up. Stuff is being added all the time.

-Jazzmasterson has posted some great photos on Flick that show him using a Hemostat as an ad hock 3mm wrench. Great idea, I think I will be going to the medical supply store on Monday.

Updates for shopping

2010-02-28T20:16:00.000-08:00

I have got some great feedback on that last post about the good places to shop. I will keep it up to date and repost it every month or so. Don't mind PM or comments if you want stuff added. BTW if someone offers a better deals in my opinion I will drop the bad deal and add them. This is my list of places I shop (or would shop).

Good deals for cranky robots.

2010-02-28T11:40:00.000-08:00

We all have stuff that we have to buy to feed our machines, and there are some really good places to buy the stuff. Just wanted to call out a few of them.

Kapton Tape

8mm apton Tape at Deal Extreme for $2.19
24mm Kapton Tape at Deal Extreme for $4.20
101.6mm Kapton Tape at Tape Depot for 1mm for $92, 2mm for $105

Cool thing about the 100mm roll is that you can Kapton your Makerbot build plate for $.33, or your Darwin/Rapman for $1.50.

100mmx100mm Kapton sheet pre cut at Makergear for $3.50 (Don't have to drop $100+ dollars for something you will rarely replace if treated right).

Motors

Pololu is hands down the best source for stepper motors. They have tons of nema 14, 17, 23 and basicly any size in between in stock. They also allow you to select the torc you need. Shipping was only 5 dollars for a stepper motor to my house in USA,NC. Same $12-20 dollar price range all the lower price stepper motor retailers sell for, but this one ships from inside the US.

Phidgets has a great selection of Stepper motors. NEMA 14 & NEMA 17 steppers for $15 a piece, NEMA 23 for $21. Quick shipping and the motors look perfect (I have not ran my NEMA 14 yet, so can't say how well they WORK though).

Erbyers over at ebay consistently has NEMA 17 motors for $7. They are basically the same stats as the Makerbot NEMA 17, with a double shaft.

Kysan Gear motor sku 1156006, same gear motor sold by Makerbot. Kysan shipments usually take a long time, but if you need the gear motor, and Makerbot's out of stock, good backup way to get it. (If Makerbot is in stock, buy it through them, that way you are supporting their business model, only use this source if they are out of stock). $15

Makerbot specific items

Makerbot has the lowest price on Natural ABS, and they are the only ones that sell 4032 PLA. They also now have 5lb rolls of RED, GREEN, BLUE, YELLOW, and BLACK ABS. Can't go wrong with Makerbot, when they are in stock.

Ultimachine sells 5lb rolls of 4042 PLA in black, green and clear. Their PLA is very inexpensive, with the clear being only $50 and colored $60. They ship quick and are great folk.

Villageplastics is a great back up place to buy plastic from. They will sell you what ever colors they are running currently without a set up fee. Also they will run What ever color you want for a $50 set up fee, plus the per lb rate. There quoted price is a little higher than Makerbot , then they charge to %3 for credit card. So it'a a great backup if you can't get the filament cheaper at Makerbot. If you are going to buy, I suggest you place your order over the phone, that way you don't have to trust your card to email. Phone # 330-753-0100

Makerbot specific items

$35 dollar heated build plate kit at Makergear, it works great, looks great (when done it looks and works like it was part of your bot in the 1st place, always a sign of a GREAT kit) and the build plate goes on and off a Makerbot just like the original build plate (no plugs, it magneticly connects like a Macbook). The kit is no harder to put together than the Plasturder. I also have to say that their heater core kit, thermistor kit, and laser cut plastruder replacement parts (wish I didn't know this) all rock the casaba. They also sell 1lb rolls of LOTS of different plastics. They are great folk over there.

Electronics

As everyone knows Store.makerbot.com has the electronics in kits, and 1 off. MOST reliable source, when they are in stock.

Full set of RepRap electronics (equivalent to Makerbot gen 3) for $215, plus they include the power supply & cables, and it uses the ribbon cables like the standard RepRap. It's over in the RepRap forum. Also they sell out of their ebay store. The lady that's doing it claims to have plenty in stock and could ship VERY quickly. **btw I have not bought from her yet, so Caveat emptor and all that.

