Hello! Thanks for the answer. 
Is there not a page for this? Could we add documemtation for it?
As far as I can tell, and I am only just really learning about FB. If you have a 3D printer, the things you have to source are:
- Farmduino
- Raspberry Pi
- aluminium extrusions
- required stepper motors
- required sensors
- compatible camera
- belts and cable carrier
- Cabling
- required tubing
There should be a “bare minimum kit” on offer for those willing to source the bulky components locally, and willing/able to 3D print the toolheads or other parts.
What I can think of that this would consist of:
- Farmduino
- specific motors
- specific sensors
- specific cabling
- specific tooling
Please let me know if this kind of kit or guide is out there in case I’ve missed it. Otherwise help with documenting this stuff because the US is very far from a lot of places where shipping makes farm bot prohibitively expensive unnecessarily. I hope this makes it more accessible, I love the project and hard work that has been devoted all these years (I’ve followed it for about 7 years, eagerly looking for an opportunity to build one)
You don’t need their proprietary Farmduino to operate the FarmBot. Their firmware supports a regular Arduino with a RAMPS shield, so you really are able to get away with building it 100% by yourself.
That said, there is massive value in getting a kit from FarmBot Inc. Mainly support, which you will indubitably need at some point.
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I agree 100%. I looked into building my bot from parts (mainly for the fun of sourcing everything, etc.) but I ended up finding that it would actually cost me more to get the parts due to shipping from the likes of Aliexpress, etc. I bought the Genesis XL 1.5 kit last year and I am 1000% sure I made the right decision. The guys at FarmBot have gone above and beyond to help me solve issues I’ve had and I wouldn’t have been able to get that support without paying for their hardware (at least without feeling like I’m cheating).
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@mdingena Is correct, and this is a very important point to consider. When you purchase a full kit from FarmBot, Inc. you are not only purchasing physical parts. You are purchasing a warranty that includes support when things don’t work. You can email us and we will help you calibrate motors, troubleshoot connectivity problems, etc… Support is part of the kit.
Conversely, if you purchase a Farmduino from our shop, but purchase all the other components elsewhere, you have not paid for support and we will not provide it free of charge. We will provide a warranty against obvious manufacturing defects, but we will not help you calibrate motors and cables that we did not manufacture.
Keep this in mind as you navigate the decision to homebrew a FarmBot vs. purchasing a full kit.
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