Messing around with Solid works.

I was messing around with solid works and thinking of how to turn my future Mendel into a 3D laser cutter as well as a rapidprototyper.

Now I don't really have much of an idea how powerful a laser I need but this laser claims it can cut through plastic (look at it tearing appart that very small peice of black polystyrene), well more research is needed about how powerful a laser is needed to cut through ABS in a reasonable amount of time.

I figured a way to get a semi circle of angular direction with just one motor controlling the pitch and yaw.

Problems that with the design and practicality.

• It is larger than the current bed can carry at the moment so it needs to be smaller and more compact and the bed larger to accommodate it.
• Shielding, a way to make sure the laser doesn't end up blinding somebody
• Damaging the Mendel, i have no idea what a laser would do to a Kapton covered Aluminium sheet heated bed. It may shrug it off or it may damage it beyond use.

Here is a video of it in action.

I have altered the 'Screw Mate' to be 10mm per rotation to demonstrate it working where as a normal i believe its closer to 1mm per rotation.

Now I have done some programming with Visual basic (o yea!) in the past but I believe coding something like this to be way out of my depth. so if anyone thinks this idea is viable and and knows what they are doing with please feel free to contact me.

Some progress and electronics ordered

The electronics have been ordered from http://www.techzonecom.com/ in America it worked out a bit cheaper and no wait than ordering from European websites as it included the USB to TTL module too. I like the fact that my Mendel will have travelled half way round the world to get here.

I have just read that a fellow UK Mendel owner had his parcel in customs for a couple of weeks. so maybe a delay before I can get it working.

Tackling the Y-Axis, I groaned when I realised that this part was not properly moulded. I had to drill a rectangual hole at 60 Degrees off from the plane in the right place, if I fail that I've pretty much messed that peice up completely and green stuff may have to come and save the day.

Two cups of tea, one sandwhich, a bit of facebookin' and three hours later I managed to get it working very nicely.

But as you can see i still have the other two to do as well. That can be a job for tomorrow.

Here is it fitted, runs all smooth like.

Been working on the Extruder, still a while to go, waiting on some Kapton take I've ordered so i can fit the Ni-crom wire to the nozzle and still need to find M4 studding or a long bolt to attach the large cog. No store in Oxford seems to stock them at all.

Z-Axis, Frame Complete!

Starting to finally take shape now, I didn't end up going into town, apathy and Mendel work that could of been done that instant seemed more appealing. Had a couple more brakes today 1 with a gear which is worrying but patched it up with green stuff and hopefully can be shaped and made working properly and a split in very top right had corner I also patched with green stuff.

But oh wells...

X-Axis Complete!

Wow that took a while to get it perfect (or so i hope). Due to the parts not being from a RepRap machine using FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) but instead resin moulding with a rubber die. giving inaccuracies in size and some parts are slightly warped. 

This is not to say i didn't enjoy doing all this but if anyone else is thinking of starting a mendel project i highly recomend buying the FFF part set instead of resin to save your self so much time and trouble.


Here is a video of my progress!

There was too much filling, but watching TV at the same time made it seem not so much. 

Here is a high res picture of it completed.

I still need to procure some parts before i can finish making the extruder, which I will be purchasing tomorrow. Just a wing-nut and some threaded rod and then i can get back to filing away like a busy beaver.



Oh! forgot to update about how I fixed my broken parts.

Well there is this rather amazing material called 'Green Stuff' it is an adhesive putty similar to blue tak but will harden after 24hours. So you can mould it into anyshape you want. it is normally used for model making for Gamesworkshop fans.

Once blue and yellow sides are mixed to form green it'll start to harden!

Fixed pieces in all their crippled glory!

More Drilling and another Mystery package

The wood bore drill worked out great. As evidence here.

The bore bit (left) drills away the plastic at a constant level meaning it wont create a small hole for the bit to catch and tear at the plastic.

