Reprap Forum - Mendel90

Scaling up skeinforge GUI font size? (no replies)

dawa — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 07:11:49 -0500

I'm trying to run skeinforge on my Ubuntu 22.04 laptop, and the fonts are so small I can't read them. Is there a way to scale up things?
I tried to scale up in may display settings, but skinforge seems to ignore that. I searched in the source code for fontsize, but I am totally confused.
Could it be `fabmetheus_utilities/geometry/creation/text.py` or perhaps in `fabmetheus_utilities/settings.py`?

Sorry if this is off-topic.

Regards,
David

Superslicer settings for Mendel90? (1 reply)

dawa — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 09:39:22 -0500

Hello!
Does anyone have settings (or advice how to create it) for Superslicer for the Mendel90 (standard dibond from late 2013).

I got my Mendel90 up and running after 10 years of inactivity!

N.B. Sorry, I originally wrote "Orca", but I realized I shouldn't use that, so I change my question to be for Superslicer instead.

Best regards,

David

Printing TPU (or other flexible filaments) (5 replies)

Bearded Flyer — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 13:48:38 -0400

Does anybody have any experience, and hints and tips, on printing with flexible filaments such as TPU?
I have searched the Mendel90 forum and have not found anything.

I want to make a flexible nose cone for a slope soaring model glider to absorb some of the impact stresses on a not so perfect landing. It would appear that the Mendel90 is capable of printing the material but I wondered how the Wades extruder would handle it, i have thought of removing the guide tube from between the spool and the extruder to stop any pulling of the filament, and whether retractions would need tweaking. I normally print exclusively in ABS and I was looking at using those settings in PrusaSlicer as a starting point.

Mendel90 Speedboat challenge (7 replies)

hexitex — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 08:26:59 -0400

I am amazed at what I can get out the M90 design - if I go to a 32 bit board I am sure I could get sub 10 mins at quality

Mendel90 Sub 25 minute Benchy

I am doing a write up on all the mods and will provide links etc to files, will add another post shortly.

The quality I get from this modded old boy is insane . all Z-wobble gone 0.6 nozzle - this could almost be resin

Resurrection (19 replies)

Bill_of_the_North — Sat, 21 Jan 2023 17:31:01 -0500

I have been out of the tech for 5-6 years and have just unearthed my 2013 Mendel 90. As I am reconnecting it I need to get software, and perhaps hardware to make it work again. I am running Ubuntu 22.04 but installs of Printrun / Pronterface crash on launch, Slic3r fails to install and I suspect the world of SW and HW has moved considerably from where I saw it 6 years ago.

Advice /opinions as to:
1. Reverting to an older version of Ubuntu on an old laptop.
2. Adding a local screen and controller to the printer .....
3. Update the printer with a newer control board than the Melzi/Marlin [OEM]

would be welcome !

z height adjuster? (1 reply)

tater1337 — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 09:33:03 -0500

has anyone designed a screw adjustment for the z home switch?

ours just has a slotted frame that doesn't allow for very fine tuning easily. making adjusting a hit or miss endeavor

google/yeggi/thingiverse search is not helpful

Board questions - Creality 4.2.7 (1 reply)

guerd87 — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 07:33:08 -0400

Hi everyone,

I am building a Mendel 90 at the moment to go next to my other printers. I have had this kit for a while but finally got around to doing it

I have a Creality 4.2.7 Silent stepper board here from my Ender3 I was thinking about using

The original Mendel90 from Nophead was 12v but I would like to go 24v For heating times

The Creality board has everything I need on it but I have a quick question about the limit stops. The board only has X- Y- and Z- where as the Mednel90 uses Z+. Is this still usable with something like Neil's updated marlin? Is it something simple to change?

If this board is not suitable I do have a complete Ramps 1.4 setup here that I can use which I know will work so just after recomendations so I can choose which direction to go as I have to order the correct ends

Power Issues? (17 replies)

JaredTS486 — Sat, 07 May 2022 03:18:18 -0400

My Dibond Mendel 90 hotend started having some +-5c temp spikes that seem related to my heated bed drawing power. [SEE ATTACHMENTS]

[attachment 119410 2022-04-29_160413.png]
[attachment 119411 2022-04-29_155402.png]

My hotend is a newish E3Dv6, everything else is stock. Only recently started having issues. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

Duet 3 Mini 5+ Wifi (no replies)

Psike2k12 — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 07:57:03 -0500

Hello,
I am planning to equip my Nophead Mendel90 from 2013 with a Duet 3 Mini 5+ Wifi.
Has this been done before and can tell me in advance what obstacles I will encounter.
I replaced my hotend with an E3D v6 in 2014, but otherwise it's the good old machine.

