Alex Gibson, co-host of the Oxford Jam impressed us all with his RepRap 3d printer controlled by a Raspberry Pi. I hadn’t seen one of these up close and personal before. I’d really like one now, but I have a feeling it requires a large investment in time to build, calibrate and use. Check out the 4 minute video. Most impressive indeed! 
Background
Alex told us he’d joined the Thames Valley build group, which is a bunch of people who get together to help each other make RepRaps. The reel of poly-lactic acid (PLA) costs about £30 GBP (~$50), weighs a kilo and can make loads of “stuff”. It takes a couple of minutes for the RepRap’s bed to warm up before it can start, then it took about 20 minutes to “print” the minimug. It’s controlled by a Pi, and Alex said it’s quite simple to install the required software on the Pi.
The Oxford Raspberry Jam
The Oxford Raspberry Jam seems to have an abundance of Peters and Alexes. This time three Peters, two Alexes and one Will exhibited. I didn’t get a record of them all, but they are well covered here and here.
I definitely need to build a 3D printer at some point, last time I looked it was still a little expensive though
Alex said it cost him about £400, which I would probably struggle to fit into the “R & D budget”. Extraordinarily cool though. I’ll have to have one some day – just a question of when.
[...] a video presentation from the Oxford Raspberry Jam for using a RasPi to run a RepRap. From RasPi.tv: Alex Gibson, co-host of the Oxford Jam impressed us all with his RepRap 3d printer controlled by a [...]
This is exactly what I want. I was disappointed that reprap usually use an arduino shield to control the printer which you communicate via another computer over USB. Is this the same? Do you still need the shield when you’re using a RaspberryPi? I would rather you didn’t, but I guess I would still be fine if that were the case.
Which reprap variation was used? The reprap community has a lot of really good information on how to build, but that’s just the problem. They have A LOT of information. Probably too much. Is there any information on what these guys used to build their reprap? I’m most curious about where they got their parts and what variant it is.
I think it had some sort of shield. Should be visible near the end of the video. Alex Gibson would be able to answer your other Qs.
[...] Alex over at RasPi.TV has posted a short video of the one that was demoed at the Oxford Raspberry Jam. Take a look at the post by Alex here. [...]