Re: 3D Printer Advice
 

[quote=techhelpbb;1252737
The issue you are most likely to have with a 12"x12" work bed is warping. If you try this I encourage you to enclose the unit in something to retain the ambient air temperature around the print.[/QUOTE]

Running a heated bed helps with smaller parts. We've yet to try a raft on ours, which is also supposed to help, but the printers do tend to be secured in a warmish and smallish room in the build area.

Then again, our current 12x12 happens to be in pieces due to maintenance; the previous one (which is now elsewhere) worked just fine in a larger unheated room, minimal warping except on very large builds. The 16x16 we also happen to have available has run in the same conditions with similar results.

Bigger build, and this does include some that are well under our maximum bed size, tends to mean more warping issues from our experience. Actually, more issues in general--one of the largest parts for the RepRap is the single part that has given us the most trouble, with probably ten runs attempted to build half a dozen of 'em, in pairs and singly.

Re: 3D Printer Advice
 

$10k could easily get you a decent used manual mill and lathe that would be FAR more useful for your team.

Re: 3D Printer Advice
 

If you are looking for a commercial machine that is right within your budget I would recommend taking a look at the Stratasys Mojo.

http://www.mojo3dprinting.com/printers/specs.aspx



For 10k it provides all the equipment you need to make quality parts with no tuning required. They may even provide an educational discount so it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Since it is a commercial machine you will get easy to use software, the ability to make complex quality parts, and reliability. You also get soluble support which allows you to make crazy 3D printed parts!

The build size is much smaller than you are looking for, but for most robot applications it should be sufficient. The Mojo also prints parts in ABS plastic which is fine for most robot applications.

This year I printed wheel sprocket spacers, Frisbee pushing "wedge", wedge guide, pneumatic cylinder mount for wedge, bearing blocks for conveyor, bearing block for shooter wheel axle, and a plug for the AndyMark 8" pneumatic wheel for holding a hex shaft.

A few of the parts can be seen in orange below. The material is the same ABS that the Mojo uses, just printed on a different Stratasys 3D printer.