In the course of the conversion I would like to retrofit a few comfort functions e.g. Automatic Bed Leveling (BLTouch?)

I wonder if it makes sense to connect both Z motors separately and use top end stops each, would that add value or is connecting in parallel like before still the preferred way of connecting?

I know that many will say that is not worth it and and and, does not matter to me I have fun on the project and I love this printer, the aluminum Dibond is still in 2021 a feast for the eyes.

1.75mm filament conversion in 2021 (2 replies)

Razorconcepts — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 04:59:38 -0400

I want to revive my mendel90 dibond with a hot end upgrade - I want to use 1.75mm filament. What's the best way to go about it in 2021? Is e3d v6 the way to go?

Printing in the air (1 reply)

KennTech — Fri, 21 May 2021 16:53:08 -0400

If this question has been answered before sorry I couldn't find it.
I built a Mendel90 1.5v with Gen 7 motherboard and ATmega1284P chip. I'm using Marlin 1.0.0 because it's the only one I can get to compile right for now. I'm also using Arduino IDE 1.8.12 and Pronterface to do the printing.

Here's the problem my z axis stop switch is at the top left as per the build manual. The z axis always homes to the top stop switch. When I go to print in Pronterface the z axis doesn't lower to the bed it stays at the top and tries to print in the air.

Because I'm using Marlin 1.0.0 I do not have a line that says #define Z_HOME_POS 0, I only have #define MANUAL_Z_HOME_POS 0.

The distance from my stop switch to the bed is 188.50mm.

I do not have auto bed leveling, figure I might add that later.

Can some one please tell me how I get the z axis to come down to the bed when printing.

Thank you. Kenn

Corners not sharp after switching to 2GT belts (5 replies)

remondo — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 17:48:06 -0400

I've recently rebuilt my Mendel90 and switched to genuine Gates Powergrip 2GT belts and an E3D V6 hot-end however I'm now experiencing rounded corners when printing the calibration cube. In the attached photo the cube on the left is the most recent print with 2GT belts printed at 40mm/s and on the right is using the original T2.5 belts printed at 50mm/s. As you can see, the corners are not sharp on the left cube.

Can this be resolved with acceleration/jerk or any other firmware settings and can anyone recommend good values to use with these belts?

I'm concerned that the 20 tooth pulleys have resulted in lower resolution, could this be an issue?

Cheers

Replacement board for my Mendel90 (2 replies)

Psike2k12 — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 08:24:39 -0500

I would like to use my old Mendel "Dibond" by nophead again after a long time.
But unfortunately, since the middle of last year are strange waves in the back of my print.
I have everything cleaned and recalibrated, there is also a post from last year.

Now I have no more idea and would like to change to a newer controller board variant, does anyone have any suggestions?

Back after a long break (5 replies)

jra — Sat, 23 Jan 2021 05:43:15 -0500

Hey guys,

Just wanted to say I'm back to 3d printing after a long break, and it is a pleasure to see that nophead is still here helping out.

My Mendel90 is working ok, thanks to some TLC from a friend who borrowed it for a while. Having problems getting the first layer to stick, but I'll figure it out.

-jeff

Finally finishing a Mendel90 (6 replies)

majic79 — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 19:12:53 -0500

Hola!

Ok, not Spanish, just saying hello :)

I bought a kit off a friend some time ago (he had access to a laser cutter and did a few ally cutouts based on the DiBond Mendel90) and I never planned to run it on a ISO threaded bar - always intended to go to a T8x1 ACME and even had the parts to go with it.

Roll on to today and after spending some time getting my foldarap back up and running, I'm finally running off new X-Ends that incorporate an anti-backlash T8 ACME nut, and should remain compatible with the rest of the build

That leads me to my next question - when I built my Foldarap (6 years ago!) I cut my own Gen 7 (V1.3 or early V1.4 - not sure) board. This is great, I can run Marlin on it, I found my backups and config, and I've got Marlin 2.0 running on it today and it's running very well.

