MendelMax to a new design

Hi, I am not completely happy with the MendelMax, I see a lot of room for improvement for the frame and other parts.

A good example for me to show would be the [www.lulzbot.com] Taz from Lulzbot, it shows the evolution of the AO-101.

Currently I'm just making sketches on paper by hand, but I would like to get deeper into the process and am wondering if there are people here that have rebuild their machine, by using all the old parts of the MendelMax.


I am convinced that I can build a totally new design that nobody has ever made, by just using the beams of the MendelMax.
A second rule would be that the current MendelMax would have to print all the new 'organs' needed to reconstruct the printer.


So in the end, I would like to use the original vitamins of the MendelMax, but build a more logical design that is more accessible and has a 'place' for everything.
One of the things that is bugging me out completely, is the fact that the stepper motors are places a whole centimeter away from the frame. I have no idea why this is, and it makes the printer 2cm wider in total.

One of the great parts of the Taz is that the Z-axis is fitted in-between two vertical beams, it makes it so much nicer to design a Z-motor bracket that you place in-between these beams. I can't explain why, but it feels good when I see the printer. And in the MendelMax I get the feeling there are a lot of parts that can be done much better and I have no idea why they are the way they are now.

Another thing, I have made a vertical X-axis on my current MendelMax, like the Prusa i3 X-axis. I regret it. The X-rods work better when they are next to eachother instead of above one another.
Also the Prusa i3 X-ends don't have enough grip on the rods, tightening the X-belt is hard to do this way, because you will pull the x-ends towards eachother.

I will convert some of my sketches to 3D-models during the weekend, first I'll have to draw up the beams, is there a place where I can find cross-sections of a 20x20 misumi beam in DXF format?

If you like the TAZ you may also like the MendelMax-2. I know it is not easy to make yourself, because of all sheet metal parts. But the looks are good.
If you like it you may have a look at [www.thingiverse.com].
This is a more reprappable version of the MM2.
Maybe you can change the X and Y axis to rods like on the MM1.5.

Alright, I know that printer, but I would like to build a new printer without altering/adding any vitamins

I have found the DXF for the misumi bars here:
[github.com]

Going to draw up a new model this evening and hopefully will start printing parts tomorrow!

If you happen to want to incorporate the Taz style X ends into a mendelmax style frame, or add Linear Z rails instead of unsupported rods, take a look at my upgrade projects. They might not exactly match where you are planning on going with your design, but you may be able to take helpful components and ideas from them if nothing else.

Taz style clamp X ends for Mendelmax 1.5-ish printers - [www.thingiverse.com]
Linear rail Z axis for use with the Taz Style X ends. - [www.thingiverse.com]

I have been starting a similar project. The MendelMax is a very nice printer, but (like you have mentioned) there are issues that could be improved. The available hardware is an excellent starting point and I would be interested to see what sketches/concepts you have. To gather information on what hardware is available to work with, I have started creating a full assembly model of all the parts (printed and purchased) using Autodesk Inventor.

My current design goal is to follow one simple rule. The only material used to redesign the printer will be either from the existing machine, or printed by the machine. I want to minimize or possibly eliminate the need to purchase new hardware.

What do you have in mind? Do you want to keep the original shape, or do you want to convert it to a MM2/TAZ style.
I ask because I think about building another printer. I like MM2, but not the sheet metal parts. MM1.5 is a nice printer, but I am not sure it is the printer I want. I am also considering a ultimake/tantillus design, but don't like lasercut parts.
Actually I do not know exactly what I want.

I have a Sells mendel at the moment, but I want something more rigit.

I like the idea of the Tantillus and my initial idea was to work out something similar to that starting with the concepts displayed on the Ingentis (youmagine link, discussion thread) as a base.

Hey guys, it is all taking a little more time than I anticipated. At the academy I'm studying we have had a few client presentations of a few of our architecture projects and this in combination with working on new projects is eating away especially from my creative energy!

Now it's time to pick-up sketching again

At the moment I'm looking at the base of the machine. I think the ABS printed parts are very vulnerable and I don't need the height that it's using now. Also I think it's wiser to make the raising elements out of aluminum plate with a 90º bend. With the side-effect that when I use aluminum, the frame becomes more rigid again. I'd have to work very precisely though. Luckily we also have a laser-cutter at the academy, so I'll first look into making parts out of multiplex wood.

Yesterday I have ordered all the parts needed to convert the machine to 1.75mm filament. Including 3 rolls of PLA in 1.75mm because I only used 3mm ABS till now. Call me crazy, but I have seen how black printed parts look in combination with a silver frame and I have just fallen in love with it!

