@Jeffrey - It looks like you might have the motors backwards. The all black ones are the high-torque motors that James intended for the x and y axis. The silver/black ones are for the z-axis since it does not have to move as fast and there are two of them, there isn't as high of a torque requirement.

I might be wrong in this... if you think otherwise, let me know, because I would have to switch mine ;-)

My kit came in today. No x-bar, no extruder, as unfortunately expected.

It's clear there's no good way to take inventory, and I'll have no time to put this together for a while, if I bother at all - I have acquired a stock set of Mendel parts and am in the midst of assembling a 'true' Mendel. We'll see what happens...I won't start assembling this until I see someone having one printing, anyway.

@jeremyl
take a look at the pictures I took of my kit
[endgamebooks.com]
and add 5/16" rods x 12

@buzzard192
I was going to put them the other way around however the y axis motor mount only fits the smaller motors or at least I could not get the larger motor to fit there.

My axis seem to work fine (minus software issues),but I do not like the way the z axis is attached to the threaded rod. I feel the way it is now will work but I think that I can be done better. I am working on a few ideas and will post my results when I am done.

Also what material is the y axis made out of (the white plastic)?
where can I buy it and how much does it cost?

For those that don't keep an eye on his youtube page, James has posted a new video.

Making a raft and starting to print a circle

@Jeffrey - I got the larger one to mount on the y-axis. Not anywhere near the way James intended - but it does not budge... I'll post pics later. I do not know what the white plastic is that he is using, however, it is much better than the yellow stuff...

Buzz

You can see his z motor in the newest video. I do have mine backwards. It looks like I will have to revisit that y motor mount.



I have my z axis disassembled and am going to be trying a Idea I had. I wanted to use 2 bars on each side for the z axis to stiffen it up and I wanted to have the feed screw attached better. I am not sure if eliminating the bearings will work I will keep the motor mount parts on there as well I was just too lazy to model them.

This is what I came up with. I am making it out of pine (for now) but I suppose it could be printed (I suspect that you would want to drill the holes with a drill press though). If there is interest I will post my files after I test it out.

I have my parts cut I just need to get out my drill press and take care of the holes.

Just got my kit in the mail yesterday. I'm startled already at the scale and simplicity of Mendels as a whole, I kept thinking about something easily twice the size. Regarding the kit, I'm happy to see pretty much all of the structural parts, electronics, and motors are there, in lieu of receiving the extruder this should keep me busy in the meantime. Some of the pieces are a bit rough from the mold, but nothing my file can't work with. One little piece had cracked in the bag, and with the support of a buddy's Makerbot we had a basic part printed quickly, and I believe that James is willing to send replacements pretty quickly. Pics of the kit and vertex assembly to come soon.

I'm looking for the video explaining the mounting of the first two motors, can't find it on James youtube channel..

@FrankNeon Are you looking for the two Z motor install video? If so, it is here [www.youtube.com]

I made some decent progress this weekend. I was missing some pieces so I broke out the drill and dremel and made some wood replacements. They seem to be doing the job so far, but James is sending a replacement so I'll have the option of eventually replacing them.

As a note for anyone building a kit, be very careful with how much torque you apply to the parts. The molded parts snap somewhat easily. Fortunately, the superglue I had on hand worked very well on that material--I actually think its stronger after gluing.

Next step, wiring...

@mattkos
If you put nuts on each side of the y axis blocks you can use them to adjust the spacing very easily.
can you take a closer picture of your z axis (the wood parts you made and attached with zip ties) how does that part work for you? I think I might copy it. My own attempts at modifying the z axis failed horribly.

on another note I am glad to see someone as zip tie happy as me.

@mattkos
I just noticed that all your motors are the same. I would ask James if that was intentional.

@jeffrey Olijar
Thanks for the note on the motors, I just sent off a note to James. And to give proper credit on the zip ties--totally stole that from you

I'm at work, so I just whipped up a quick CAD of what I did for the Z axis wood blocks. Seems to work, but I have only been moving them by hand so far. Once the motors start working, we'll see what happens. Note on the CAD, not to scale and I only wish my hexagon cutout was actually a hexagon. I should also probably make the blocks flush to one another with the nut captured in between. The zipties do seem to do a good job holding it down.

what about using only one block and using these?
[www3.towerhobbies.com]

Just a thought. should bite into plastic just as easily as wood. (resin is out though)

In case you care those are called Tee Nuts in most places in the US. You can usually get them at a local hardware store.