I don't mind cutting my own board again, and I'm not really in a rush, so the question is: What's the "best" board out there (firmware supported etc)? I like that I can replace a stepper driver if I want to on the Gen7, and I guess that's something I'd desire in the future. I'm really happy with Marlin, but the world has turned in the past 6 years, and I'm so out of touch I feel like I'm starting again.

Thanks for any feedback you can give me

Mendel90 - 3 point leveling system? (5 replies)

Arakon — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 06:04:57 -0400

I may need a new heatbed, as mine is so badly warped in the center, that I can print well in the center OR at the edges, but never the same (using a steel ruler, there's a noticable 0.3-0.5 mm dip in the center.. and that's with a 2mm glass plate and another 2mm build plate on top of that).
While replacing the bed, has anyone changed to a 3 point leveling system and could point me to some instructions/part lists? I noticed i.e. the MK3 heating beds have a center hole already for 3 point leveling.

Z-axis suddenly going nuts (35 replies)

Arakon — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 10:04:40 -0400

I linked a video of it happening. First time it happened was after returning to the top after a print (which otherwise was flawless) and went nuts to the point that the left brass nut came out of the x-idler bracket.
After readjusting everything, I did 2 prints fine, and then this happened again, twice now.
Strangely, it doesn't always happen, and seems to never happen when using Z-Move in Octoprint to manually move it up/down.But it also always happens now even if I load an older gcode that printed fine before, so it's not something in the slicer.
Edit: It always starts right after homing and going down about ~3cm now, with any gcode I try.
If I manually home and then use manual controls, I can run it up and down even at 150% speed without any issue.
Also, motors and stepper driver don't get hot.

It's like the damn thing heard my considering upgrading or replacing it...
Please see the video here (careful, may be loud):
[youtu.be]

The buzz is coming from the motors.
Any ideas?
Here's also the printer terminal part of the print starting and being cancelled:

Recv: T:98.59 E:0 B:61.9
Recv: ok
Send: N4 M82*29
Recv: ok
Send: N5 M82*28
Recv: ok
Send: N6 G28*21
Recv: ok
Send: N7 G1 X0 Y98 F9000*112
Recv: ok
Send: N8 G1Z0.05*97
Recv: ok
Send: N9 M92 X80.50*74
Recv: ok
Send: N10 M92 Y80.60*112
Recv: ok
Send: N11 G92 E0*119
Recv: ok
Send: N12 M104 S190 T0*26
Recv: ok
Send: N13 M140 S[first_layer_bed_temperature]*40
Recv: ok
Send: N14 M109 S190 T0*17
Recv: T:96.1 E:0 W:?
Recv: T:96.3 E:0 W:?
Recv: T:97.1 E:0 W:?
Changing monitoring state from "Printing" to "Cancelling"

Mendel90.. upgrade or replace? (3 replies)

Arakon — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 08:55:18 -0400

I currently use a Mendel90 dibond, the original kit from nophead, pretty much stock setup with J-Head, Melzi board etc, only major difference is the spool holder..
Some printed parts (of the printer itself) are starting to crack, and it's fairly loud. However, it still prints pretty good.
Is it worth it upgrading to a new board (i.e. SKR 1.4) and steppers?
And how difficult and time consuming would that be?

Or should I just go straight for a newer printer? The latter option would have to be in the 300-400€ range at the very most.

Problem when reanimating Mendel90 (4 replies)

gribble — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 05:57:31 -0400

My Mendel90 was not in use for about 1.5years and finally I wanted to use my 3d printer again.

I use the printer with octoprint and was able to connect to the printer, move the nozzle, heat it up and extract PLA... so far so good. Then I started heating the heatbed and everything froze :( So I had to turn it off and on again.

