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dev:repfab

Reproducible Fabricator

Introduction

 This project intends to imagine, design, build and share a reproducible fabricator machine, made mainly from plywood, build on top of the knowledge and principles of the reprap project and its children. The idea is to build a generic machine capable to reproduce most of its own parts, using the rawest materials possible.

this model is intended to use 18mm plywood sheets, standard simple iron bars and as few as possible specialized mechanical parts (bearings and wheels). The electronics is based on the generic reprap construct, the precise determination can vary.

All rights are to be placed under GPL licence, so freedom is ensured.

There exists other machines like that in the world, but to date, none of those have their blueprints available and/or under a free licence (some say they will in the future … )

If you have information on the contrary, contact us, so we can add credit and share knowledge.


documentation

existing machine in the same base :

blackfoot

https://www.buildyourcnc.com/blackfoot48v40.aspx

www.buildyourcnc.com_images_blackfoot_204-3_20without_20table_20exploded_20top-300.jpg

problems :

  • proprietary license
  • imperial metrics
  • if blueprint available, no rights to modify/share

flower router

http://hackaday.io/project/1665-open-source-routerlaserlathe-flower-router

cdn.hackaday.io_images_8097221405296455027.jpg

  • no blueprint available but they say they intend to free the documentation when working
  • in the photos they seems to cut the “flower router” pieces with a greenBull, a larger wood CNC from the blackfoot manufacturer.
  • hope it's not imperial metrics
  • evolution has brought them to redress the router and build it vertically ⇒ has some advantages but not as easy to handle probably…

other builds

Openbuilds

a community organizing around the open hardware concept is gathering at http://openbuilds.com mainly using “off the shelf” but specialized components like aluminum extrusion, many open source CNC milling machine and 3D printers designs are available. Use it as inspiration for wood design of pieces.

electronics

controller brain

RAMPS (arduino based)

see on reprap.org wiki

Smoothieboard
Freakcontroler
Hosni's Board

Hosni is working on a custom board as Study End Year Project, more information here later…

stepper drivers

for a CNC capable of cutting at production rates, we need equivalent of NEMA23 or bigger motors to drive the axis. ⇒ 30V4A class driver needed, exceeding the classical 3d printer setup that don't need powerfull motor for action. Can be usefull for other type of mechanical setup like robot harm, seat simulator, roomsize printer, or cable robot(http://hackaday.com/2015/09/21/3d-cable-robot-uses-the-building-as-its-exoskeleton/ and http://hackaday.com/2015/09/24/cables-and-winches-become-an-awesome-simulator/).

powerlolu

the opensource ecology group build a CNC torch cutter in metal, and powered it with this

http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Powerlolu

brushed motor driver
brushless DC motors

Structure

  • From 18 mm plywood (multiplex) sheets, cutted by a same or similar CNC machine
  • First iteration here with a Mogul cnc driven by a LinuxCNC computer with parrallel port.

pieces and studies :

Kress spindle holder

olme.interrenet.be_atelier35_images_pic05.jpg Kress spindle holder with hole for vacuum cleaner tube

source : use with Inkscape with Gcode plugin

kress-cnc-svg

Mechanics

based on bicycle gears and chain for easy sampling and replacement

Openmeca

this software can be useful : https://gitlab.com/damien.andre/openmeca


participate

A free hardware project initiated by Olm-e contact to contribute, participate, …: info@repfab.be

mailing list : http://lists.entransition.be/wws/info/repfab.dev

we'll need some materials, electronics, and time to spend, if you like our project, you can still donate in bitcoin : 19NwfU8SVFCrTGzQKyJa4uHvCms2EEtUwn

dev/repfab.txt · Last modified: 2016/07/15 09:10 by olm-e
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