RepRap: Builders

I guess I'm a little puzzled. How is this machine tool different from either the Gingery machine tool series or a lot of the projects you see going on over at CNC Zone?

Mind, it's interesting and I like it, but it seems, to me anyway, tangential to Reprap goals at best.
 

I would say it's a tool in the spirit of the gingery machines, but focused more on versatility and immediate utility. Once it's built, it's a machine shop. No need to build 10 different tools.

As far as it's relation to RepRap goes...

1: A machine this simple, with this many capabilities (including a lathe), given a skilled operator, is nearly self-replicating.

2: Eventually, if we can't replace them, it would be nice to have experience machining metal parts. Here you go.

3: In the mean time, if people hacking on RepRap want to save some cash, and learn a few skills by making the required metal parts themselves (or even an all-metal repstrap), here's a solution.

4: It's just plain nice to make friends in the budding Free / Libre and Open Source Hardware community.

5: Seeing how other people are solving the same problems you are is _always_ worth while.

I just figured our groups share a lot in common, and there might be some cross-group interest from both sets.
 

And the multimachine is listed in in the related links off the main page...or was.

Demented
 

Yeah, the Gingery paradim for recreating the industrial revolution has definitely needed to be brought up to date. You needed a fair sized machine shop to house the full set of Gingery equipment. This one only requires a good sized garage workshop that many homeowners have.

I guess that I get so focussed on all the people that don't have the space or the acoustical privacy to house a good-sized machine tool that I tend to disregard the importance of having something like that as a possibility. :-s