MendelMax / Rostock Experement Using OpenBeam

How strong are these beams? 15mm sounds like a lot, but it is also quite hollow...and the recessed side really concerns me..

Could a person bend one?

They are pretty sturdy. The aim of the design is to get rid of the expensive T-Nuts and to use standard plates like in the picture below.

The plates can be hand made from acrylic/aluminium/steel. The more holes you add to the the plates the stronger the structure will end up to be. The nuts and bolts will end up working like refits on an airplane where it gives extra strength to the light and thin body structure.

Because the plates can be hand made it offers the user the option of making machines without the need of a 3d printer.



Dust Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How strong are these beams? 15mm sounds like a
> lot, but it is also quite hollow...and the
> recessed side really concerns me..
>
> Could a person bend one?

---

Protoneer.co.nz - Blog - [blog.Protoneer.co.nz]
Protoneer.co.nz - Shop - [shop.Protoneer.co.nz]

Nope... I tried a 650mm length and it was as tough as can be. I think its the edge design makes it so sturdy.

Dust Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Could a person bend one?

---

Protoneer.co.nz - Blog - [blog.Protoneer.co.nz]
Protoneer.co.nz - Shop - [shop.Protoneer.co.nz]

Thats great, I can see the advantages in how easy it would be to make adjustments while building. Im new to this whole scene so its great to see what options and materials are available.

More progress on the y-axis this week.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Nice, maybe I'll make one when I finish the Mendel90

Should have all the bugs out by then then again I could use the Bill Gates model and leave them in for successive version releases...
This, like the Mendel Max, should be dead easy to build once it is finished, all the extrusions will be the same length for one thing.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

You Mendel90 looks amazing!!! Just love the glass look...

41southrap Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice, maybe I'll make one when I finish the
> Mendel90

---

Protoneer.co.nz - Blog - [blog.Protoneer.co.nz]
Protoneer.co.nz - Shop - [shop.Protoneer.co.nz]

Good stuff...

I take it you will be using T5 belts with the machine? If so how do you find the belts?

There has been lots of discussions on what belts are better.

Secondly, how good does the printed pulleys work? I am sure that will have an effect on the
performance of the belts...

Wired1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Should have all the bugs out by then then again
> I could use the Bill Gates model and leave them in
> for successive version releases...
> This, like the Mendel Max, should be dead easy to
> build once it is finished, all the extrusions will
> be the same length for one thing.

---

Protoneer.co.nz - Blog - [blog.Protoneer.co.nz]
Protoneer.co.nz - Shop - [shop.Protoneer.co.nz]

Just to keep you up to date... I now have the black extrusions in stock.

Happy Building!!!

---

Protoneer.co.nz - Blog - [blog.Protoneer.co.nz]
Protoneer.co.nz - Shop - [shop.Protoneer.co.nz]

I will probably use T5 or XL belts for this printer, the printed pulleys work fine if your printer is printing nicely and mine is right now. I have made a few different versions of pulleys plus I have one T2.5 belt I might use up on this too so I have made a couple of T2.5 pulleys with a similar diameter. As well as these two belt types I just had some GT2-3 belt and pulleys turn up in the post, they have a 3mm pitch and are a timing belt. The pulleys are 16 tooth which are fine for a mendel prusa but won't work with my y-axis design as the pulley needs to be wider than the extrusion profile, so I might use them on the V2 Prusa I am also building.

I know there is a bit of discussion about all these different belts but if the pulley is made well and matches the belt profile then they all work exactly the same. There is no greater resolution or print quality difference between any of them, the only way to increase resolution is to use a smaller diameter pulley so the motor rotates more per mm. I think a lot of the problems people have with belts is caused by either belts not being tight enough and hence more back-lash, or they use an XL belt with a T5 pulley or vice-versa. They are similar but not identical.



BertFromProtoneer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good stuff...
>
> I take it you will be using T5 belts with the
> machine? If so how do you find the belts?
>
> There has been lots of discussions on what belts
> are better.
>
> Secondly, how good does the printed pulleys work?
> I am sure that will have an effect on the
> performance of the belts...
>
> Wired1 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Should have all the bugs out by then then
> again
> > I could use the Bill Gates model and leave them
> in
> > for successive version releases...
> > This, like the Mendel Max, should be dead easy
> to
> > build once it is finished, all the extrusions
> will
> > be the same length for one thing.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

So I used the GT2-3 belt in the end which is a 3mm pitch. Had to make two y-axis carriages to get it right and just finished putting the bottom together this evening.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

New and improved belt tensioner today...

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Nice one Simon!

Cool and effective tensioner design!

EDIT* ....also what type of heated build platform is that?
Haven't seen it before.. is it better than the common HeatBed MK2a?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2012 04:58AM by Inventive.

