There are many functional 3D prototyper concepts, almost all better than this thing, yet this one gets all the press. Why? the “self-replicating” claim. It isn’t self-replicating, not even close. In fact, I have yet to see a RepRap that can duplicate ANY part usable to construct another RepRap at all. It certainly doesn’t turn out the bearings, bolts, linear rails, motion control circuits, stepping motors, or the other 95% of the needed hardware even >IF< it could turn out usable plastic structural members.

Posted at 5:47 pm on Oct 19th, 2008 by stunmonkey

stunmonkey gets it in one.

if it starts making the other bits, it will be interesting.

plastic structural members (of unknown durability?) yeah… it might compose most of the mass of the device, but most of the device isn’t all of the device. (or any important parts even)

Posted at 5:55 pm on Oct 19th, 2008 by zigzagjoe

Actually, it has self replicated all of the plastic parts needed. Check out http://reprap.org.

Which ones are so much better?

Posted at 7:51 pm on Oct 19th, 2008 by gumbo

The reprap actually can turn out its own bearings, and the idea of self replicating is not that it can completely create every part of itself. I mean, no living being does that. The idea instead is that easily available parts are left to be purchased or found, while the harder to do things (like make square frames) is left up to the machine.

Posted at 8:15 pm on Oct 19th, 2008 by JSWEEZY

i too wonder what others are there that are soo much better? sure if you have the cash you can pay 10k+ for a commercial product but hey this is open source…….

Posted at 11:37 pm on Oct 19th, 2008 by snow

Seriously can someone direct me to these better open source 3d printer projects (apart from fab which is too expensive).

Posted at 5:50 am on Oct 20th, 2008 by Tom

The thing stunmonkey missed, and the reason this one gets the press, is that while plenty of people have built their own design (or McGuire’s design, which reprap has mildly redesigned as the McWire repstrap) very few of them are real, organized, projects. Reprap and Fab@home are the only really organized 3d printer projects, and of the two, reprap is cheaper and more accessible for DIY because of things like this repstrap design.

BTW, there’s a lot of work being done by the dev team and others on light duty milling. It’s not officially supported, but PCBs can be milled without too much difficulty, so if you wanted you could use one of these to produce the circuits for replication. Since the pcbs are usually in stock through rrrf.org, it’s not necessarily to your benefit as a builder, but it’s doable. Stepper motors are more difficult, but there is someone working on milling and wrapping his own.

Posted at 11:08 am on Oct 20th, 2008 by Corwin

The grey goo…it has begun…

=D

Posted at 1:56 pm on Oct 20th, 2008 by tinfoilhat

If you want 3D milling capability (subtractive modeling), just build or buy a DIY CNC router. They are cheaper, more reliable, easier to build, and more supported. Ironic thing is that they are also a >FAR< better base for an actual RP (additive modeling) system than the RepRap could ever be.
RepRap is a mediocre RP machine with no real milling capacity and no scanning capacity. Even a cheap DIY CNC router makes a better RP machine than the RepRap while also doing great at milling and 3D scanning.

Posted at 3:52 pm on Oct 20th, 2008 by stunmonkey

Advanced kudos to vik, this’ll save me shit tons of money.

Posted at 4:07 pm on Oct 20th, 2008 by blizzarddemon

Stunmonkey, to repeat another’s sentiment… please provide a link. PLEASE. I’ve never seen a good choice for a decent, cheap DIY CNC, I’m currently in the midst of building my own for PCB milling, light duty plastic milling, and additive fabbing and there is nothing I would rather have than a cheap kit that can do additive better than a reprap.

Also scanning is just a matter of having a scanning toolhead… If a reprapper wanted to use one (and there are some working on this) they could, so I’m not sure how those have any better scanning capability except maybe by resolution if they’re using anti-backlash leadnuts.

Posted at 10:05 pm on Oct 20th, 2008 by Corwin

hacks aren t hard to do in clubpenguin but their hard to find i don t really play it.

Posted at 5:33 pm on Oct 21st, 2008 by craigmordaunt

Any advance or pursuit in the realm of personal manufacturing, be it additive or subtractive – does us all a big favor – RepRap, CNC, Fab@Home, they all have their merits. Besides – its like arguing over which is more important, the Apple or the Commadore – they were both important in the beginning of personal computing – as are these projects to personal manufacturing.

Posted at 11:33 am on Dec 20th, 2008 by b