Happy New Year, everyone, Let's make 2019 a better year for OSH, copyleft, software freedom, and life generally. Now that we've passed the mad business of December, I'm aiming to bring this discussion to some conclusion over the next few days.
At 2018-12-12Wed23:15:31+00, J. R. Haigh sent:
At 2018-12-12Wed06:17:43+00, Wesley Brooks sent:
(Active) RepRapLtd: https://reprapltd.com/ RepRapLtd may be able to put together bundles for you. They are very helpful.
I've approached RepRap Limited about a custom design as well as the availability and use of finer nozzles. Understandably busy over Christmas, when I eventually got a reply about my custom design ideas, Adrian Bowyer admitted to my great disappointment that they've not the time to develop a new design, nor did he refer me to another OSH RepRap R&D company. However, he did give some useful advice and offer me to obtain a quote for finer nozzles, to which I've replied asking for a quote of a 0.25mm nozzle. In that most recent email, sent Tuesday, I've also started to fall-back to specifics about the Huxley Duos (shelving my custom design ideas), but am still awaiting reply. I tried to find a telephone number for RepRap Ltd. but none is listed on their Website's contact page. However, given that Andy of Telford Makerspace is prompting me to bring this discussion to conclusion by early next week, and seeing also that some of my own projects are on hold indefinitely until we get a significant improvement in print finess, I'm not waiting for RepRap Ltd.'s replies too long again before continuing this thread. My biggest remaining questions are: • What makes a good-quality RepRap? What makes a good-quality Huxley Duo? • If print quality and reliability is constrained by the nonprintable parts such as steppers, extruders, and nozzles then can old, unreliable RepRaps (such as those of the 3-D printer graveyard that Jason speaks of) be easily refurbished with better parts to improve their quality and reliability? • Does anyone have experience with 0.3mm, 0.25mm, or finer nozzle diameters? • Is it safe to talk about patentable ideas on a public mailing list? I.e., do ideas discussed on this list legally count as ‘published’ and therefore prior art? • Is there an active OSH RepRap R&D company with the time and interest to implement/pioneer some potentially game-changing improvements to Cartesian filament printing?
Best regards, James R. Haigh.