nicholas.seward Wrote:
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> I also
> just realized as I was typing this that Simpson
> can probably print out 12 inch arms when his
> longest arm is 10 inches. This will allow Simpson
> to be able to easily print a larger Simpson.
Ok, to me this printer design was already EXTREMELY interesting, but this point just made it even more so. Every cartesian RepRap design I've seen has the limitation of not being able to print parts for another printer of teh same design with a build volume larger than itself (without "cheating" by buying larger metal parts, that is). Frankly, this has made me think of the name "RepRap" as a bit of a stretch. Rostock delta based designs could possibly do this vertically, but they require such great height themselves. And while they are a great design, too, and arguably using fewer parts than cartesian designs, they still require a lot of metal extrusions/smooth rods.
THIS design is potentially superior on these points--key points, IMO:
1. Most of the parts are relatively flat. This can lead to fast, reliably printed, precise parts.
2. Requirements for precision machined metal are virtually eliminated and now just nuts, bolts, extruder, and motors (and bearings, but they might be printable).
3. It can print children that are larger than the parent: this means even the smallest RepRap can be used to bootstrap to a larger one of this lineage!
This design deserves the moniker "RepRap" more than any other design so far (well, in my opinion at least).
GREAT WORK! :)-D
-------------------------------------------------------
> I also
> just realized as I was typing this that Simpson
> can probably print out 12 inch arms when his
> longest arm is 10 inches. This will allow Simpson
> to be able to easily print a larger Simpson.
Ok, to me this printer design was already EXTREMELY interesting, but this point just made it even more so. Every cartesian RepRap design I've seen has the limitation of not being able to print parts for another printer of teh same design with a build volume larger than itself (without "cheating" by buying larger metal parts, that is). Frankly, this has made me think of the name "RepRap" as a bit of a stretch. Rostock delta based designs could possibly do this vertically, but they require such great height themselves. And while they are a great design, too, and arguably using fewer parts than cartesian designs, they still require a lot of metal extrusions/smooth rods.
THIS design is potentially superior on these points--key points, IMO:
1. Most of the parts are relatively flat. This can lead to fast, reliably printed, precise parts.
2. Requirements for precision machined metal are virtually eliminated and now just nuts, bolts, extruder, and motors (and bearings, but they might be printable).
3. It can print children that are larger than the parent: this means even the smallest RepRap can be used to bootstrap to a larger one of this lineage!
This design deserves the moniker "RepRap" more than any other design so far (well, in my opinion at least).
GREAT WORK! :)-D