Here is where I saw the official makerbot solution:by goinreverse - General
Wow, mcmaster has pre-made silicon pad heaters ready to go from $12-$78 depending on size and output. This is a turn-key solution, see mcmaster page 511 (barrel heaters and heat sheets.by goinreverse - General
Fair enough, in terms of a response that is what I was looking for. Please ping me when there is a spot to post my content in a suitable place. Thanks for you hard work rangling these forums.by goinreverse - Administration, Announcements, Policy
"official makerbot solution" based on the hive76 guys: Nichrome wire embedded in clear silicone, electrically safe and fairly fire resistant, relatively cheap. Seems like a strong solution.by goinreverse - General
I agree with the start from scratch concept. I think this pretty sums up what I want to see: Just about foolproof, they goofed on making it clear you need the USB-TTL cable, sold separately. I am happy to start by contributing a very clear "idiot proof" set of mcwire build steps from ground zero to making mendel parts. I believe I also have the possibility of getting the cost under $100/$150by goinreverse - Administration, Announcements, Policy
Someone asked what a good example of a problematic fork of a BSD licensed software is. To me it is apple computers, OSX would not have been economically feasible without using someone else's code, they used FreeBSD and quite a lot else, the originally played nice with open source while it was convenient (ironically called "darwin") and now the apple systems are locked up more than ever before...by goinreverse - Administration, Announcements, Policy
Regarding the pulley, you need to be able to print exactly one part (the one-piece mendel extruder mount) so I would say that you can probably use a wad of chewing gum and a paper clip (you get my drift...). As long as you get the distance between the inner diameter of the pulley and the bearing correct so they are just a tiny bit smaller than the diameter of your filament I think it is fine. Maby goinreverse - General
Below is wait I actually used to order from mcmaster AFTER being edited with my lessons learned. Took off springs, pipe clamps (you get a box of 50 or 100, you need only 3), silicone hose (I have nema 17 motors, it was too big, use vinyl tubing to connect the motor shafts to threaded rod), nails. Get the list from mcmaster below and at the hardware store get: *1/2 inch 2 holed pipe "clamps" (yoby goinreverse - General
I just finished building my mcwire which I will use to bootstrap the parts for a mendel, here are my notes on the build. I have some pics and video also. How should these notes make it to a more permanent state, should I just edit the wiki or is there some sort of official revision process? Notes (simple format, will type into narrative or edits if appropriate) *I ordered my parts from mcmasterby goinreverse - General
I guess expense is all relative. $40 for a pre-cut to size of sheet metal to someone without a bandsaw/etc seems like a pretty good deal... $12 for a sheet of kapton also seems like no-brainer to me if it improves the quality of the prints and takes less time than cutting and pasting 30 strips of kapton tape. Then again I am generally looking to print molds and prototypes that get turned in to $by goinreverse - General
Forest, To put it bluntly your post makes absolutely no sense to me. At least you didn't mention nazis (godwin's law) but otherwise it seems like a "godwin's" post. Of course criminals break the law, I don't see what possible relevance that has on license selection... Last I checked the apartheid government was no longer in place in south africa so I don't really see that as an example of anythiby goinreverse - Administration, Announcements, Policy
Drop me a line when you make it to town, I am down in chandler. Finishing up my mcwire now and will begin the mendel build process next week.by goinreverse - Arizona, Phoenix RepRap User Group
I am just finishing up my mcwire/mcguire. For the sheet stock 1/4" acrylic or similar is fine and I don't see any reason why it is worth laser cutting. If you have a table saw and a drill press you will be fine. Print out the PDFs' on sticker material, stick that to the acrylic and start cutting. Make the sheets square (they rounded corners are totally unnecessary). One end of the bearing arms neby goinreverse - Reprappers
Just a though but you can get 9"x9"x1/4" ceramic sheet from mcmaster for $46, part number 8479K116 Lay a zig zag of nichrome wire and a suitable resistor on the bottom and RTV or epoxy in place you are done. Certainly you could do the same with aluminum but I think hot spots would be an issue. 12x12x1/8" aluminum sheet part number 89015K18 $26 Also might be worth looking at 12"x12" kapton sby goinreverse - General
"any commercialism becomes apparent" seems a little strong to me. Redhat with fedora and Centos, Canoncial with Ubuntu. I think commercial cooperation is vital to the sustainability and expansion of any open source project attempting to become mainstream. That being said there are certainly plenty of lines being crossed. What about adding a "build and build alike" component to the license? Withby goinreverse - Administration, Announcements, Policy
