Group for southern Louisiana

Hi my name is Swinson
Swinterry@hotmail.com

Can a group be created for southern Louisiana

Swinson

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* Nearest Neighboring RepRap User Groups

* Robot Hobby Clubs (including First Robotics Competitions)

* Geek Groups Meetups (keywords: artist-run center, artbot, barcamp, dorkbot, experimental media, ham radio, linux, arduino, blender, circuit bending, RC aircraft, rocketry, cnc, etc.)
This will require a few google searches, where you enter your town and one of the keywords above into the following string:
"Your Town" keyword (meetup OR meeting OR group OR club OR society OR workshop OR hobby)

* Local/Nearest FabLab?

* CNC Group Meetups on cnczone.com or otherwise

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Local Shops may be better or worse than buying from online retailers. This depends on your local shops and what you're getting. Stepper motors you'll want to get online, steel rod - perhaps not. Fasteners, it depends. You may want to check your yellow pages to look these up, as opposed to online.

* Local Steel Suppliers

* Local Bearing Suppliers

* Local Fastener Suppliers

* Local Electronics Suppliers

* Local Machine Tool/Industrial Supply, (Occasionally unwelcome to hobbyists, but who knows?)

* Local Electronics Surplus Shop
You may want to check:
[www.repairfaq.org]

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Admin note: I've added in a list of resources above which will take 20 min of web surfing to look up. I suggest you edit the message to fill in resources as you find them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2009 03:39AM by SebastienBailard.

Forum created.

Good luck!
-Sebastien

Thanks for the help ill start looking them up.

Checking in from Lafayette, LA.

Skate bearings can be found at Skate Spot on Johnston St. here in Lafayette. There's an RC hobby shop on the corner of Camelia and Johnston that seems to have some neat stuff too.

Bits of hardware can be found at Grainger's locations across the state; I get a slight discount through work if anyone near Lafayette needs anything, and ordering through a branch saves you the cost of shipping at the very least. There's branches in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette that I know of, checking their website might turn up more.

There is a small hardware store in town here, also off of Johnston just south of Grand Marche, called Doucet Hardware where you can find any spring you can possibly imagine, as well as a number of fasteners and other odds and ends.

Towards New Orleans, off of Jefferson Hwy. between Central Ave. and Causeway Blvd. (much closer to Central Ave. than Causeway), you can find the Baldwin-Taylor Hardware store that's also good for all those hard-to-find bits.

In Lacombe there's another such place, the True Value, off off Hwy. 190 near the library.

As soon as I finish working the bugs out of my Darwin (so close!) I'll be printing parts for anyone who needs them in this area.

OH GREAT! Anyone in or close to New Orleans?
I'm in New Orleans.
Getting close to finishing my mendel... and have a makerbot on it's way in the mail.



Cheers!

Any working machines in Lafayette?

Looks like not many around the New Orleans area... but if anyone does see this, I'm here too.

Currently building a MendelMax 1.5 in all black

Just came across REPRAP a few days ago. I have been wanting to cnc my Taig lathe but this looks like something more in line with making quick prototypes. I havent had much time to delve into the matter but I am thinking of making one out of Aluminum that I can machine (when I get the time) all the parts that I may need.

Just built a Prusa Mendel here in Mandeville.
Still dialing everything in, but it prints!

I'm new to this but in the Lafayette area. Once I get going or find resources, I'll share my findings.

Does anyone have a working printer amd how much does one cost to build and set up to run.

Hi from Ponchatoula. I haven't started my build yet; my plan is to read as much as I can before beginning the project. I have a CNC lathe and a CNC mill (Sherline), which I hope will aid in the process.

Hi,

I just wanted to check in from Zachary, LA. I've just finished building a Printrbot LC v2. We should organize a meet-up sometime. Any thoughts?

Hello all,

I'm located in south Mississippi. I didn't find a group closer than this one.

I'm just getting started with 3D printing, having yet to purchase my first 3D printer. Anyone want to make a suggestion about what to purchase?

Thanks for your time!!

Hi,

I'm new to the group too. As far as suggestions go, I'd say it depends on how much you're looking to spend. I've only had experience with the one I have, which is the Printrbot LC (v2). This was my first experience building something like this, but I found that my countless hours playing with Legos as a kid finally paid off! It was fun to build and has proven to be a pretty solid machine now that I've got everything calibrated properly. I spent about as much time calibrating as I did building the thing. I think you get a good value for the money you spend with the Printrbot, IMHO.

