UK RepRap master class 1/2/3 July 2011

Summary
We at eMAKERshop, in association with the RepRap research team, are delighted to offer you the chance to take part in the 3D printing event of the year: the chance to assemble your very own RepRap 3D printer under the guidance of its original creators. This class will be run in RepRap’s home town of Bath, UK, over the weekend of 1st-3rd July 2011. The course is limited to 10 machine builds and open to individuals or teams of up to 3 people. The price of £575 per machine/team includes all the parts needed to build the printer as well as two and a half days of hands-on instruction. Each team will go home with a working 3d printer and knowledge of how to operate it.

What is a RepRap

RepRap is short for Replicating Rapid prototyper, and a 3D printer where a large proportion of its parts can be printed by itself. There are several variants of the RepRap 3D printer, all using Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) to create 3-dimensional objects layer by layer from a thermoplastic filament feedstock.
Here is a short introductory video from the creator of the RepRap project, Dr Adrian Bowyer.

For examples of what can be produced using a RepRap 3D printing machine, please have a browse through the thingiverse website which is a collection of printable objects from this growing community.

The Prusa Mendel 3D printer

Here are the hardware specifications for the RepRap 3D printers which we will build during the weekend:

- ABS printed parts, to the latest stable design in the official git repository.
- RAMPS electronics
- Arduino MEGA 1280 microcontroller
- PCB Heatbed
- NEMA17 0.8Deg/Step 43Ncm Bipolar stepper motors
- T2.5 Aluminium drive pulleys and matching PU belts
- MDF thick sheet
- BZP threeaded rods
- 316 Stainless Steel smooth rods
- ATX Power supply unit or equivalent (with sufficient power to drive the heated bed)
- Wade’s M8 extruder
- Hot end TBA, fitted with 0.35mm nozzle and designed to take Dia1.7mm filament
- Thermistor control for temperature
- SD card readers will be available for purchase as an optional extra

The firmware of choice will be the latest stable variant of klimentkip, and the software toolchain will include Skeinforge to generate the Gcode files, and Repsnapper to control the machine.

The above specifications are subject to change, however we will endeavour to supply participants with proven hardware and software solutions for their machine.

Weekend format

The weekend will start from 7pm Friday evening and run as follows:

Fri 5-11pm – Mechanical build of the RepRap Prusa Mendel.
Sat 9:30am-6pm – Nozzle assembly, followed by electronics assembly and wiring.
Sun 9:30am-4pm – Commissioning the 3D printers, software training and a group challenge (TBA).

All necessary hardware and software will be provided to each participating individual/team, who will of course be taking their new 3D printers home with them.

Our team

The course will be run by some of the most qualified RepRap community members. These include:

Dr Adrian Bowyer – creator of RepRap.
Dr Andrew Dent – member of the RepRap research team.
Josef Prusa – Inventor of the Prusa Mendel 3D printer which will be used for this course, and member of the core RepRap team.
Kliment Yanev – Member of the core RepRap team and lead developer of the klimentkip firmware.
Ruben Lubbes – Organiser of previous build parties in continental Europe.
Rhys Jones – members of the RepRap research team at Bath University
Jean-Marc Giacalone – eMAKERshop

Requirements
Due to the practical nature of the course and time constraints over the weekend, participants will be required to possess at least the following skills:
- Basic soldering (SMD soldering skills not required)
- Basic mechanical assembly (use of spanners, screwdrivers, allen keys and measurement tools)
- Basic electrical skills to enable the participants to wire the machine and test for continuity/short circuits (multimeter proficiency)

Participants will also be required to provide their own tools, consisting at least the following:
- Screwdrivers
- Metric Spanners (M3, M4 and 2xM8 at the very least)
- Metric allen keys
- Soldering iron, solder
- Digital Multimeter

As well as a Laptop computer running either Linux, Windows or Mac OS (if you run anything else you’re expected to be able to follow and adapt instructions geared towards one of the aforementioned).

Location
Bath, UK
Google map here.
The nearest airport is Bristol International, which has good links from destinations throughout Europe.
Bath Spa is a mainline train station just over 1hr from London Paddington.

Bath University has a limited number of self catering rooms available, and interested participants are encouraged to contact us so that we can arrange a group booking. Otherwise, the town of Bath, famous for it’s Spas, has a number of hotels.

Tickets
Tickets are available for individuals and teams of up to 3 people. Places are limited to 10 machines, and only one per participant/team. Clicking on the Add to cart button below will take you to your basket where you will find a link to checkout. You will need to register with eMAKERshop in order to complete your purchase, and payment will be processed using Paypal, (although you should not need a Paypal account to complete the transaction).

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Terms & Conditions:
The organisers, together with the instructor team will endeavour to ensure all 10 RepRap 3D printing machines are fully functional by the end of the Master class, but not every eventuality can be foreseen and as such no guarantee can be made that all 10 machines will indeed be fully functional by the end of the Master class weekend.
The assembly and commissioning of a RepRap 3D printer presents certain risks of injury, and participants will be required to take responsibility for managing these. Each participant will be required to sign a disclaimer to that end. Course details are subject to change, but all participants will be notified.

If you have any questions, please do contact us via email: info@emakershop.com