Prusa i3: Graber edition: sourcing

The first step to building a reprap is sourcing the parts.  It is by far the hardest step, aside from perhaps choosing which printer you want to build!  I chose the Prusa i3, or rather the Graber i3 - Shane Graber's lasercut rendition.  I picked it for the rigid frame and ease of assembly, but also because I could easily replace lasercut parts with printed ones - the machine can still upgrade itself, even if the upgrades aren't laser cut.

Some Notes on Acquisition

Where to buy from?  If this is your first rodeo, and you're only building one machine, I highly recommend a kit.  Buying oodles of parts from different suppliers can be a hassle, and often will only save money if you're buying more than one machine, or spending a lot of time scavenging deals.

I am sourcing four machines, and building two myself.  Right now I have less time than money - so my sourcing decisions may not match your own.

Last note: this is a video build.  I am filming myself with Google Glass, and I don't edit much.

I hope that was exciting.

Materials - initial run, anyways

• woodworkerssource.com
• $10.25 per printer - $41 for 6 sheets of 1/4" Baltic Birch plywood, 20"x30" 
• You need 1.5 sheets per printer, so six sheets = 4 printers
• McMaster-Carr
• $70.68 for 6 Smooth Rods - 8mm by 400mm precision steel shaft
• $10.72 for stainless steel threaded rod, 5mm by 1000mm long
• $24.62 for 3/16" Borosilicate glass, 8"x8"
• $23.73/4 for 25' of 3/8" heatshrink tubing (way more than you'll need for one printer... I'm stocking up).  Get the red heatshrink.
• $17.79/4 for polyester cable sleeving - if you don't make the printer nice, it's way harder to fix it later.
• $7.51/4 for 1/16" diameter high-temp sleeving - I'm going to try putting this on the thermistor.
• AliExpress
• $12.42 for 20LM8UU bearings (you need 10... order extra.  I ordered 60 for four printers)
• $3.40 for 6mm wide tensioning springs
• $14.00/4 for 50 625RS bearings - I think you only need 3 or 4.
• reprapdiscount
• $209 for Rumba Big Box with Smart LCD controller, endstops, Mk2B heatbed, 3 gt2 belts and pulleys, hall endstops, 2 thermistors, 1 40mm fan and a ceramic screwdriver
• Even I get the kit.  Makes sourcing much easier.
• E3d hotend
• $81.09 per hotend.  It's steep, but the hotends are very nice.
• Also kickstarted the Pico hotend.
• Fastenal.com
• About $50 in screws, nuts and bolts per printer.  I don't know the exact count of what needed per printer.  Below counts are approximate.
• 50 * 6-32x3/4" socket cap screws to hold the machine together
• 10 * 6-32x1 1/4"
• 10 * 6-32x1 1/2
• 50 * 6-32 washers
• 100 * 6-32 nuts
• 25 * m3x10mm screws to hold the motors on
• Various longer m3 screws for electronics mounts, extruder
• Total: $487.93
• Missing:
• motors, which I already had - expect to pay $14*5 = 70, or 557.9375 for the whole machine.
• Laser cutting cost - I'll be using Nova Labs' laser.
• Probably some little bits for the extruder assembly
• PET tape - my personal bed adhesion solution.  Search Amazon for powder-coating tape.

You could save on most of the bits from McMaster-Carr, but you'd likely be sacrificing quality - same with Fastenal.  Cheaper electronics packages abound as well, and there's no need for a fancy all metal hotend... unless you need one.

Long post.  But a final shoutout to WoodWorkersSource - they sent an extremely amusing shipping notice, so much so that I thought that the plywood deserved its own unboxing video.