Anyone ever built a RepRap or Fab@Home printer?

[kaigoh]

I've been looking at these for ages, just never had the £ to drop on one, but I've been thinking recently how it would make prop replica construction so much easier and more accessible for less arty people like me.

Imagine putting together a 3D model of your prop in Sketchup then clicking print and a few hours later out comes your prop...all for the princely sum of about a grand.

The model I've been looking at is this one, Bits From Bytes Version 3.1 (RapMan) Complete Kit.

Before I go ahead and splash the cash, has anyone had any experience of these machines; quality of their output, accuracy, ease of use etc.

Kai.

 

[exoray]

$ for $ quality it's horribly inferior for most projects... Cool in some respects but IMO more as a novelty device right now...

There are companies like Shapeways that uses professional grade rapid prototype machines and does it for what I consider a very fair price, especially for the hobbiest...

I just had a cover made for an upcoming project, cost $17...

Picture kinda sucks but just the same...

 

[Jeff C]

From what I've seen the DIY level 3D printing machines are pretty rough.

I'd go here and read the things about CNC machines.

Cnc

They can't do quite as much 3D printers, no undercuts for example, but you'll be spending less and will very likely be getting better detail.

 

[Silverhold]

Sorry to stray off topic, but I was wondering if exoray could give us some dimensions for his cover? Just to get a rough idea of project size vs cost.

Thanks

There are companies like Shapeways that uses professional grade rapid prototype machines and does it for what I consider a very fair price, especially for the hobbiest...

I just had a cover made for an upcoming project, cost $17...

 

[exoray]

Sorry to stray off topic, but I was wondering if exoray could give us some dimensions for his cover? Just to get a rough idea of project size vs cost. Thanks

It goes by volume and the material you select, you get free instant estimates on Shapeways just upload the part and it gives you the cost in different materials... Best to make hollow shells and save on volume when you can... As for my cover, it's 58 x 47 x 16 mm or 2.28" x 1.87" x .63" and shelled out to 2mm (.08&quot thick inch walls... It's not cheap per say but IMO very reasonable for what it is, I modeled that cover in about 15 minutes, and had the cover in hand in about a week for $17, for me it was very cost effective vs building it by hand... I did have to order 2 of the covers though as they wanted I believe a $25 minimum and I was too lazy to model up another part at that time and couldn't find a public model I wanted, and they don't charge shipping it's all included in the price... Also you can browse the site for 'public' models and get an idea of cost, they have the dimensions of the parts and cost right there...

 

[Honus]

The quality of prints has rapidly improved over the last year. The early RepRap prints were unacceptable to me. Take a look at the printed gears on this site: HydraRaptor: ABS on PET tape

You can follow my build here: MultiBot

I'm building it to do both 3D printing and CNC machining.

 

[CB2001]

Instructables has a few tutorials on how to make CNC machines.

 

[noble]

Until they have the ability to print support layers and the

support is soluble, I wouldn't spend the dough.

I'd go with a small CNC for now.

 

[timschmidt]

Until they have the ability to print support layers and the

support is soluble, I wouldn't spend the dough.

Speaking as the owner of a few RepRaps (two mendels and a repstrap), I can say confidently that there's a LOT that can be done without support material.

We can print overhangs into mid air with anything less than or equal to a 45 degree angle, we can span gaps between two columns as large as 6 or 7 cm, and if distances are relatively small, (a cm or less away from an existing part feature) we can print into thin air over the course of a couple layers.

If a part still can't be done in a single print under those rules, it's usually fairly easy to split it into more than one print that can be, and attach the parts to each other post-print.

Print quality has gone up drastically with the proliferation of PLA as a build material (as it warps less than ABS when abused in this way), though some parts still need some finishing after printing.

I'll answer any questions...

--tim

 

[cheech9898]

Makerbot just came out with a new unit. Haven't seen it in action but suposedly some major improvements... Finer layers, better rapids, and the new extruder.

 

[zenix]

i use shapeways and quickparts all the time... it'd be sweet to have one of these but I dont know if i want to spend the $900, since the final product doesnt come close to what i get from the online companies. a few people have them at the baltimorenode.org and I just dont see the use I'd get for one. they're awesome but not useful, for me.

 

[Mercury]

I couldn't find it at the site but a lot of these types of 3d printers require specific 3d formats as the input data. Will it accept Sketchup as a format or would you have to convert it to what was needed?

 

[exoray]

i use shapeways

They just secured 5 million in investors and are moving main operations to New York, meaning even better US service, not that it lacked anyway...

I couldn't find it at the site but a lot of these types of 3d printers require specific 3d formats as the input data.

Most want at minimum .stl so that is the preferred output, but Shapeways will also take .stl, .dae, .x3d, .x3db, wrl, and x3dv...

 

[cgjeff]

Until they have the ability to print support layers and the

support is soluble, I wouldn't spend the dough.

I'd go with a small CNC for now.

actually they already have the ability. The Bits From Bytes guys already make a second extruder you can put on their rapman kit, or buy their pre-assembled BFB3000 with 2 extruder heads.

Extrude ABS out of one, and PLA out of the other. Soak the parts in NaOH/water mixture which melts away the PLA and does not attack the ABS.

YouTube - BFB 3000 Panther 3D Printer from Purple Platypus

 

[stormtrooperguy]

i just got back from makerfaire in nyc, and i agree that the reprap/makerbot printers aren't great for prop replicas. you'd have to do a LOT of cleanup to get them looking good.

fabricating parts for a machine or something? sure, they seem to do a great job. making detailed parts for a prop? nope.

they had some fantastic commercial ones there. oh, if only i had $10K to spend on a printer...