Hello All I thought I had ordered 8mm BZP smooth rod, but it turns out I ordered 8mm Bright Mild Steel!!! <- this is what the Mendel-m4-assembly-data-sheet.ods file off this wiki page gives as the UK supplier example for the smooth rod. (maybe should be updated?) Now this stuff seems to have been machined in some way as it has score marks all around it in a spiral pattern. If I run my thumbby AgeingHippy - General
Welcome fuzzy lol - as we speak I am busy getting my hands dirty for the first time.... currently cutting the studding to length and listening to some good tunes I must admit nophead's blog certainly is inspirational I read it from start to finish just skipping some overly technical stuff. good luck with the build.by AgeingHippy - United Kingdom RepRap User Group
Hello all After about a month of research and gathering materials (still need some..) I am in the process of eventually dirtying my hands. First step is cutting the M8 threaded studding. Unfortunately it was sent simply wrapped so has some slight bend to it. Between 1mm and 3mm over the 1m lengths. Is this a problem? I anticipate it should not be too much of a problem as it is used for the frby AgeingHippy - General
hey bob I do think reprap can make the pieces that you are thinking of. I imagine the most difficult aspect would be to model the piece in some 3D package. I imagine you would have to be fairly expert in said packageby AgeingHippy - General
oops... my bad The parts I received from Nophead contain a belt splitter.by AgeingHippy - United Kingdom RepRap User Group
Hello All Does anyone have a splitter jig which I can use to split my 10mm belts into 5mm belts? I can bring my belts around to split or we can meet somewhere and split my belts over a beer... FYI I am in South London - Clapham North to be exact. Cheers Charlesby AgeingHippy - United Kingdom RepRap User Group
prashant jgilmore posted a reply on this thread not 2 replies before your question with a link that explains how to determine the common and pairs... Why don't you have a look at that? Good luckby AgeingHippy - Mechanics
Thanks for that Chris Maybe I will only get the goods for 3 end stops. Do you or anyone else have an opinion on whether 90 degree or vertical headers are preferred? Cheersby AgeingHippy - Controllers
Hey Jonathan Thanks for your reply. Not to worry about the long post. I much prefer an informative post over a brief one Yes, I do intend to order as much as I can from one source, in this case Mouser. Postage is about £12!! I have only exposed my 'Mendelise makerbot electronics' project list for a sanity check by the community.. As for the endstops, I think the parts for 6 comes to about 12by AgeingHippy - Controllers
Hey jmarsden - can you point me to some documentation on the wiki which will specify minimum modifications need doing and how to use them with Mendel? Also, as promised here is my link specifying the Bits to 'Mendelise' Makerbot gen 3 electronics. Could someone in the know please verify that I will not be wasting money getting this? A note - I have listed a 16 point breakaway header which coveby AgeingHippy - Controllers
lunchtrayrider Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > no, there is clearly a jumper soldered across two > pins where the atx plug used to be. the question > is because this was not called out or explained in > the wiki. it is only in the pictures and not in > words. That link is mentioned in the paragraph just under the jpg of the modified motherboard onby AgeingHippy - Controllers
Hey madscifi Thank you very much for your informative reply. I should have remembered the use of numbers and letters to describe certain components. I have read about the use and understood it but I never recognised it in the wild. hmm... Thanks for your helpby AgeingHippy - Controllers
Hi there I am having trouble with this one as well. The wiki page PCB adaptions for Mendel show a jumper at A (see the modified motherboard jpg). I assume this is the jumper being discussed. Anyway, this is the jumper I am having trouble sourcing... mainly because I do not know what to look for. What is the purpose of this jumper? Is it to simply connect the two points or does it have a higherby AgeingHippy - Controllers
Hello All I am looking at sourcing the components to 'Mendelise' the Gen 3 electronics as received from Makerbot. I have absolutely *NO* experience in electronics so am a bit confused as to exactly which parts I should get. The source I am using is PCB_adaptions for Mendel Since the Makerbot gen 3 electronics set does NOT contain any opto-endstops I need to source those parts as well. For thiby AgeingHippy - Controllers
Hi Anna I have not yet got a printer but I have spent over £400 so far on parts to build one... To answer your question - I gather the overhang cannot be too big. There is a need for a support material but I am not aware of a working solution yet. I believe part of the issue would be multiple working print heads - one for the primary material and one for the support material. I have not seen aby AgeingHippy - General
