Our Product Assembling 3D Printer - collaboration?

[senake]

Hi All,

We have just launched our 'Fair Source' product assembling 3D printer on Kickstarter and are interested in feedback / local manufacturing collaborations. As the Rostock taught me much of what I know about 3D printing, I thought I would approach you guys direct.

Please let me know your thoughts - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/81 ... lobal-desi

[img]https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/003/46 ... 5cf11590e1[/img]

[img]https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/003/57 ... 00379e9671[/img]


Thanks


Senake

[Jimustanguitar]

Saw this last night: https://www.facebook.com/themakerhive/p ... 7309771941 Cool!

Have you ever interacted with the FirePik Delta guys?

[senake]

Hi Jim,

No I haven't, but thanks for pointing them out. I have had a look and they seem to be working at the electronic component level - our approach is completely different.

Having built a lot of production line pick and place machinery, I wanted to keep things simple - the reels/vibratory feeders, vision systems, fumes from surface mount and other issues would have made it much more problematic to produce a home/school/small business machine.

Our approach is modular - so we work at with standard size modules that contain electronics, motors, rechargeable power packs etc. We envisage the number of modules growing and their size getting smaller as the community comes up with more requirements.

The machines a bit on the expensive side as we have tried to keep it future proof. What do you think of the design?

Senake

[626Pilot]

What kind of toolchain can you use with this sort of printer? To me that seems far more important than hardware. Getting CAD packages to output things like tool changes and color switching seems like the big challenge, especially since STL doesn't support such things. The firmware/electromechanical stuff is comparatively simple - it's just getting something to hand those things useful instructions that seems like the biggest barrier.

[senake]

The solution is actually targeted at individuals and businesses who want to become 3D printable product designers - not end users. The idea is that they would design the 3D printed components on CAD and then derive the pick/place Gcode directly for each type of machine in their target market.

As each machine type would have different arrangements for their pigeonholes and robotics actuator, a different Gcode file would have to be offered to end users.

Does that answer your question?