mendel complete kit.

Video of it printing yet?

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

Yay my parts arrived today, I contacted James shortly after he removed some of his offers from his website. I asked if I could purchase one of the now removed kits, I wanted just the RP parts ... James initially declined, after another email exchange James offered to give me a set of vertices, z-clamps, and y-axis idlers, for just the cost of shipping. Free. The price was right so I happily ordered :-)


Here are some picks of what arrived

I bought a set of vertices from James, but mine did not turn out as nice as those. I mostly did it to get a leg up on building my Mendel. I figured it meant fewer parts I had to print with my McWire and I could replace them once I had a working Mendel.

I will try to use them but mine are pretty rough.

Here is an example, and this is about average for the ones I received. Some are better, some are not.

-- Chris

Bravo, I have looked over your website and viewed the videos of your Mendel device kits. At first glance they seem to be well put together.

However I noticed a problem of sorts that it seems a few others have already noticed. There is no visual proof that your particular design of these kits actually works. All I have seen so far have been assembly videos, and not a completed working device made from these kits either put together by you or a customer of yours.

If anything It makes ponder the idea that you may be rushing into the sales of these kits based only on your own theories of operation instead of actual real world tests.

How are we supposed to know if these will truly function properly if you haven't built a demonstration model out of this particular kit?

Do you have videos or photos of the other three printers that you built besides the one you refer to as "the beast"?

When I see a legitimate video of one of these kits that's actually up and running I will tip my hat to you and show a bit more interest in your product.

He seems to be very busy making kits for people. I think that he disassembled his prototype to make instruction videos. He just posted a video of the extruder working while attached to the mendel. I suspect that we will see a video of him printing something shortly.

My kit is in the mail and I should recieve it shortly. It wont take me long to build it (because I am on spring break and have free time) I will post pictures while I am building it and a video the second I have it printing.

Where was this new video posted? I looked for it on James' official website as well as in the two threads he posted on this forum, it was not to be found.

Please post a link to the new video.

For clarification, what kind of steel are the structural rods and the lead screws made of? Stainless, cold rolled. are they machined, ground or extruded to their final dimensions? What are the + or - tolerances for the straightness of the rods end to end?

All of his videos can be found at:

[www.youtube.com]

Thank you for the link, I will view the new video and see if it adds any more insight to the functionality of James' kit.

James' new video shows some promise as it is obvious that the extruder is attached to one of his kits and the extruder was functioning as it should, at least when it is manually operated.

This still falls a bit short of proving the functionality of his kit. There is a vast difference between a fully operational device and a manually operated component of the device.

As stated in another thread on this forum it would help if there was a video of any one of James' previous four machines printing out parts.

That's a Makerbot extruder!

That's a Makerbot heat, not the actual extruder, he is still pushing it with his hand. Why he doesn't just slap a full prinstruder on the thing (since he has 4 printers according to him), I don't know.

He has been at this a month now, still NO machine driven extrusions. Much less an extruded straight line, or circle.

Scary.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

I just got my kit. The extruder is coming in a separate package which is a bit disappointing but I will say that all the other parts look pretty good. Build log will be posted here

[endgamebooks.com]

I am taking a complete inventory and will post pictures as soon as I am finished. It looks promising so far.

Good to hear you got it in...hoping he gets mine shipped soon. I'm a bit worried that he hasn't updated the shipping status page - I really want to get started assembling this thing next week, and will be quite disappointed if he doesn't ship it today (Monday was three weeks from the date I ordered it...).

I posted a bunch of pictures on my blog here
[endgamebooks.com]

My first impressions are good. There are a few things I have noticed.
My X-Bar, Extruder and Extruder motor are in a different package.
I am also missing all the 5/16" threaded rods for the frame.
If you look in the second picture, the square part that is colored diffrenetly has a hole in the wrong place.
I believe that this is an honest mistake.

Every picture is what was included in a plastic bag that was taped shut.
It also included a inventory sheet with pictures, however all of them are very light and unreadable.

