Mendel Building Project in Finland

Hello everyone,

I am from Finland and have been looking for Mendel parts for the past few weeks. The problem is that most of the sites are out of stock and the plastic parts are way too expensive (1200+ dollars).

I would deeply appreciate if someone experienced would give advices on how to get the parts. I have gotten a list of necessary parts from HERE. (The Mendel-m4-assembly-data-sheet.ods‎).

Also, is a budget of ~450€ enough (including all the electronics, plastic parts etc.)? Because Rep Raps site says that it can be build with around 350€, but right now it looks like it cannot be done. I also have a deadline around May.

Any advices, sale offers, information are appreciated.

Thank you.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2010 08:54AM by Ruyzen.

I'm opening a webshop by the end of this week. I'm starting off by supplying electronics kits, pcbs, fully assembled parts, cat5e cables etc.

I'll announce the site opening on the forum as soon as it's ready, but if all goes well it should be by the end of this week.

P.S. I'm in belgium, so shipping is much easier and cheaper than having to get your stuff from the states, for example.

PS The big problem with the budget that is displayed at reprap.org is that the assume a cost of 20 pounds for the rep rapped parts, but at the moment this is impossible unless you have a repstrap or a good buddy? in terms of electronics, if you buy everything from me, i should be able to come in close to the listed price in their budget (notice these are razor thin margins and not really helpful to us startups)

I'm planning a Mendel project as well here in Finland.

No idea how to get the plastic parts as of yet. It seems that mendel parts are a very rare breed, not many make them, and they'll probably be quite expensive.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2010 03:04AM by Ruyzen.

@ Martti

Heya Martti, where from Finland are you? How is your project going on?

@Matthew

Hey, the webshop idea sounds perfect! I would also be interested in those electronics, basically the best option for us would be getting all the parts from one place... Would you have any price estimations yet for the electronics and the plastic parts?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2010 03:05AM by Ruyzen.

Unfortunately I don't have the startup budget to offer the plastic parts at the moment. So, for now, I'm only offering electronics. I'm having some difficulty getting some of the parts in and there seem to be some extra costs involved that I hadn't foreseen, so i'll have to change my price structure very slightly, so I can't give a good estimate just yet. You'll know within the week, but I can at least say that I'll definitely be competitive , and I'm trying to make it cheaper than if you had to source and buy all the parts yourself from different suppliers.

@Matthew

Can you make a list of the electronics? Like motors, motherboards? It would help to know what you can provide so we can check them out of our "To-buy" -list

If you have the list of the necessary parts for a Mendel, it would help enormously if you could label the parts you can sell accordingly.

I have the complete gen3 electronics:

Motherboard V1.2
Extruder Controller V2.2
Stepper Driver V2.3
Opto Endstop V2.1

Of those, I have three versions, ie. one version with the RJ45 connectors (makerbot style) and a reprap version with the screw in headers. I also have a light version which doesn't have any headers so you can choose your own or hardwire straight to the board (it's a little cheaper, because headers are a pricey percentage of the kits).
p
I'll get back to you about motors, cos i'm still sourcing a reliable supplier, but i can get nema 17 and nema 23, it will take a little time (say a week or two for delivery) what do you need?

I also have 1m (3ft) Cat5e cables to connect up your boards. I also have 10pin ribbon cable with connectors for wiring your motherboard to your stepper drivers. I also have standard wiring cables (blue, black, red and white) for wiring up power and reprap designs. I'll probably make up some standard lengths of that stuff.

And as always, if you have some specific needs or any ideas, just drop me a mail and I'll see what I can sort out for you. Service with a smile

I'm in Espoo. And at the moment, I'm planning for a McWire bot to get a Mendel repstrapped. Noone has any plastic parts, so you pretty much have to make them yourself.

The McWire should be pretty straightforward to build, I'll start by building the mechanics and then ordering the electronics to the system. We'll see how it goes.

Hi!