Jeff & Buzz Thanks for the response. I have read a couple of electronics books, and think I am getting a little wiser, but a long way to go yet. Am I correct in thinking the Gen 3 electronics are essentially digital circuits? Maybe with some analogue aspects thrown in at the stepper driver points to provide more or less current/voltage to drive the motors... perhaps most importantly the exby AgeingHippy - Controllers
Hi Nudel Thanks for that, but no - that tells us how to build the board, but not why it works. I am a novice as far as electronic circuits are concerned and am trying to learn how to design a board to do what I want it to do. Part of the process is trying to understand how the Gen 3 boards work... see here where I try understand the workings of the simplest board - the opto endstop. cheersby AgeingHippy - Controllers
Hello all Is there anyone who can point me to a resource that explains how and why the circuits do what they do? cheersby AgeingHippy - Controllers
lol well that's that market blown out of the waterby AgeingHippy - Plastic RepRap Parts for Sale
Hi madscifi Thanks for that. Now I have learned about pull-up and pull-down resistors and also have an idea how the H21L0B works... vaguely I assume when you say the output "floats" that means the output is indeterminate and is therefore needs to be 'pushed' high by the connection to Vcc via R1? I was wondering what the anode and cathode connections were for - now see they are there to powerby AgeingHippy - Controllers
Hello All I am trying to learn electronic theory and have done some reading. A lot of what I have read is seems very esoteric (is that the correct word), so I do not understand yet how circuits work and am being befuddled by circuits with loads and loads of resistors in them. As reference use the opto endstop 2.1 diagram I have finally determined that the resistor's purpose is to limit or contby AgeingHippy - Controllers
Hey Rolling RZ I am not to well versed with these motors as you can see by my query, but one thing I do know is that the wiki stepper motors page specifies that you need at least 1400g.cm torque (which converts to roughly 0.13Nm). These motors, although temptingly cheap, are cheap for a reason. They specify 2 torque ratings, holding torque and detent torque. Perhaps someone can explain what theby AgeingHippy - General Mendel Topics
Yo Mdbaughman2 What exactly do you mean when you talk about the MK2 extruder being more reliable? Are you referring to the extruder which is part of the Mendel 'official' build docs? Cheersby AgeingHippy - Reprappers
Hi All Having done a fairly extensive search on the forums and read a number of wiki pages I am still rather unclear as to the relevance of the voltage and current specs... I seem to have found something somewhere that states a higher voltage rating is better than a lower one? It is all confusing. I saw some posts stating that the Gen 3 stepper driver controls the voltage so a stepper with loby AgeingHippy - General Mendel Topics
Hello All Perhaps this has already been covered, but I was thinking about the control one has over the feed rate of the 3mm filament which directly affects the extrusion rate. Measuring the rotation of the motor, whether by steps or by a shaft encoder I imagine will not let you know if the filament is slipping or not. How about hacking a optical mouse and mounting the laser eye to watch the rby AgeingHippy - Plastic Extruder Working Group
fair enough, if you damaged it. I was under the impression you received a faulty board from Makerbot. So was it difficult converting the boards to the Mendel config or are you using them without modification? Cheersby AgeingHippy - Reprappers
Hey Katai If the board is faulty then Makerbot has a duty to replace it. I know in the UK we have protection that specifies the product purchased must be fit for the (stated) purpose.... I am sure you in the US have similar consumer protection. As a matter of principle, I don't think you should let it go at that. Cheersby AgeingHippy - Reprappers
Hey Kieth Yes, I saw that... unfortunately bidding did not go my way malesh - such is life I am thinking the Isaac option may not be right for me for 2 reasons. First shipping included brings it to $290 which is already close on £200 and then I need to add customs - 17.5% VAT + 2.5% flat rate for goods under £630 so 20% by my understanding see UK customs import charges, which brings it to rouby AgeingHippy - General
Hello All Following a BBC News article on 3D printing a week or so ago I have been devouring everything I can find about reprap. Of top quality is nophead's blog which I read from start to finish (although I must admit the more techy stuff about EM noise etc. went over my head and I skimmed that). Nophead, if you read this I must tell you you are a god when it comes to research and documentationby AgeingHippy - General
Hey Foton Have you proved this frame in a working 3D printer? I am looking at building a reprap and this could potentially prove to be an affordable repstrap option if, as I assume, you do not price the product in the same range as RP parts are currently going on ebay. cheersby AgeingHippy - General