Original Mendel X-axis problems. Need help.

We are working on an inhereted original Mendel for a school project. We are having issues with our x-axis. The idlers that are supposed to be running up the smooth rod are not near the smooth rod and there seems to be a lot of extra play. We have a friend who has a working printer and says that we will not be able to print with the amount of fluctuation throughout the entire x-axis (motor mount x-end, rails, and even the carriage). I have attached photos to help understand the issue. Any suggestions?

If your bearings are not touching the smooth rod, you need to adjust things to make them touch.
In some cases, the thing you need to adjust is on the other side of the machine, near the *other* smooth rod parallel to the one that is not touching.

My understanding from reading the wiki ( [reprap.org] , [reprap.org] , [reprap.org] ) is that Mendel is designed to have a pair of parallel rods for each axis; where
two bearings touch one smooth rod of the pair, exactly opposite each other (a | angle), and 3 bearings at a Y angle touch the other rod of the pair.

However, from your pictures, it appears that you have two bearings touching the smooth rod, at a Y angle.
I can't explain the discrepancy.

what happens if you add an extra washer or two underneath the bearings. it will push them out more correct? to me as far as i can tell the bearings are only touching 1/4 the way to the center of the rod. the center is the thickest.

I have never seen parts like those before. It certainly isn't the original Mendel design. Do you know here they came from? They look like there were milled rather than extruded.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Look milled to me too...especially in pic 4.

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Hey guys,

@nophead and @cecil. You guys are right, I have seen this Mendel in person and it definitely is milled, not extruded. I've have been trying to help stevenlpeterson with getting their Mendel running.

Granted I don't have much experience with the original Mendel, something about the X-ends doesn't seem to add up after comparing images of other Mendels.

bdc
~Stay Calm Out There