Reprap mendel possible upgrades

Hello,

I have got my hands on this Reprap Mendel.
It has a case, an emergency switch, upgraded extruder, heated bed, optostops,...
But the electronics are V1.2.
So I was thinking maybe to upgrade them. Would it be possible without all to many problems and alterations?
[nl.tinypic.com]
[nl.tinypic.com]

Also the hot end is old and warped from the heat. Would it be possible to upgrade this hot end. Or is it better to keep this one and buy a new ptfe tube? Where to buy it? The parts for this mendel are disappearing...
[nl.tinypic.com]
[nl.tinypic.com]
[nl.tinypic.com]

Any help and suggestions are welcome.
Thank you

Have you considered a Duet controller?

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RepRapPro Mendel 3 Tricolour
RepRapPro Fisher
-Carbon Arms
-Easy adjust Carriage+effector
-axis stiffness mods
HE3D -600 delta
-Duet 0.8.5
-PanelDue
-DC42 Height probe
-RobotDigg metal components
Simplyfy3D
RS Design Spark CAD

Quote
bgkdavis
Have you considered a Duet controller?

Never heard of this controller. That's why I posted this thread
What's the big difference with my controller? Big advantages?
Are there examples of users that upgraded their Mendel with this controller?

Look at the reprappro mendel 3, this comes with the duet, its also fitted to the ormerod 2 and fisher.

The controller is a 32bit processor, and can work completely stand alone, so you dont need a computer to drive the printer, control fof the printer itself is via a web interface.

The firware includes features to correct for orthogonal errors and bed leveling, so it can correct a lot of build errors in the frame

Ive got two duet based printers now, a mendel3 tri colour and a fisher delta, and control or monitor them both at the same time via my pc or tablet

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2015 11:40AM by bgkdavis.

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RepRapPro Mendel 3 Tricolour
RepRapPro Fisher
-Carbon Arms
-Easy adjust Carriage+effector
-axis stiffness mods
HE3D -600 delta
-Duet 0.8.5
-PanelDue
-DC42 Height probe
-RobotDigg metal components
Simplyfy3D
RS Design Spark CAD

Looks really good.
If I'm correct I don't even need the stepper drivers for each stepper. The duet can drive them directly.
Do you know if I can still use the Opto Endstops or do I have to install something new?

Which software do you use to generate your G-code for the duet?

Yes the board is all in one but for a mendel its a good idea to get the small regulator board which includes the z axis splitter.

The normal endstops are switches and there is privision on the board for this, but there are options to use alternatives.... best chat with DC42, hes the guy who knows most and normally can be found in the ormerod forum... the stock rrp mendel 3 uses a switch for y and the bed sensing probe for x and z limits

I mostly use simplfy3d, but also use slic3r.

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RepRapPro Mendel 3 Tricolour
RepRapPro Fisher
-Carbon Arms
-Easy adjust Carriage+effector
-axis stiffness mods
HE3D -600 delta
-Duet 0.8.5
-PanelDue
-DC42 Height probe
-RobotDigg metal components
Simplyfy3D
RS Design Spark CAD

I think you should be able to use opto endstops with the Duet, although there is a small possibility that they won't be able to sink enough current to drive the LEDs on the Duet. Try it and see. If you use my firmware fork, you can use the M574 commands to tell the firmware what endstops you have and whether they are active high or active low.

I wrote a Wiki page on configuring RepRapFirmware for a Cartesian printer a few weeks ago, which should tell you most of what you need to know about how to configure the firmware for your printer. You don't need to build the firmware, you can download a binary from my repo and configure it using gcode commands in the config.g file on the SD card. The latest version of my fork is 1.09k-dc42 and you can find the threads in which I announced it in the Ormerod or Firmware forum.

HTH David (excuse my brevity, I'm using a smartphone)

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].