RepRap: the self-replicating 3D printer | Hacker News Reader

RepRap: the self-replicating 3D printer

dev8d.jiscinvolve.org

18 pointsniyazpk17 comments

The RepRap (and indeed the whole concept of 3D printers) is awesome and exciting and I think has the potential to make a huge difference to the world.

However, they really need to stop describing it as "self-replicating". It's only self replicating if you ignore most of the parts and the assembly which is to say it's not at all self replicating in any way. Yes, it's cool that it can make some of the parts in itself (those that happen to be small and made of plastic) but when you describe it as "self-replicating" you set up unrealistic ideas of what it actually is. Sell it on its on merits, not on inflated claims!

> It's only self replicating if you ignore most of the parts and the assembly

RepRap is to replicators as thre Altair 8800 was to microcomputers: not enormously useful in itself, but showing enormous potential.

If they get it to the point where it prints it's own circuit boards, I would be inclined to let it slide. Basically if you can boil all the non self made parts down to off the self components.

Well, actually, many people have hacked theirs to use black permanent markers (which are etch resistant), so, I don't see any reason why you couldn't use it to black out circuit tracks on PCB's, than simply etch the boards with acid. It isn't quite printing them, but it does make the process much easier!

I know that there's been a lot of talk about RepRap already, but I like to see the occasional new post on it because it lets me see how the project is going every so often. So, as a lazy HN reader who wants to keep tabs on how replicator technology is progressing without writing it on my calendar, I thank you.

This is out-of-date anyway:

http://objects.reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Version_II_Mendel

Which is the version they're using, judging by the picture in the article. The older RepRap is shaped like a cube, not an A-frame:

http://dev.www.reprap.org/bin/view/Main/RepRapOneDarwin

A friend of mine is building one. And although some parts can be printed, it's not print-and-go: It's it already took him 3 months (about 1 evening a week).

Even the Makerbot is still a bit touchy. I had a friend go through a similar experience with his.

here's a link from 630 days ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=210859

That's awesome. I hadn't heard about it before.

This is the 113th Google hit for "site:news.ycombinator.com reprap".

Please.

STOP THE SPAMMING.

Yes there are lots of reprap articles, but this one is the submitters first: http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com+r...

Guideline: "On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting."

Maybe it's too darn interesting so when people stumble on it they post it. I think the reprap is genuinely interesting and there's nothing you can do about that.

I posted it because I found it interesting. If you find it not to be, please down-vote. If you think I am spamming, please flag it as such.

If RepRap articles keep getting voted up, then obviously someone finds each new article interesting. And isn't that the point?

It doesn't really look like there are any advertisements on the linked page, so I'm unsure of how this is "SPAMMING.".

Is it really that much work to just not read the article? I love reading about reprap, and I think a lot of other HN readers do too.

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