Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

Hi I'm Dutch from Sanford Florida.

I'm an EE with 25+ years in hardware, software, system integration and test. I'm also a pro musician.
In my spare time I repair brass and woodwind instruments for my own amusement and the occasional friend.

I'm a hobby machinist and have a lot to learn. I have a Taiwanese Mini lathe, a 40" American lathe from the 50s, and a Smithy 1220 Mill-Lathe combo - none of which are converted to CNC.

I am teetering on the verge of buying a Rostock Max. Wondering if there will be a v3 soon - perhaps with Auto leveling. Also looking at the Kossel Open Beam http://www.openbeamusa.com/blog/2013/11 ... kossel-pro and Kossel Clear http://www.blueeaglelabs.com/products/kossel-clear

I'm here mainly to learn and to ascertain how good the Rostock is for printing serious parts and not Owls and Yoda heads.

Dutchman wrote:Hi I'm Dutch from Sanford Florida.

I'm an EE with 25+ years in hardware, software, system integration and test. I'm also a pro musician.
In my spare time I repair brass and woodwind instruments for my own amusement and the occasional friend.

I'm a hobby machinist and have a lot to learn. I have a Taiwanese Mini lathe, a 40" American lathe from the 50s, and a Smithy 1220 Mill-Lathe combo - none of which are converted to CNC.

I am teetering on the verge of buying a Rostock Max. Wondering if there will be a v3 soon - perhaps with Auto leveling. Also looking at the Kossel Open Beam http://www.openbeamusa.com/blog/2013/11 ... kossel-pro and Kossel Clear http://www.blueeaglelabs.com/products/kossel-clear

I'm here mainly to learn and to ascertain how good the Rostock is for printing serious parts and not Owls and Yoda heads.

Welcome to the forum!
We don't expect a version 3 anytime soon, the version two hasn't been out that long. It is a huge print capacity printer and can certainly
print serious parts rather than just toys. In fact it can print any thing that your mind can dream up and create a file for. We have thousands of users of the
owners of the Rostock printer and many are members of these forums. I don't know a thing about the other printers you mentioned. I have already found the best
in the Rostock Max.

Dutchman,
I am also an Electrical guy. Been doing process control and robotics for about 18 years now. Currently doing robotics in the petroleum industry.

The Rostock Max V2 is an excellent machine. If you have a firm grasp of simple mechanical systems this will be a great printer for you. It really is not that hard to build. The electrical is dirt simple and programmable like an Arduino. I figure any upgrades that are designed we will be able to get the design files and upgrade our machines. So I don't think waiting for the next one is worth it. Dive in!

Thanks - I have no doubt I can build the kit. Where I am lacking at the moment is the "larnin' " in 3D design software - I don't have much patience for software with a non intuitive interface. Is there a thread on here or someone that can help point me in the right direction?

Dutchman wrote:Thanks - I have no doubt I can build the kit. Where I am lacking at the moment is the "larnin' " in 3D design software - I don't have much patience for software with a non intuitive interface. Is there a thread on here or someone that can help point me in the right direction?

That is a problem that we all face. One of the problems is there is just too many to choose from. Some very expensive, some actually free such as freecad,
blender and others. I've always felt to choose one that you can afford and learn it as well as you possibly can. It will be difficult at first because each
software package is different from each other. The hardest decision is to choose the right package for you. When you get an answer to that question perhaps
you can report back here because no one has an answer.

Howdy!