disneytoy, thank you for the encouragement. I had thought about doing just what you suggest, although I was thinking about going the printrbot simple to 3DR "Simple" route. I still may. I'm interested in building it from scratch, my father and I do a lot of mechanical engineering, although neither of us have any formal schooling in it, we've just done it for a long time. I'm actually about to start on an engineering degree at 32 years old so that I can give my sons a head start on it.
I'm also interested in working out how to work with the PVC sheets and filament because the friend that is buying the water jet is trying to find the limits of the media, he's already using it in ways that I've never seen before, and it's pretty exciting.
I will definitely take your advice, and continue reading and researching deltas and hotends, since that's where my weakness is right now. Hopefully I can come up with some preliminary sketches to post for everyone's critique. I hope that the development will go faster that way.
I'm also interested in working out how to work with the PVC sheets and filament because the friend that is buying the water jet is trying to find the limits of the media, he's already using it in ways that I've never seen before, and it's pretty exciting.
I will definitely take your advice, and continue reading and researching deltas and hotends, since that's where my weakness is right now. Hopefully I can come up with some preliminary sketches to post for everyone's critique. I hope that the development will go faster that way.