Your criticisms are founded, no argument there. We were hoping that more people would of shared their build experiences by now, but they just haven't. I get tons of emails thanking me for the kit and how well it's printing, but few pictures or videos. Not a single kit out there is user friendly IMHO, the whole concept of a 3D printer is still in it's infancy. Makerbot's takes dozens of hours toby bfleming - Reprappers
The bed should float at least 0.5" above the y-chassis-bearings and provided adjustment of the be to the nozzle of the extruder. Most of all of that work is the exact same as the Mendel alignment procedures in the Mendel wiki and would strongly suggest you read through because most of it still applies. Also your at the x-carriage build stage so you should have a look at the pictures here: Weby bfleming - Reprappers
These are solid HDPE so the parts aren't going to move and will handle a LOT of pressure. We don't tighten them super tight though, and certainly not enough to embed the nut At that pressure I doubt they'd back out, but I don't know how elastic HDPE is either so... The only nuts we've seen loosen up on our builds was for the x-carriage itself. You may opt to use lock nuts or lock washers on theby bfleming - Reprappers
jkelso, On your y-motor and y-idler... Are you using M8 washers there, or the mud-washers? All the bearings belt guides (x, y, and z) should be using the mud-washers, they have a smaller hole that fits the M4 but are still wide enough to keep the belt inline. I bought mine a home depot in packs of 8 (i think). I used Hillman #880338 washers from home-depot/lowes. Probably can get them elsewhereby bfleming - Reprappers
What size motor shaft do you have? The Makerbot motors were all 3/16, so that is what the pulleys are. If there are other standard NEMA 17 shaft sizes then I'd be happy to offer a different sized pulley, or drill them out on my drill press. If you find that the pulley's are too messed up let me know, I'll hook you up with some replacements.by bfleming - Reprappers
yellowfrog, please contact me if you have any questions. I will be more than happy to write up a little text and tack some screen grabs of what the y-chassis should look like. jkelso, awesome blog. There are very few good complete assembly blogs in the community, can't wait to see more. I read it every day!!!by bfleming - Reprappers
jmarsden, We've never timed the prints of the parts, nor computed total print volume. We just printed the most complicated ones just to verify our own claims. While we did try to reduce the number of parts and still have them printable, reducing the print volume was not a criteria. I'd guess that good decisions on fill-density would yield strong parts with an reasonably low plastic use. Matthieby bfleming - General New Machines Topics
We are slowly developing a list of completed machines in the wild. One of the more recent machines is mhenson's. You can see video's of it running on youtube here. BTW our new material is 100% black HDPE, instead of the previous wood/plastic composite. The parts are otherwise exactly the same, machined with the same toolpaths as the original kits.by bfleming - General
Just the parts or the parts and assemblies? I've got both available if you want to publish them somewhere. Just PM or email me.by bfleming - General
Does anyone know anything about these guys? From their website it looks like they are selling Kimberly's laser cut Mendel and Electronics. I wonder if they are associated or if it's just a clone?by bfleming - For Sale
We do not currently have an extruder, but one may be in the future. We actually use the Wades extruder on our machines now. Much faster printing than the MakerBot extruder. We just provide the adaptor for those who are upgrading from MakerBot to Isaacby bfleming - General New Machines Topics
I'm looking into it with Alibre and we'll see what happens. I'm actually quite disappointed because my 11.2 can read and write that file just fine. I can't imagine them removing a feature, especially since I have an marking email from their CEO in February stating that Alibre Translate would be free for ALL versions of Alibre Design. Alibre Translate can read/write tons of formats. I don't knowby bfleming - General
Some parts, y-motor, y-idler, clamps etc are all easy and jupdyke left them alone alone as did we. But if you look at his z-motor (post dated March 30, 2010 04:34PM), and ours for that matter, there are not the same. But all 3 serve the exact same purpose, and are all 100% compatible as far as spacing between the vertical rods and the frame where it really matters. The cross rods don't matter othby bfleming - General
