User:Lanthan

Background

Lanthan & son & cat set out their journey about robotics in early 2009. The "new" manufacturing techniques exerted a significant appeal on them.

After much lurking in forums and wikis and a steady routine of scavenging in computer and printer parts dumps, they got hold of a benchtop-cnc-router-that-would-cut-a-RepStrap-that-wold-print-a-Reprap. In other therms, they took the winded, twisted long road that offered the most varied learning opportunities.

On the other hand, there weren't so many kits or printed parts available in early 2009-2010. So they decided to cut & adapt a Cupcake, having got interested by its neat plywood assembly techniques.

Milestones:

• Learning about Arduino ans stepper motor control
• Building a primitive eggbot from discarded printer & computer parts
• Building a cartesian plotter from discarded printer & scanner parts, sorting out a parallel port interface, and driving it with EMC
• Operating a benchtop cnc router without having the neighbours going postal
• ...

As in many cases, the work advanced episodically, was put on hold for many months, and offered some opportunities for some personal interpretations research. The build was completed in summer 2011. Build details, configuration hints and links have been added to the Pirated CupCake page (will proceed with some reorganization).

Current operations

• Printing a Prusa Mendel with LM8UU bearings on all axes and (if possible) a belt-driven single motor Z-axis

Foreseen explorations

• Heliostats and sun-tracking devices
• Mini solar sinterer / oven ?
• Applications of RepRap technology in biomedical/health contexts
• Homegrown mini-mill for PCBs
• Maybe importing new ideas in a stagnating professional realm
• ...

Getting in touch

lanthanid (at) gmail.com

Looking forward to meeting developers and fabbers around the Geneva (CH) Area

Acknowledgements

This has been a wonderful learning experience, and (at least for one us) a refreshing comeback to past interests and links.

As a full case of information gathering and learning endeavour catalyzed by a set of community-driven projets, we are deeply indebted to the experimental work of the many developers, testers, tinkerers and visionaries in the Reprap constellation: Thank you!