I will start with a disclaimer, I have not yet built the Mcwire cartesian bot as I am still griefing with electronics and software but I do have some opinions. From reading the instructions, forums posts and looking at other builds I feel that Mcwire has many good points and one major bad point. The Mciwre structure seems cheap and easy to build with a large margin for error and ample opportunitby spaztik - General
Quotesircastor The McWire is a great idea, and a pretty good execution, but I'd love a hand-count of how many people have successfully bootstrapped a RepRap off of one... Me too. It seems to me Mcwire is bordering on being time-prohibitive for use to bootstrap Mendel but as I have little other choice I will be building one as soon as my parts come of back order. I have heard many people with idby spaztik - General
Here is another bootstrap extruder I just stumbled accross. extruderby spaztik - General
I asked a similar question in this thread. In particular the post by jeffpark_ where he links to this extruder made from mdf, again from binary construct. Also, Sebastien I believe this same person is the binaryconstruct fellow.by spaztik - General
Cool, I can scratch $9 from the balance sheet. Thanks.by spaztik - Mechanics
I have notice that the Mendel design calls for only three opto-endstops however the mcwire and darwin (if memory serves) designs call for 6. Has there been a change to the firmware that allows for only three endstops? I plan to build mcwire to bootstrap mendel and am wondering if I need to buy 6 endstops or if I can get by using three.by spaztik - Mechanics
Nice walk through, thanks. It answered some questions I had like how important counter sinking is (or isn't). One question though, do you think the teeth on a timing pulley will be sharp enough to dig into the filament and provide traction? I am also eagerly awaiting some pictures/video. PreciousL - The BOM for mcwire can be found here. There is also a link on that page to a Google spread sheetby spaztik - General
These pages might help. Canadian suppliers thread. Canadian suppliers wiki. If you find a good supplier for belts and pulleys please post it on the forum as that is something I am having a hard time finding as well.by spaztik - General
I am also in Canada and planning to build mcwire to bootstrap mendel. I am stuck at the sourcing materials stage until makerbot restocks the stepper drivers. I have found all of the structural components of mcwire at Acklands Grainger, although its really hard to find. Its under Material Handling. Acklands Grainger plumbing section They also have a lot of other stuff you might need like fasteneby spaztik - General
The extruder is made out of MDF, probably not the best solution as it tends to jam between models, but it has worked so far and is capable of printing a replacement for itself. Yeah, thats pretty much exactly the picture I had in my head. If possible, I would be very interested in more information on how you made it. I think BeagleFury's idea of a wiki page is excellent. In my opinion, a repstraby spaztik - General
I would like to bootstrap Mendel and have some questions about using McWire to do it. First the big question, is it possible? Does McWire have a large enough build volume? I have seen solutions to warping parts where they built an apron around the part, would that work with McWire? I guess the real question is how can I find the build volume of McWire? Is it feasible? How long would it take toby spaztik - General