Reprapsource sells the Arduino based electroncis for Mendel at their site. Unfortunately they are in Europe, with killer VAT and shipping.

Mechanicals for Mendel

J-dubs talked VXB into stocking a "Mendel kit" for $50. It actually works out as a good deal. Also VXB is the cheapest place to find precession smooth rod that I have found. Again ship quick and great people

WTTools has the cheapest smooth (non precession) rod I have found. At $4 for a 3 foot stick of 8mm smooth it's a great deal. I have 2 sticks sitting at my house, and it SEEMS like it will be perfect for Mendel. My Makerbot uses precision smooth rod, you can tell the difference, but it's not DRASTIC.

Onlinemetals is a great place to buy plastic & metal (don't let the name fool you). They have 1 foot sticks of PTFE Teflon for $5, and 1 foot of PEEK for $30. Their 5/16 Teflon is only $5 for 3 foot, makes me wonder how a homemade teflon bushing on teflon rod would work on a bot... hmmm, me things I must try that.

Ultimachine has a $250 Mendel kit (all the rod is precut!). It's everything but motors, belts, electronics, and RP.

Big Blue Saw will cut all the thick sheets for Mendel in 6mm acrylic for $43 dollars. That's 1/3 less than Ponoko, and 1/2 what I can find locally. The All in 1 cut dxf can be found at sourceforge RepRap repository inside the zip file.

Goinreverse over at the RepRap forum has made a cut and paste Mccmaster parts list for Mendel. Just enter his list at the this link.

Most other things I buy from Mcmaster .

I am sure you guys have found some GREAT deals I have now clue about. Please put them in the comments and I will add them to this blog post.

Thanks to Cyrozap

Parifin Wax Soak for RP parts.

2010-02-18T21:17:00.000-08:00

While playing around with some of my Mendel parts, I came across the most fun way to make SUPER dense parts that are also quick to print. I hadn't posting anything about it because I thought it was a little silly, but after a post on thingiverse, I realized this technique might help some people out.

Parifin wax is around the same density as ABS, but melts at 64C. A very easy way to cut your build times on structural components is to print an item at say .15 or even .1, basically making a part almost completely hollow.

You then place the part in a pot with melted parifin. The parifin will eventually fill the inside of the part (after about 5 minutes, depending on the part). Then pull the part out of the pot, and place it in the freezer. After about an hour take the part out of the freezer and place it in the oven. After about 10 minutes the outside of the part can be wiped clean. The part will be super heavy, like a 1 infill part, and will be structurally strong at room temp.

This technique has some advantages.

-Almost no warping, it's the infill that causes most of our warping issues
-Parfin wax is available in all countries, and cost $3 a lb
-No odor
-Cuts print times by a significant amount.
-If you are really cheap, you can get the Parifin wax out of the part by placing it an oven at 100C, and just let it drip out.

Disadvantages:

-Parafin is very flamable, and if someone put a match against your part, well by by house.

-Would not be suitable for extruder parts, but would be suitable for all parts that are not related to either the motors, or extruder.

Sorry no video, my camera has been stolen by my 3 year old daughter.

Pricing the Mini Mendel

2010-02-13T12:13:00.000-08:00

I will be going ahead with both my Mini (M3) Mendel, and my M4 Mendel in parallel. So I figured I would do some US costing for a Mini Mendel vs it's M4 big brother. Just a reminder the M3 Mendel is not in development, and I am doing this more out of curiosity than trying to get a fuctioning printer out of it.

