<div dir="ltr">Having just got into 3D printing myself I would suggest it is not yet a plug and play experience yet. Although the printer I got was very definitely a DIY project requiring assembly etc. the groups I am following also suggests to me that quality is very definitely an acquired skill that comes through experience. I had thought of volunteering my printers to complete the process for this project but I am not certain that my printing is up to the quality standards and as such I am not sure that I would want the stress of trying to turning out a product that I may not be experienced enough to do. I would think the only way to do a crowd source printing would require getting sample prints from each participant for evaluation. A process that would be quite time consuming I think. One mans' opinion.<br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Thu, Apr 27, 2017 at 9:16 AM Adam Van Ymeren <<a href="mailto:adam@vany.ca">adam@vany.ca</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">On April 27, 2017 9:23:40 AM EDT, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton <<a href="mailto:lkcl@lkcl.net" target="_blank">lkcl@lkcl.net</a>> wrote:<br>
>On Thu, Apr 27, 2017 at 1:00 PM, Christian Kellermann<br>
><<a href="mailto:ckeen@pestilenz.org" target="_blank">ckeen@pestilenz.org</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
>> As the current issue is time in producing them I would also scratch<br>
>> the printed parts order myself, maybe in exchange for a discount on<br>
>> future designs done by Luke and print them myself. People with access<br>
>> to a maker lab could consider doing the same...<br>
>><br>
>> I am not capable to promise good quality printing for 3rd parties as<br>
>I<br>
>> have been starting getting into this for a rather short while now...<br>
><br>
> well, a 200x200 basic reprap will do the job, with a 0.4mm nozzle and<br>
>a layer height of between 0.15 and 0.2mm is absolutely fine. it's not<br>
>hugely difficult. i've just ordered this ($140!!) 3D printer from a<br>
>taobao seller, it's arriving in a couple of days:<br>
><br>
> <a href="https://world.taobao.com/item/526287577504.htm" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://world.taobao.com/item/526287577504.htm</a><br>
<br>
Here's a thought, if you're okay running a fleet of printers, what if we crowd funded a fleet of 3d printers, whereby people pay for printers, you do a bulk order of printers, use them to print the parts and then distribute the printers to backers. Sort of like a promotional thing, you can receive one of the printers that was used to make your laptop.<br>
<br>
><br>
>now, at $140 i am quite happy to get up to 10 of those (if the first<br>
>one checks out fine) - it looks *really* sturdy: 20x20 aluminium<br>
>box-section: my only concern about rigidity being that it uses<br>
>L-brackets which go *into* the frame rather than triangle-corners<br>
>which are bolted outside and lock the box-section absolutely solid.<br>
>but, we'll see what happens.<br>
><br>
> also it looks like it has a clone of the E3Dv6 hot-end (which is<br>
>really good), it has trapezoidal z-axis lead screws with proper brass<br>
>nuts, borosilicate glass plate (to be confirmed).<br>
><br>
> the one thing i have told the guy (and he's happy to give a RMB 70<br>
>discount): i do NOT want the f*****-s***-for-brains RAMPS 1.4<br>
>controller. if you're familiar with 3D printing for f***'s sake STAY<br>
>AWAY from ANYTHING that uses the brain-dead "Polulu" driver "modules".<br>
>RAMPS, RUMBA, Lerdge, Megatronics - just don't f*****g well do it.<br>
><br>
> the reason is really really simple: those QFN ICs are designed<br>
>SPECIFICALLY, as outlined CLEARLY IN THE DATASHEET, for the heat to be<br>
>dissipated THROUGH THE PCB. there is a ceramic insulator on the TOP<br>
>OF THE CHIP which ACTIVELY PREVENTS HEAT DISSIPATING THROUGH THE TOP.<br>
>if you put a heat sink on top of the chip it does... nothing.<br>
><br>
> now, when the first reprap was created, in order to save time and<br>
>development cost they bought some PROTOTYPING boards with the stepper<br>
>drivers pre-mounted, which came with SPECIFIC instructions "under no<br>
>circumstances use these in production".<br>
><br>
> so what happens?<br>
><br>
> well, they (a) burn out (b) overheat (c) stop working for a couple of<br>
>seconds at a time in the middle of a print...<br>
><br>
> ... you get the general idea.<br>
><br>
>so anyway i ordered a Melzi 2.0 from here:<br>
><br>
><a href="https://www.aliexpress.com/store/group/Melzi-board/1757194_500507171.html" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.aliexpress.com/store/group/Melzi-board/1757194_500507171.html</a><br>
><br>
>and it turns out that on the reprap wiki there's a mod to them which<br>
>allows for the connection of a BT UART. it would have been handy if<br>
>those pins had been brought out on a header but hey, what's wrong with<br>
>a bit of soldering.<br>
><br>
>if you don't want to do soldering then you can just put the Melzi 2.0<br>
>into "auto-load" mode, drop a file in a FAT32 filesystem on a MicroSD<br>
>card and power it up.<br>
><br>
>i like the Melzi 2. it's simple, relatively low-cost compared to some<br>
>of the other options, no-nonsense and straightforward.<br>
><br>
>l.<br>
><br>
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