User:Jmarsden

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Jonathan Marsden

Member of the RepRap Core Team since May 2007.

Primary system administrator for Reprap servers.

Built a set of Reprap v1 electronics, which worked to the extent of driving one small test stepper motor.

Mendel build Summer 2010

Build Status

  • Parts acquisition is in progress.
  • RP parts requested from Adrian 2010-05-27, printing complete 2010-06-20, shipped 2010-06-21.
  • Mendel hardware kit, PLA and Seeeduino Mega ordered 2010-05-28.
  • Seeeduino Mega arrived 2010-06-03, works out of the box, and is tiny !
  • Mendel hardware kit and PLA arrived from Ultimachine 2010-06-07.
  • Stepper motors ordered from Alltronics 2010-06-18, arrived 2010-06-23.

Personal Mendel Build Goals

  • Low cost (under US$500 if at all practical!).
  • Improve the mechanical build docs based on the experience putting them together.
  • "Very standard" Mendel mechanics (for ease of getting help with them!).
  • "Very reliable" extruder (so I can make parts sets).
  • Some experimenting with electronics and firmware is OK, esp. to reduce cost, as well as avoiding supply issues with the official electronics kits.
  • Make it work, and only then think about adding extras such as a heated bed.

Parts Acquisition

Electronics

  • Seeeduino Mega fully assembled from http://www.nkcelectronics.com/seeeduino-mega-fully-assembled.html ($40)
  • Either: 4 Pololu Stepper Controllers, see Pololu_Electronics and especially Arduino_Mega_Pololu_Shield ($52 for 4)
  • Or: 1 cheap 4axis stepper controller board from ebay ($75 ish)
  • 3 Opto endstop boards (Either from Ultimachines kits ($9 for 3), or from my old Gen1 electronics if those are compatible, which I think they should be!)
  • Misc other stuff, wiring, heatsinks, fan, shield PCB or Adrian's stripboard/PCBs for the stepper controllers, etc. (guesstimate: maybe $30??)

Stepper Motors

Mechanics

  • Hardware Kit from Ultimachine (because I know the least about the mechanics, spending $$ on a kit is OK!) ($200)
  • Belts (not in kit above) from Ultimachine. ($26)

RP Parts Set

  • From Adrian -- this is where being a Core Team member is a huge win :)

Extruder

  • Adrian's or (more likely) Wade's geared stepper driven design. ($??)
  • Will need RP extruder parts from somewhere, once I decide which design to build! (Adrian's parts come with Adrian's RP set, and he'll build me a set for Wade's extruder design if I choose that one -- so this is now a solved issue).
  • Barrel
  • Nozzle
  • PTFE (or PEEK?) barrier
  • Thermistor
  • High temperature tape
  • M3 tap (for Wades design)
  • 3 more 608 bearings (for Wade's design)

Feedstock

  • PLA, natural, from Ultimachine. (US$50 for a 5lb spool)

Rough Project Cost Estimate

Looks like US$471 plus shipping, plus unknown cost of the extruder parts and any necessary tools (to make an extruder). It is going to get very close to my US$500 budget limit, it seems!

2010-05-28: Spent $44.50 on Seeeduino Mega.

2010-05-28: Spent $266.30 on Mendel Hardware Kit and 5lbs PLA.

2010-06-19: Spent US$44.70 on 4 Lin Engineering steppers from Alltronics.

Things to Print (when it works)

  • A set of RP Mendel parts to sell, to get more Reprapping budget
  • At least one set of RP Mendel parts to give away, to ease my conscience (!)
  • A second set of RP Mendel parts for myself, as spares or for a second Mendel.