Hey guys,

we should definitely look at the reprap open source self-replicating printer

it uses really interesting hardware, including a sanguino board that can interpret g-code from usb or an SD card (autonomous) and can talk to steppers, servo, and even normal DC motors, as long as you add a position encoder

I ordered one today, but will put it together in a little while

more info can be found there, http://hackaday.com/?s=reprap and google it too

 

JBourdon,

I was looking at that yesterday ( http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome ) and it was interesting they mold their own pulleys. Are you planning to do that?

What kit did you order? Got a link?

-Kwok

 

Now that is interesting. Parts look awful, though. The sanguino board sounds interesting.

 

The kit I ordered is from there:
http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/
It is laser cut Plexiglas I think
so it all comes ready, just need assembly,

From it I can only print all the non-electric/electronic parts... so I'll be happy to sell at cost the parts to anybody who want them.

When I receive it, I will check I have all the pieces, then store it until May. I go to a FPV meeting in Normandie, France, so i need to make sure all my equipment is ready, and fully operational... so not time for it, just a little bit on the phlatprinter to print Antoinettes. I might sell a few actually there. or I'll try

I've seen some part that look really good, it depends why material you're using, and what gode drove it... The top pict on this page is really interesting: http://blog.reprap.org/2008/04/reprap-e ... s-abs.html

At the moment they tend to generate the g-code from aol (art of illusion) through an STL export then STL to gcode. But I am sure it would be possible to adapt a slice script and a pocketing function of the phlatscript to drive it..

 

Thanks Mark,
Ideally, what I'd like to do/have is:
-start with a 3D design (my first idea is a simple miniature house)
-have an autoslicer, that you can parameterize (thickness of each slice)
-have the slices numbered from bottom to top
then for each slice
-auto trace contour as an outside cut
-use the pocket tool to fill between the contour, either completely full, or with gaps in Y direction
-use the pocket tool to fill between the contour, either completely full, or with gaps in X direction
lower table by thickness of slice
process next slice.

I don't want to go through the stl part, I think direct sketchup to gcode will be better

I know the reprap is not your baby, but I think being able to use from sketchup would make it more accessible to many people, hence more further improvements coming to it. A bit like the ideas people here contributed. And it would make advertisement for your product too through the script.

I still think the electronic (sanguino board) they use are worth for you to take a look at.

 

sure, it's your forum, feel free to move it where it make sense

on the bitfrombytes website:
The Version 3 is designed to run off an SD card and has a USB port to allow connection to your computer and it has a (small) OLED display.

also : http://builders.reprap.org/2009/01/firs ... r-cut.html

in addition to the mechanical changes, I have worked with Ian to produce a set of electronics based on the PIC32/SD card solution. Ian has taken the PIC designs and produced two new boards for the machine, one for the main controller incorporating the stepper drivers and SD card, the other, is a small board for controlling the extruder with serial coms connecting the two.
This gives us a stand alone machine that does not need to be hooked up to a PC.

My kit comes with something even larger than sanguino:
http://builders.reprap.org/2009_02_01_archive.html
the description of the board and its capabilities on there is really good.

The boards are already populated... soldering is only for between board connections
Even though, it looks really simple compared to the soldering I had to do for a mikroKopter
Anyway, it seems all the cool stuff you can get today are only in kit form (PhlatPrinter, mikrokopter, reprap)

The board I saw a few weeks ago was USB but lacked SD card & OLED... I think the inventor got it given for free.