What is the main cost of RepRap printer?
I’m interested in building a RepRap printer.
Looking around in the UK kits are around £500, like the nophead Mendel90.
The printed parts itself of course I can obtain pretty much cheap (under £50).
So is it the cost of motors, frame, rods etc that adds up?
In short: yes.
Motors are around fifty bucks, electronics around a hundred (up to about twice that for both numbers), power supply, heated bed, hot end, another 50-100. The rest of it is frames, rods, bearings, gears, belts, structure, etc, usually about half of the total price.
Agreed. Electronics and motors were the most expensive part of my build. But there isn’t really a single component that accounts for a significant amount of the cost. In other words, to lower the total cost, you have to find ways to save a little bit on each component.
Personally if I was starting again I would look at the kits. I self sourced, think the cost is still close to £500 and I have had a few issues where different parts are for different variations and no one build manual works for you!
I was most surprised by the cost of the hardware, think I managed to pay around £100 all cut.
@James_McNally I agree, it does seem to make a reliable and easy to setup 3D printer the truly original RepRap of only using off-the-shelf parts like rods is now superseded by the need for laser cut frames, custom made hotend assemblies, hotbeds etc.
Though I love the simplicity of some of the lasercut machines out there at the moment, it is still important for me to be able to build a printer frame for somebody after a quick trip to the hardware store and a couple of printed pieces. That said, many of the machines that use lasercut parts could easilly have those pieces cut by hand, like my two Morgan prototypes - but to make kits affordable automated cutting rules.
Just makes you wonder - at which point does it stop being a Reprap, and becomes a RepStrap again?