Hey all, first post! Have been lurking for a week or so and have to say i love the whole idea behind this project, it's like magic, both the creating things out of thin air aspect and the opensource side of things too, spot on! :) So i looked around and saw all the kit's for sale, but i love a challenging project so i'm gonna attempt to build one, not an expert in any field, but i can be kinda handy. Ultimately i would like to end up with a mendel, so will need to do a repstrap first and reuse some parts to make a mendel.... can i use Mcwire motors in a mendel by altering the mounts or vicea versa, or will i need two sets of motors? or is there a better way i have not come across yet? Looking forward to passing on my first set of printed parts. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30305#msg-30305 Sat, 13 Jun 2026 05:35:34 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30689#msg-30689 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30689#msg-30689
I have two Darwins mechanicaly built with Nema17 steppers one with roller bearings and drive belt one with nylon bearings and belt. I have not connected a full set of controll hardware to test but from my previouse experience with the Nema 17's. I dont think there will be a much of a problem usng them.

The main problem with Darwin is getting true alignment.
I made a measureing template to cut the threaded bar to size and to position the nuts joining parts on the bars a simpler aplication of the pull your self together Bot idea from Zack.]]> BodgeIt General Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:06:57 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30374#msg-30374 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30374#msg-30374 According to the mendel documentation, you can use 17's or 14's, which means it could take the 17's from your Mcwire when building your mendel, think this is the path i will take, wish me luck, i'll need it! :p]]> Reprobate General Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:29:25 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30363#msg-30363 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30363#msg-30363
Hazel.]]> MotorAssist General Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:23:04 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30353#msg-30353 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30353#msg-30353 -------------------------------------------------------
> I am building a McWire - with NEMA 17s.

Thanks Hazel, this is what i was (badly) trying to convey with my original post... using nema 17's instead of 23's, with the mcwire design.
I believe from my reading thus far, that the electronic side of things will be fine, so long as the stepping is 1.8 degrees, the sticking point may be a lack of torque though....... would this be correct?
Had a look at your blog, i'm sure it will be very helpful to me as it's just what i had in mind. Thanks for the links.]]> Reprobate General Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:57:28 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30340#msg-30340 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30340#msg-30340
A part that took about 40 minutes to print with the gen 2 firmware set to 50 mm/s took about 40 minutes to print with the 5D firmware set to 25 mm/s.

The flowrate/feedrate ratio had to be twice as large on the 5D firmware.

So, at least one firmware is off by a factor of two and we might be comparing apples to oranges here.

We should compare the predicted time by Skeinforge to the actual time to print something to try and figure this one out.]]> mccoyn General Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:22:13 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30330#msg-30330 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30330#msg-30330 RBisping General Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:35:53 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30328#msg-30328 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30328#msg-30328 You can see my blog of progress (see below), which may hold a few useful tips on the McWire. Check out others' blogs, too. I found that most helpful.

And yes, it sinks time. But is good fun! (I started back at Easter.... and was hoping to have finished before October, ha! some hope!)

Good luck and have fun with yours, and let us know how you get on.]]> MotorAssist General Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:14:22 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30324#msg-30324 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30324#msg-30324
wade said
My printed belt driven Darwin seems to run ok at 45 mm/s, and I'm just working on a faster extruder to keep up with it; I hope to cut the build time down to a couple days. However, in reality, I think Nophead has the record for build time, and it took him at least two weeks, extruding at around 16 mm/s and moving a bit faster when not extruding.

I am still culibrating my dawrin reprap and so very intersted in speed.
My MK4 maker bot extruder and V2 bit's from bytes reprap are running at 40 mm/s
Am I going too fast. I mean it seems to work fine but I don't want to break it.

Stephen]]> stephen george General Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:59:23 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30323#msg-30323 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30323#msg-30323
Although i do have pleanty enough spare time, that does seem painfully slow, perhaps i'll look into repstrapping a mendel.... main thing was i hoped to avoid purchasing the motors twice as it's a fair chunk of the cost... but the mcwire design seemed more achievable (without the help of rapid prototyping)

I don't know anyone who can print parts for me, but i do have an interest in robotics and pretty much anything technical in nature.... to quote something i read on these forums "it's for the journey more so than the destination"

One thing is for sure, it's gonna be a real time sponge :D]]> Reprobate General Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:52:20 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30322#msg-30322 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30322#msg-30322 -------------------------------------------------------
> Hey all, first post!
>
>
> Ultimately i would like to end up with a mendel,
> so will need to do a repstrap first and reuse some
> parts to make a mendel.... can i use Mcwire motors
> in a mendel by altering the mounts or vicea versa,
> or will i need two sets of motors? or is there a
> better way i have not come across yet?
>
> Looking forward to passing on my first set of
> printed parts.


why build a RepStrap, unless you're into robotics like me and want that extra challenge, there surely will be someone around that can print parts out for you.

I have seent he Mendel up close and personal, and it looks a lot better compared to MakerBot with a bigger build volume]]> Grogyan General Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:35:07 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30321#msg-30321 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30321#msg-30321 -------------------------------------------------------
> However, in reality, I
> think Nophead has the record for build time, and
> it took him at least two weeks, extruding at
> around 16 mm/s and moving a bit faster when not
> extruding.

That would mean that printing a Darwin requires 19 kilometers of extruder head travel and presumably close to that much filament right?]]> rodzite General Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:56:04 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30320#msg-30320 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30320#msg-30320
One thing to keep in mind though - screw driven stages are quite slow compared to belt driven stages. On my Darwin (Nema 23 motors), I run about 16 mm/s, mostly due to extruder limitations, and it takes me about a week of printing time (real time is about 4x more for me) to print a set of Darwin parts. Most of the Mcwire's I've read about top out at around 4 mm/s of head speed, which means you're looking at about a month of printing time, running the Mcwire 24/7, to print out a Darwin. It's possible, but I'm not sure anyone has actually printed out a complete Darwin on a McWire yet.

My printed belt driven Darwin seems to run ok at 45 mm/s, and I'm just working on a faster extruder to keep up with it; I hope to cut the build time down to a couple days. However, in reality, I think Nophead has the record for build time, and it took him at least two weeks, extruding at around 16 mm/s and moving a bit faster when not extruding.

So, if you've got lots of free time, go for it, but don't expect it to be quick!

Wade]]> Wade General Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:38:45 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30305#msg-30305 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,30305,30305#msg-30305
Have been lurking for a week or so and have to say i love the whole idea behind this project, it's like magic, both the creating things out of thin air aspect and the opensource side of things too, spot on! :)

So i looked around and saw all the kit's for sale, but i love a challenging project so i'm gonna attempt to build one, not an expert in any field, but i can be kinda handy.

Ultimately i would like to end up with a mendel, so will need to do a repstrap first and reuse some parts to make a mendel.... can i use Mcwire motors in a mendel by altering the mounts or vicea versa, or will i need two sets of motors? or is there a better way i have not come across yet?

Looking forward to passing on my first set of printed parts.]]> Reprobate General Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:14:58 -0500