The parts themselves vary in quality but I believe all of them are usable even if they are not "pretty"
I long for a master checklist so I can cross off what I have and will know exactly what I need. Also I feel it would be nice to have photos next to each of the parts so I know the difference between them.

I am going to email James about the 5/16" rods and the square clamp part. I am also going to ask him for the pictures he used for inventory that way I can double check what I have.

Overall I am feeling pretty good about this project.

Just got a response from James. He is going to ship out the parts I am missing and I should get them on Monday.

Yeah it is a little scary, kind of makes me ponder if he even plans on completing one of the kits for himself.

I can imagine he is putting in a lot of hours and funds from his own pocket but neither of those last forever if the product doesn't sell well enough. Give him another month, he will either sink or swim with his sales.

I'm hoping that all these guys with the first initial "J" in their name will come through with the videos and photos they promised of them building and operating their kits that they bought from James.

Hopefully they are nice enough to include themselves in the video or the photos face in frame with their machines while pushing the start button. I'm getting bored of the faceless videos that don't prove very much.

He claims 30 kits sold.

At $300 a piece that's $9,000 took in, at the new price ($500), it's $15,000.

He claims to have shipped 5 kits on his site.

So I have a feeling he hasn't put a whole lot of "his on funds" into this.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

I don't quite believe the numbers James has posted, this whole deal smells too fishy. There are just too many things out of sorts here. Everything that has been pointed out as being strange with these kits could easily be taken care of with a legit video or two of the kit actually printing out parts. There have been no true attempts to clarify this from the seller, just more faceless assembly videos being posted.

I still get the feeling he's working out of his own pocket at this point.

spacexula Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> He claims 30 kits sold.
...
> He claims to have shipped 5 kits on his site.

I will say that I purchased one of his kits. So far, I too have received one of the two boxes. As I understand it, the second box (extruder) is delayed because he is switching to using the MakerBot extruder, instead of his custom-designed extruder.

My purchase is not listed on his site. I believe that the list on his site were all pending orders when he posted the list. So we don't know how many of his kits are out there.

I am one with a status shipped...

I haven't got the idea of being 'scammed'.
Will it be printing? I think it will, I rather have the idea that, due to all the orders, he's too busy to create the full working version.

That's my idea!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2010 11:55AM by mhensen.

@Kelly
I do not mean to seem rude but I am getting kind of sick of people calling James a scammer. Implying that I am part of his so called scam personally offends me. I have never met nor am I affiliated with James in any way. I use my real name if you took 5 min of your own time you would see that I am in fact a real person. furthermore If you are that concerned about his product I suggest you go buy yourself a cupcake cnc it is well tested and only costs a few hundred dollars more.



Sarcasm
Is this picture good enough for you or do you want a copy of my drivers license and social security card as well?
/Sarcasm

@Jeffrey,

You might want to have a second look at the z-bearing pieces. James puts a nut in the middle of each bearing set for spacing.

Buzz

I actually asked James about the exact assembly order. Its only together loosely as I was unsure. I just got back from the hardware store. I bought some 5/16 threaded rods so I can make my frame (James has some in the mail for me but I am kinda impatient having all these parts in front of me. I am going to build one for my college when I finish mine so the extra parts wont go to waste.) I'll post some pics when I am done with the frame.

I only point out what I point out because I find it humorous.

People have given him 9+ THOUSAND dollars for something that has not printed. He claims to be using a "Makerbot Extruder" when what it actually looks to be is JUST the nozzle.

Why not ask the people on at Makerbot, and Rapman, and Reprap, which was the hardest part of the printer:

-Building a robot that moves in 3 axis (which he has)
-Getting a robot that can execute simple 1 line gcode commands (what he has)
-Building a relatively functioning extruder (which he has not yet done (He looks to be using a Makerbot nozzle, but notice he has not show a plastruder, which is the actual Makerbot extruder)
-Getting reliably stable print quality (which he does not seem to even have STARTED the process of fleshing out)

Trust me, myself and the other critical members of the board would have been JUST as critical if Makerbot had sold their Makerbot Mk1, which was threaded drive, and by their own admission... not reliable.

