@FPEvideos A RepRap Mendel generally costs less that $1000 USD to build. In the past, the most expensive and difficult to obtain components were the printed parts. Due to the increased popularity of RepRaps and other 3D printers, these parts can now be found on Ebay for reasonable prices.
I'm printing a Prusa Mendel Rep Rap now. I met a good friend at school that's allowing me to use his printer to print mine. Just have to replenish the PLA plastic and the masking tape. $500 for this open source printer versus $1300 for a makerbot. You can adjust the settings to print much faster than this speed.
It's a printer, that can print almost everything, including copies of itself, and there are plans for a version that also prints circuits, metal nad other materials.
With this, anyone would be able to print anything at home, at the cost of material and electricity.
You just destroyed the world wide economy, and the capitalist system.
Honestly though, I have one and while it can do a lot of cool stuff, printed stuff isn't as cheap as mass produced stuff, and what it can do is limited by the production method.
What it does do is to help reduce the disposable mentality - you can use it to print replacement parts that are not normally available and fix stuff instead of throwing it away. Or make a single part where the company wants you to buy a whole, expensive assembly.
@demjp8RqDA Printed stuff is actually cheaper than mass produced due to the "Theseus Ship" principle: you can always print broken part ad infinitum, thus making the printed device "immortal". It costs less than buying new models of the same device over and over again from big business. Not to mention : you can customize every inch of it!
@8legsFreak It doesn't work that way. Over half the cost are from controllers and stepper motors. You can't print them no matter how hard you try. The printed parts only take up 1/5 of the cost of the whole printer.
@HiroshiOu Actually, printable electronics are being worked on... You will still need to buy the chips, but the PCB will be printable. Drivers could be made for $5 or so this way.
@yungskiz there are printiers that print cakes and lollipops, so its a start, and you can print car parts (if you have the powder-sinter model of 3d printer). It would rather lead to something StarTrek-esque hopefully:D
@8legsFreak You can't print food, water, clothes, electricity, health services, internet connection, digital media, or any one of the other thousand products which make our modern life.
Even if you could print all of the above, individuals will still create new things and need ways to trade them for mutual benefit. So the "economy", in its purest sense, isn't going away, nor will it anytime, never. Unless humanity vanishes, of course.
Reprap? Beautiful... Marcin Jakubowski? A reprehensible, amoral, IP thief, exploiter for his fames' sake, and I would have nothing to do with him or Factor E Farm, were I you. At one point I even defended him... until I found out his real story (in person). A word to the wise.
@permaculturedesigner So what? IP is theft, and patent is parasitism. Intelectual Property belongs to the people. Who cares if Jakubowski is a dick, as long as he provides the good stuff to the masses?
Check eBay, if you're lucky you'll find some printed parts for sale. There are moulded parts being sold as well but the quality is not as good as printed.
@havocgeneral Wait, the Mendel actually produces parts that are better quality than molded parts? Is it just that good or is the molding just that bad?
@sandcrab132 You have to see a picture of the moulded parts to really get an idea of their quality, they are not mass produced injection moulded parts. I believe the moulds were created by vacuum forming wooden parts and then filling the mould with polyurethane. The quality is a little lower than what the mendel prints due to the quality of the mould but you can create a whole set a lot quicker.
@havocgeneral I have just recently bought and received moulded mendel parts from a seller on ebay called Fotonlabs. The parts are ok, but will require almost all holes drilled. Some require some flash removal, others require the entire depth to be drilled out.
If you want ping me a mail and I can take photos of the parts up close.
(the moulded parts are ALOT cheaper than the printed parts)
My question is: do you make mendels do sell? i'm from a university, and i'm trying, with some other colleagues, to make a reprap, but we are having difficulties in getting the pieces that the reprap print. So, i'm wondering if you normally print that pieces to sell.
How much did it cost you to build this? These Machines fascinate me.
FPEvideos 3 months ago
@FPEvideos A RepRap Mendel generally costs less that $1000 USD to build. In the past, the most expensive and difficult to obtain components were the printed parts. Due to the increased popularity of RepRaps and other 3D printers, these parts can now be found on Ebay for reasonable prices.
RepRapChannel 3 months ago
I'm printing a Prusa Mendel Rep Rap now. I met a good friend at school that's allowing me to use his printer to print mine. Just have to replenish the PLA plastic and the masking tape. $500 for this open source printer versus $1300 for a makerbot. You can adjust the settings to print much faster than this speed.
adamcpennington 5 months ago
Let me get this straight:
It's a printer, that can print almost everything, including copies of itself, and there are plans for a version that also prints circuits, metal nad other materials.