I connected the printer to my PC and tried to use printrun (still the version I got with the printer :) ) I could connect but no command worked :(
In the logging terminal these lines are repeating constantly until i disconnect the printer again:
----
Printer is now online.
echo:Marlin: 1.0.0 RC2
echo: Last Updated: Mar 23 2015 19:19:12 | Author: nophead
echo: Free Memory: 12982 PlannerBufferBytes: 1232
echo:Using Default settings:
start
----

now it's getting weirder:
I can't boot my raspberry pi with power from the power supply anymore, i now have to use an external power supply to boot the raspberry pi. But, If I put the micro usb connector (powering from the mendel90 psu) into the rasberry pi (still, no led on the pi light up) I am able to connect to the mendel90 with my pc and printrun (but still no function and the repeating terminal output). If I don't put the micro usb cable into the pi, I can't connect to the mendel90 with printrun. There are no other cables connected to the pi!

So far I only checked if 12v is still there for the printer board, and this is fine. And booted up the machine without powering the heatbed, but no luck. Any idea where to check next what is wrong?

Mendel90 issues after replacing controller (1 reply)

hest — Mon, 25 May 2020 05:25:24 -0400

Hi !

I own a Mendel90 from Nophead may 2014.

The USB connector has been crashed and the repair was unsuccesfull.

I ordered a card "Melzi 1284p 3D Printer PCB - ATMEGA1284P with Heatsinks - RepRap, Mendel, Prusa" from wedo3dprinting.

Flashed with firmware from Nopheads github. Success

Open pronterface,

Endstops OK. (M119)
X motor - Debug communication OK, motor not moving
Y motor - Debug communication OK, motor not moving
Z motor - OK
Ext motor not tested
SD card - not connecting
Temp OK
Heatbed OK

What can i Do to troubleshoot ?
Is the card broken ?

Best regards

Henrik

Mendel 90 rebirth (no replies)

polisher44 — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 08:54:51 -0400

Just returned home and trying to start up my Mendel 90. Began by recalibrating and leveling the table. The nozzle height was some distance from the bed glass and so I remembered to change the Arduino sketch to a higher "Z" value.
Having changed the sketch, it will not compile and reports as follows :- main.cpp:ll:undefined reference to "setup" & main.cpp:ll:undefined reference to "loop".

Would anyone be kind enough to interpret that for me please.

Marlin 1.1.9 for Mendel 90 (3 replies)

scooter_seh — Mon, 11 May 2020 09:38:31 -0400

When I was upgrading my Mendel 90 dibond to an E3Dv6 hotend, I forked Marlin 1.1.x and made all of nophead's changes to it. I added the code for the J-Head and Mendel90 bed thermistors for people to use the code on a "standard" Mendel 90 by only changing the Z_HEIGHT_MM, TEMP_SENSOR_0 and the default PID settings. I have a homemade I2C LCD Screen that requires me to change to the PANELOLU2 settings, that are also included. I built the code using Ardunio 1.8.2 and the MightyCore hardware core to flash the Melzi Controller. I had to flash the newer optiboot bootloader first using an Ardunio Uno as a ISP flasher. I only did limited testing on my printer, so please use caution with it. If anyone has issues please let me know.

My Marlin Github

Thanks,
Scott

Print Speed (2 replies)

Bearded Flyer — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 06:44:51 -0400

I have signed up with 3D Crowd here in the UK to print frames for Prusa RC3 face shields in PETG (which is currently in the post).
When I slice the parts I get a print time of about 4 hours but other people in the 3D Crowd group are stating print times of about 1 hour!

Can anybody give me some advice on how fast I can make my Dibond Mendel90 print without causing it damage or degrading the print quaility too much? I have attached a screen dump of my current settings.

Y-Axis partly Waves/Ripples (4 replies)

Psike2k12 — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 08:13:11 -0500

As you can see on the photo I have a problem with waves from a certain point on the y-axis.
I have used my Mendel after a long time, before I did not have this problem.
I have already tensioned the belts and tightened all screws.
Any idea what could cause this problem?
I had these ripples in the front part of the Y-axis in all models I tested.

Thanks
Lars

New thermistor for Orcabot 0.43?? (6 replies)

NozzleMover — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 13:09:21 -0400

Hello folks!

My temperature is behaving strange lately. During one print it jumped as you can see in the screenshot from octopi. When I touch the wires the temperature also jumps up to 30 degrees down.

Additionally my printer started grinding the filament in the middle of the print, so I anticipated too low extrusion temperature. All in all I am wondering now if I should change my thermistor.

