Mendel 90 vs Prusa Mendel i3 in NZ?

Hi all,

Its another slow week at work so I'm doing more research into building myself a reprap machine. From what I have read, both the Mendel 90 and Prusa Mendel i3 are pretty similar. Much the same construction, tolerances, accuracy etc. Does the Mendel 90 have a slightly bigger print area? How do they compare regarding on-going maintenance?

Anyway, I'm just wondering what experience people in NZ have with either or both? I would like to build one of these, but I'm more interested in getting a complete kit and assembling rather than shopping around for parts (as I find this frustrating) Can anyone recommend either one of the other based on the availability of parts in NZ? (in particular a full complete kit)

Dust - I know you have an i3 nearly finished - have you got this working yet?

Is it a good idea to order a complete kit from makerfarm.com?

Thanks guys
Patrick

For a Menel90 you'll want to buy a kit from Nophead in the UK.
"The price of the kit is £499, plus VAT in the EU, plus shipping. For availability check the forum post here."
looks like £70 for shipping to NZ

I've just finished assembling my own and I can't count the number of times I wished I bought a kit instead of trying to source so many screws and odd parts.

Chris seem to support the Mendel90 well on the forum and seems very active in the community. The design is really well though out and has a lot of small details that have impressed me.

Build volume 200mm x 200mm x 200mm.
Filament 3mm.
Nozzle size 0.4mm.
Footprint 465mm x 419mm.
Height 400mm, with spool 609mm.

I don't have any experience with an i3. I admire the simplicity and low number of parts and fasteners though.

My I3 is moving but not printing yet... Was always going to be slow going since im also playing with the 4pi controller board on it.

But a friend of mine (whom I supplied 90% of parts to) has his I3 printing, using a standard ramps

They are really easy to assemble.

The mendel 90 is more polished in my view, they have thought about cabling etc, where as the I3 the cables are just everywhere.

As for specs, dispite the BS. All reprap like machine are capable of the same resoutions (as long as they arent crappy wobble bots)
They all use the same basic electronic, firmware, steppers, linear bearing and extruders. So it comes down to regidity of the frame. you can of couse use overly cheap parts, and you get cheap results.

I say go with the one you like the best, they are both good printers.

Thanks guys,

Both look like good designs, It's more a case of me being lazy! I just want to order all the equipment at once I so I don't end up with a half finished project 6 months down the line if I should get distracted with other projects!

The Mendel 90 does look a bit more polished in the design, but I'm not too worried how it looks as long as it works.

Dust - You were selling partial i3 kits on Trademe a while back, do you have any more available? or parts? I must arrange a time at some stage to come visit and see your machines in action...

Cheers
Patrick

The auction expired a few times without any bids so im holding off relisting for a while

I have 5 partial kits left, you could have one tomorrow, if you wished

Although the basic I3 may seem just that there has been a lot of good input from many people with improvements, even to the level of nice cable tidiers. I have almost finished a build myself and I'm very pleasedwith the way it has come out. As to print quality, no matter what the printer it's all about the effort you put in to the tuning. There are some variations but once tuned most rep raps are pretty similar depsite all the talk. The main differences are about speed and build size. Unless you are in a production environment speed isn't that important and size, well once you have built one you can always print parts for something bigger. Go with what ever you feel best about, it will always be your unique printer and the results will be about what you put into it.

Managed to get a picture of my almost finished Mendel90 next to an i3 this weekend at the Auckland meet up. Nice to see them side by side.

except the I3 is backwards!

Ha just noticed that now! Did it get turned round at some point or was I always looking at it backward?

Backwards, forwards... doesn't really matter!

Both nice looking machines. It is good to see them side by side - thanks for posting the pic.

The M90 does look pretty sturdy with that massive base platform.

Here is a picture of our Signature Prusa printing at a mini Maker Faire last week in Chester, PA USA

What is a Signature Prusa?
Did Prusa sign it?

---

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Im planning on building a mendel 90, as I just finished my Rostock Mini.

I can only find Nop head from the UK selling these kits... does anyone else sell them???

I've got my Prusa i3 running nicely now, it seemed a reasonably easy build. Admittedly I did pull apart an i2 to get most of the bits. I don't think you'll have any problem sourcing the bits yourself for an i3 if you wanted to go that route. Get a list of all the vitamins you need and go to EDL or Blackwells or somewhere like that. EDL got everything I needed bagged up and ready to pick up the day or two later for a very reasonably price. AliExpress will get you bearings, electronics, stepper motors and hot end for very cheap prices. I got all my bits from there and have had no problems at all. I built the box frame version, but it would be easy to get Ponoko to laser cut you the frame pieces.

I got the printed parts for my i2 on a "Get one free, give two sets away for free" deal, so I owe the world 2 sets of printed parts for whatever you want to build. If that's useful to you then let me know.

it will always be your unique printer and the FIFA 15 XBOX Coins results will be about what you put into it.

I built my Mendel from self sourced parts:

Ramps, mega, steppers, headbed, linear bearings and j-head mk5 from eBay.
Acrylic sheet from classique plastics on trademe,
550w psu from trademe .
Vitamins from the team at makershop.
All the printed parts came from a UK mendel owner and arrived on 3 days.
Home made hobbed bolt for the wades.

I cut the frame with a circular saw and jigsaw, so the edges aren't overly pretty, I have a menagerie of different wires heading into smashed together junction board for easy connection to the ramps pin headers, and it just generally isn't as polished as I've seen some builds. However, it has never missed a beat, never jammed, never had part lift off the build plate before completing, and only scrape and wipe the bare glass between prints. Even when the heat bed mosfet got hot enough to desolder itself from from the board, it kept running. So for what it's worth, I reckon the mendel is pretty good.