My Makemendel orca build

No introduction is needed, this is gonna be the build of my first 3d printer, i picked the makemendel.com Orca with linear bearings. Same as the mendel-parts orca 0.3 but with linear bearings and upgraded belt system.

I puchased the whole kit with the exception of the metal peices since i can fabricate them my self.

just picked up the metal peices at the shop and the eletronics, motors and hardware should arrive tomorrow. (11 days lead time, was told 1-2 weeks so no complaints from my end on the timely shipping)


Orca pictures
Orca pictures
Orca pictures
Orca pictures


For those would-be-diy-men wanting to cut it them self. Raw material cost is 63$ (probably less in countries without a 25% sales tax like mine)
92$ for the sheet of aluminium it was cut from, so if u had to scrap the rest of the plate 92$ would be ur material cost (again, probably less depending on taxes and what not)
takes an hour to cut on a waterjet, so depending on the hourly rate thats your grand total, thankfully i only paid raw material cost, and no labour

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2012 10:18AM by Asger.

how's it coming along?

Good, i stopped trying to update the progress manually with pictures, and just started recording it on video and uploading to youtube, it's way easier explainging all the mistakes i've made. my username on youtube is Asger, or search for reprap orca 0.4 assembly

consider it a what-not-to-do video, i detail all the stuff that is not accurately described in the manuals, and my approach/fixes.

[www.youtube.com]

Hi,
First thank you for videos and info.

Is there more progress ? I would like to purchase this orca 0.3+ but I'm afraid to do that if there is no assembly instructions.
Which version do you have 1.75 or 3mm ?
Any printouts ?
Any comments about kit ?

With Regards,
Vedran

Asger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I puchased the whole kit with the exception of the
> metal peices since i can fabricate them my self.

Hello,

Where did you get the DXF (or whatever the extension) of the ORCA metal pieces ?
I have also a CNC and would like to cut pieces !
I did not find on the reprap website..

thanks
Emmanuel

vedran : Yes, there is some new videos comming of the extruder assembly to night, i have the 1.75 nozzle, but makemendel supplied me with both heads free of charge. You won't get any pdf instructions from makemendel.com but they are available online at mendel-parts.com [www.mendel-parts.com]

no prints yet. but hopefully soon

general comments about the kit is overall quality is good, and i can only spot one usefull upgrade to the design. and it's just a very minor change, it's the use of press on sleeves for the 608 bearings like the ones sold here
[captain-slow.dk]

all the bags are nicely labeled so you can see what they are for. and their support is top notch! I've only had to ask them for two things, and both times i got a reply the same day with detailed description and pictures.

technistub : I just emailed makemendel and they sent it to me, i have it too if you want it, but i belive there has been a slight change in the files, they added holes for the opto in the top peice, so if you want those changes you gotta get the new .dwg from makemendel

Ok, thanks Asger!
I will email them to have the last version.
If no respon, i will ask you your files !
thanks

Thanks for infos and videos.
I made payment and I'm waiting for confirmation from makemendel so I will watch for your's videos and notes

No problem, if you ever have questions just ask

@Asger- Thanks for your great feedback and co-operation with us!

@vedran- We will assemble the Extruder for you, free of cost and ship your order soon!

@technistub- Hi..you can drop me a mail at support@makemendel.com and i'll mail you the latest version of the AutoCAD dwg files for the metal pieces

MakeMendel.com

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2012 03:09AM by tejal.

cool, i didn't know how to adj my motor's voltage, thanks.
and i love the linear pillow blocks.
my gen6 doesn't make that noise tho.

Cus u dont have fiveD firmware on it? Or do you have a version with The hardware fix?

honestly, i couldn't tell ya, but i think Camiel mentions it in one of his videos
something about how the earlier ones had a noise to them.

mine is installed per the instructions in the James Hardiman video:
[www.youtube.com]
and the gen6 wiki.

I will cover this in the next video, but for future reference. older Gen 6 boards (even some of the ones sold from mendel-parts) have the noise, it can be fixed if you replace some komponents on the actual board.

The noise comes when the board sends current to the motors to prevent the axis from moving, this creates the high pitched sound if you have a gen 6 board with the old hardware configuration. Some firmwares do not lock the motors when idle, you must start printing before it starts doing it, so for the people with FiveD firmware on their board, you will hear the sound as soon as you power on the board, if you switch to sprinter or marlin firmware you won't hear the sound untill you start printing.

And makemendel provides preloaded FiveD firmware, so that's the reason.

I got my kit today
Can you please post some pictures for building reference if you have time ?
No new videos for us starting the journey Everything going fine ?

Regards and thank you for time and effort to share this info with us,
Vedran

So Asger, is your Orca up and running? What is your overall impression of it? what kind of resolution are you getting out of it and what software are you running to drive it?

It's up and running, if i could have changed anything i would have purchased ramps 1.4 or gen7 deluxe instead of this gen6 board.
and T2.5 belts & pulleys over the T5 that came with the printer.

I have changed from T5 to T2.5 and (not that i had any Z-issues, or that this improved the prints) but i have changed to ACME rods with 8x1.5

only major thing is the hotend, the v9/v10 design is fucked leaks and is impossible to work with, so i got a j-head, plug & play, had to drill 1 hole in the plate to mount it, and it's worked ever since


But someone needs to design a good fan-mount so orca 3/4 users can have cooling on the parts

Oh forgot about the resolution does 0.20 layers nicely

.
hey asger, how did you mount the j-head
id like to see. i personally replaced my Orca's v9 with the hotend and extruder off my makergear prusa.
however, now my prusa is stuck with a crappy hotend. (i learned how to hobb bolts and have a good extruder on it now)

or, does anyone know how to convert a v9 into something more reliable? i have an old lathe, so i can use that.

Hi Asger We purchased a finish orca v0.40, but we have not managed to run it using a win7 64 bit machine, the drives we found on www.makemendel and the sw at the same site and a baud rate of 19200 as in the makemendel instructions. Anyone that can help out ? The extruders that follows looks useless, I will probably make something else, if I Get the printer running I wil design som changes (cooling, print enviroment stabillity, hot end extruder)
I'v had a large Z-corp printer for 6 years, but hoper that we could get this to work for simple mechanical parts...

Hello Jan, probably the baud rate is wrong. If you have Marlin on your Orca (which is very likely for an Orca 0.4, my 0.3 already had it) you need to go up to 250.000 baud, you won't get a connect otherwise. But then, I don't know what Makemendel uses, my Orca is from Mendelparts.

That's because the makemendel orcas come with redsnapper host software and fiveD firmware on the circuit board for the printer (gen6 board)

And everyone with two brain cells still working switched to slic3r and pronterface and installed marlin firmware on their board

Asger, How is your Orca working ?

Quote
tejal
Asger, How is your Orca working ?

Horrible, terrible printer, bad design. moved onto a prusa. much better
also kickstarted the peachy printer, looking forward to getting started with that