Thursday 13 October 2011

Reprap getting started

If your reading this blog you probably found it via a post on RepRap forums or something else RepRap related.
But on the odd chance you stumbled upon my blog then I suppose I best explain what Reprap is first.

The idea is fairly simple, create a 3d printer capible of reproducing itself. As 3d printing is generally used for rapid prototyping and the the aim is to create a replicating machine, you get RepRap.



The best place to get a feel for RepRap is the official wiki, thingiverse and youtube.


Where to start?

When I started researching RepRap a few weeks ago there wasn't really a newbies guide, however luckily for anyone reading this blog sdevijver over at RepRap forums has started to create this guide.

Its the only beginners guide I seen and the level of detail is excellent, I would highly recommend it as a starter reference.

Basic parts

All RepRaps consist of 4 main parts; Electronics, Hardware, Extruder and Plastics
Electronics control the RepRap and bring it to life, its broken down into;
  • Stepper motors
  • Stepper motor drivers
  • Controller board (RAMPS, Sanguinololu and RepRap electronics Gen x)
  • Endstops
  • *Arduino MEGA
*Only if using an Arduino solution such as RAMPS

Hardware is all the nuts, bolts, rods and surfaces needed to create the RepRap itself.
The wiki is the best place to get a full list of hardware parts as they vary depending on model and which variation.

Extruder, its a combination of all 3 other main parts and for that reason I've given it its own section.
The extruder consists of;
  • Hotend
  • Thermistor
  • Resistor (heat source)
  • Plastics (depending on extruder variation)
  • Nuts, bolts, washers and screws (again varying depending on extruder variation)
Plastics, these are the plastic parts which with the hardware create the frame and remaining parts of the RepRap.

This is just a rough run down of parts, the types and number of parts vary depending on RepRap type, variation and personal preference massively however they will all be present in one form or another.

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