With this, anyone would be able to print anything at home, at the cost of material and electricity.
You just destroyed the world wide economy, and the capitalist system.
8legsFreak 5 months ago 11
@8legsFreak Good.
SteamyThePunk 5 months ago
@8legsFreak Their motto IS "wealth without money"
Honestly though, I have one and while it can do a lot of cool stuff, printed stuff isn't as cheap as mass produced stuff, and what it can do is limited by the production method.
What it does do is to help reduce the disposable mentality - you can use it to print replacement parts that are not normally available and fix stuff instead of throwing it away. Or make a single part where the company wants you to buy a whole, expensive assembly.
demjp8RqDA 4 months ago
@demjp8RqDA Printed stuff is actually cheaper than mass produced due to the "Theseus Ship" principle: you can always print broken part ad infinitum, thus making the printed device "immortal". It costs less than buying new models of the same device over and over again from big business. Not to mention : you can customize every inch of it!
8legsFreak 3 months ago
@8legsFreak It doesn't work that way. Over half the cost are from controllers and stepper motors. You can't print them no matter how hard you try. The printed parts only take up 1/5 of the cost of the whole printer.
HiroshiOu 3 months ago
@HiroshiOu Actually, printable electronics are being worked on... You will still need to buy the chips, but the PCB will be printable. Drivers could be made for $5 or so this way.
ScheerCTS 1 month ago
@8legsFreak that would be true if everyone could obtain one, and the proper knowledge to use it.
it cannot make food
it cannot fix your car
it could lead to something sky net-esque though
yungskiz 3 weeks ago
@yungskiz there are printiers that print cakes and lollipops, so its a start, and you can print car parts (if you have the powder-sinter model of 3d printer). It would rather lead to something StarTrek-esque hopefully:D
8legsFreak 3 weeks ago
Comment removed
yaakovda 3 weeks ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@8legsFreak You can't print food, water, clothes, electricity, health services, internet connection, digital media, or any one of the other thousand products which make our modern life.
Even if you could print all of the above, individuals will still create new things and need ways to trade them for mutual benefit. So the "economy", in its purest sense, isn't going away, nor will it anytime, never. Unless humanity vanishes, of course.
yaakovda 3 weeks ago
If someone can get me .igs files of the parts I can make them on a cnc machine out of aluminum.
bigchad007 6 months ago
Make me one!
sinkoonsouth 7 months ago
Reprap? Beautiful... Marcin Jakubowski? A reprehensible, amoral, IP thief, exploiter for his fames' sake, and I would have nothing to do with him or Factor E Farm, were I you. At one point I even defended him... until I found out his real story (in person). A word to the wise.
permaculturedesigner 1 year ago
@permaculturedesigner So what? IP is theft, and patent is parasitism. Intelectual Property belongs to the people. Who cares if Jakubowski is a dick, as long as he provides the good stuff to the masses?
8legsFreak 5 months ago
Check eBay, if you're lucky you'll find some printed parts for sale. There are moulded parts being sold as well but the quality is not as good as printed.
havocgeneral 1 year ago
@havocgeneral Wait, the Mendel actually produces parts that are better quality than molded parts? Is it just that good or is the molding just that bad?
sandcrab132 1 year ago
@sandcrab132 You have to see a picture of the moulded parts to really get an idea of their quality, they are not mass produced injection moulded parts. I believe the moulds were created by vacuum forming wooden parts and then filling the mould with polyurethane. The quality is a little lower than what the mendel prints due to the quality of the mould but you can create a whole set a lot quicker.
havocgeneral 1 year ago
@havocgeneral I have just recently bought and received moulded mendel parts from a seller on ebay called Fotonlabs. The parts are ok, but will require almost all holes drilled. Some require some flash removal, others require the entire depth to be drilled out.
If you want ping me a mail and I can take photos of the parts up close.
(the moulded parts are ALOT cheaper than the printed parts)
IainTAllardyce 1 year ago
hi there.
My question is: do you make mendels do sell? i'm from a university, and i'm trying, with some other colleagues, to make a reprap, but we are having difficulties in getting the pieces that the reprap print. So, i'm wondering if you normally print that pieces to sell.
Thank you
jpedromota 1 year ago
Love it! Excellent piece of machinery!
steinrik 1 year ago 2