Mendal90 or Prusa?

Noob looking for a good first printer to build. Is anyone building or using a Mendal90? How does it perform against the Prusa v2? Is there a major advantage for one over the other? Or is there another printer design coming out soon I should wait for instead?

thanks in advance for any thoughts or opinions.


(Also sorry if my post is in the wrong section. Move/delete as appropriate.)

I do prefer the Mendel90 a lot. Way more vertical build space, much easier to "line out" and much easier to work on.

BUT... the big problem is that you have to find a place that can cut the acrylic or you will have to build it from MDF. MDF is fine and works ok, but it doesn't look as good.

The Prusa is more common and it will be easier to find alternative parts for it (extruders/carriages). But i do recommend the Mendel90!

Mendel90 has a lot of good points...

Prusa may be a bit easier to slap together if you have the metal rods and plastic parts on hand...

Let your heart decide

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2012 03:20PM by Idolcrasher.

I would go with the new Prusa i3

Auzze

I went and got an i3 kit. Best of both worlds. Still hard to get in kit form but it's worth It

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll have to do some reading on the i3. That's a version I haven't read anything about yet.

As to the Prusa v2. I guess my biggest hangup is the threaded rods. As a framework for the printer they just make me nervous. From reading feedback it seems people spend a lot of time trying to get dimensions right. Plus I would be concerned with nuts loosing while it prints. Course that's my noob opinion without any actual experience using threaded rods.

As to Mendal90. I'm fine with using MDF. I've done several DIY projects using the material and don't have an issue cutting or building with it. Also I can always just paint the MDF.

Off hand does anyone know any US members selling plastic parts for the Mendal90? Or should I just contact nophead?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2012 10:38AM by lions3.

I'm going the Mendel90 route.
There is one or two people out there selling the kits... (google)
I contacted Nophead... Its his plan and design... I'll support him for his
contributions to the hobby, and it'll be nice to get the files from the source!
I'll also be using MDF.

Its tough building a printer without a printer... sigh...

---

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Custom all metal CoreXY
- Duet 2 Wifi w/ PanelDue 7i
- 330mm x 360mm x 500mm
- 750w Silicon heater

Custom Mendel90
(Backup printer - Old reliable!) - Sold

I've been using a Mendel90 for the last 7 months and it's great - really easy to put together.
I used polycarbonate sheet instead of acrylic, bought from a local signmaker, four sheets pre-cut to size for only £30 (~$45). It's also much nicer to cut and drill than acrylic.
I printed my own plastic parts on my Huxley and the rest of the kit cost me about £300.

richgain
[mynext3dprinter.tumblr.com]

yeah, you guys are helping me lean toward the Mendal90. Maybe the Sturdy90 version, but not sure of the advantages of 10mm rods versus 8mm..hmmm... Also I was looking at the bom last night and noticed all the random sized screws and bolts. Seems that's definitely one of it's disadvantages to the prusa.

Mogal, I agree about trying to order the plastic parts directly from Nophead. I just hope shipping to the US isn't crazy.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2012 01:37PM by lions3.

richgain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been using a Mendel90 for the last 7 months
> and it's great - really easy to put together.
> I used polycarbonate sheet instead of acrylic,
> bought from a local signmaker, four sheets pre-cut
> to size for only £30 (~$45). It's also much nicer
> to cut and drill than acrylic.
> I printed my own plastic parts on my Huxley and
> the rest of the kit cost me about £300.
>
> richgain
> [mynext3dprinter.tumblr.com]

Was that "The Thinker" printed on your Mendel90? Please don't be offended, but the quality of that print doesn't convince me that the Mendel90 is better than the original Mendel or Prusa. I can do better with my Prusa2 or Mendel.

I've also not impressed with the quality of the layers in this photo from prusajr of a print from the Prusa i3: [www.flickr.com]

This also makes me wonder if going to 10 mm z smooth rods would be better.

@brnd - Hey, no offence taken. I agree the quality of that print wasn't one of my best, but after bothering to print it I thought I'd share it anyway.
Sadly, my available time for printing is very limited at present, so I tend to set stuff up quickly, leave it going and see what happens. I'm also fairly impatient so I probably print things a bit faster than I should. Still, I'd love to spend more time tuning up the machine so any constructive advice is always welcome.

I went the Mendel90 route, here is my build log over in the NZUG Mendel90 build

I've had fabulous support from Mr and Mrs Nophead and it's been a great project to put together.

thanks for posting 41southrap. I'll be following your progress and using it for reference for my own.

Another vote for Mendel90.
I've built Prusa (not i3) and Mendel90. Used dibond instead of MDF. Good parts/service from Nophead.

Heres a BOM and parts source from a US builder:
BOM
Ignore the 6A 12V PSU

Mike

MMT

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2012 12:17PM by mmt.

There are lots of recent changes to the M90, some great work being done by Nophead! Jump over to Github and have a look if you haven't seen it in the last week or so.

haha, yeah nophead just told me about the updates to github. I just spend the last little bit going through the changes. Interesting stuff. Now just need to start ordering parts so I can start the building.

Duttonw Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I went and got an i3 kit. Best of both worlds.
> Still hard to get in kit form but it's worth It


Do you know any vendor(s) selling the i3 kit/parts in the US?

I went ahead an ordered a Mendel90 kit from nophead...hope to put it together in time for X-mas...their manual looks awesome!

seekerky Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I went ahead an ordered a Mendel90 kit from
> nophead...hope to put it together in time for
> X-mas...their manual looks awesome!

Very cool. I received the plastic parts from nophead last week. Now just waiting on a few other pieces from ebay. Hopefully everything will be here in time for a holiday build-off! lol

lions3 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> seekerky Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I went ahead an ordered a Mendel90 kit from
> > nophead...hope to put it together in time for
> > X-mas...their manual looks awesome!
>
> Very cool. I received the plastic parts from
> nophead last week. Now just waiting on a few other
> pieces from ebay. Hopefully everything will be
> here in time for a holiday build-off! lol

It's a great kit - put one together last week. Very pleased with the results.

I got my frame kit from twelvepro.com about a month ago.
It was slide issue with X-Axis parts (X-motor and X-Idler). I contacted them and received
replacement updated parts. They just changed design for thouse.
Now I am finished my frame and waiting for electronics.

Can't wait to finish it...