Quote(*)is it mendel or not a mendel? That's a bit of a loaded question. It isn't a Mendel in terms of the pieces; very few of them remain intact from the original. We had to change them in order to be able to machine them. Look at some of jupdyke's work on this forum and you'll see the same thing. In terms of the whole, we think it is a Mendel at heart since it: can print it's own parts canby bfleming - General
I don't think they care where, just looking for a home. I'll start up something for them in the next few days on the wiki. What kind of subform, like "Machine Variations / Mylar Welding"?by bfleming - General
I was having a conversation with a friend in Switzerland the other day and had an interesting thought. What if you could selectively weld plastics, or more exotic materials, with an ultrasonic feeder? It would probably be prohibitively expensive but the feed head could be extremely tiny. Maybe with such a system an extruder could extruder plastic power melting in only as it leaves the nozzle?by bfleming - Plastic Extruder Working Group
I have been in contact with a group who would like to open up a new machine design to the community. However it isn't a 3D printer, it's a 2D continuous feed welder with a frame and axis similar to that of the Mendel. Would something like this fit in well here (RepRap Wiki/Forums), or is there another site that it would be better suited for?by bfleming - General
Waterppk, The Mendel can't be 2.5D CNC machined but the Isaac variant can however and all the STEP files are freely available here. Email me if you need another format, but Solid-works should bring it in perfectly as is.by bfleming - General
To further encourage new members to join the community, every once in a while we'll offer up a no-reserve auction on eBay for one of our kits. The eBay Auction is here. Good luckby bfleming - For Sale
We have also put a no-reserve auction up on eBay for one of our kits. The eBay Auction is here. Good luckby bfleming - Plastic RepRap Parts for Sale
Since the introduction of the Laser-Cut Mendel we've dropped the price of our Isaac kit to stay competitive. This kit replaces all the RP parts of the original Mendel with a simpler but compatible design. Uses less hardware (vitamins) than the original as well saving you even more money. This are high quality CNC machined parts that are every bit as strong as the original, if not more so. Visitby bfleming - Plastic RepRap Parts for Sale
I stand corrected on the price. The going rate is $210 for the laser cut Mendel so we've adjusted our price to match at $240 which includes all the pulleys and belts which would cost you around $50 to buy anywaysby bfleming - For Sale
I'll be using that tooby bfleming - General New Machines Topics
Build procedures are coming along swimmingly and are available here. I'll be adding to them throughout the week so keep coming back. If you have any like/dislikes let me know. The new instructions are already a result of your feedback from our first iterations. Thanksby bfleming - General New Machines Topics
You summary is correct, and it is similar to the Laser one which just recently came out. We will start offering other bundles as time permits but you can already build an Isaac cheaper than the current price of the Laser one. You could build either a lot cheaper if you know someone with a CNC machine or Laser cutter though .by bfleming - For Sale
Awesome...by bfleming - General New Machines Topics
The materials that we are currently using consists of Trex (a recycled wood and plastic product) for the larger parts and HDPE for the smaller. Both are very rigid and should last a long time. When they fail you can print replacements just as for the original. You can even replace them, and axis at a time, with the original if you add hardware (nuts/bolts, not electronics). I know of one personby bfleming - For Sale
Awesome, can I have one for my shop? My wife calls them 'little cities' I guess that is no worse than a 'series of tubes' ><by bfleming - General
I think the store is a great idea. The forums isn't the best place to post your wares, and it allows almost one stop shopping from lots of people. I wish them the best of luck and I may try hosting some parts there in the future. To be fair Google Checkout is closer to 3% in reality. The store's fee (1%?) is to cover hosting, shopping carts, etc. An added benefit being probably more overall traby bfleming - For Sale
The original drive pulleys are a bit difficult to get right sometimes. Usually you have to drill them out a bit and that is hard to get that straight too. I wouldn't worry about it to much. Try moving them further down the shaft so that the belt rides closer to the motor relative to the pulley. It will be more concentric at that point. I most definitely wouldn't worry about z, in fact take yourby bfleming - General Mendel Topics