Threaded Rod:

Cheapest place I have found for M6 threaded rod is a local fastener company that sells it for $3 for a 1 meter stick (zinc coated). That would mean I need 6 sticks of rod if I cut them in this pattern. $18 plus sells tax

1 4x244
1 270,230,257,230
1 270,230,320,84,82
1 244,244,183,183,102
1 320,102,102,102,84,84,84,82
1 82,82,82

Smooth Rod:

Considering we are using bearings the rod doesn't have to be quite as good as bushing rod. I will be going with wttool.com. They sell a 36 inch (914cm) long 6mm smooth rod for $2.70. That's 1/10 the cost of the vxb linear motion rod which runs $25 for 30 inches. at 36 inches I will need 2 bars. About $6 dollars plus shipping

1 224,224,272,
1 275,275,272

Fasteners:

Local supplier usually beats bolddepot.com, but without the shipping costs associated with them. Luckily I have a good bit of M3 nuts, washers, and socket caps left over from my Makerbot, but I plan on costing out all the M3 so I can have a good idea of the real cost of this project. I don't use nylocks, I use lock tight instead because I am very forgetfull, and always end up stripping them. Costs without Nylocs would be $54 dollars.

m3x12 100 $5.41
m3x20 100 $5.93
m3x30 100 $8.42
m3nut 200 $4.32
m3washer 400 $7.44
m5mudwasher 17 $2.55
m6nut 200 $9.38
m6washer 200 $6.94

Steppers:

NEMA 14 motors are hard to find. The only NEMA 14 motor that I could find online was at phidgets.com for $15 dollars each. They are only 1250 g/cm, which is a little lower than the suggested 1400 g/cq torque suggested for the Mendel m4. Has anyone seen a high torque NEMA 14 stepper in the US? If I can't get a good prospect that doesn't break the bank, I might have to go with the lower torque ones. Also I plan on going with a Makerbot gear motor for the extruder, just because that's what I know.

Bearings: I usually use vxb.com because I usually can't beat their price. I came up with 4 sets of vxb 623 for $60 and 1 set of 20 vxb 626 for $25 for a total of $85 dollars worth of bearings (ouch)

RP parts

I am averaging 20-30 hours a week of print time at this point, and should have my m4 Mendel printed by next Friday. Good thing is I will be able to print ALL the parts for the m3 Mendel in 1 week! That will be a fun change of pace.

Total cost of m3 Mendel for me will be Stud $18, Rod $6, Fasteners $54, Lasercut (Don't know where I am getting my lasercut parts yet, but assuming $30 for all the LC parts), Electroncis $175 (makerbot), belts form mcmasters for $20, bearings $85 and motors $100

$500 for a fully functioning slightly larger than Makerbot scaled, belt driven RepRap is not that bad. Considering it will only take $300 out of pocket for me I think this is doable.

Any suggestions on cutting the cost?

Reviving the Ponoko Darwin

2010-02-12T18:02:00.000-08:00

Given all the growing interest in RepRap style printers, is there interest in restarting development of the Ponoko Darwin development? See it here

I am trying to talk one of the RepRap parts suppliers into offering the lasercut parts for this printer as an off the shelf purchase. I think the Ponoko Darwin still has some things going for it.

-It's honestly the pretties RepRap built, the ability to make it out of many colors makes it so unique. Say what you will the Rapman is hot little printer

-It would be the only Darwin that could be offered "off the shelf" while still completely following the GNU licence of the true RepRap.

-Would not suffer from the limitations of the screw drive like Mcwires

-It has a fully documented wiki already in place. (see the bottom of the main Ponoko site)

-Will run off any boards that can drive Makerbot or a normal Darwin.

-Given that a McWire requires $100 worth of metal, I personally would rather $200-$300 worth of lasercut parts for a REAL belt driven Reprap

-Ponoko is hard to order from (at least from me). If I could have ordered a Darwin lasercut kit, I likely wouldn't have bought a Makerbot.

Only real downside of Ponoko Darwin is it takes more screws/bolts, and the lasercut parts are easier to break.

So lets hear it, would YOU like to see a Darwin Lasercut kit available? Please comment!

Shattered Plastruder, hello Epoxy

2010-02-10T21:16:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting few week. Finally got my Makergear heater barrel together (LOVE IT!), and the Makergear thermistor/ring terminal hack together. I managed to rebuild my barrel 4 times in 1 night, without killing any thermistors or nichrome, this is a record for me.

