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 ...

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

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.