I'm all for building the MendelMax. Extruded aluminum beams are great, and if the printed joints prove to be a problem then we can either print new ones when they start to wear down, or make them out of some other material and then tell the community about it. - Jeremy On Sunday, June 10, 2012, j. eric townsend wrote: > How did he print the joints? We had a lot of 3d printer access on campus > and it'd be a big help if he printed there. > > The drawback to all of the metal strut + printed plastic joints (in my > opinion, mind you) is alignment and stability. I haven't seen many (5?) > but almost all of them were wobbly due to wear in the joints or poorly > printed joints. > > If I'm going to drag it around, I want it to be rugged, and I realize that > isn't high on the requirements lists for many of these. > > It's tempting to just cut all the joints out of metal or acrylic. That, > or cut one out of wood, which was good enough for Cupcake CNC plans. > > > > On 6/10/12 13:34, Gabe Cottrell wrote: > >> One of my coworkers from RMU Charles Mura, just built a MendelMax, and >> its print quality is great and it is rigid as hell, I think he's >> planning on bringing it to mini-makerfair. >> I'll see if he can bring it by the shop for a demo. >> >> -Gabe >> >> On Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 12:54 PM, Matt Stultz <matt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >> <mailto:matt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote: >> >> Okay I will keep my ranting to a minimum but there are a few points >> I can't help but make: >> >> 1 Non one is working on PLA extruders for MakerBot's anymore because >> the extruders MakerBot makes work awesome for PLA. >> >> 2 Comparing the pint quality of your first generation Cupcake to >> MakerGear's finely tuned sales tool demo unit is pretty absurd. >> >> 3 Many in the reprap comunity hate MakerGear because he steals their >> work and calls it his own (see the "MakerGear Prusa" >> >> http://www.makergear.com/**products/3d-printers<http://www.makergear.com/products/3d-printers> >> ) >> >> Okay Rant over. >> >> Now from the perspective of owning 2 MakerBot's (a Cupcake and a >> Replicator) and being at the point of about to build my 3rd 3D >> printer >> (http://reprap.org/wiki/**Tantillus<http://reprap.org/wiki/Tantillus> >> ). >> >> Build a MendelMax! >> http://www.thingiverse.com/**thing:20355<http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:20355> >> >> It's a little more expensive than a Prusa but has the same print >> capabilities and is easier to build and far more rigid than a Prusa. >> You can print in both ABS and PLA with this bot (there are upsides >> and downsides to both). Most importantly it's a "kit" that members >> of the shop can put together and learn how these systems work which >> will make it much easier when you have to do repairs on it. That is >> important because it's not an if it's a when. >> >> I will probably end up building one of these myself at some point if >> for no other reason than the large build size. >> >> If you don't want to build a Max then just build a standard Prusa. >> It has the greatest level of community support and upgrade parts for >> it. >> >> If you want to build a Max or a Prusa (or something else reasonable) >> for HackPGH let me know and I will print the parts needed for it on >> my Replicator and send them to the shop. >> >> Thanks, >> Matt >> >> On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 2:52 PM, j. eric townsend <jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx >> <mailto:jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote: >> >> Reprap, MakerBot, and most of the open printers can do ABS or >> PLA. You just have to tweak some hardware, the temperature >> settings in the controller, and change the g-code generation >> scripts. >> >> Early on there were a lot of people making alternate PLA heads >> for the MakerBot but they are starting to work more on Reprap >> these days. >> >> There are some other commercial-ish 3d printers out there that >> are cheap and available as kits, parts-lists, etc. The M Series >> printers from MakerGear print PLA really well, last year I was >> next to one at the maker faire and his PLA looked better than my >> Cupcake's ABS. He was making jewelry he could give to kids with >> no nasty fumes. >> >> I'm putting together a spreadsheet now of the basic >> models/prices for my own reference, will bring that on Tue. >> >> >> >> On 6/9/12 14:19, The Gentleman Alchemist wrote: >> >> I agree with RepRap over in MakerBot in principle and in >> practicality. >> >> If I understand correctly, RepRap would most likely be a ABS >> plastic >> printer. What would be our options for a PLA printer? >> >> Scott^2 >> >> On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 12:26 PM, j. eric townsend >> <jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx> >> <mailto:jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx>>> wrote: >> >> Tuesday, 7:30pm, free, open to the public. >> >> Topic: What should be the next 3D printer one of us >> builds? >> MakerBot isn't supporting older models with parts >> online so I'm >> leaning towards a Reprap, but what sort of PLA printer >> should we >> consider for the shop or for a class? >> >> -- >> J. Eric Townsend >> design: www.allartburns.org <http://www.allartburns.org> >> <http://www.allartburns.org>; hacking: >> www.flatline.net <http://www.flatline.net> >> <http://www.flatline.net>; HF: KG6ZVQ >> >> PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 >> D0D8 C2E8 >> >> >> >> >> -- >> J. Eric Townsend >> design: www.allartburns.org <http://www.allartburns.org>; >> hacking: www.flatline.net <http://www.flatline.net>; HF: KG6ZVQ >> PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8 >> >> >> >> > > -- > J. Eric Townsend > design: www.allartburns.org; hacking: www.flatline.net; HF: KG6ZVQ > PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8 > > -- 717-497-9253 @jherrm <http://twitter.com/jherrm> linkedin.com/in/jherrm facebook.com/herrman