Most helpful, Extruder or Mendel?

I have been printing Mendel for so long it's not even fun any more, and I just thought of something...

If my goal was to help the most people get printers (while still selling the parts for a price the market can bear), would I do better to print Prinstruder II by Zaggo? [www.thingiverse.com] instead of my Mendel production files?

A lot of people are trying to build Repstraps, and honestly the extruder is one of the tougher parts. In the time I can print a Mendel (24 plates... 60 hours), I could produce 8 of the Prinstruder II.

Or I could print out Adrian's new wiz bang Bowden/geared/ mount anywhere monster..

I could even make make equivalent money by charging 30-50 dollars per RP set...

Which does more good for RepRap as a movement, 8 extruders or 1 Mendel?

BTW I have sold parts to all my friends that want a Mendel, so hopefully I will start selling online this week my Mendel sets.. I average 1 set ever 2 weeks (well, more actually I have made 3 sets in 6 weeks, but most of the printing was in the last weeks since my heated build plate was installed)

If I do the extruder thing I will be able to put up on average 6 extruders a week.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

How about a Mini Mendel and Bowden extruder. I know I would be interested in both. I have motors and most of the electronics for a Mini. I've been trying to decide what Repstrap to make to print a set for a Mini.

seriously, you think production micro Mendel would sell.... hmmm

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

What I am planning to do is to build a mini-Mendel and lend it out to people who want to print a RepRap. That solves the problem of the person who has a working RepRap has to spend enormous amounts of time in order to propagate.

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Darwin clone, Gen 2 electronics, Arduino Duemilanove w/ AtMega328, 5D Firmware, Pinchwheel extruder
[www.codeerrors.com]

Yes. A mini would sell. Probably cheaper, faster to make and after the buyer prints a mendel and passes it around, like mccoyn's going to, each one would produce more and quicker than a mendel(if it was making more mini's).

I'd buy one if you can produce it cheaper than the mendel.

Erik said in his blog that it took him about 15 hours to print a set on his Darwin. He has put a parts and price list in the Mini-Mendel wiki. With a bigger build area then MakerBot and cheaper to build, Yes, the parts would sell. I would buy a set in a heartbeat.

Newbie here... as I learn about all things RepRap and Mendel in particular I keep having to remind myself of one thing - BUILD ONE. Only two words but they are both important.

BUILD - it is way to easy to get distracted by thoughts about the design and ways to make it better, etc. Just build it using the wisdom embodied in the current design(s). Forget about making it better, or making it your own (for now).

ONE - Yep, just one, and make it a Mendel. This is the fastest path to having your own machine that you can make stuff with, including other Mendel's, your own improvements, or the other stuff you wanted the machine to make in the first place.

The build a Mini to make a Mendel strategy doesn't work for me. I could see it working for a club, or a a group of people, but it just seems to consume more dollars and time for an individual. As a result, it cuts down on the chances of success and is just a distraction from getting a Mendel.

Collectively, if we really do want to propagate RepRaps then focus on common rather than divergent designs is the way to go.

So, I'd favor making Mendel parts. There seems to be demand for them, right?

TC

I vote for the extruder - you don't necessarily need a set of mendel parts to build a reprap/strap, but you need an extruder regardless

I'd say Mendels; you can get decent money for them, which will keep it interesting.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

Honestly, I have printed 3 Mendels so far... even at 500 dollars it's a pain.

-My Makergear heated build plate will only go to 110 C if I cover it, but once I start printed the plate drops to 85C quickly, meaning I still get warp.

-The Build plates I set up are too big to always use the same size raft, you have to skeinforge the sets a few times to get it right


-60 hours worth of printing is like 100 hours worth of work in the real world. You have to watch the 1st layer print to make sure it goes right, you have to heat the plate each time you print, It takes almost as long to skeinforge as it does to print a part, the Makerbot is loud......

Honestly Mendels have took all the fun out of my Makerbot.

I swear I am so tempted to just build a Mendel for my self and sell the damb thing at this point. But I am 1 of only like 5-10 people in the world seriously producing Mendels... Sorta feel like I have to keep going.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

Unless this is a business, you should enjoy your hobby, no matter how expensive it becomes. Go ahead and build the Mendel, sell the Makerbot and let someone else spend all those hours printing mendel parts on a Makerbot, and then enjoy printing mendel parts on your NEW MENDEL!

Mike

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Team Open Air
Blog Team Open Air
rocket scientists think LIGHTYEARS outside the box!

I agree with mike, then. Build one of those mendels and have fun with it.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

Yeah, definitely don't do this just because you feel like you have to.

Sorry, that last post was after a particularly long (2 day) stretch of Murphy kicking my but with my Makerbot.

So I guess the vote is just keep producing Mendels. It actually gets a lot easier once you have your SD card full of the already processed and skeinforged plates. My 24 plates have turned into 30, and I am now using Adrian's new extruder (I love the giant gear, something very steap punk about it). 36 prints, each about 1-2 1/2 hours isn't that bad really.

Will be posting my 1st set on Ebay for 500-600 as a buy it now next week, now that Murphy has went away.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

Hi Spacexula

I have thought about responding to this thread for a couple of days.

Thank you for the contributions to our join project! Enabling other people to contribute is very positive.

How much do you get for a set of Mendel Parts. I've ordered my controls and I'm looking into the hardware. I'd like to get a set of Mendel parts on the way.. I'm excited about this project a very cool concept.

if you can email me at:
bryanpoole at hotmail dot com

Bryan