Progress on the RepRap has slowed to a crawl and it’s really bumming me out. Building from kits is SO much easier than sourcing the parts yourself. I’ve probably gotten the final cost estimate into the $600-$700 range by now.
Anyway, I need your help. I just need to print out the new X-carriage, get some M3x25mm bolts, buy some MDF for the Y-stage, and get a hot end. However, I don’t really know what to get. What are the recommended dimensions for the Y-stage (LM8UU bearings)? What’s the best hot-end for 3mm PLA that I can get in the U.S. for a Wades extruder?
Feel free to comment with your suggestions!
I love the 0.4 mm hotend I got from MakerGear.com, but I haven’t used anything else so mine isn’t the most informed opinion. Keep plugging ahead, you’ll finish it. It’s worth every minute of sourcing and assembly.
Don’t get bummed out. It’ll all be worth it! It took me four months to get my prusa printing, and I’m still getting it calibrated, but it’s really, really great when it starts working. Once you get the machine built, there will be other problems to blast through, but they tumble quickly.
I bought three hot ends, the Makergear kit which I never assembled, a .5 j-head tip from eBay that I’m using, and a spare Arcol.hu mk3 that I haven’t used. J-head works great, but the Arcol is really nice looking. Arcol is also continually updating.
Dunno about the linear bearing for the bed, but I’m planning to print a new lm8uu X carriage when I get my quality up.
I bought the lasercut acrylic parts from eBay, but wound up only using the bed.
Don’t loose the faith. Nobody said building futuristic things would be easy!
Hey dude, I’m in the same boat!
Two things I can suggest:
hot glue on the linear bearings will work amazingly well until you are up and running and can print some proper bearing holders. I did it, and it is actually quite difficult to get them off when it is time to replace the hot glue
I would second going for either the makergear hot end or the j-head one from hotends.com. I have had 3 working axis with a busted hot end for what feels like forever. I would also add that it’s super critical to print out replacement parts. While I was waiting for my hot end to come in the mail, one of the motor mounts broke!
Good luck, and keep up the faith. You’ll get there.