After coating my PLA in oil I found that it did help with extrusion, it seems to make the PLA soft enough to allow the Plastruder to hold it better. It was extruding PERFECTLY. I even got so cocky as to start giving Makerblock advice on the Makerbot Google group. Everything was going great till I started messing with the temp trying to make it work that "little bit" better. As Makerblock likes to point out, Polly is not a very nice lady.

I have broken retainer rings before, but nothing like what happened next. Every single sheet of Acylic in my Plastruder cracked, some of the sheets shattered. The retianer ring of course shattered also. I was consigned to go another few weeks without printing.

Well I went ahead and ordered all the replacement parts for my Plastruder from Makergear (wish someone would sell the acrylic pieces for the Paxtruder... Ohh well.). Plan o getting a heated build plate from them when they come available again.

I am done with PLA untill my Mendel comes online. I just can't afford to keep replacing parts. I like Rick at Makergear, but I really don't want to have him name is 1st yacht after me.

Started printing a Prinstruder, and have hit the Mendel Printing full blast. I have been printing for 14 hours straight, hope to get another 20 in before I go to work this weekend.

Google RepRap feed is almost up to 70 feeds now :) woho!

RepRap reader bundle

2010-01-31T11:26:00.000-08:00

I have created a Google Bundle for RepRap related sites. This is a little different than the existing Yahoo Pipe.

-It leaves all the individual feeds separate in Google Reader. This is handy for me because it allows Google to automatically translate the content. Also this would allow you to unsubscribe to individual feeds in the bundle, while still having new members of the bundle automatically added to your reader.

-Google Reader now will automatically create a feed if nonare available for a site. So if we wanted, ANY webpage could be added to the bundle, including product pages, or non RSS news sites.

-I added a Truvio search for all Videos containing Makerbot and Reprap. Can anyone think of more videos to search? Is there a better video search engine that offers RSS? I couldn't get Rapman or Bits from bytes to work in the search without finding lots of rap videos other odd things.

-Added an RSS feed for the Makerbot and Thingiverse Google group. Lots of GREAT related information in these groups.

-It is REALLY easy to add the blog list to your blog sidebar. It's an option when you look at the bundle under Google reader.

-Just one more way for us to share information!

If you want to preview the feed go to this link

I am really interested in getting more non English language blogs into this bundle. PLEASE EMIAIL ME THE BLOGS I MISSED!!

A little Ebay experement

2010-01-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

I have decided to give up on PLA for a bit, it's been 3 weeks since my printer has done anything but strip, or break. I am now going to tuck my tail and run back to ABS until there is a definitive answer on how to print with the two PLA variants on a Makerbot.

So back to the races!

I have posted all my Mendel pieces I have printed to date on Ebay.

http://shop.ebay.com/reprapsupply/m.html

I will continue to post all the thinks I print here, unless the community has a problem with it, in which case I will jut keep them for myself.

Have fun and happy printing!

A little update

2010-01-16T09:07:00.000-08:00

I have recieaved several comments and emails asking where I am at now... So here are the bloddy details

Makerbot #469 was completed and printed well for 1 week. I was having build quality issues, but when I used the Makenbreak example gcode from Makerbot it printed perfectly, so it wasn't the printers fault, it was user error. I did manage to let my nephew print a Nintindo DS stylus, which he thought was the coolest thing. I continued to print pieces, but got sick of all the warping issues and decided to make the leap into PLA.

I purchased 5lb of Ultimachines's 4042D PLA. Shipping, cost, and customer service where great (I just kept using my ABS settings), and the 1st few prints turned out WONDERFUL. Unfortunately I don't tend to leave well enough alone.

While trying to improve my build quality I slowly reduced my build temp with PLA. I learned the hard way that my thermistor was reading artificially high (Makerbot switched to 1mm thermistors, while leaving the thermistor table set for a 3mm thermistor). When I thought I was extruding at 190+ I was actually at 170, and managed to snap my retaining ring. I then spent the rest of the day trying to make a new retaining ring out of Acrylic (Note, if you have an operating printer, print a few retainers NOW (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:958).

Once I built my ad hock retainer, I reassembled the nozzle and started printing again, this time keeping my temp above 200. After printing one more part my Thermal barrier gave way when I hit one of the sockets that hold down my build plate. I now had to buy a new Thermal Barrier.

