expressing interest

Small group for all of So Cal! This could be a good thing, tho ..... I'm interested in building a reprap that can handle 8x8x8 at least. Have thousands of questions. First is; it appears that many people have already started comercializing the reprap project. Not complaining, just commenting. Most importantly; would anyone who is in the High Desert please contact me. Rancho isn't that far away, but I'm busted down to a shoe string or two. I still have interest in building one but it might be a part at a time or something like that.

I'm looking for building one myself. But do not know where to start. Do you know any coming event in the area?

Nick, I can't believe it was the beginning of June when I wrote here and joined up and all. I've just been surfing thru all the data I've found for two months I guess. I finally went to eBay and I found a nice used machine which I bid on and won. It's being shipped as I write this. Guy said it needed calibration. We shall see. As far as finding places to meet people I've done no more looking. It would be great to find some people who know what they're doing. My guess is that just after I get this thing and start messing with it the need for people who know what they're doing is going to become critical LOL!

I'm amazed that so much time has passed. Have you found someplace that has good info? I think I'm gonna make it my first project to be sure and return to this page at least every other day. Have no idea what I would write about but having no idea is my best suit! Ideas are like rivers they seem to wanna flow. I can tell ya I had a suspenseful time of bidding. There were a number of days left when I put in my first bid so I had time to watch and wait. As time passed and nothing happened I fugured that someone was being cagy and was gonna wait till the last minute so I set my max bid as high as I could afford to go and then waited longer. At the end no one else bidded on the thing at all and I got it for five bucks over the minimum. That kinna freaked me out 'cause then I'm figuring somebody knows something I don't know, ya know? There was a bit more suspense when it didn't ship and it didn't ship for a number of days but now it has. That's why I have the luxury of wandering around looking for information again.

Still can't believe all of southern california seems to take minimal interest in these things. I get goose bumps just thinking about all the fun it's gonna be. Those could be famous last words, tho, I realize that. Well two days from now .... lates!

Well, the machine is here. I'm not worried in the least that I haven't got it to do anything yet! Everything I read says there's a steep learning curve. At the moment I've exhausted my enerty trying to download the software that came along with it. I hit the same snag each time. The message I got from the previous owner suggests that I hook up with the IRC (something like that) I know what he's talking about I just have a two cell memory bank. Gotta look a lot of stuff up ..... all the time. I'll do that in a few moments but I thought I'd check in here in hopes of finding thousands of interested souls just waiting to take over the world with little 3D printers of their own! Looks like it's a long road ahead, huh? LOL LMAO yada yada.

sorry ..... but it'll happen, it's just a matter of time; even if I wind up buying a new board. I got a good deal. The thing won't print 8x8x8 tho, 8x8x5. When it starts working. Well, first I'll find out what the actual initials for the group are then go find them. Ya know, as far as a group meeting getting going, it it did I don't think I'd pack this thing up and move it. It seems to flexable to hold calibrations if it gets moved. Would one day consider building it a shell.

Have gotten to the point of seeing the machine run under its own control. The 20mm by 20mm box is 19ish by 20ish so far but it's a start.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2013 06:28PM by roddy.

Congrats!

I went on eBay and saw one for $850 buy it now OBO. How much did you pay for yours?

Hey Charles,
Thanks, I think I got a pretty good deal for $405.00 plus $75.00 to ship from Florida. It's a Prusa Mendal Linear and it was a kit from MakerFarms. I don't think they sell this kit any longer but they do still support it. the Linear part has to do with using stainless steel bearings as opposed to the ones printed on a reprap machine. The larger reprap community has moved on far past the business of putting in metal bearings, tho. I'm not regretting the buy but there are many newer machines out there. With the learning curve as steep as it is most any option is probably gonna take time to get good at.

I tend to be windy so let me just get in a few notes and I'll spare ya most of the detail. Have printed several 20mm x 20mm boxes and haven't got a good one yet. I'm learning from my mistakes but it's slow. I'm not what you'd call a methodical person. ADD maybe. Was interested in trying to load up other things to try to print and found a little component for a reprap machine that was an STL file. I got it to print better than anything so far but it was squished down. A hole that was s'pose to be round was more oval. The other side of the hole was s'pose to have a hexagonal inset for a hex nut to fit into and it looked a whole lot to me like a rectangle. I still got work ta do!

Have read a bit about the planned meeting you guys are cooking up. From up here in Victorville (the High Desert) it'd be a commute for me but getting help from someone knowledgeable would be quite a time saver. Thing is I got time on my hands. Although not so much in the long view. Well, this is the windy part I'm trying to cut back so ..... tell me about your journeys. It's all a process

rod

Hi Rod,

The good news is you can print - the software works, the hw works. What remains is calibration. Looks likes the x & y don't go in the same steps. You can ask Seth to send you a verified square .STL file and figure out which axis has the problem.

I'm still going about acquiring hw parts.

Good luck

Charles

There are plenty of people in southern CA with RepRaps -- they just don't frequent this forum. It's kind of buried at the bottom of the list. I live up in Tehachapi and work in Mojave. I've got a couple RepRaps, and have made probably a dozen in the past several years.

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If there are "plenty" of people in So-Cal i'd love to find them... any help with my reprap would be awesome. I'm in San Diego. Let me know if anyone wants to meet up and mess with printers.

I live in Escondido, work in Sorrento Mesa, don't really have a good place to meet up anywhere but it would be great to have a place with ventilation, power and wifi for periodic meetups. There are a few people around San Diego, North County, Temecula, etc. just no critical mass yet...