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Building a mendel

Posted by kitsamus 
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kitsamus
Building a mendel
December 03, 2010 04:28AM
I am in the process of building my first mendel.

Still awaiting the thick and thin sheets and extruder hot end from mendel-parts.com.

I can't wait to get this finished and run my first print.
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AgeingHippy
Re: Building a mendel
December 03, 2010 04:48AM
hey dude

Looks gooe EXCEPT for the fact that your x-carraige is upside down...

The extruder should be on top of the carraige and the belt on the bottom....

Your current configuration will have the nozzle pointing up!
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nophead
Re: Building a mendel
December 03, 2010 06:16AM
And the rest of the x-axis.

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]
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rhmorrison
Re: Building a mendel
December 03, 2010 08:34AM
Yes, remove the entire x-axis and flip it 180 degrees and reattach it.
Then you are good.

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse
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AgeingHippy
Re: Building a mendel
December 03, 2010 08:43AM
yes, sorry.Meant the x axisas opposed to the carraige itself. Was the belt that highlighted the issue for me.
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kitsamus
Re: Building a mendel
December 05, 2010 01:10PM
Ah just noticed my mistake, thank you.

X axis is now right way up, just waiting for the rest of my parts to arrive.
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kitsamus
Re: Building a mendel
February 11, 2011 04:30PM
I have now finished my Mendel build and installed the latest firmware for Five D with Gen 6 electronics from Camiel and everything seems to be working as it should. Just a ew problems that I hope someone can help me with.

I am extruding PLA at 185C and I thought it would flow downwards but it tries to push to the side at an angle 45deg from the vertical. Set my Z height about 0.1mm from the print bed but it just wont stik to it, just makes a mess that sticks to the nozzle.

Please help, I really want to get printing
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rhmorrison
Re: Building a mendel
February 11, 2011 05:20PM
And are you using blue painters tape on the print bed?

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse
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jim_blag
Re: Building a mendel
February 13, 2011 12:37AM
Which hot-end and extruder are you using? 185c is too low on my Mendel for PLA. With a nichrome wire-wound hot-end I have to be up around 200-205c to get PLA extruding nicely. With a block style hot-end I find that 220c is required because the thermistor is measuring the temperature of the block, not the nichrome wire.

Regards,

James

Check out my blog.
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NewPerfection
Re: Building a mendel
February 13, 2011 05:34AM
I extrude PLA at 175c. I think it depends on the exact PLA you have. kitsamus, what bed material are you using?

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AgeingHippy
Re: Building a mendel
February 13, 2011 05:40AM
Newperfection

Do your layers bond well?

I understand that if you extrude PLA at too low a temperature it does not bond too well..

I currently have my temperature at 210 Celsius, but I measure it on the heater block.

I will be trying printing at a lower temperature later as part of my configuration exercise.
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rhmorrison
Re: Building a mendel
February 13, 2011 05:47AM
I also print PLA at 210 °C and also have the thermistor on the heater block.

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse
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nophead
Re: Building a mendel
February 13, 2011 07:06AM
The PLA I got from Makerbot needs higher temperatures than the PLA I got from Vik Olliver.

For Vik's I used:
PLA.first_outline_temp = 210
PLA.first_layer_temp = 190
PLA.layer_temp = 190

For Makebot's I use:
PLA.first_outline_temp = 240
PLA.first_layer_temp = 220
PLA.layer_temp = 220

I am currently using a bed temperature of 55C and PET tape. Glass is better but I only make Prusa bearings in PLA, so I don't want to change the bed constantly.

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]
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NewPerfection
Re: Building a mendel
February 13, 2011 12:31PM
My layers bond pretty well. I measure temperature at the nozzle. I may try increasing temp to get better prints though, I'm still experimenting with my new hot end. It's also possible that my thermistor table doesn't exactly match the thermistor I have.

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Just click "Edit" in the top-right corner of the page and start typing.
Anyone can edit the wiki!
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AgeingHippy
Re: Building a mendel
February 13, 2011 12:43PM
erm... I have just put in the spool of PLA I purchased, having finished the sample I was sent and which I have been using up till now for my configuration.

I was getting weird results, in that the second layer of my raft was not binding and in fact the plastic was coming out way too thin, ending up in my extruder failing and requiring dismantling.