Hi Guys, I like both the Artifex / MendelMax 3 and the Lulzbot TAZ (I would purchase the TAZ over the Artifex/MM3 because its a far better deign but its too expensive).

I like the bottom part of the Artifex/MM3 with power supply and electronics neatly packed away below the print bed and the 24v printer bed is all good. But from there up I think the TAZ is far superior.

The MM3 has problems with the wobbly leed screw causing X axis movement, they came up with a half baked idea to resolve this which means the Z axis relies on gravity to move down.

I would like to add the top part of the TAZ to the bottom part of the Artifex/MM2, in particular the two parallel vertical Z axis system, instead of the dumb (my opinion) triangulated system employed which has inherent weaknesses at the top where the steppers are mounted.

I prefer to stay with a more universal slide rail system rather than proprietary folded sheet metal aluminium.

I had thought if using Linear slide rail rather than round shafting because linear rail is more accurate (but much more expensive).

I also need to mention that as yet I do not have a 3D printer, but have spent a lot of time looking/reading. As I see it even though 3D printing has been around for about 30 years (correct me if I'm wrong) it still seems to be in its infancy with new machines released very often, but most are very poorly designed, they work but lack accuracy/poor print quality.

My 2 cents worth, Ohmarinis I hope your design might address some of the above

Regards - bruce

Arghhh I want too much in too little time.

My study really gets in the way of developing a new printer...

Second, I discovered the company I bought the extrusions from, gave me 2 different types of extrusions mixed in with eachother. This has caused the 4 diagonal extrusions to have different sizing, like 6.2mm slide openings instead of the usual 5.2mm and this in turn has messed up my ideas. I thought I was buying Misumi extrusions, but now it turns out they aren't even Misumi. I'm feeling a bit tricked, but I have contact with them now and they will replace the extrusions to fit the rest.

Kind of shitty because I had some parts CNC'ed to fix on those extrusions and now they don't fit well (loose fit) and it's quite annoying. Also, I have discovered that this extra play has made commissioning the printer a lot more difficult because the top vertexes are hard to keep square with the wider ridges in the extrusions.

Will be continued. Meanwhile I have received all the vitamins to start converting this puppy to a 1.75mm filament printer, this is what I'll be putting together tonight

Oh, and I have already conceptually made a redesign for the Reprap Air 2, which uses the same vitamins it's using now, but then without all the threaded rods. No more threaded rods for me anymore, it's going to be a complete box around the printer with interlocking sides and all the smooth rods will end in a hole in the wall somewhere

Besides these new placements, the orientation of the stepper motors of the X-end and Y-belt will be rotated a 90º so the motor's axis will be pointing up, so the motor will also not be hanging and pulling sideways anymore.

I'll post up some design progress in Mechanics soon.

I wonder why people designing RepRap printers with aluminum extrusions do not use the vertical rails for movement in Z instead of smooth rods. The only one doing it is the FoldaRap. It's a neat idea, are there drawbacks?

[reprap.org]

The Cerberus uses the extrusions for z movement as well:

Cerberus 3d Printer

Another neat trick I saw is to run the Y axis on v-rollers on the frame sides, thus cutting out smooth rods on the Y.

Can't remember where I saw that...

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Found another person who tried to redesign. However, I wouldn't call it a redesign because it's still using mostly the same structure. It only has a straight vertical tower now instead of diagonals.
[www.thingiverse.com]

I have decided, since my MendelMax is finally working great, to first redo the Reprap Air 2 and learn from redesigning a bit. After that machine works fine again I would like to put my knowledge into the Air 2.

I have already designed a semi-open box that was created around the existing rod placements of the Reprap Air 2. It is ready to lasercut and I will do that somewhere in the coming weeks when there is a spot at the laserprinter at my school

Hey guys just a very short update.

I don't have time to make a rendering now, but I have decided to lower the Z-height on my design slightly. This makes the printer less wobbly. I have been looking into all the prints I've made over the past and found out I've never gone above 120mm height.

Also, Z-height makes a print slow, as I mostly design small technical parts, I always aim to print parts that have length in a X-Y direction instead of Z because layers can be a weak part.

The only downside to creating a printer that is lower, is that it's less accessible by hand for example when the hotend jams, so I'm currently halting the frame design and will first design a 'quick-release' X-carriage.

Is there anyone here that has any experience with the Merlin hotends? I have ordered two of them and am quite curious how they will fit into my project

I'm building a FrankenMax 2 my way with belts for the z axis and v-slot on all axes. I'll post photos as work progresses