Wednesday, June 16, 2010

An update! Oh my!

So it´s been forever since my last post. Not done too much on the mendel (Huxley), but I´ve got most of the parts now. iPrint3D sent me electronics, motors and wires, so I should be good to go. I have spent a lot of time staring at the electronics and trying to figure how it should be wired up, I´m not doing very well (with the understanding, I´ve gotten pretty good at the staring).

I bought a ATX-power supply, cause I was under the impression that the mendel got it´s power from that, but I can´t find any such info so I guess thats how the makerbot does it. The mendel needs 12V for the stepper boards but the main board gets power from the USB-TTL wire, as far as I can understand. I think the Extruder controller draws power from the main board. There´s also a USB-connector I can´t seem to find much info about. However I guess i can always hack the ATX-P-supply to power the stepper boards.

Tried to assemble the x-axis onto the frame and discovered that one of my leadscrews were anything but straight. The ones I got now are plain studding, I guess I´ll cut new ones from stainless steel since that is supposed to be a bit straighter and better.


Frame after putting the x-axis on, getting annoyed at how hard the right leadscrew was to turn, partly disassembling the x-axis and realizing the leadscrew was horribly bent.


Here´s the bugger, If it looks like its real crooked it´s cause it is.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Thou name shall be Huxley

After listening to "A short history of nearly everything" by Bill Bryson yet again, I got inspired to name my mendel. Thomas Henry Huxley was a fellow biologist of Darwin and became an advocat for evolution, and will be given the honour of giving name to my reprap (or was it the other way around). So I hereby name my mendel "Huxley". *cheeering* Now all i need is a name-plate.

The frog is on the move

Finished up the parts for the y-axis and assembled them on the frog-plate and threw it in the frame. Always a good feeling seeing things work in their intended position. Fascinating to see how compact everything is. Every cutout on the frog-plate is needed and gives it a little more travel. I reckon there is quite a bit of thinking and refining that has gone into the designs.


Finally dawned on me why the build-platform has that little cutout as well, haven´t seen the purge plate beeing used around the web though. Seems like a thing most people skip.

I think iprint3D is getting around to assembling my electronics as well. According to their schedule my order is being worked on this week. Lets hope they do and that I´ll soon have all the stuff needed to complete my mendel.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Assemblies

Got some of the assemblies that make up the x-axis finished. I don't have the stepper motors or the extruder finished so there is only so much i can finish up. I also think my mudguard washers are too small. Can´t find any that are larger either, so I'll have to come up with a clever solution to that one.

Carriage without the extruder on top



Idler bracket



Vert bearing 180



Vert bearing 360


Monday, May 3, 2010

RP-parts! Halleluja!

The real news today is that DHL delivered my set of RP-parts! They only used 4 days from the U.S. door to door, while another package I'm waiting for was shipped 4 days before this one and still havent crossed the Atlantic.


Just like us neatfreaks like it, sorted in bags and with a checklist :) I bought the set from reprap forums user beverageexpert, he comes highly recommended. Fast delivery, good quality parts and a very nice guy.


I could finally assemble something after a few months of careful preparation, getting hold of all the different parts. I still need to get most of the electronics, but with these parts I'm a huge step closer to something that looks like a mendel.

A few hours of work later I got most of the basic frame done.

M3-capscrews

Finally got hold of the M3 capscrews today, ended up buying them from the RC-shop. Got some 23mm and some 25mm as they didn't have 20mm. Let's hope they will fit.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Thick sheet parts

Thick sheet parts almost done, I cut the build platform and frog in 6 mm MDF, the rest in 4mm veneer. I figured the other parts did not need to be as flat and strong so I went for the much lighter and more beautiful veneer. Still need to drill the holes as you can see.



I cut all the parts with a big band saw, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The frog was the most challenging of course, but that one was pretty easy as well. I mirrored the templates before printing so they will be wooden side up in the finished Mendel. I should probably come up with a name for it ...

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Belts

I went the easy route and ordered the belts from the US as I could not imagine where I would find the right kind here. Sent by super cheap mail, so should probably arrive in about 3 or 4 years ...

Electronics, motors +++

I have exactly zero skills in soldering and electronics, thankfully iprint3d.org sells assembled motherboards, stepper drivers and extruder controllers. They got quite a build up of reservations while they were out of stock, that they are currently working through, but my stuff is in line to be assembled from the 26th of april. iprint3d also got extruder parts, motors and wires so i'll get a lot of the stuff needed from them. So that leaves two major deliveries before my Mendel will do anything exciting.

Still need to get the thick sheet parts from somewhere though, the guy with the milled mendel parts were supposed to make those as well and it seems like he's a lost case. I'm thinking about making them myself, they will not be as pretty as a cnc og lasercut version but probably a lot cheaper.

RP parts

These are really hard to get, but I found this guy on the RepRap forums that milled parts in plastic. Looked good and he could probably deliver pretty fast i figured. Downside was he could not make all the parts, but the parts he could make were pretty big and time-consuming to print. Well, the parts are still not done over a month later and I'll probably try getting a refund instead. 

So now I'll try to get them from ebay, where there seems to be sets for sale pretty regularly as of late. But they are not going to be cheap, good thing I stopped counting how much this will cost :p

Pesky little things, playing hard to get.

Plastic and bearings!

I ordered 5 kg of white ABS and a ball bearing set from reprapsource.com. It got held up forever in customs but it arrived at last. The ABS comes in a sealed plastic bag and looks really good.

Parts so far

So far I got the studded rod and the smooth rod, both bought from a local shop and cut to size with my trusty hacksaw. I also most of the nuts and bolts, but I am missing the M3 capscrews as these are really hard to find for some reason. M3 nuts are no problem, but somehow the capscrews are nearly impossible to find. I have found a local RC-shop that carries them, but the price is outrageous. 39 NOK for 8 screws which is about 6.6 USD

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Making a RepRap Mendel in Norway

I have just started building a RepRap Mendel. I had originally planned to go for the makerbot, but chose the Mendel instead because i figured it would be cheaper (hah!). Having a hard time sourcing the parts here in Norway as most companys only sell to other companies and most do not have online stores or even a catalogue of what they have.