If this was a research project, and he wasn't selling kits EVERYONE on this forum would be cheering him on, no matter how wacky his design is. But he has took at least $9,000 in, he calls he device a Mendel, when it only shares 2 parts with it. He calls it a printer when it has not printed anything.

He doesn't seem to be a scam, he is just selling a VERY flawed product, aka a printer that doesn't print, and might NEVER print in the form of kits that he has sent out to date. When you sell a product in public, you open yourself to reviews.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

I enjoy a challenge which is why I was unafraid of buying his kit. I have also worked with resin cast parts before and knew what to expect. All my questions I have had have been responded to within 24 hours. I budgeted $1000 towards making a 3d printer and have only spent roughly $500 at this point. So far my build is going well. I had a few minor problems, but I am confident that I will get all the axis to function properly. As far as the extruder goes I cannot say as I have not received it yet. Also I am waiting for some parts that I ordered from Jameco to get here so I can work on the electronics. I don't like the idea of exposed circuits so I got a enclosure for them. I also got some threaded rod for the frame but it occurred to me that I don't know exactly how long to cut it. I sent an email to James but I am at a work stoppage till I hear back from him. I have no experience with 3d printers so this is all new to me. I am very good with mechanical things and have access to a full machine shop (at my local college). I have no problem with people being critical of his design. I do have a problem with being accused of being a scammer. From my dealings with James I don't think that he is a scammer. I think he is a little over his head at this point and should only work with the orders he has till everyone gets their machines up and running. But that's my opinion. Only time will tell if others are as happy as I am with their kit.

Jeff

Thank you for posting the photo of yourself, it was actually a big help in more ways than one. I apologize for the rudeness but the end result was exactly what I was looking for. Someone posting a legit photo, kit included, that could not be disputed as just another nameless, faceless photo that proves nothing.

Your photo lets us know that the kits are being purchased and showing up at the customers door.

It would be a an even bigger benefit when you post a video of your kit up and running printing out parts. I think that's what the Reprap.org community really needs to see sometime in the near future.

spacexula Wrote:
>
> Why not ask the people on at Makerbot, and Rapman,
> and Reprap, which was the hardest part of the
> printer:
>
> -Building a robot that moves in 3 axis (which he
> has)
> -Getting a robot that can execute simple 1 line
> gcode commands (what he has)
> -Building a relatively functioning extruder (which
> he has not yet done (He looks to be using a
> Makerbot nozzle, but notice he has not show a
> plastruder, which is the actual Makerbot
> extruder)
> -Getting reliably stable print quality (which he
> does not seem to even have STARTED the process of
> fleshing out)
>

Heh, yeah, that sounds like my experience with my McWire. I had it up and running pretty well and thought to myself, that wasn't too bad.

Then I tried to get the extruder to work reliably with my McWire and ran into all kinds of problems, and I was using a finished product from Makerbot.

Then, finally, everything was working and I realized I had no idea how to configure Skeinforge to print properly with the McWire. That took a bunch of time too.

Now I finally have acceptable prints coming out but it still takes a bunch of work.

I ended up with newfound respect for the folks like Makerbot. Its one thing to build a prototype unit, its a whole different story to produce a stable product.

-- Chris

Jeffrey Olijar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I also got some threaded rod for the frame but it
> occurred to me that I don't know exactly how long
> to cut it. I sent an email to James but I am at a
> work stoppage till I hear back from him.

Jeffrey - all of the rods in the kit are 1' lengths.

Buzz

I think James is trying to make his own extruder and probably some other improvements but has some difficulties. If this is the case then he should have posted the problems he is facing so that everyone can help. Don’t forget Reprap community has engineering background in various disciplines and also willing to help.

About SCAM:
The way I see it is that James is selling a product he posted numerous videos about its development status for the buyers to know exactly what they are buying. As I mentioned earlier, Reprap community has engineering background and should be able to recognize the risks involved.
Those risks shouldn’t be exaggerated because Reprap is a proven design, all he is trying to do is to make some improvements over a working concept.