cnc milling machine/3d printer

Question

My name is Slaven and I follow your shows on youtube.

I have a few questions and I hope that we can answer. perhaps include in your show. I would be very pleased. I want to make 3d printer / cnc milling machine, so here are my questions.

I found on the Web 3D printer kit and I was wondering what you think of the kit? this is the link:

3D Printer Kit RAMPS 1.4 REPRAP Controller Mega2560 A4988 Drivers Heatsink - €24.37

I wonder whether it is possible to install windows mobile on the raspberry pi or beaglebone black with tuochscreen as a tablet computer, and use it as a control unit for the 3D printer / cnc milling machine for the same kit that i can use instead of a desktop or notebook.

I thank in advance and greetings from Croatian

kingrahl · Answer

Slaven,

Ben may be a little too busy to answer these questions but I'll try myself.

First the RAMPS kit. Looking at the price for this kit, it sounds a little too good to be true. There are many electronics out there that have "failed" causing overheating, fires, electrical shocks, and just not working. If you purchase this, make sure you test everything before your final installation and NEVER leave it unattended while it's in operation.

Second. You do not need to install Windows onto a RasPi. You do not control the 3D Printer/ CNC directly through the operating system. There are already android apps and Linux based versions of Pronterface (Print Run) to run directly from your RasPi or tablet/phone. People have already been able to run Windows 7 remotely from the RasPi. Here are a couple articles that may help explain the how's and why's http://thinknook.com/running-windows-8-on-raspberry-pi-2013-01-18/, http://www.raspberrypi.org/windows-7-on-a-raspberry-pi-sort-of/ Although if it IS possible, I'm interested in seeing it done as well.

There are many people that can answer your questions in detail here http://forums.reprap.org/index.php.

kingrahl · Answer

I can't make a recommendation because there are lots of suppliers out there and lots of different kinds of boards to choose from. I'm just advising using caution when ordering. I've only used one kind of board in my printers, so any recommendation I gave would be biased. There are many reviews and information on suppliers and different boards on the reprap forums.