I just have a couple of more parts to drill, but they are the most worry some. i will have to drill down 70mm keeping it perfecly perpendicular by hand. Possible but risky.

Another mystery package! well maybe not... as i had an email earlier today informing me that my fixtures and bars will be arriving on Friday.

I disapprove of Styrofoam as its a wasteful plastic as packing unit. I prefer the airfill bags. creates less waste (and mess in my room)

Hurray! 4 brand new motors for my future RepRap.

Drilling the parts, Some success

As the plastic parts are reaction cast molded and not made with a RepRap they do not come with premade holes. but does offer more structuale stability as some people leave the insides partially holo.

Using Solidworks as a refrence to which holes are what sizes.

I spent some of the day drilling holes in the plastic with some success. Drilling mainly the 4-3mm holes that are needed.

It's a nice feeling that when your precautions and measurements before the act pay off.  I all the holes line up nicely, all is needed now is some filling down in some areas and it'll be perfect.

Unfortunately when I decided to drill one of the motor holders with the 8mm bit there was a mishap. 

There is a few reasons i think this happened or possibility of all of them together.

• I was using a very old power drill. That has 2 speeds; fast and faster.
• I was using a drill bit possibly not suited for this material. I may try the wood boring drill bit next.
• I drilled a pilot hole first with a smaller drill bit leading to the drill snagging on the plastic and tearing a chunk off.

So tomorrow I shall attempt again. next time being much more gentle and using the wood boring drill bit which I think it designed to stop this snagging happening. 

Parts have arrived!

As you can see from the pictures the Mendel RepRap plastic parts have arrived! All the pieces are there I believe, only downside is there is some warping on some parts. I think this is due to the supplier not using a heated bed (my Mendel will have one).

Other than that I just have to drill some holes in the parts and clean them up a bit. Shouldn't take too long to do.

Currently I have just salvaged some old containers to store my parts in some far. Will be working on it intensively tomorrow.

Mystery packaged arrived, I recently checked earlier that the RepRap parts where still in Dublin so I thought motors!

Upon tearing it apart I found it was the RepRap parts from E-bay, was getting a bit excited and looking forward to seeing the new parts in the next few seconds. 

It was much bigger than I was expecting too say the least. Smelt rather nice of new plastic.

All neatly ordered and accounted for. As you can see the bottom 3rd from the left piece is slightly warped, this is why I will be making a heated bed for my Mendel so i can make better quality pieces 

Tomorrow shall bring the filing down and drilling the holes.

Parts coming in from all over Europe!

I have just finished placing orders for the Motor from England, the studding, bars and fixtures from Netherlander and the plastic is still in Ireland.

Mendel-parts is an amazingly cheap place to buy kit sets from. I was searching UK wholesalers for a few hours and only things i found cheaper was the bar's and studding, but Mendel-parts kit set just nulled that point.

Also they are planning on releasing a cheaper and smaller electronics set in the next month of so. So I think I might wait for that as it'll be much better than ordering from USA, although would be nifty to say my Mendel has travelled half way round the world.

Ordering Plastic Parts

Well damn, that was hectic haven't had an adrenaline rush like since I used to play EVE-Online.

I should have ordered the parts off E-bay the previous day when the 'Buy it now' price was so reasonable instead of hoping that the auction will produce cheaper results. Oh well.

As you can see I very nearly didn't get it. There was a frantic minute of typing manicly and missing keys but I managed to beat b***l by €0.30 HAH!

Now I await for my expensive lovely green currently useless parts.

Creating my very own RepRap Mendel.

I have decided that instead shelling out nearly a grand for a rather powerful rendering / gaming machine I thought the money would be better spent on a rapid prototyper namely the the Mendel based off of the Darwin.

Where as a computer will almost double in speed or drop in cost in the next year a 3D printer will still retain is value. So best to save for the next years top range computers and focus on this now.

For more information about RepRap please go here.