I also strongly suggest buying a set of GT2 gears/belts right off the bat, regardless of which printer you wind up purchasing. I've had major problems with the set-screws vibrating loose on the stock plastic gears for the X and Y motors. They are aluminum gears with two set-screws, so they are able to take a lot more vibration before the set-screws start to shake loose. It's $40 well spent and you'll be happy that you upgraded sooner than later.

Hope this helps.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2013 03:14PM by kbarre123.

Test.

Hello kbarre123,

Thanks for the information/recommendations. I was studying the Printrbot website, and it was already a strong candidate for my purchase of an LC or possibly a PLUS.

I did have and additional question regarding your recommendation: Do you find the GT2 Gears/Belts on the Printrbot website or elsewhere? It seems the version 2 Printrbots have many upgrades included and the prior upgrades may not even be compatable with the version 2 Printrbots now.

I read that you have a v2 Printrbot LC, so I guess this is an upgrade available from another source (online?). Would you let me know the item/model numbers of the gears/belts you ordered too, thank you!

Thanks for your quick reply and information.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2013 11:40AM by Drcola.

Hi Drcola,

I think you'll like the Printrbot. It sounds like you've already done some research and I'm sure you've stumbled upon it already, but be sure to visit PrintrbotTalk.com. It's a very active community that's been a tremendous resource for me. I'm on there too as "kbarre123" just as I am here. Shoot me a message if/when you sign up.

The GT2 belts/gears will work on both the LC (v2) and the Plus (since it's basically an LC with a larger print bed). The GT2 belts will fit on any 3D printer that uses motors with a 5mm drive-shaft. I just installed them on my machine last night and I'm very pleased. Having said that, I didn't really have any problems with the stock gears/belts other than the fact that the set-screws kept shaking loose; the movement was smooth and I didn't have any "slop" in my prints that I could see.

I purchased the GT2 kit from UltiMachine (link). I also picked up 1lb of gold 3mm PLA filament for $20, which I thought was a good price. To my surprise, they threw in about 12' (yes, feet) of clear and 12' of green 3mm PLA filament for free. I thought that was a nice touch. I'll definitely be buying from them again.

While I'm thinking about it, I'd like to strongly encourage you to get the 3mm extruder version of whichever machine you wind up going with for several reasons. Many websites I've been to were either out of 1.75mm filament or it was more expensive than the 3mm (which I've come to learn is by far the more common of the two). It's my understanding that the 1.75mm filament is more expensive because it's harder for the manufacturers to consistently extrude the stock plastic down to such small dimensions. Plus, I've read on PrintrbotTalk that the 1.75mm filament gives people fits trying to print with it. Something about how small it is and the way it feeds into the extruder. I only mention this because I was considering a 1.75mm at first and changed my mind at the last minute and went with the 3mm and I'm really glad I did. I thought I was going to be able to get higher resolution prints with thinner filament, but I just didn't understand how it ALL worked. I just wanted to help you avoid the pitfall I almost fell into myself.

Hope this helps. And don't hesitate if you have any further questions, I'd be glad to help.

Hi, coming in from the BR area. About to order my first kit. Drop me a line if you wish to get together and plan a reprap build day locally.

I'd be interested. Which machine did you order?

Hi everyone.

I currently volunteer with the NOLA Timebank's [http://www.nolatimebank.org/] FixMix events, where folks from the community can bring their broken household items and get them repaired for free. It's an effort to 1) encourage self-reliance within the community, 2) promoting the idea that they can fix rather than toss things, leading to re-use and less consumption, and 3) introduce folks to a better understanding of how the things they use every day work - a big part is engaging the person in the repair and showing them what we're doing to fix their stuff.

I'd love to have a 3D printer available for printing replacement parts.

I'm just returning to New Orleans and getting plugged in to the NOLA tech community. I don't yet own or have a *bot/rep* project going, but I definitely intend to build a RepRap; just looking into prices, sourcing the parts, and saving up for it.

Cheers, and looking forward to a New Orleans meetup!
Dan

Forgot to mention that I'm also assisting the NOLA Public Labs' [http://publiclab.org/] resident 3D printing tech to rehab 3 donated Replicator 1's which are slated to go to local community organizations. Anyone want to get in on the fun, let us know.

Cheers,
Dan

Hey guys,

I'm brand new to the forums and I am looking to try to get into building soon. I am from the Baton Rouge area but currently away at college in Ruston. I was thinking about building a Pusa i3 but needed some input from other people who were knowledgeable about it.