Josh

Half way through the build and I have some pics up at frankneon.tumblr.com
In regard to the molded parts, as Mattkos stated, they do break, sometimes even with light hand pressure, so I am using a small file and superglue which gets the job done.

Since in the kits one will receive threaded rod for the vertex with cut ends, much of my vertex bars had bent threads, so I ground them down to the next thread and most worked after that, some I just re-tapped altogether.

Cheers to Jolijar and Mattkos on the zipties, they come in handy with this edition.

found the thread for people working on this variation in the Repstrao thread..so moviing over there with my progress..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2010 12:19AM by FrankNeon.

I'm about to create a blog and re-due part of my website. I'm also uploading the stl files this weekend and a detailed parts list that will greatly help. also i should have video of my printer printing a vertex. the catalyst. what would help is an inventory list and a manual. I'll get that uploaded and included with future kits.

@james
Would you please post your assembly instruction videos downloadable or send them with the kit?
Since it would be very frustrating to reserve a day to work on the Mendel then the connection get shoddy and the video … stops
Thanks

I do believe it would be better to name this machine as "Mendel-like repstrap".

It has no RP parts after all...

Best regards,
Laszlo

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Mendel build log: [blog.arcol.hu]

James posted another video of his machine beginning to print a vertex.
Printing a vertex piece

I would like to see a pic of what the part looked like after the print process. A video of the *start* of a print can't prove a thing.

Looks... gooey

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

yes i will complete a dvd to send with the unit. unforunately those files are too big for me to host myself. also i will post instructions written, rather than video as people taking apart something a dozen times is frustrating.

the parts list is updated on the web page (www.profounddevices.com). also the unit does use similar parts to the frame and all stl files will be available for download.

Too big for you to host yourself? That a lot of data. Have you considered bittorrent? In theory it'd allow you to host an unlimited amount of stuff with unlimited popularity withou totally plugging up your bandwidth...

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I'm building it with Baling Wire

He appears to have shipped something, though he hasn't responded to my e-mail about the x-bar and extruder kit. He also has yet to show the system giving a proper print - he's shown it starting to print something, but not appearing to print correctly, and that was a week ago.

Has anyone had any luck with this yet?

Mine should be in the mail ( the x and extruder).. I saw some other mail telling he could start with the y or extruder.. so I guess he's hot the extruder parts in the mail..

James told me I should get my extruder in a day or two and that it is in the mail.

I have recieved my extruder and have started putting it together. I dont quite understand the driver circuit or sense circuit on james's website. But besides that its really starting to come together now. If all goes well I'll have it printing in the next week or two.

@Jeffrey
Please take notes and pictures of your steps.. Could be helpfull for others!! As the extruder is one of the essential parts, I don't want ti screw that part up! :-)

I have been. I will post them later. (my blog is messed up and I need to reset it I just havent had time.) I figured out how the driver circuit works I have it breadboarded out and it is functional.(at least it controls and led light) I am still unsure of the sense circuit.

Has anyone else got their extruder circuit working? I've been messing with the circuit now for a while and can't seem to get it to respond to the on/off commands from the software.

Thanks to Jeffrey Olijar who sent me some info last weekend, it helped get me almost there (I think). But I am kind of stuck right now. He is using a somewhat custom approach.

The profounddevices site is a little confusing with regard to this, there are two different circuit diagrams for the same circuit for example. James said he is working on a tutorial video, but I guess I'm just a bit impatient.

You paied 2/3 the cost for a Makerbot for your kit. You have a right to be impatient.

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repraplogphase.blogspot.com

@spacexula I got in at the $378 price, only 1/2 the cost of a Makerbot. I still think it was a good deal for that price. However, would I do it over again for the $550? Probably not, for that much I would have splurged the extra $$ on the "sure-thing" Makerbot. For what I payed, I'm willing to tinker.

Kris posted in the electronics forum with a question regarding making sense of his heater/temp circuit. I threw out James's idea - partly because he has two different circuit diagrams on his site and he did not provide me with all the parts needed to do either one.

I have gone with standard reprap circuit for the heater/temp and it is working. Cost me $5 including shipping from DigiKey. I will post circuit and info later today (hopefully).

I am now doing dry runs (no plastic) using Skeinforge and Reprap host. However, it seems to run for a few seconds and then freezes.

Buzz