Prusa Mendel (SAE or not) - Volume of printed parts to replicate
Posted by Tethercat
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Prusa Mendel (SAE or not) - Volume of printed parts to replicate February 08, 2011 01:03PM |
Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 2 |
Hello, everyone. I'm a new guy here.
My college has a 3D printer (a Dimension). I've been itching to build a printer since the media explosion a few years back. I approached my college with the info from this page:
Mendel / Reprap Wiki
and told them that the "Volume of printed parts to replicate" was 67.7 inches3.
The college gave me an extraordinary cost in return, which was unfeasible for me.
Since then, the Prusa Mendel has been designed. Their wiki is located here:
SAE Prusa Mendel / Reprap Wiki
I am fully interested in using the Mendel Plate file (all the pieces on a single plate? great!), but am willing to tackle the problem however I can.
What I need help with is finding out what the "Volume of printed parts to replicate" is in cubic inches. Can anyone guide me to documentation or a website which shows what that volume is, so that I can send that to my college along with a proposal?
One helpful guy on the irc chat said the Prusa volume was 24 in3, but I couldn't find any verification or documentation on that, which is a requirement.
Any help that the community can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for helping out a newcomer to this field.
My college has a 3D printer (a Dimension). I've been itching to build a printer since the media explosion a few years back. I approached my college with the info from this page:
Mendel / Reprap Wiki
and told them that the "Volume of printed parts to replicate" was 67.7 inches3.
The college gave me an extraordinary cost in return, which was unfeasible for me.
Since then, the Prusa Mendel has been designed. Their wiki is located here:
SAE Prusa Mendel / Reprap Wiki
I am fully interested in using the Mendel Plate file (all the pieces on a single plate? great!), but am willing to tackle the problem however I can.
What I need help with is finding out what the "Volume of printed parts to replicate" is in cubic inches. Can anyone guide me to documentation or a website which shows what that volume is, so that I can send that to my college along with a proposal?
One helpful guy on the irc chat said the Prusa volume was 24 in3, but I couldn't find any verification or documentation on that, which is a requirement.
Any help that the community can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for helping out a newcomer to this field.
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Re: Prusa Mendel (SAE or not) - Volume of printed parts to replicate February 10, 2011 09:27AM |
Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 2 |
What about if I were to load the Prusa Mendel plate file into a program to determine on my own what the print volume would be? I don't have a 3D printer or access to one, but I have the live reprap cd, a copy of Mastercam, a copy of Autodesk Inventor, and access to any open source downloadables. Do any of you think that would help me?
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Re: Prusa Mendel (SAE or not) - Volume of printed parts to replicate February 10, 2011 11:53AM |
Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 485 |
You can load the plate .stl file into FreeCAD. I don't know how or if FreeCAD will report the volume on that. I do know that you can use FreeCAD to convert the .stl to .stp, which Inventor will open. Inventor can give you a volume if everything translated cleanly.
To use FreeCAD to convert .stl to .stp: Open the .stl in FreeCAD and select it in the list on the left. Find the tool in the menus to convert the mesh to a "shape" (I think that was the term). Then select the new shape (the item appears below the original in the list on the left) and convert that to a solid. Select the solid, and you can export that as a STEP file by adding ".stp" to the exported file's name.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2011 09:39PM by Dale Dunn.
To use FreeCAD to convert .stl to .stp: Open the .stl in FreeCAD and select it in the list on the left. Find the tool in the menus to convert the mesh to a "shape" (I think that was the term). Then select the new shape (the item appears below the original in the list on the left) and convert that to a solid. Select the solid, and you can export that as a STEP file by adding ".stp" to the exported file's name.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2011 09:39PM by Dale Dunn.
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Re: Prusa Mendel (SAE or not) - Volume of printed parts to replicate February 10, 2011 01:33PM |
Admin Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 7,879 |
NetFabb studio gives the volume of the single Mendel plate to be 496.84 cm. It not quite the latest version because it changes on an almost daily basis.
[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]
[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]
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Re: Prusa Mendel (SAE or not) - Volume of printed parts to replicate February 10, 2011 01:57PM |
Registered: 14 years ago Posts: 3,742 |
netfabb Studio also shows problems with the top 3 frame vertices and I haven't been able to repair them properly.
Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse
Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse
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Re: Prusa Mendel (SAE or not) - Volume of printed parts to replicate February 10, 2011 02:25PM |
Registered: 16 years ago Posts: 438 |
If I understand this thread correctly, you're wanting the volume so that you can take it to your school and they can tell you what the cost to print will be on the 3D printer they have. This is a commercial 3D printer, and the print material is both proprietary and costly, so part price is based on volume.
That opinion is based on your statement "The college gave me an extraordinary cost in return" which seems to indicate that this is the case.
Given that you're the one paying for it, out of your own pocket, *and* it's a very expensive way to get the parts due to the per-cc cost, *why* would you do this at all?
It'll be MUCH cheaper to buy them off ebay, and as a bonus you'll be contributing money back to the project, and help keep part prices higher, encouraging more people to get involved.
Yes, the surface finish won't be as good, but it'll work fine, and there's a certain status to having a mendel that was printed on a mendel, you know? Pretty isn't as cool as replicated. Well, in my book anyway...
--
I'm building it with Baling Wire
That opinion is based on your statement "The college gave me an extraordinary cost in return" which seems to indicate that this is the case.
Given that you're the one paying for it, out of your own pocket, *and* it's a very expensive way to get the parts due to the per-cc cost, *why* would you do this at all?
It'll be MUCH cheaper to buy them off ebay, and as a bonus you'll be contributing money back to the project, and help keep part prices higher, encouraging more people to get involved.
Yes, the surface finish won't be as good, but it'll work fine, and there's a certain status to having a mendel that was printed on a mendel, you know? Pretty isn't as cool as replicated. Well, in my book anyway...
--
I'm building it with Baling Wire
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Re: Prusa Mendel (SAE or not) - Volume of printed parts to replicate February 19, 2011 09:49AM |
Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 7,616 |
Quite a number of parts can be sawd and drilled from wood or MDF, so you can resort to FDM for the more complicated ones.
Another option is to build the parts hollow, then fill them with Polyester or Epoxy resin (drill a small hole, inject with a syringe).
Third option is to build a RepStrap, like a WolfStrap or a wooden Mendel. You learn a lot when doing so, so your "real" Mendel will get even better.
Another option is to build the parts hollow, then fill them with Polyester or Epoxy resin (drill a small hole, inject with a syringe).
Third option is to build a RepStrap, like a WolfStrap or a wooden Mendel. You learn a lot when doing so, so your "real" Mendel will get even better.
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