Shouldn't cause any problems as long as the belts and pulleys match.by Buback - General Mendel Topics
I think he's referring to the extrusion orifice, not the whole hot end. Though, i don't know what an optimal length would be. but i think some multiple of the extrusion width, like for .5 mm you might want 4x length, or 2mm.by Buback - General
I tried to add a review to their site, but it doesn't seem their review system is working. Anyway, mk-IV, works great, no complaints. Actually one thing i've wondered about it sliding straight pieces of copper wire through the holes on the upper PEEK part, as a poor-mans heat sink. The simple test i did (just sliding the wire in) shook the wire out pretty quickly when printing, so I'll need a waby Buback - General
Here, check out this page on the mendel max site. This same info would apply to any mendel: Choosing Belts and Pulleysby Buback - General Mendel Topics
hey bruce that's really harsh and unwelcoming. Terramir: those parts aren't great, but if they look functional, you can always replace them when you get printing. If you can send them back and get all your money, then go ahead.by Buback - General Mendel Topics
:-) been there myself. The right tool for the job is the one within arms reach :-D As long as it isn't loose, it's probably unnecessary to secure the rod on both ends.by Buback - General Mendel Topics
I'm not that interested in 1.4 unless you want to use it as a gauge for different design choices by the respective companies. Otherwise, that question sounds a bit too market-researchy to me. just my two cents Otherwise it's great and should help us decide where to concentrate our efforts.by Buback - Developers
the parts look great! The mendel instructions really suggest lock nuts or thread lock for all m8 nuts. I've been using lock washers and it seems to work fine. My old Mendel was printing thick lines when i originally printed the parts, so i might have scaled those channels up a bit (can't remember). Frankly I'm not sure the smooth rods even need to be locked in place. With my pieces, the nuts aby Buback - General Mendel Topics
I've been thinking about some of the ways we can define different spec machines, and how those definitions will help us define dimensions/constraints. I imagine a small machine should be lowest cost/ least experience, while a large machine should be highest quality/ most advanced. With FDM i think there is an approximate maximum single part size. I know there are lots of factors, but if you conby Buback - Developers
This will get you started: Another option is to just go full-on servo controled bed leveling. If it allowed me to print a bed full of parts consistently, it would pay for itself soon enough.by Buback - General Mendel Topics
A survey would be a good start. Posting it in General will get the most notice. A reference design should describe a cubical volume, where the axes are inside that volume, how they are driven, and where/how the drive attached to moving parts. just kinda a skeleton, really. It should be easy enough to codify the reference designs for Sells and Prusa Mendels, and working out the reference dimensioby Buback - Developers
Given the exacting standards we need to get good prints, I don't hold out much hope that something like filabot will produce anything close to usable.by Buback - Developers
here's another thread with more answers: Large-scale 3d printer It will take so much effort to build a larger FDM machine that you might as well spend the effort on a design that can potentially scale much better. I think a UV resin printer like lemon curry would scale very easily. Just make a longer z axis and a larger resin pool, and move your projector further back. you'd have a loss of resoby Buback - General
that's an interesting idea. thanks for sharing :-)by Buback - General
I am starting to think that maybe we should sticky some of these commonly asked questions to the top. We've all thought about the potential for a large scale printer, and we've either posed this question ourselves or read a thread like this one. When your just starting out it just seems logical, just build it bigger, and you start to wonder why nobody is printing go-carts or couches or whatever.by Buback - General
The Penn State RUG is very active, which is great to see. it's even tied to, i assume, a course, since they're offering credits. I'm assuming Bath has a program going as well still. -- The 'core team' is less and less visible, which isn't too surprising. After all, this hobby is just starting, and there is money to be made for those with the right experience. as life goes on and the core team meby Buback - Developers
Similar to the lever idea, i was thinking about trying to make something like a scissor jack with toggle bolts. Toggle bolts are a kind of spring action nut used to hang stuff from drywall. I actually had to look up the name on wikipedia. this is what i'm talking about, on the left: I doubt the springs are strong enough to hold up the bed, but this might be less complex than a fully printed lby Buback - General Mendel Topics
something like: "i must not fear, fear is the print-killer"? :-) A slashdot-like karma tracking system would be great, but how to implement it? can we use something ready made and easy to integrate, or would it have to be coded from the ground up (which would likely never happen). You are right about RUGs; few have enough members to do much to help. There just aren't enough repraps out there yby Buback - Developers
Building off a number of separate forum topics, I wanted to start a discussion about ways to incentivize feedback on developments. Reprap development is growing at a ~exponential rate, if the reprap family tree is any guide, so encouraging development and mutations is a solved problem. What we need now is constructive feedback. We need people to look at design improvements, print them out or speby Buback - Developers
It does take time, money, and plastic to print out someone elses design, and it takes even more time to edit the wiki, write a review or take pictures. Often, the people experimenting with the new designs are those just getting into the hobby, and so have the least experience (in terms of reprap printing. they might have oodles of relevant experience, though, like engineering degrees, etc). theby Buback - General Mendel Topics
yeah i had the same problem. i think it's just a flaw in the design, since it is a common failure mode. The tension of the PEEK block is hard to get right: too tight, and you compress the ptfe, constricting the filament, but too loose and you stress the thin section by the threading. The ptfe also tends to creep, so my print quality got consistently worse. I had it for a year, which was long enouby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Well you did change one thing: the filament. Whether it's the pigment or just that it's a different batch and has a slightly different chemical composition, different colors will print differently, so you have to calibrate for each color you want to print with. The green will probably require some changes to skeinforge dimension and maybe temperature too. Also you didn't mention measuring the fby Buback - General Mendel Topics
Great. I can't wait for someone else to make one and share their thoughts. I'm watching this topic so keep posting as you progress. I'm sure it'll help others who decide to take the plunge.by Buback - General Mendel Topics
If you can in someway secure it on it's side, you can hang a know weight like a kg on the top vertex and then measure the deflection. I think that'd give us a more quantitative measurement we can compare other machines against.by Buback - General Mendel Topics
If you are limited by the volume of plastic you can extrude, at least you can decrease your layer height, increase you speed, and print better quality parts in the same time.by Buback - General
All this is way over my head, but good work. Something I've wondered before is how the belts resonate, and if it has any impact?by Buback - General Mendel Topics
Certainly, I don't think it matters. the electronics should work fine with any of the existing common designs. A major departure, like a pick-and-place type machine or a polar robot, would require different firmware, at least. which is probably why there's not more experimentation with those types of machines.by Buback - Extruded Aluminum Frames
@lanthan: maybe just moving to m6 flat head screws would be enough? At least it would be a start, though we'd also need new springs.by Buback - General Mendel Topics
I have had too many z crashes to forgo springs. Nothing damaging, thankfully, but enough to give me pause. But he certainly is right that it causes wobble, but the wobble (at least mine) is x-y, not z, which i think is also caused by the extra play in the holes and the length of the screws. I was thinking about this last night in bed, and i think with a lever-like system we can use tension sprinby Buback - General Mendel Topics
I hate the way the Mendel bed is leveled. Access is difficult and it tends to get out of level because of all the vibration. You would think a simple screw/spring would be foolproof. I've thought of a couple ideas but haven't been able to flesh them out, so I'll throw them out here and see what you guys think. And if you have any ideas post them here and maybe we can come up with something thatby Buback - General Mendel Topics