I don't mean to be obstinate but why do we need all the different forums, seems like given the volume "general" is adequate for everything and I have hardly enough time to keep track of posting to it? Just my opinion but I would rather see more activity concentrated in general than spread out where things seem to die, I guess it would be different if there were 1,500 posts a day to general but tby goinreverse - General
In complete agreement on the mold and pour, see my "mold and pour" post. However no one was willing to mail me a part to borrow to mold and pour as an example... Directly printing the molds is a neat idea. That led me to the idea of a mendel-strap which is a mendel without using any printed parts. I guess you could use it to print parts for a printed-mendel but at that point I don't see the poiby goinreverse - General
that thingiverse item is modeled exactly after extruded aluminum slotted t-channel, see the mcmaster part I listed starting this forum. I am pretty close to a final design, involves 0 printer parts, only a drill press and screw drivers, is extremely similar to the mendel. I am computing a final cost for the parts excluding the extruder and motors but even from mcmaster right now it is coming inby goinreverse - General
what laser are you using?by goinreverse - General
Nope not chris... Please post them here so everyone can benefit if you are willing to share. I got a crazy idea that I can leapfrog the whole bootstrapping thing and just build a mendel with all the printed parts replaced with standardized parts, aluminum t-channel, nylon racks and pinions, linear bearings, same shafts. Looking at your pictures it seemed like your machine was particularly largeby goinreverse - General
I am trying to create a "mendel" with 100% standardized parts. So if they are going that route then maybe I am not missing something. To me the whole print itself thing is a gimmick, 80% by weight threaded rod... Design changes so frequently there will never be enough printed parts to go around.by goinreverse - General
I am wondering if there is a specific reason and rack and pinion type drive (nylon) would not be better/cheaper/easier than all the belts and pulleys currently in use on mendel ? For example mcmaster 57655K63 . I was just thinking maybe I was overlooking something obvious.by goinreverse - General
this seemed like a stupidly simple solution: Makerbot sells nichrome wire Also you might consider buying a reptile heating pad at a petstore and using a different power source to supply more current, a good temp seems to be 140-160 if plastic bed The reptile warmers are just nichrome wire laid out between two plastic sheets.by goinreverse - General
Been playing with this a bit more... Bothacker can you provide some of the dimensions of your device and the parts list from mcmaster. I am especially interested in the rod you used, the bearings, belt and the interface from the motors to the rods. My theoretical mcmaster order list (note zero cutting, 4 acrylic drilled holes necessary at this point to reach mcwire stage) 2 4 each 5537T105by goinreverse - General
makerbot ships from brooklyn NY I believe, at least for the parts I have been getting.by goinreverse - General
I was taking a detailed look at the mendel and mcwire designs. Is there a reason aluminum t-channel isn't part of the designs or could not be? To me it could eliminate almost half the parts of mendel, while being cheaper and readily available ? It is available in metric pretty universally (20mm should easily be strong enough). If you don't know what it is take a look at mcmaster page 1908-1910 .by goinreverse - General
Though in the US we mail equipment to and from canada often. A lot depends on exactly what gets put on the declaration form. If it is something such as "experimental electronic parts for research purposes" I think there will be very little due. If they put something like "Computer controlled milling machine" you will probably pay a lot more. Our experience is hands down best with fedex, we neverby goinreverse - General
I am making myself a plastruder mk4 extruder for a mcwire to bootstrap a mendel and it wouldn't be a big deal for me to get parts and have 10 or 20 assembled at the same time. Is there any interest in purchasing those for $175-$200 US (includes shipping, AZ would have tax, that is at cost)by goinreverse - For Sale
I just ordered this but had not tested it yet, any feedback is appreciated. Will document any problems once I do the build in the next couple weeks. Just use the enter bulk order link on the mcmaster website. ---begin paste--- 1 95462A033 1 91083A033 1 90275A714 1 90494A030 1 91083A030 1 90273A581 3 91034A100 1 98273A255 1 97828A633 2 8735K111 1 88805K57 1 51135K265 1 9001K34 1 9654K207 1 9429Tby goinreverse - General
Seems awfully expensive ($500) considering the time to make it and it's limitations. I have seen the sears cnc for $750 at various times using promotions and a coupon. The mcwire is the same or less and seems to be quite a bit more flexible? A couple of the parts are unusually high end ($14 bearings), possibly you could substitute with much cheaper options and then that would really be somethingby goinreverse - General New Machines Topics