I decided if I was going to do it I would do it right. I purchased 2 thermistors, 1 nozzle & barrel, and 10 feet of Ni chrome from Makerbot (If you buy Nichrome, buy it in bulk, you will need it eventually, and the price cut on larger orders is pretty good). I also purchased 2 PEEK thermal barriers, and a retaining washer from Makergear.

While waiting for my new nozzles to come in I decided to build a better build plate for my makerbot (those socket bolts are killers). Fortunately I had some scrap 1/4 acrylic sitting around the house and used my table saw to cut it into 5 in squares (I went with 5inch instead of 4 because Makerbot has stopped shipping end stops with their kits, and without an end stop, you can actually print 5x5x6 on your Makerbot. I then used the build base as a drill guide to drill 6 holes into the acrylic. To make counter sinks I used a 1/4 drill bit. Went to Lowe's and got some flat head machine screws (Couldn't find metric flat head machine screws, so went with Imperial, I know I will regret mixing, but you have to do what you have to do).

I can't say enough good things about Makerbot, Makergear, and Ultimachine. Everything I have ordered has arrived within 3 days, which is GREAT service from small companies when you use 3 day shipping. Everything showed up and I got my 2 brand new nozzles put together. Makergear actually includes a beefed up retainer with 3/4 inch PEEK barrier (I think it's 1/4 inch thick, and they machined in the ends of the PEEK so it can use standard 5/8 retainer rings (nice touch).

I got everything together, and started printing again. Everything was going great, but then I started constantly stripping my filament. No matter what temperature I used, no matter how slowly I extruded, also I noticed a slight tent of black in the usually perfectly clear substrait. Tore the nozzle apart and I had managed to do the impossible, I melted a PEEK nozzle. That made no since. I went to email Makergear for a little WTF moment, only to find Makerbot had emailed me WHILE I WAS MELTING THE BARRIER!

Karen with Makergear had emailed to inform me that their supplier had provided them with Delrin instead of PEEK, and that I should not use the barrier over the temp of 225C, I had been pushing 230+ the whole time I was stripping the nozzle.

That's where I am at now. As you can see, not much progress, but it's been fun. Plans are scaled back, but here is what I hope to do in the next few weeks.

-Update my Thermistor table on my extruder to insure that my temperature reading is actuate, purchase a remote temp gun to check the nozzle temp after the firmware update.

-Install my backup nozzle, and extrude at a lower temp. Continue to print Mendel pieces. My plan is still to sell the 1st printed set on Ebay.

-Create a few more you tube videos, some that I would like to get done in the next month.
-Installation video for Arduino with Sanguino and Reprap build libraries.
-Review of both 4042 (Ultimachine)and 4032 (Makerbot) PLA filament. Show examples of both printing.
-Start a series of videos on Skeinforge, showing how jogging each number effects print results (This one will be a long term project)
-Start a series of videos on Solid modeling for Rapid prototyping machines using Blender

Free easy spool for rolled filiment.

2010-01-15T23:20:00.000-08:00

Charles Pax has done it again. He uploaded a really easy to build cardboard spool to Thingiverse. When added to a milk crate it makes a perfect filament spool with base. Take a look!

No more rat nests of twisted filament, and you get to keep your money.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1550

Finished the Most obsesive Makerbot Build video to date!

2010-01-15T22:58:00.000-08:00

16 videos, all with annoying dance beats, and chubby little gnome hands.

I plan on also documenting my Mendel Build in the same way. Please pay not attention to the point in one of the video's where my 3 year old daughter picks up my safety cutter and starts swinging it around trying to get her fathers attention.... That was photo shopped in.

Fully document Makerbot Build

2009-12-16T01:23:00.000-08:00

Attached is the 1st in a series of build videos I am making for the Maker Bot CupCake CNC. I promised myself that when I received my RepStrap, that I would document the complete build. Well what started out as a cam pointed in the general build are has turned into a full step by step birds eye of the build. I have 3 more videos ready to publish, and likely another 5-10 before I am done. Is the community interested in having this type of build video on Youtube? Would you like me to post it here, where it will get sucked into the RepRap pipe, just leave it on Youtube, or stop because I am waisting my time?

