Vitamins
"A vitamin is an... essential micronutrient which an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrients cannot be synthesized in the organism, either at all or not in sufficient quantities, and therefore must be obtained through the diet." - Wikipedia
Completing key development targets will allow the system to manufacture components currently sourced from commercial suppliers. However, there are a few parts which it won't be able to make... at least for now.
Replimat inherits the term vitamin from the RepRap project, a vitamin (also called an "imported part" or "non-printed part") is anything that you need to make Replimat, which Replimat cannot itself make.
Currently, This list includes the following: Simple List of Non-Printed Parts
- Fasteners
- Grease
- Standard electronic chips such as microcontrollers and optical sensors
- Standard electrical wiring, USB connectors, LEDs and other electronics components, etc.
- Standard electrical PCBs -- at least until we have a breakthrough in Automated Circuitry Making
- Motors (Stepper, Servo, and DC alike)
- Power Supply
Beyond that, all of the structural and mechanical parts should be printable or otherwise able to be manufactured by machines made primarily of Replimat. Except perhaps the hand that assembles it... for now anyway.
Initially we were under the impression that, in order for everyone that wants one to have a Replimat, we needed to design "the" Replimat from "components that are available worldwide". More recently some researchers have been experimenting with the idea that maybe it would be better (lower cost, stronger, etc.) to have several different designs to adapt to whatever local materials are available --
- bamboo where available (Bamboo Printer, etc.)
- plywood and SAE components in North America (Paul Bunyan, SAE Mendel, SAE Prusa Mendel, etc.)
- steel and aluminum in Australia
- ice in Antarctica (IceRap)
- etc.
