RUG/Australia/Melbourne
Place/Time
Place
Most of the current members of the RUG meet up at the Connected Communities Hacker Space. There is nothing stating that you need to be a member of CCHS to be a member of the Melbourne RUG. It's just a convenient meeting place, plus CCHS are also interested in 3D printing and the Reprap project.
Connected Communities Hacker Space (CCHS) is currently run out of a garage, so you need to become a member of the CCHS mailing list and ask politely for details of the location. To become a proper member of CCHS costs AUD $50/year, however mailing list membership is free.
Note: Website is currently Google Groups, so you need to log in to Google to get access - this is changing soon.
Time
The CCHS usually meet every Tuesday (6pm-9pm) with some exceptions, plus one weekend every month - See the CCHS website for more details.
Other Events
It's been suggested that we have a group catch-up sometime in January. No date as yet.
Local Suppliers
CCHS has a list of resources that may also prove useful in addition to the below links.
Mechanical
General
Bearings
Small Parts and Bearings - Located in QLD, but deliver Aus wide.
Fasteners
Cost Less Bolts - Located in Cheltenham and Ringwood.
Rod
All Things Stainless - Located in NSW, but deliver Aus wide.
Cost Less Bolts - Located in Cheltenham and Ringwood.
Fastener Sales - Some of their threaded rod is VERY cheap, but some is off the scale (eg: 316 grade steel will be cheaper than 304 in some cases, etc). Worth a look though.
Inter Alloy Steel - $50 minimum, cheaper over the counter in cash.
Electronics
General
Element14 (was Farnell)
Arduino
Stepper Motors
Nichrome Wire
Dick Smith Electronics Call first, some stores don't sell it.
Members
- Please note
- Criteria for membership is as follows:
- Live or reside in Victoria, Australia (or nearby)
- Add your name to this wiki page
There is no other criteria!
Projects
Current projects that people are working on, broken down by owner:
- Mendel : Construction finished, but issues with the hot end. About to start the commissioning/calibration stage. Using Arduino Mega/RAMPS design.
- WolfStrap/Repstrap : Axes done. Stepper and belts mounted. Building electronics. Using Arduino Mega/RAMPS design.
- CCHS
- Mendel : Assembling of printed and electronic parts for construction. CCHS has access to a Makerbot Cupcake, and has been steadily producing parts. A number of CCHS members have donated other parts (circuit boards, electronic components, rods/fasteners, etc). Plan is currently to use an Arduino Mega/RAMPS design due to the components that have been donated (now partially constructed). Cefiar is currently the team leader for this project at CCHS.
- Mendel : Frame and custom electronics built, currently developing comms protocol for the USB-based firmware. Maintaning a build blog as I go along.
- Huxley : Parts arrived, cleaned. Rod/Hardware collected. Building has started. Electronice finshed but not tested. Waiting on motor and driver boards.
- LaserCut Mendel : Purchased, built, set to work and improved with self-printed parts.
- Broken Heart Gear Cluster : Printed the first version. Making improvements for a better one. Looking for someone to improve the model of the heart shape.
- Kinetic Horse : This looks awesome and I want to print one. Just looking into mechanical linkage design at this stage.
- Heater Block For Glass Nozzle : Now that I have made a heater block that looks like it will work i'm designing a Wades that this will mount to.
- Mendel : Parts on order. Using the Arduino Mega/RAMPS design and most likely polyurethane cast plastic parts.
- GranuleExtruder : Have attempted to construct a HDPE granular extruder using an auger drill bit. More info on this build blog
- Big Mendel : Think of a Mendel that is over 3ft per triangle side and using M12 rod. That's what he's building. Frame is assembled.
- Old Tile Hot End : Trying old tiles in place of PEEK on the new thermal barrier.
- LaserCut Mendel : Started construction of X axis and Extruder.