Let me know.

The "Professional" Price of a Mendel

2009-12-09T22:05:00.000-08:00

Likely not many of us make $21 an hour, especially in our spare bedroom, or shop wearing our hack around clothes. But that is around how much you can tell your family you are paying yourself as you spend a week or two printing the Mendel parts.

A company named Protovanage posted an advert on the RepRap forum, offering to print a full Mendel set. They didn't mention a price, but luckily for me they have a WONDERFUL web interface, that makes tracking out the costs of their printed items very easy. After adding up the costs of all the items to build a Mendel using their service (They offered some parts for Mendel that are not listed on the Mendel Assembly Data Sheet, but this might have been my lack of understanding considering I haven't even built my RepStrap Yet.

The Total cost of a Full set of RP parts for Mendel came out to $1,577.33. Or ruffly the equivalent of 2 Makerbots, or 1 Rapman and 8 pounds of ABS. Below is the spreadsheet that I used to come to this total, please tell me if I am wrong here.

The point of this post is not to beat up on Protovantage
, honestly I might use their service at some point if I have a part that must be printed to an extremely tight tolerance, such as extruder. They are the only Rapid Prototyper firm that I have seen that allows 1 off prints of any STL with an instant online price quote (considering all the Mendel parts came out between $5 and $50 a piece it might occasionally be worth using them).

My point is likely some people in the community are actually going to pay the $1,500 to get the pieces from Protovantage. Most will scoff at the price, but in a community where Darwin, and now Mendel parts have always been few and far between, it really raises a question.

If RepRap has put a factory in your shop, are you willing to pay yourself $100 for an afternoon reading a book while your Reprap sings The Gold diggers song to you?

Embedded Etherpad, it really couldn't be easeir.

2009-12-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

After seeing that Google planned to maker Etherpad open source, I felt an obligation to go check it out. This seems like a perfect addition for a blog. Like an integrated comment sheet, that can be time tracked.

After looking around I found that they have a a beta embed that is abolutely awsome. -----> isn't it great! It's a snap to add to your blog. Here are the steps:

1. Go to Etherpad.com, click [Create new Pad] Middle of the screen in blue.
2. Copy The Web address, it will look like "http://etherpad.com/"Bunch of random letters and numbers"]
3. Embed the Gadget. For Blogger you follow these steps
a. Click [Layout] two tabs right of the [Posting] Tab
b. Click [HTML/Javascript]'s edit button
c. Post the code from their instructions at the bottom of the window. Be to replace their http://etherpad.com address with the one from your blog (don't ask how I found this out)
d. Save and go back to your blog. Look!! A grafitti wall for your notes, and other comments that can be added live. How fun could it be to run a live chat in that space!

Now back to Robots and plastic bits related subjects... Sorry had to share!

Breaking down the cost of RepRap firmware

2009-11-29T22:52:00.000-08:00

Given the delay in MakerBot restocking the Makerbot Store, I decided I was going to go the Hacker route and just build all the components myself (Considering I haven't touched a soldering iron in 10 years, what could go wrong?). I started going through the RepRap parts lister, and after flipping through 20 pages, I was COMPLETELY confused.

You can tell someone put a lot of work into it, but it seemed to be set up for someone who would have some of this stuff sitting on the shelf, which I assume most RepRap enthusiasts will not.

So I decided I would try to improve on the idea. I added an electronics section to the Mendel M4 Assembly Data Sheet. Hopefully I didn't make it too confusing, or miss post anything. Sort of intimidating when you boot Mr Bowery from the top spot :).

I am glad I completed this project, because I learned something I would have never guessed, MakerBot is BY FAR a cheaper choice than trying to build the boards yourself... Let me explain.

The cheapest route to getting all the firmware is Buying the MakerBot DIY kits from MakerBot. For all the boards you will need it comes up to only $148 dollars.