---

[origininventive.com]
The inventive endeavors of Jason

Its the Helios heatbed made by Panucatt.
I got this when I bought an Azteeg X3 from the recently. They make these themselves and they are the bollocks and cost the same as the Makerfarm ones. They have integrated wiring for the thermistor and big meaty terminals for the power connections all conveniently located in one corner. They also come with an LED as standard.
Apart from all those reasones I also like them because they are about 3mm thick and dead flat so no worry about warpage. Tha last Makerfarm one I bought has a bow in it.
More photos of my one at the bottom of the second page of this thread: Helios hot bed

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Mk1 OB1 just loaded up onto Thingiverse here: [www.thingiverse.com] It is quite heavy and very rigid.
I will start wiring it up now but a few of you have been nagging me to upload the files so here is something to be going on with

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Totally cool, I was getting round to asking if you were going to do an upload to Thingyverse, though it seemed a little soon. Your development I have downloaded all the files and am getting ready for a build. (Printing as we speak). I can see I am going to have to learn another 3D CAD programme. Can Heek export to DXF? I am more famialiar with Autodesk products having used them commercially for a few years. It would be good if I could edit in that. Certainly very impressed with what you have achieved. It seemed a pity for the original Prisim to sort of copy Mendemax. Openbeam is a whole new ball game especially for parts of the world that can't easily access Misumi.

Yes Heeks can exports in DXF as well as STEP. It is open source and free so download yourself a copy and have a go.
Until I see a viable alternative to Thingiverse I am still using it as it does the job very well, however I would rather be on a site where the ownership of my designs is clearly 100% mine
The Open Beam is perfect for printer design as it is smaller than the Misumi extrusions and like you say, at least we can buy it locally.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Thta is interesting. It looks like it is a Linux install only though they do mention windows. I may have to fire up an old Linux box to take advantage of it. I can only say you are doing a great job with the Prisim. Of course everyne has their own favourite of X and Y but they are simple selctions. I am intrigued by your heated bed. I am presuming it is only available as a complete product, i.e. controller etc. I have been looking at producing a Mendelmax (and others shaped bed) with a feed to the centre mounted thermistor on the top surface. Nothing new or clever here but it doesn't seem to be freely available. I need to contact some of the local PC board manufacturers and see what copper weight stock they have on hand. From memory board is about 1200 x 2400 and there are minimum quantities so the thick copper required may not be aavilable here.

The Windows version is on this page: HeeksCad
I only found out about the Helios heated bed when I went to buy an Azteeg X3 controller but you can buy them separately here: Panucatt
You could probably mount one upside down to put the thermistor on the top although even mounting it from below puts it up against the glass as it sits in a hole in the centre.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2012 05:48AM by Wired1.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Wow you have gone ahead in leaps and bounds since first coming to see my Sells Mendel, while all of mine is on the backburner, still gets hooked up now and again to print something I need, but don't really have the time to play at the moment

---

__________________________________________________________________________
Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand

Yes it's all your fault Gary that story in the paper you did was what tipped me over the edge. And thanks by the way.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Downloaded and installed. Thanks for that, looks a well done pacakge. I really liked the heated bed, it's a shame they don't make a lightly larger one, I may order one nevertheless. Does anyone make a lrger 200 x 260 apart from the kapton based mendelmax ones?

Have a look at this thread: Heated bed
This guy has been talking about making a larger bed and you can see some of the comments by readers who, like you, want to get bigger.
The only problem seems to be we all want different dimensions

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2012 08:32PM by Wired1.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Yes I was following that thread. The problem of course is that the free version of Eagle does not allow the bed size we would be interested in. We do have the full version of Eagle at work. I might try to interest one of the users into creating a larger bed. The main problem may then be the build stock. We have quite a few boards made at work so have a good relationship with the manufacturer. i'll do some investigation and see what comes up.

I have been printing your Mendel prisim parts. all have gone well except I have received errors for the Y motor mounting. I am using slic3r 0.9.2. It reports an error and when I look at it in the Pronterface g code viewer it is missing an entire face. The rather nice one with the large holes in it. It looks fine in nettfab though it reports errors and says it has fixed them. i'll try another downlaod in case there was some file corruption. Every thing else has worked brilliantly.

I'm using slic3r 0.9.3 but I doubt there is much difference. I normally run everything through Netfab whether it needs it or not but let me know it the problem isn't fixed with the new download.
Edit: I've just retried it and it has a flaw somewhere I can't see and netfab cloud is down at the moment so I'll run it through tomorrow or whenever it gets back up. I'm not sure how I would have printed it but I must have fixed it first and lost the repaired version.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2012 04:47AM by Wired1.

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

I have uploaded the Y motor mount to the cloud for correction. It came back Ok and now slic3r doesn't report any errors. i've attached the file.

Cool thanks for that - Netfabb has been down all weekend
I'll change the file on Tverse

---

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Richmond, New Zealand
Thingiverse ~ YouTube

Thanks for that....

By the way your extrusions are on their way.


oatridge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have uploaded the Y motor mount to the cloud for
> correction. It came back Ok and now slic3r doesn't
> report any errors. i've attached the file.

---

Protoneer.co.nz - Blog - [blog.Protoneer.co.nz]
Protoneer.co.nz - Shop - [shop.Protoneer.co.nz]