MendelMax 1.? Build Instructions

Last year, I inherited a partially assembled MendelMax from my father that he never finished. The frame is assembled and I believe I have all of the parts needed to complete the build, but I have to admit that I'm utterly lost. I'm desperately trying to track down assembly instructions to complete the build, but I'm having troubles coming up with some.

I'm not sure what version it is that I have; I believe it's a 1.0 because the Z axis motors are top mounted and most of the frame mounts look like the ones used for the 1.0. However, there are several brackets that look different from the ones listed in the 1.0 parts list and the Y axis assembly looks like the lasercut bed from the 1.5 portion of the wiki.

Attached to this post is a link with a picture of the current state of the build. Hopefully someone can help me identify this thing and point me in the right direction. All help is appreciated. Thanks!

MendelMax Current Build State

It is a 1.0 (mostly...)

1.5 manual is here [store.makea3dfactory.com]
Can't find a 1.0 version quickly... Is very close...to 1.0

looks like mechanical is mostly done...

Read the manual, do the steps that have been missed... good luck.

Update:

Ohh... look what I found... blast from the past [web.archive.org]
Sadly some missing images....

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2016 04:16AM by Dust.

Thanks for that. It looks like the 1.0 and 1.5 are pretty similar aside from the inverted Z axis motors.

One other quick question. I see references to endstop sensors on the 1.5. It looks like my kit has the mounting brackets for the endstops, but I can't find any sensors. Did the 1.0 every have these? Am I missing the sensors? Do I even need to worry about that?

i am not familiar with ur printer but in the pdf posted above it looks like it uses microswitch. They are very common thing to find in local electronics store. So i dont think you need to worry about this.

Yes It just used micro switches.

I would advise having endstops, you can run without them, but you have to re zero the machine every power up, or park it in a known location and reset it to that location manually

They are easy to get, even wired up
eg [www.ebay.com]

Thanks for all of this information guys. I've been using the 1.5 instructions to good affect.

I had a heck of a time with the MakerGear Extruder Kit that he purchased for it (.35mm nozzle installed). I had been trying to assemble it per the original instructions and figured out pretty quick that the assembly wasn't going to mount on the extruder parts that came with the MendelMax kit. Once I tracked down the instructions on MakerGear's site, it was relatively smooth sailing (though also very time consuming).

I also got the heatbed assembled. I had to kind of hobble my way through that one since it looks like he must have sourced all the parts separately. I got the heatpad applied to the bottom, the thermistor in the bottom center against the aluminum, a layer of insulation and then the top of the bed it now coated in Kapton tape.

I did go buy some micro-switches, but didn't have a mount with me to look for hole alignment and ended up getting ones that are too small for the brackets. I'll have to come up with a temporary mounting solution until I can print up some proper ones.

In the mean time, I need to run the belts for X and Y axis. From there, I think it's just a matter of building the RAMPS boards and doing wiring. Then, I'm off to the races!

MendelMax 1.0 progress

This has been a great project for me. I'm happy to report that I ought to be ready to boot up, program and calibrate my MendelMax 1.0 this weekend. I've got the entirety of the physical assembly completed and am on to electronics.

Building the RAMPS board has been quite the challenge since I've never done soldering with SMD before, but I'm making good progress on it none the less.

Thanks to everyone in this community for their help in this and any future matters. I can't wait to start printing!

It's been a few weeks since my last post. I've been working diligently as I've had time and I've finally got it finished... Kind of, anyway.

I'm running in to an issue where I can only run each axis one direction. I have a feeling that it has something to do with the endstops.

For reference... I've got one mechanical endstop on each axis and I'm using RAMPS1.4 with Marlin.

Sending an M119 from Pronterface returns:
X_min: open
X_max: TRIGGERED
Y_min: open
Y_max: TRIGGERED
Z_min: open
Z_max: TRIGGERED

I've manually triggered each endstop and can confirm that they're hooked up on X,Y,and Z_min and do change to TRIGGERED status when pressed.

It also appears that each axis is running backwards of the issued direction. Ex: x- is moving X to the right instead of the left as pictured.

It it a simple matter of inverting my axis' in Marlin? Should I be seeing TRIGGERED for the endstops that have nothing hooked up? Any ideas? HELP! Thanks!

Endstops are normally wired so that if they are disconnected they are triggered

You have no max endstops... so they are disconnected. They should be disabled

eg in marlin find //#define DISABLE_MAX_ENDSTOPS and remove the two // at the front

Yes if axis run the wrong way you can either invert in firmware, or rewire your steppers (or just turn the 4 wire stepper plug around 180 degrees, only do this while power is off)

eg in firmware find
#define INVERT_X_DIR false and change to true to invert the X direction.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2016 07:53PM by Dust.

Quote
Dust
Endstops are normally wired so that if they are disconnected they are triggered

You have no max endstops... so they are disconnected. They should be disabled

eg in marlin find //#define DISABLE_MAX_ENDSTOPS and remove the two // at the front

Yes if axis run the wrong way you can either invert in firmware, or rewire your steppers (or just turn the 4 wire stepper plug around 180 degrees, only do this while power is off)

eg in firmware find
#define INVERT_X_DIR false and change to true to invert the X direction.

Thanks for that. I'm almost done now. I'm down to one remaining issue.... My z-axis motors are suddenly running opposite directions of each other. I tested all of the motors with the RAMPS test code as I assembled things and everything appeared to be working correctly at the time. So, I'm not sure what happened. I did check my wiring. It hasn't changed and I've got both motors in the same direction on board. So confused....