Anyone building a mendelMax?

from [store.trinitylabs.com]

3/8"-12 leadscrews, 304mm long.
Z steps per mm is 1511.81102362205 with 1/16" microstepping and 1.8 degree/step motors.
One end is machined to 8mm, the other to 6.35mm (1/4") so it is compatible with most couplers used in the RepRap community.

They look like the best option for the price, anyone tried ball threads? Probably too coarse and they don't seem to make small diameters.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

I have just ordered the rods, 2 x 10mm and 4 x 8mm, all 500mm chromed hardened linear rod etc. plus 4 x SC8UU for the y-carriage, 4 x LM8UU for the X-carriage and 4 x LM10UU for the X ends. Came in at USD$81 which is $100 in our money today. I'll let you know how they look when (if) they arrive in three weeks time

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Finished printing all the frame components and ordered the acme rods and nuts today.

Next I need to work out which x-ends I'm using and find a belt/pulley supplier who actually has stock.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

I spent the past 1 month to optimize the MendelMax BOM so that it can be offered at a very affordable price.
For $699, you get a complete MendelMax 1.5 kit - shipping from Malaysia.

It is available at my eBay store http://stores.ebay.com/Blomker-Industries


Cheers

That's not too bad a price - depending on the shipping cost I guess. NZ$865 plus shipping today.
Lot of stuff to source, but I'm almost there...

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Just got my MendelMax up and running. Its running really smoothly. Need a little more fan cooling

trutrack Wrote:
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> Just got my MendelMax up and running. Its running
> really smoothly. Need a little more fan cooling

Wow I've never seen a Mendel with ball screws! I'll bet that Z axis is smooth as hell. Does the gantry fall when the steppers are powered off?

No the gantry is fine the ball screws are 4mm pitch and only about $100US for both including fast shipping machined to my spec.

Looking good, I like your wiring and the ball screws

Still working on the wiring. Wanted it so I could change anything so all steppers, heated bed, quick change extruder, fans are plugged in. Plan to have an extruder for PLA, one for ABS and a third one for ASA. Just got it going this morning and already the quality is better than my Prusa Mendel. Prusa Mendel your about to get a rebuild. Change Z screws to 1/4" acme, fit proper coupliers, Add a good adjustable Z axis end stop, fit better fan. Not sure yet about quick change carriage may be to small for that.

Interesting z-axis design, no guide rails at all.
My rods and bearings arrived today, pretty bloody quick considering I only ordered them about a week ago.

The pillow blocks are for the y-axis table, the 10mm rod for the z-axis and the 8mm rod for x and y. The rod quality is amazing.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Decided that with 12mm hardend lead screw did not need the guide rails. Supported the lead screw top and bottom with bearings.The guide rails are only there to support a smaller lighter lead screw. Your parts look good. I used the bearing blocks you have for my Y axes worked well. Sourced from china BST AUTOMATION. Good and fast if you use DHL.

Yes from BST, good bunch of guys and I'll get more from them. They sent me 2 extra 10mm rods for some reason, probably the language thing. I'll have to build something else.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Wired1 Wrote:
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> I'll have to build something else.

That's their cunning plan.

More bits arrived today, if only the alloy extrusions would arrive then I could start building...

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Ordered one of these today, looks the bollocks. Also ordered their heated bed and 5 pololulus .
Panucatt Azteeg


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2012 02:32AM by Wired1.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Thats an interesting board, a RAMPS and atmega2560 all in one (effectively)

You will have to review it for us

Ive also just gotten a new board to play with, a 4pi!

[4.bp.blogspot.com]

Yes I hope it's as good as it looks - love the screw terminals. I just hope it will load and run Marlin with SD support.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Extrusions finally arrived today, 6 metres of it might have to build something else with the left overs.

I only bought a few T-nuts to make sure they fit and they do so now I will have to wait for them to arrive no rush.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

This is pretty neat if you haven't seen it already...
3d interactive image of mendelmax

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2012 08:07PM by Wired1.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Cut all the extrusions and cleaned up the ends today, took most of the 6 metres I had so just as well I ordered that much.
Use my drop saw and it worked very well once I had set up a jig to hold them - bloody noisy process though


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2012 12:43AM by Wired1.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Hello All,
Just got the kit today from Blomker Industries!!!
It looks good so far, all the printed parts look very nice.
I only ordered it less than a week ago and it arrived today in Dayton Ohio!!

I've got some experience with CNC having built my own, later making changes to use ball screws/nuts.

I'm excited to get started and expect to be finished sometime this weekend.

Wish me luck.

It was worth the shipping cost for me to get the product so very very fast.

Chris

Which version Mendel Max are you building?

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Finally finished my Mendel max this weekend. It has taken me well over a year to build and was interrupted several times with my two open beam printers and a number of other non-3D-printer projects. It is basically a Mendel Max 1.5 with my own x-axis carriage and extruder.
It features 10mm z-axis rods and x-ends by Jonas Kuehling, and 8mm y and x axis rods.

Electronics is Printrboard with Marlin firmware. The printrboard has onboard SD card support and I am also working on a new LCD panel that will plug into this board for stand-alone (PC-free) operation. The power supply is an ATX type from Ascent technology and rated at 400W which is plenty for the hot end and Makerfarm heated bed. The Power supply is attached to the printer and permanently wired in making it a true one-piece printer. I have added fans for the X and Y motors as well as two on the X-carriage to keep the PLA extruder under control. The extruder is my new one-piece Wade-type extruder from here: General purpose extruder #4 and the carriage I have used on several printers is here: 5-piece X carriage

I also designed a new Y-carriage here: Pellow block Y-carriage for Mendel Max that uses Pellow blocks (manufactured linear ball bearings mounted in aluminium blocks).
This printer has a build area of 200mmx200mm by about 185mm high with this extruder arrangement.
If anyone is interested in buying this printer give me a PM. I want $2000 for it as it ready to rock or $2400 with the notebook computer.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2013 01:26AM by Wired1.

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Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube