I recently built a Mendel90 and it is working fantastic! I want to add an LCD screen/sd card reader though. Primarily because I seem to get the occasional hiccup or brief pause when my computer decides to do something like shut off the screen, or in general do something in the background I don't want it to. I'm using a Sanguinololu board, and I have performed the fan mod, involving hooking upby scubaguy - Mendel90
I finally did find a few examples. They were on thingiverse, and can be found searching there, but didn't show up on any google search. I'll probably build one to be safe, because I just don't like constantly removing and reinserting the filament, and then having to try to retighten the extruder just perfect. I'd rather it always just be ready to go. My area is pretty rainy and humid, its winby scubaguy - General
Quotezerodameaon People do this all the time, there are a lot of instructions around the web to build filament holders with desiccants out of plastic totes, 5 gallon buckets(what I use based off of 3dPonics design, or at least i think that is who posted it) etc. It is a great idea, go ahead and do it. Interesting. Do you know where i can find any examples? I did some searching once again, withby scubaguy - General
I'm too new to 3d printing to have experienced this myself, but one thing I've read many times is the issue of keeping filament dry, and not allowing humidity to penetrate into it. I don't know what most people's humidity is, but I know my indoor humidity is about 85% right now. I was thinking, maybe it would be a good idea to make an enclosed spool holder. Basically a sealed box, with a windoby scubaguy - General
Yeah, I figured 2 ohms might be high, when I heard somewhere 1.2 was normal. I figured after burning up a board I'd err on the side of caution, especially since everywhere I look, nobody ever seems to list the resistance. At least this seller had a spec for resistance. I remember the wiki also says get etched rather than plated, but searching for etched ones I don't really find anything, theyby scubaguy - General
I appreciate the help. And good to know as user cdru mentioned, full current is applied, no matter what temperature rise is applied for. I think I figured out though why the temperature would jump so high so fast, basically the vast majority of the heat was going through that one area, right next to the thermistor, so it makes sense that area would overshoot temperature almost immediately, wby scubaguy - General
Power supply is a corsair 500W ATX. Heated bed was on ebay, bought it quite awhile ago, around 6 months ago, so I don't remember the seller.by scubaguy - General
Building my first printer, and ran into this issue. The board is a Sangrinololu and the firmware is marlin, heatbed is MK2a. Using pronterface, I tried the heatbed for the first time. Issuing a barely even warm command of 30 degrees C. Immediately I heard popping and this track burned up before I could do anything about it. The bed seems to still be at least partially functioning, the LED coby scubaguy - General
I've read about 10 different guides on stepper motors, and can't quite find the answer to this question. Why exactly would a stepper motor have high resistance in the coils? Like these ones that I'm having problems with, which have about 20 ohms of resistance in the coils. I realize there are other factors at play like inductance, which contribute to overall impedence, but it just seems likby scubaguy - General
I'm wondering if there is any particular technique to accessing the belt clamps under the y carriage to properly secure and tighten the belt. It seems like it will be a very tedious process trying to slip the fingers underneath, holding the belt tight with fingertips and tightening a tiny bit at a time with an L allan key. I'm actually leaning towards drilling one or two access holes in the bby scubaguy - Mendel90
Quoteneildarlow @scubaguy: You are probably aware that the Mendel90 uses a bipolar X,Y coordinate system with 0,0 in the centre of the bed. nophead's and my firmware both support this. Thanks for the reply. I wasn't familiar withe the coordinate system before, but I've been researching different coordinate systems now to understand them, such as polar, bipolar, cartesian, etc. I'm a little cby scubaguy - Mendel90
OK, I took a photo to show what I'm working with. I obviously need to adjust my homemade bracket a little to get the hotend more correctly centered, right now I think 2 corners are touching and 2 have a gap. But basically, before it was like putting a square peg in a round hole. The corners of the hotend were too big to fit (this was even before I put the 2 wraps of silicone tape). I cut offby scubaguy - Mendel90
I'm a total beginner, building my first printer. I may be jumping the gun a little bit asking this, but I'm a little confused about something. Reading the various calibration guides, and calibration videos, I seem to constantly see the need to reflash firmware when making changes. Like you measure your steps per mm, and then reflash the firmware. Measure your extruder settings, make adjustmenby scubaguy - General
Thanks for the reply. So I can understand the differences between the neildarlow and nopheed firmware, but I'm still a little confused about what makes these different than the standard Marlin firmware. (I'm a total beginner) Like why does the mendel90 have its own customized firmwares? Isn't the Mendel90 a standard reprap thats compatible with the standard firmware like the stock marlin, spriby scubaguy - Mendel90
I've seen a number of different firmware variations for the Mendel90, such as one by nophead, and one by neildarlow. Can anyone explain if these customized versions are needed, or what exactly they change over the standard marlin firmware? Do they actually have code changes made, or do they just have some of the adjustable paramaters pre-changed? I have heard that some changes need to be maby scubaguy - Mendel90
Thanks for the input. I hacked together an aluminum bracket to use until I can print out the real thing. I didn't get around to taking a photo of the clearance around the hotend. I think the shroud was printed the right size, because the fan fits correctly, but then I just have what I believe is a common and typical hotend. A j-head MK-V. It was just a little bit too big to fit inside throby scubaguy - Mendel90
So I'm building my first 3d printer. The mendel90 kit I bought off ebay came with a carriage fan shroud, but seems to be missing the carriage fan bracket. I started building a bracket myself out of sheet aluminum, but then I started to wonder just how important is this fan shroud? I'm a little uneasy about the shroud in general right now because, not only am I hacking together a bracket, but Iby scubaguy - Mendel90
I'm putting together my first reprap. I've read the wiki about what microstepping is, but I couldn't really find any info pertaining to why someone would choose one level over the other. Or if there are advantages/disadvantages to going too high/low. The board I have is a Sanguinololu, and by default the jumpers are set for Sixteenth microstepping. My stepper motors are mixed and matched, I hby scubaguy - General
I'm trying to shop for an budget LCD screen with sd card reader for the Sanguinololu. Any recommendation on one which will work best, with the least amount of headaches? I've found these 12864 graphical models for about $18, which are supposedly compatible with sanguinololu with a small adapter. but documentation is somewhat slim. There is a page here that I found however in my research useby scubaguy - Sanguino(lolu)
I have a mendel90 dibond kit. It uses 6mm threaded rod on the z axis. I need the 2 nuts with the spring in the middle though that go on the rod and slide into the x idler. However I have a bunch of m6 nuts, and they are all way too small. The nut channel in the plastic is way too big for these M6 nuts to fit. The hole in the top is still a 6mm size hole, so I'm pretty sure the piece is printby scubaguy - Mendel90
Thanks for the input. The switch is XSS-5GL like this one I also kept finding 2.8mm and 4.7. I tried ordering some 4.7mm ones (which are roughly .187 inches) to see if they will fit. Hoping maybe the 4.7 referrs to the outside diamater. If not sounds like I may just have to solder, and desolder if I ever want to change them.by scubaguy - Mechanics
I know a number of 3d print pens were making rounds, with very mixed reviews. But doing some searching, I was surprised I didn't find any home made ones. Considering I'm sure there are a lot of reprappers out there with spare extruders/hotends laying around, has anyone tried operating one by hand? What were the results?by scubaguy - General
Thanks for the responses. I'll plan on keeping the bootloader, and checking the firmware version with pronterface. Can anyone clarify something about the bootloader though? When reading through the wiki, near the top in the "bugs" section, the second bug mentions a problem with the motors moving during firmware upgrade. It says "A software fix is to use the the Gen7 boot strap that does notby scubaguy - Sanguino(lolu)
I'm using the common micro limit switches, and hoping to find a crimp connector for them instead of soldering, in case I need to replace them, or change their configuration (from normally open to normally closed). They have 3.3mm blades on them, which from what I can tell are typically referred to as spade connectors. However I cannot seem to find these tiny little spade connectors anywhere. Iby scubaguy - Mechanics
I'm building my first reprap. Its almost done mechanically, so I will need to install the software to setup/calibrate/run it. I've read the great section in the wiki but the number of choices are somewhat overwhelming. host+slicers like Repsnapper, Reprap host, or ReplicatorG. Individual hosts like Pronterface and the others, combined with one of the many slicers. Can anyone comment on whatby scubaguy - General
Building my first reprap, a mendel 90, and I'm having a little bit of confusion about the z limit switch. Based on my research of all different scattered info,it appears that the z limit used to be at the bottom, but nowadays there does not appear to be one at the bottom, only at the top. Are there pros/cons to having the switch at the bottom vs the top? Is there a particular reason for the chby scubaguy - Mendel90
I'm building my first reprap. I have a Sanguinololu board which is probably about a year or two old. Supposedly it already has a bootloader and firmware, but I'm unsure which. I've read the wiki and the number of firmware choices seem overwhelming for a beginner. Can anyone recommend a good bootloader/firmware combo? Is there a way to check which I already have?by scubaguy - Sanguino(lolu)
Is there any reason to choose using normally open vs normally close endstops? It seems the typical method is to use them as normally closed, so they open the circuit when touched. But isn't that wasting electricity, even if only a tiny trickle, having it constantly flowing through the switch. I'm using a Sanguinololu board, and according to the wiki it wants them to be normally open. This seeby scubaguy - General
Thanks for the response. I will ditch the PG35L-048 and get another stepper instead. I've been having trouble finding just what sort of specs are ideal, so I'm wondering, will this be a good stepper for the extruder (or any other axis)? Its only $16 shipped, available in the usa, and has 76 oz/in of torque (which I hear is a lot), and 750mm lead wires. Anyone have input if that should be aby scubaguy - General
So I'm building my first reprap (a mendel90), I've ended up salvaging parts from all over, many from a failure of a kickstarter that I supported, and I'm trying to make things work. I have three 0.9 degree stepper motors already, but searching for 1-2 more I've noticed the 0.9 seem harder to find and more expensive, and based on what I read, when you get microstepping involved, you don't necessaby scubaguy - General