Well, actually 'completed' seems like an awfully strong word. Are they ever complete?

Details on thingiverse:

[www.thingiverse.com]

-Matt

How big is this thing?
I think you might regret not having a heated bed but there is always room to improve it as you go.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

The exploded view on the original page should give you a good sense of the size. About 380mm wide; 470mm high; 480mm deep.

[www.thingiverse.com]

I've made my Y carriage a bit differently and may have a bit more Y range than the original. At the moment the X range is severely limited by my awkward X carriage setup.

I might want a heated bed someday, but honestly, I think that day's a long way off. I'm doing very well with PLA just using the blue tape, and I don't see any reason to get any ABS. The prices seem about the same these days.

-Matt

I have only used PLA but from what I read there is no good reason to go for ABS, the fumes alone would mean you have to take your printer out to the shed One of the main things I like about the heated bed - apart from no having to replace the tape every print - is the super smooth bottom side to whatever you print instead of the tape texture.
You have unlimited y-axis space for the extruder so I'd look at orienting it that way and leave all the x-axis room for sideways travel, but 380mm wide is pretty huge so even if you lose a bit of travel you still have a big print area.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

The dimensions I listed are the external dimensions of the machine. The print volume is much smaller; roughly the same as the Mendel. I'm only getting about 140mm in X right now, due to my constrained axis.

Also, I manage to remove the part without ruining the tape each time... the tape lasts from 1 to 10 prints, with no apparent rhyme or reason.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2012 11:11PM by mkeveney.

Its great maching. Want to get info about what build area required for this machine? Just done with my alominum printer and made my hobbed sleeves out of a brass piece. Its almost done but one thing which I need is a geared step motor. I can get it from Makegear but it requires some time. How can I get it urgent?

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sticker printing | custom stickers

Wondering if you're interested in putting this somewhere besides MakerBot's Thinigverse? Let me know as I'm building www.3DHacker.com and would love to get some machines up for view like this Aluminum Mendel. All the best and please contact if interested so I can "verify" your account and set you up with up to 8 photos, 8 Youtube videos if needed, and lots of descriptors.

Andrew

..(oops. error. why can't I delete a post?)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2012 02:08PM by mkeveney.

re: ...one thing which I need is a geared step motor...

I used a direct-drive extruder, the vertx: [www.thingiverse.com].

With 1.7mm pla, a normal Nema17 stepper has plenty of torque.

The Vertx was the best choice I could find, but is still a bit awkward. I think I'll be designing something new, but similar.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2012 02:09PM by mkeveney.