As the printer is quite old I really do not know where and what to buy. As I also do not have an editable firmware for my Orcabot a totally new hotend would call for complete re-engineering of the firmware.

Any idea on my thermistor problem and probably also a good source to buy the exact replacement?

Thanks a lot!

Florian

Bed Levelling with a BL-Touch (no replies)

Bearded Flyer — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 11:33:07 -0500

Although my Mendel90 does not require frequent bed levelling I do check it from time to time. This involves removing the extruder and replacing it with a dial gauge. Whilst this is not too onerous I have bought a BL-Touch probe as a project to stop having to fit the dial gauge. I realise that I could use Neil Darlow's Marlin code to enable Automatic Bed levelling but that is not what I want. I would like to temporaraly mount the BL-Touch under the X-carriage next to the extruder (J Head currently), probe the bed and display the results on my Panelolu II. I do not want the BL-touch mounting permanantly. I also do not know which pins on the Melzi board to connect the BL-Touch wires to to for the servo and Z-axis stop functions.

If I cannot do that then I may try to program an Arduino Nano to raise and lower the probe and manually lower the Z axis via Octoprint until the BL-Touch switch operates. That would be a longer process so if it was automated that would be better. I am not looking for the BL-touch to apply compensation to the first layer, and some subsequent layers, to allow for an unlevel bed. I just want to use it the check and report on the current status of the bed fo level.

Has anybody dome this or have any ideas to guide me?

Fixing up a Mendel90 (1 reply)

thefost — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 07:26:33 -0500

I recently received a Mendel90 dibond with pretty much all original parts. Since everything is pretty old and fairly heavily used, what parts should I consider replacing and/or upgrading to get this thing working to the best of it's ability? I'm pretty new to 3d printing and fixing up an old machine is a bit intimidating, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. Any advice to point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. I'm hoping to use it for mostly ABS prints with a makeshift enclosure.

Moving from horizontal to vertical x-axis bars? (1 reply)

Diemex — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 06:12:24 -0500

I find it really difficult to change/mod the x axis when the bars are horizontal. I have leadscrews with T8 Nuts, an E3D Hotend, my own fan shrowd, a custom x-carriage etc. There are not many off the shelf designs or parts for the horizontal bars. I would like to move from my bowden setup using a BMG dual drive extruder to a direct drive. I need to reprint the x axis clamps for the rods anyways and would have to design some part/adapter to mount the extruder. I have been wondering if I should abandon the horizontal bars and move to vertical bars while I am doing this.

I recently acquired an used i3 style printer and find it much easier to work with. Has anyone gotten experience with changing to an i3 style x-axis on the Mendel90?

Printing Wade's Block (4 replies)

Bearded Flyer — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 15:49:49 -0500

After many years good service my Mendel90 has got a broken mounting lug (and a cracked idler block). Although the printer still works I have decided to print a complete Wade's Extruder before it does fail.

I have printed the idler block successfully but I am having problems with the Wades block. The instructions that I have say to print it without support on a 1 layer raft. I have printed it with supports, as I tought that I knew better, which has worked but removing the support from the print is very time consuming especially in the idler bearing area. If I print it without supports I am afraid that the filament (Grey ABS 240 Deg C Nozzle and 130 Deg C bed) will sag at the top of the bottom bearing hole and in the idler bearing area. Am I being too fearful about sagging and should I print it just as it says in the "Mendel90_Sturdy_200_200_400.pdf" section 28 although the speed seems very slow?

Adjust Z-Height with G-code? (2 replies)

Bearded Flyer — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 15:43:56 -0500

I need to give my Mendel90 a service as prints are not as good as they could be and the first layer is not sticking properly. When I have re-leveled the bed, I need to replace the kapton tape on the Ikea mirror tile, and found what the new Z-Height and E-Steps are is there a way to change these using g-code instead of altering the config.h file in the arduino gui and uploading it?

Since I last did this I have installed a raspberry Pi 3 running Octoprint. If it is not possible to alter the Z-height and E-steps with g-code then I will disconnect the Meltzi to Pi usb cable and upload the arduino sketch using a PC to Meltzi usb cable like I have done in the past but it would be more convenient to do it via Octoprint and g-code.

Richard