My tests now show I need to heat my block to 230 Celsius at least to be able to extrude... and possibly even more as the ooze is not as much as it was previously. I cannot remember who I brought my plastic from, but they essentially got my spool delivered directly from orbi-tech in Germany. The plastic is marked as PLA v2 and has a triangle with temp indicated as less than or equal to 270 Celsius...
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kitsamus
Re: Building a mendel
February 15, 2011 04:27AM
Thank you for all the replies.

RHMorrison- Yes I am using blue painters masking tape on the bed, seems to prefer to stick to itself and the nozzle though

Jim Blag - I am using the block stlye hote end and nozzle from Camiel, I will try a higher temperature and see if that makes a difference

New Perfection - I am using Blue Translucent PLA onto the aluminium bed from Camiel

Ageing Hippy - No layers as yet just an extruded stringy mess, going to try a higher temperature

Nophead - Will try higher temperture and heating the bed with our lasses hair dryer before investing in a heated bed

Will try the all your suggestions tonight and keep you informed of my progress.
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An Original Name
Re: Building a mendel
February 15, 2011 06:05PM
Just throwing this out there... but maybe your first layer is starting too high, so it's not close enough to stick well to the blue tape.
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kitsamus
Re: Building a mendel
February 16, 2011 09:01AM
Tried printing last night with blue tape on the bed and Z height set at 0.1 with paper used as a feeler gage. Started printing ok, then it lifted the tape from the bed so I stopped it.

My bed must not be completely level, I will spend more time on this tonight.

Thank you all for your advice
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kitsamus
Re: Building a mendel
February 19, 2011 06:56AM
HELP!

I'm having real troubles with my Mendel.

When I print the filament comes out, does not stick to the blue tape, curles back on itself and sticks to the nozzle. From there it continues to extrude and curl up around the nozzle.

When I tried reducing the Z height the nozzle atches and lifts the tape.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I would really like to make prints with my mendel but am not having any success.

Thank you in advance.
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brnrd
Re: Building a mendel
February 19, 2011 08:27AM
Try checking the height of the bed using paper as a feeler gauge with the tip hot. You might want to set the gap with two sheets of paper (about 0.2 mm) by adjusting the z end stop and homing the z-axis if your bed is already level. Also, what's your feed rate? You would need to slow it down on the first layer to get PLA to stick reliably. I think I was using 16 mm/s or lower when I was using tape. Is that 3M painters tape? Did you follow Adrian's video instructions and rub it down with paper towel to make sure the glue sticks and to "roughen" the surface?
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kitsamus
Re: Building a mendel
February 19, 2011 10:26AM
BRNRD

Thank you for your suggestions, Z height is set at 0.2mm and bed is level. I am using 3M blue painters tape and have roughed the bed.

I'm using Generatrion 6 electronics from Mendel Parts and printing with PLA, using repsnapper software. I am unsure how to adjust the feedrate, how should I do this?

Thank you
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brnrd
Re: Building a mendel
February 19, 2011 10:42AM
Under print options tab, click on printer settings. It's the tape that needs to be "roughed", not the bed. smiling smiley
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jgilmore
Re: Building a mendel
February 20, 2011 07:57AM
If your filament is curling, you may have a non-round hole. Reaming the hole out to be round again may be needed. See Nophead's post on reboring the nozzle

--
I'm building it with Baling Wire
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brnrd
Re: Building a mendel
February 20, 2011 08:23AM
In my experience, the filament will curl even with a little bit of imperfection in the nozzle. It usually happened to me when you run the tip into the blue tape. The important thing is to look at the extruded filament to make sure that it's round. If it's curling up and sticking back to the tip, just grab the stuck piece with a tweezer and pull it down sliightly so that you can get some sections that you can examine and measure with a caliper.
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izlan
Re: Building a mendel
March 01, 2012 06:00AM
Hi,

It has been a year since the last post.

I got a machine from someone and am trying to get it work but failed. I guess I have the same problem with kitsamus.

Using pronterface and clicking the extrude button, I managed to extrude the PLA (and curled upwards). But whenever I try to print something out, it says, "Serial Error:Recieved a LineNr code without a Checksum code or Checksum without LineNr". The extruder would stop at its starting position.

Can someone help me out please?
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