JBFromOZ
I found out about reprap in August 2012, within a month I had a range of parts coming to me to commence my first prusa mendel build.
I found a Fabster3D Ramps LCD and PCB heater on ebay, ordered that and within a few days that was at my door! I also received a set of opto endstops with that first shipment.
I bought an ABS prusa mendel kit from dcolj, the parts were good quality, came with LM8UU's and also arrived quickly.
a set of smooth rods, and a bunch of stainless M8 rods and nuts and bolts, and a hobbed bolt later and I had the start of my build.
i paid too much for my steppers, but also got a T2.5 belt and pulley set, and an acrylic Y bed.
I eventually managed to get something resembling a print, [1]
The prints just kept getting better! before too long i had a puddle of goo that looked a little bit like a fan holder [2]
What followed was a whole range of steep learning curves, adding a cooling fan to make the plastic stay where it was put
I have just achieved my first prints from my i3 single plate build, and decided to use the following configuration:
GT2 belts and pulleys,
MGS nema17 extruder
0.9 degree steppers on X and Y axis
M10 stainless threaded rods for Y carriage assembly.
Ramps 1.4 with 4988 gadgets3D pololus
PCB mk2 heat bed
I also ended up with a wiring kit from reprapdiscount, and a fan extender (highly recommended)