Hi Guys
Thanks for a awesome site.
I would like to build a 3D Printer and would like to know which one do you recommend. Which type at the moment is doing well and is giving some good results. Prusa i3 seems to be nice. I don’t want to buy one of the commercial ones that you build up. At the moment our exchange to the Dollar is so bad ( 11 to 1) it so expensive to import anything. Please I would appreciate your help.
Thanks
To build yourself, check out @nophead 's Mendel 90, never heard anything but good things, but I believe you have to message him purchase. Also, the printrbot simple is a great low cost starter printer. 3d printers are like motorcycles, one you learn to use it, you want a better one. Good luck and welcome 
@Vaughan_Lundin You’re going to have to import at least some parts, and piecing one together is a big pain. The kits are reasonably priced and complete. Some originate in Europe; is your exchange rate better there?
If you must go with individual parts, check out http://reprap.org and http://3ders.org for a printer that uses parts available locally.
@Vaughan_Lundin Just found the link I was thinking of. This one uses about the minimum of non-printed parts. There’s a good BOM to go from also.
http://reprap.org/wiki/Smartrap_mini
@Carlton_Dodd , isn’t that printer mostly printed parts? albeit there are very very few. @Vaughan_Lundin , I misread, you DON’T want a commercial kit. You may want to look into a repstrap so you can print up some parts for a better printer. No matter what, you’re going to need linear motion parts, electronics, motors, extruder parts, and hotend. The rest can be cobbled together. You can get around using pulleys by using spectra fishing line like in the Tantillus. I believe the Tantillus has posted design info for a version cut out of plywood or acrylic sheet
Thanks you so much guys @Eric_Moy @Carlton_Dodd I really appreciate the your help. I am going to look at the info and see what the costs are. The Rods, Threaded Rod, Nuts and bolts I can source locally. I think it will be the Hotend and the controller board which will cost me. Once again our government screwing up the Rand value. I keep reading on this site. Thanks
@Eric_Moy and @Carlton_Dodd can I use a Sanguinololu Board for the Mendel90 ? Also where would I find the file that I can give to company to Lazer cut the Aluminium. Thanks
I don’t know the details of the published design of the Mendel 90, but I can tell you what limitations I had with my printer using a sanguinololu. There are only 4 motor controller plugs, so for the z-axis, you will need to put your 2 motors either in series or parallel onto a single motor controller, but this is pretty standard, I’m not sure which way is better though. There is no simple way to have a controlled extruder fan to cool PLA prints, you will need to use a spare pwm pin and use it to control a transistor, and power the fan off of the 12v mains. I’ve tried unsuccessfully to use a pwm controlled fan (4 wire), but I’ve resolved that my fan could be faulty. I just plug a fan into the 12v mains and manually switch it on after the first layer. The fan continues to run after the print is complete.
Also, the power FET used to power the heated bed does not have the greatest conductors, if you are printing ABS, you may either want to solder extra wires in parallel onto the board, or use an external ssd, using the heated bed signal to trigger the ssd.
MUST IMPORTANT, the 5vdc voltage regulator is wooed such that if your USB 5vdc from your pc is lower than the 5vdc regulated from the 12v mains, the voltage regulator gets supernova hot. I found this on the Reprap forums after I seared a fingertip touching the regulator. There is a trace that you can cut that will disconnect the USB 5v from the AVR, that fixes this. You will always need the 12v supply when flashing the AVR over USB. And it also helps to buy a cheap clip on heatsink for the regulator as well. I tried mounting sinks on the FETs for the heated bed and hotend, but could not got them in.
The sanguinololu board is nice because it is small and cheap, but has no room to grow. If you have the ability, I’d get a ramps and Arduino mega board, or something with more expansion room.
Good luck, and welcome
@Eric_Moy Ok that’s some real good information . I can see you know what you talking about.
Ok, so I have to move over to a Ramps & Arduino board. I must just order the Printed Parts. Do you know where the best place would be ?
Concerning the templates for the cutting the Aluminum or Board ( DXF Files) where would I get this from. I searched on the web.
@Vaughan_Lundin , I hope I don’t mislead you into thinking I’m an expert, LOL, I’ve just broken my fair share of parts. You don’t necessarily need to use the ramps, but I’m already planning on upgrading.
As for buying printed parts, I’m not really sure if a good source for south Africa. I, fortunately, have access to a replicator 2x and a friend with an Ultimaker, do I’ve never had to buy printed parts.
I buy most other parts on aliexpress, and Amazon, but I’m in the states. Sorry I can’t help you much :o/
Well thanks a Ton @Eric_Moy , much appreciate the help. Get down now and find the parts. Thanks
The main issue for me is the 3D items you can print and the “ink” you use to print the item…i.e. metal, clay, etc etc …probably can be expensive
The more exotic filaments, such as clay and wood can be more expensive than the standard PLA and ABS plastics, but are still very reasonable considering the amount of parts you can make. As for metal, the filaments used for FFF machines cannot print actual metal. There are some filaments that are infused with metal particles, but the goal is metallic appearance, the parts do not have the strength of metal. Currently, 3d printing out of metal is generally done with SLS machines, and parts are pretty expensive.