I am printing Mendel parts on my repstrap. While they print I am getting together all the other hardware that I will need. It looks like 5/16 threaded rod will do for 8mm studding. I have a lot (my wife would say a ridiculous number) of old inkjet printers acquired at garage sales. I discovered that many old HP printers have 8mm rods in them to serve as linear bearings. The 6 rods that I have scavenged range from 362 to 438 millimeters in length. Apart from the length not being exact, this looks like an excellent source for scavenging mendel hardware. fdavies https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?151,60104,60104#msg-60104 Sat, 13 Jun 2026 14:13:07 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?151,60104,143595#msg-143595 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?151,60104,143595#msg-143595
You'll want to avoid Epson flatbed scanners - they use 7mm smooth rod.

That said, if your supply of scanners isn't free, you'd do better to buy chromed precision linear rod. You'll find yourself wishing you had eventually anyway.]]> raldrich General Mendel Topics Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:07:32 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?151,60104,143414#msg-143414 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?151,60104,143414#msg-143414 There is a spreadsheet started by some people from the french user group.
Any additions will be appreciated I'm sure :)]]> slimseig General Mendel Topics Wed, 18 Jul 2012 05:29:03 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?151,60104,140578#msg-140578 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?151,60104,140578#msg-140578
Here's some more information in case someone found this page by searching about scavenging rods from scanners and printers:

I found a ~9mm rod inside an Epson inket printer (can't remember which model, plastic went to recycling, bur probably a Stylus 660), I say ~9mm because I kept the whole rod+motor+belt+head assembly intact and doing small tests with a BIC ballpoint pen, an ATtiny85 and a L293D.

I also found a 10mm rod (around 425mm long) inside my old Agfa 1212U scanner,

Also FIY:
- the rod inside an old Tandy DMP-105 was NOT a metal rod, it seemed to be a plastic rod with a metal sleeve and brass caps on both ends.
- a recent Canon printer (also can't remember the model, but it had a USB port on the front, no LCD display) only had DC motors with optical encoders.

IMHO there should be a "sticky" thread about scavenging parts like motors, pulleys, belts and rods. Or is there one and I missed it?]]> Yvan256 General Mendel Topics Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:36:30 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?151,60104,60104#msg-60104 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?151,60104,60104#msg-60104
Apart from the length not being exact, this looks like an excellent source for scavenging mendel hardware.

fdavies]]> fdavies General Mendel Topics Sat, 18 Sep 2010 16:09:43 -0400