I am new the the site and am having troubles locating the information I am looking for so I this is not the correct forum, please direct me to the correct one, thanks.
I am looking to build my own DIY 3D printer so I can print guitar bodies so I am looking for design plans with an large print bed or if I could find someone who could assist me in expanding the RepRapPro designs.
Im not sure how big a guitar body is but for larger print areas I would go with a delta design rather than a cartesian. I personally like the Rostock http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:17175. Im not saying you cant build a large cartesian style printer but if thats the route you want to take then i would build it with extruded tube(like mendelmax uses) not the threaded rod. I would say that some of the concerns for a large print area are going to be warpping of the part, time to print as the extruder is limited to its feed rate and bed leveling. Hope this gets you started. If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.
Im not sure how big a guitar body is but for larger print areas I would go with a delta design rather than a cartesian. I personally like the Rostock http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:17175. Im not saying you cant build a large cartesian style printer but if thats the route you want to take then i would build it with extruded tube(like mendelmax uses) not the threaded rod. I would say that some of the concerns for a large print area are going to be warpping of the part, time to print as the extruder is limited to its feed rate and bed leveling. Hope this gets you started. If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.
Billy, most people recycle their older printers into new larger frameworks, but I suspect that you probably have a hackerspace/makerspace in your area that will have one or more 3D printers. By joining one of those, they will have workshops showing hos to use the printers and how to get the best prints from them and you can use them yourself for a basic membership fee at many locations. If you just want to 3D print small objects, you can also have them created through one of the many services (Ponoko, Shapeways, iMaterialise, etc) using some pretty exotic materials and using high-end additive manufacturing systems. Those can often generate your designs with greater detail than home systems can provide, and allow metals and ceramics as well as basic plastics. They do cost more per material than a print itself, but then there is the lack of a printer's cost and maintenance/upkeep/fiddling so there are always tradeoffs.
@Billy, it looks like a couple people in Kokomo,In are looking for a group to get something started (http://forums.hackaday.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=59 at HackaDay). The closest I see is in Bloomington (http://craftswap.meetup.com/cities/us/in/bloomington/) 2-3 hours from you, but it might be worth travelling there if they hold a Mini Maker Faire to make some contacts. Another group to look for would be your local HAM Radio crowd, when they get together they often discuss people in the area setting up hackerspaces/makerspaces and also the local universities are likely to have student groups doing the same type of work and they often have equipment available. You can also start collecting the parts (stepper motors from old inkjet printers, Arduinos from almost anywhere, etc) and then just build one for yourself. The layout is fairly simple and Quentin's design looks like it could be managed for a couple hundred USD if you avoid buying retail off-the-shelf alternatives. That saves time, but costs more. If you can find a teacher that's working on practical robotics classes or taking part in programs like the SeaPerch effort, they will also likely be interested in building a RepRap or Fab@Home variation for their classes. Working with a project like that could give you experience with the tech and access to the printer under development.
The Arduino is essentially an Atmel microcontroller (single-threaded, with onboard RAM and EEPROM), which you can self source for a few dollars each. There are some excellent tutorials over at MAKE Magazine if you need some help getting started: http://makezine.com/category/electronics/arduino/
