I live in South Africa and here the buzz about 3D printing alot here.

3D Printing
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I live in South Africa and here the buzz about 3D printing alot here. But am a bit wary of what it all entails. Although the ideas and creativity of what I’ve seen here has pricked my interest I wonder how long it will take to come to our shores and at what price?

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I’ve seen active RepRappers in South Africa for quite some time. here’s a forum link http://forums.reprap.org/list.php?106

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You should look up @Makerlabs ​ or @House4hack ​ They are maker groups that help people build their website own 3d printer.

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If you not in Jozi there will be a maker group near you.

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@Peter_Hertel Thank you I will check them out.

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Its always good to learn about new technology.

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Im in Randburg in jhb. I built my 1st printer in 2013 and have been rather actively involved. 3D printing is absolutely a growing industry and if you’re interested in youre welcome to contact me.

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Google “rep rap” and “DIY 3d printer”. You can build one for UNDER 400.00US. Or…some guy in South Africa (if I remember correctly) built one for UNDER 100.00 from scrap.

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http://www.popsci.com/article/diy/check-out-3-d-printer-made-e-waste

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For delta printers you can visit my website at http://www.deltaprinter.co.za - in Western Cape -

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Quite a few of us out here. We really should communicate better amongst each other,

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There’s also a 100% South African designed and built CNC laser. Google OpenBuilds Freeburn2

He posts a lot on the OpenBuilds Google+ community

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Wow! So much information and I am definitely going to be looking into all of it.

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@Michael_Scholtz definitely… I built my first printer a couple of months ago and I’ve been surprised by how many people here have printers.

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@Fernanda_Haughton one of the best things you can do is to build your own - there are some great kits out there - if importing isn’t too hard in SA, I can recommend these: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/he3d-i3-prusa-i3-3d-priner-kit/32238356864.html http://www.reprap.cn/he3di3-prusa-i3-3d-priner-kit-with-lcd-p-92.html (same company, different sales outlet). Their kits are comprehensive and well-made. The Prusa i3 is probably the best bang-for-buck in terms of quality and reliability.

Which isn’t to mean I suggest you don’t buy locally, but I have no idea what is available in the local market and this gives you a good basis for comparison shopping.

FWIW, I have no interest in the company I linked to, apart from as a customer. I bough a Mendel off them, my friend bought a Prusa i3 - his is significantly easier to build than mine was and the accuracy is very good for such a budget printer.

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Unfortunately the postal service here is notoriously bad. If they deliver at all you might find any valuables removed from the package. And as we are at the far end of Africa DHL and the like tend to rip us a new one for courier fees. I’ve had some luck with registered postal services but am always worried it won’t arrive.

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There are also good local options. I got the prusa I3 kit from http://3dprintingstore.co.za and it is great. I had issues with my PSU (my stupidity) and they worked with me to fix it.

It took 15 hours to assemble and then printed pretty much right after that.