Hello all,
"The Makerbot" is based on the "Reprap" project and as a result yes you could make it any size you wish, I think that to some extent the makerbot and reprap are both limited a little by the use of the "open source, everything, concept" Open source, everything, is really admirable and it does give everyone access to all the information required to build your own, at whatever size you want, but if you were willing to use "high end" drivers and maybe some form of commercial extruder rather than the somewhat "makeshift" open source designs, the final product might be more "high end" as well.
I love these additive machines, at the end of the day it is a 3 axis positioning system with an extruder, so if you use the open source software to create the G code and fit an extruder to a bench top CNC mill you can create a much larger version out of the stuff you have laying around and that is way more exciting to me and probably the way i will build mine. the key is to get the support material and a second extruder, when you do that you end up with a professional quality unit. Another improvement to the system would be to enclose the build space and heat it, as i have read on the reprap site that they are having some issues with warping of the end product due to differential cooling. if you keep the whole thing warm and then cool it at the end I think that you will see less warpage.
Best Regards
Rick  |