Mendel redesigns

I"ve been working on redesigning some of the mendel parts. Prusa mendels are great and really lower the barrier to starting with reprap, but i want focus on some of the shortcomings of the Sells mendel. Many of the parts are, seemingly, bulky and needlessly complex. my goal will be to cut away as must cruft as possible, hopefully making for a faster, cheaper, and just as accurate (if not more-so) upgrade path.

I've already completed my work on a x carriage upgrade, at least until someone else prints it and gives me feedback. I call it the OpenX carriage, since my main design goal was having a larger opening for the extruder. you can read more at the wiki page here.

I'm also working on a y carriage redesign using many of the things i learned from the OpenX project. I'm printing the first prototype parts as i type.

If there are any other reprappers out there in NJ that might want to meet up brainstorm, I am always game.

Hi Buback,
Glad you posted regarding your addition to the wiki. I find there is so much on the wiki it's hard to track or even realize when/where new stuff has been added. Might you know if there is a change log of sorts which shows 'what's new' by date? Anyway, not that critical. Glad I caught your post.

I like your improvement. I'm not in a position to try it out. Still building. I'll keep an eye out for any other improvements you may come up with.
Regards,
No.6

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[numbersixreprap.blogspot.com]

yeah, sometimes people don't post anything to the forums when they start a new project, and it just gets lost. What I usually check out daily is the recent changes page.
at the very least it gives you an impression of what people are contributing to. there has been a lot of spam recently, so it's harder to peruse.

another page on the wiki that is useful, if you haven't seen it yet, is the development index (at the bottom of the page).

I also check out a handful of blogs as well.

Nophead's blog
Reprap Log Phase
Reprap: builders
Reprap: blog

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2011 01:19PM by Buback.

I've also just put up some pages for the Y axis redesign:

OpenY Carriage
Thingiverse

Hello, I'm looking to build my first printer. Which would you recommend mendel/prusa? Also, are there any local (north nj) stores to pick up parts. Thinking about sourcing all the parts myself.

the current momentum seems to be around the Prusa fork, and it requires fewer parts and hardware, so is cheaper to boot.

No stores in particular, really. there's a McMaster-Carr down by trenton, so if you order from then it often comes next day or the day after. If you are not fimilar with them, just head to McMaster-carr.com and you'll soon be drooling :-)

I got my bearings from VBX.com and they are good. i think they're in cali, so expect a week for dilivery. I thought i might be able to get skate bearings cheaper localy, but bearings are hard to find cheaply. Or, at least, cheaper than online.


Home Depot or Lowes is good for some tools, and has some metric bolts and nuts, but never enough. I used BoltDepot.com, which is in Massachusetts.

if you plan on building the electronics, Mouser.com. even if you don't build the electronics, it's a good place to order from if you need resistors or thermistors.

I bought a Gen6 from mendel-parts.com and i'm very happy i didn't try to build the electronics. maybe i will for the second printer :-) but it was enough work just getting to the point where i could extrude.
I also got my nozzle from there, after failing to make my own.

it's tempting to build with SAE bolts and parts, since it's easier to get here in the US, but it's soo much easier to work with metric, and you'll probably be designing and printing metric when you're done, anyway.

I think the easiest thing to get in NJ would probably metric studding or threaded rod, if you know of a local metal shop. i'm sure they're around, but since i was ordering so much from macmaster carr i just threw them on the order as well.

if you have any other questions, just ask!

Thanks for the response. It looks like my sources are mostly, if not all, online. Such is the world we live in.

I plan to get the Bar and Studs and, hopefully, RP and nuts/bolts to get the frame together all at once. I'm confident in my soldering so I'm contemplating assembling the electronics myself.

While I'm sourcing, I'm setting up and tinkering with the development/software environment. I stumbled upon Blender and designed one of my ideas with it. But, I need to figure out how to get the design to print.

I hope I'm on the right track. Any advice/guidance will be appreciated.

Yeah, there just aren't any stores out there for hobbyists anymore. I estimate about 10% of my mendel costs went into shipping :-( . it's a small price to pay when end up with a 3d printer, though.

"Learn openSCAD" would probably be good advise. So much is being done with it these days, knowing it will be to your advantage in the long run.

Thanks, Buback. Downloaded. Tutorials on the agenda. Will keep you posted.