My first 3d printer

So I just ordered my mendel90 kit directly from nop head and I have some questions:

What PSU would you recommend to power it? I live in the U.S.
What else am I going to need to make it work? (I'm currently reading the manual

Any places you recommend to get PLA/ABS in the U.S.?

Hi juanej,

Im also geting into the 3d printing field but i dont own my mendel 90 yet. However from what i read a PSU like the ALPINE500 (recommended by nophead) would be sufficent just google its specs and see if you can find something similar in the US.

I dont know about other parts but i will get my PLA from the source nophead seems to get his (http://www.faberdashery.co.uk/) as the most reports here in Germany, that this will give you the best print quality, also they sell by the meter wich is much much cheaper than otherwise.

So i hope this helps a bit

Oh and please let us know here how the build process turns out. And another tip read through the mendel90 forum to get some really good assanly tipps :-)

Manu

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2014 04:35PM by ManuelGentoo.

Hi,

Quote
ManuelGentoo
I dont know about other parts but i will get my PLA from the source nophead seems to get his (http://www.faberdashery.co.uk/) as the most reports here in Germany, that this will give you the best print quality, also they sell by the meter wich is much much cheaper than otherwise.

In Germany you might want to look at Reprapsource.com. Their 3mm PLA is very good and comes on the recommended 2.3kg spool. I find it prints as well as faberdashery material and the price, for you, should be competitive.

Buying at a per-metre price is OK for small quantities but it is not competitive for larger ones.

Regards,
Neil Darlow

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2014 07:22AM by neildarlow.

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I try to write with consideration for all nationalities. Please let me know if something is unclear.
Printing with Mendel90 from fedora 25 using Cura, FreeCAD, MeshLab, OpenSCAD, Skeinforge and Slic3r tools.

The problem with using a cheap ATX PSU such as the Alpine 500 is that the output voltage will drop under load. Assuming your printer has the usual heated bed about 200mm square, this will limit the temperature that the heated bed will get up to. The experience of several users of this PSU in the RepRapPro Ormerod 1 (which has a 210mm square heated bed PC suggests that this PSU is adequate for printing PLA (bed temperature around 60C), but if you want to print ABS (bed temperature around 100C) then you really need something better.

There are a couple of better alternatives:

1. Use a better quality ATX PSU. I found the Corsair CX430M to have much better regulation on the 12V rail than the Alpine.

2. Use a Chinese 12V power supply of the sort that can be found on eBay. Only do this if you are comfortable with doing mains wiring. You will need to make an insulating cover for the live terminals, see [www.thingiverse.com] for the one I made. These power supplies have a voltage adjustment, so if the heated bed is a little low on power then you can turn them up to 14V to get more.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Actually the Mendel90 is fine printing ABS with the supplied ATX500 PSU (actually ACE 500BR but Alpine worked as well but less reliable). The reason is that it has the correct load resistors on the 5V and 3.3V lines to keep the 12V at about 11.8V. The PCB get can get to 130C and the top of the glass about 110C.

Most of the ABS parts for the kit are printed on a Mendel90 with the stock PSU and PET tape on the glass.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2014 12:17PM by nophead.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

My Mendel90 built from a kit from Nophead heats the bed regularly to 100C for PETG with no problems. I have only rarely printed ABS but it did heat it to 130C on those occasions.