Second cheapest route is buying all the PCBs from MakerBot, and all the chips and such from Mouser & Digikey. Total Came to $158.81 plus 2 chips I could not find (HELP!!). Assuming they go for $1 a piece, which looks about right, that's $163.81, or 15 dollars more than Buying the MakerBot DIY kits. This surprised the heck out of me.

Both of these options require you to buy a hot plate, Zeph paste, solder, and likely destroy some PCBs and chips in the process. Everything I have read says that the soldering process on the 11 boards would take someone who knows what they are doing 5-6 hours, or 2 days for someone like me. At $10 an hour, that's $160 of my time to put them together... ICK!

The 3rd cheapest option is buying the MakerBot Assembled Kit. Open it up, plug it in, and you are good besides the end stops, which need a little love. I hate spending money, but I think I spare some beer money to let them handle that job! $10 more is a steal... when they get them back in stock.

Most expensive option is buying the boards separately from Makerbot. That would end up being $203.00. Again considering it would take a real hacker $50-$60 dollars worth of time to put it together, it's still a deal.

Makes me wish I had bought the boards separately when they where in stock...

If you have a chance, go over to the RepRap Wiki and see if you can add more information to the Mendel M4 Assembly Data Sheet. God knows we are all dreaming of that Mendel RepRap goodness at this point.

A Beginning is a Very Delicate Time

2009-11-27T15:27:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how little press the RepRap Project gets. A open source, semi self replicating machine is one of those few things new under the sun. It has the ability to change hobby level crafting as much as the dot matrix printer did amateur publishing.

If your here you likely know the history of this project, and if you don't, just go onto Youtube and look up Adrian Bowyer, Vik Olliver, or Zack Smith. They are the most visible faces of dozens of dedicated hardware and software designers that have spent the last 3 years constantly improving the design of RepRap based printers.

Currently there are only 2 RepRap based commercial kits available to my knowledge, Bit from Bytes's Rapman out of Europe, and the Makerbot Industries Cupcake CNC out of New York USA. All other RepRap kits are completely self sourced, but that's where the issue comes in.

The promise of RepRap is the self replicating machine, but in reality it's not self replicating much. If you look on Youtube, or read the blogs, most RepRap based printers in the wild are in one form or another lasercut. So if RepRaps can print 20-40% of it's pieces, why are most RepRap based printers laser cut? TIME

A laser cutter can produce the structural pieces of a RepStrap (printer made from non RepRaped parts) in less than an hour, while it takes a RepRap 20-30 continuous hours to print it's own structural members. Given that the laser cut parts of a RepStrap are going for $200-300 currently RepStrapping makes a lot of since right now. Most people value their time at more than $10 an hour.

That's where this Blog comes in.

In Adrian Bowyer's video on Youtube, where he introduces the Reprap, he speaks of the exponential growth possibilities of the RepRap. He basicly said that given a month every person in the world could have one of these printers, if you could afford to buy the electronics and hardware, and printed constantly. I plan on trying to test this theory.

I have set myself a few goals, and this blog is to keep me honest on trying to achieve them. Here are my goals:

-Receive Makerbot before 12/15/09
-Record the build of the Makerbot and post on Youtube.
-Assemble and make first print with Makerbot by 01/01/10
-Print 1 copy of each unique piece for Mendel RepRap by 01/15/10
-Cast copies of all multiple parts for Mendel by 02/01/10. Post Video to Youtube.
-Continue casting Mendel Pieces until their is no demand for them any longer, or the RepRaps out pace cast production
-Complete Assembly of Cast Mendel, and finish printed Mendel on Makerbot by 03/01/10. Again post Video to Youtube
-If the cast Mendel is of a tolerable quality, offer the Cast pieces online to anyone who wants them.
-Continue to only print Mendel Parts until I own 4 Mendels and a Makerbot. Wear a Darth Vader costume in front of all 5 printers, while they play the Imperial March by 06/01/10, and of course Youtube.
-Produce Mendel printers as a hobby.

Lot's of people have talked about this idea, for YEARS on the RepRap forum, but as of yet it looks like no one has done it. Let's see if I am any different.