I'm also from Finland.. just planning to make one Mendel, nothing done yet. Some co-operation? Let's buy the plastic parts for one and replicate for the two others? Costs shared evenly?

@nite69

Hello,

that sounds like an really good idea. We have thought about doing the same, one getting the plastic parts and then selling the parts to others at shared price.

Hi all,

We're a Belgian based shop that is selling Gen3 electronics, motors and cables. Go to [www.iprint3d.org] and have a look around, I hope we have something for you.

This is a self made site (so it might have gremlins). If you notice any bugs or problems, just use the contact us link on the page and let us know. We'll get on it ASAP.

I'm trying to cater for as many custom demands as possible, so if it's not in the shop or if you need a special mod, just contact us and I'll see what I can arrange

Thanks and happy shopping.
Matthew from iPrint3D

Is it ok to move this thread to:
[dev.forums.reprap.org]

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

---

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!

By all means, please do

That would be more suitable for this thread.

Ruyzen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @nite69
>
> Hello,
>
> that sounds like an really good idea. We have
> thought about doing the same, one getting the
> plastic parts and then selling the parts to others
> at shared price.


Hello from Finland

I would also like to build my own machine.

Have you guys started to make your own machines yet?
if not are you planing to group buy the electronics???

Hello Jokeri,

Right now, we are in a bit of a mess, so we can't really tell what we are going to do.

Hello to all Finnish people. I'm a Makerbot operator from Finland and i'm currently printing Mendel pieces. I should have one full set available in 1-2 weeks. If anyone is interested in buying, drop me a PM.

If you wanna see pictures of the pieces you can find them on my Flickr account here.

Please, join the Helsinki Hacklab effort to build 3D-printers. We have mendels and repstraps in the making. Hacklab.fi

Add any notes to our project wiki: wiki/RepRap

We have a table at the Model-Expo Fri-Sun, you are welcome to visit us.

That's Model-expo.com in Helsinki, Messukeskus, this weekend, from 9-18. We are at 3f0.

I've finally moved this thread to Finland RUG. I've also created:
[reprap.org]
If one of you guys has a free evening, please feel free to translate the entire wiki into Finnish.

---

-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

---

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!

Something very interesting at the expo also: Roboplus.fi has a stand almost next us, with a big advertisement of Cupcake CNC. The text has all the open source stuff, and mentions thingiverse etc., but it would've been sensible to contact the Finnish reprap community by the entrepreneur. They are hopefully around today and tomorrow, so we chat.

Neat! Maybe they'll help you build the Mendel.

Roboplus.fi may not know you exist. Makerbot has a very funny relationship with RepRap.

---

-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

---

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!

Now they know They were very interested about cooperation, and we will likely get to use their demo machines to build stuff, and after the rings and badges, mendel parts will be on the list of thing to print.

Their extruder was busted, but the cupcake gained lots of interest in itself. Tommorow I will talk to the Lego hobbyists there if they would be interested in 3D-printing compatible objects

So is anyone still looking to make a mendel and sharing initial costs? I'd like to build a mendel in the Helsinki area to be usable by the members of the Helsinki Hacklab. Everything is negotiable, but donating a machine to the hacklab would be the ideal end goal. It would be easy to divide the cost by three, since it's about 200+200+200, as in plastic parts, other hardware, electronics.

Started to build Mendel in Hämeenlinna.

Electronic ==> order.
Motors ==> planned.
Studding ==> purchased.
Plastic ==> still missing.

Any working reprap in Finland (and operator who willingly make one set of plastic parts for Mendel)?

I now have a Mendel mostly working, just need to find a way to attach my hacked extruder. It is on display at the Assembly event now, with a working Cupcake CNC.

Forgot to mention that is on the Helsinki Hacklab table, near door 111.

This sounds like the way to go. I'm interested in getting one, too, so I'll follow this topic.

Alan in Tammisaari

Anteeksi. Puhun vain Englanti! Olen Amerikkalainen