I have a small machine shop, but I decided if I was going to build an open source printer design I would try building it stock first, just using parts I bought online and simple tools. I wanted to see what the process was currently like for people working with minimal resources. While I already have a list of a dozen things to change, and parts to make, on the whole the Prusa Mendel turned out to be a surprisingly solid design, and very easy to build.
For the main parts I used a "Structure+ & Motion Kit -Prusa" from ThingFarm. This was the hardest part of building a stock printer. The kit is basically threaded rod cut to various lengths, and if you own a hack saw and a vise I would suggest going that route. The quality from thing farm was interesting - I got a lot of extra parts in their kit, which was interesting. So I was able to build the printer. My order included an extra set of belts, and got an email from them to confirm that I knew the belts were already included in the kit I ordered. So on the whole I would order from them again.
I used the Generation 6 electronics, and added a MK1 Heatbed Heated Bed. For the extruder I bought a Wade extruder kit from dude_146 on ebay. It works well, and I would buy from him again, but the print quality was a bit low - he needs to keep tuning his printer. I used a J Head MKIII-B Hot-End with the extruder.
So fortunately I share my weird interests with my friends. The last time Ross visited the US he flew up for a few day visit and we dueled each other building Stirling engines. This time he arrived just in time to help me build the printer. We got the whole thing up and running in about 3 days. The pictures to the left show the completed printer, and Ross driving the printer shown for scale.