Long overdue update with pics!

So life got in the way of posting and update so here were are. I am in the process of printing a Portal Gun from the game.  Portal Gun
Those not familiar with the game, go here(Portal) to check it out. Its from Valve and I being an avid gamer myself along with my son, really enjoy playing it

I want to upgrade the bed I have to a lighter rig so that's one of my near future plans. I had a big mess develop with the clear filament I had. It really was garbage and lesson learned. If its brittle when you buy it, don't use it, return it, never buy from that vendor again, period. Then I was printing some lucky money Buddha's for family members and the red I had sprung off the holder and that was not fun I can tell you. Don't let that happen!!! Summer is coming up quick and hopefully will have some pics up of the finished portal gun real soon!!

I found out something interesting to help in sticking the objects to the boro glass. Elmer's Glue Stick! I stopped using Kapton tape and was strictly using hairspray that is until I found the stick. Cleans off with water and just apply it after you have started heating the bed. I don't know how many uses you will get out of a application of the glue buts its a welcome addition!

I have an update coming real soon and some pictures.... Be sure to check out my BoM list to help with your DIY printer!

Spring is trying to ... well spring!

So it took 1 month and no patience to decide to go back to my Greg's/Wade extruder. I couldn't get the micro tuned in and I didn't want to try anymore. My time is valuable these days and I've wasted more time dickin' around with the printer and not making things! I'll throw up some pictures I have and I finally put together a BoM list. I didn't include prices as they change week to week. I included vendors I actually bought my stuff from and some that I bought other items from after I had my printer built. But I like their style of doing business and that's what counts in my (thin) book!
Of course you will find things all over the place and my advice would be try to get things grouped up to save on shipping. I gave up on that because I kept forgetting to get this or that and then realizing hey that the wrong this or that after ordering and well you get the picture... Some of my listed vendors have the same things as others do on my list so it's how you want to spend your money. I did save money building/sourcing myself so I'm happy about that. You live and learn on purchases and I think I have noted that previously here.
Ok so now how to I add a file to my blog......... hmmmmm...... BRB!

My list is what I purchased to build my MendelMax 1.5. I have purchased other thing as well after this was built and your milage may vary with your build. Ask any comments you wish and I will try to answer them the best I can!

Ok for now you can download the BoM

Just right click and "save as"

Here.... Mendel Max BoM 1.5

And going.... and going...

So I am into my 4th month with my printer. I wish I could say its been a smooth ride but I have had some setbacks. For one thing my .35mm J-Head V-BV came apart somehow and I wasn't able to salvage the PEEK, so there went another $30! Put it back together and failed to see that I needed a piece from the old unit I cut up and had to order a new hollow set screw to hold back the inner tube. I am printing off a new extruder body as I am changing to a micro extruder with a PG35 motor. Its a direct drive unit and as of today am waiting for more parts to show up.... Parts Parts parts..... you never know what you will need and then realize you should have ordered 3!! maybe 4 even..... I have been trying out new colors and the transparent ABS I used really is a show stopper! It printed like a wet dream and I will be buying more of that. I have red but not liking that as it is de-laminating a bit. I currently am using silver and it is turning out really nice. Here are a couple pics of some progress

Not so good Red

Grandma needed a new coffee scoop!

Make one for yourself.. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:51411

New micro Extruder

Make one yourself ... http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:42112

The spool holder I built

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:22759

Back of the holder with a beefed up bracket

And the beefed up bracket

And the vampire skull for my son

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:31998

And finally I actually made a part I designed, well got inspiration for it from another creator. I needed a z-axis end stop clamp and bracket. 

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:50881

The Journey Continues.......

So after things went a little crazy, laptop funked up, printer was going a little batty, and trying to fix it all, I think I am back to printing! My main goal right now is to print back up parts now that I have things really good. I also want to start making things for people and hopefully sell some things if that's possible. I bought some transparent 3mm filament and it doesn't like the small spool it is on. So I am printing this MendelMax Spool and I should have better results and not have to watch it constantly since the plastic wants to spring off the spool.

So I will post some pics once I get back to normal here. Maybe in a few days...!

The day of winning.......

One this is for sure you don't want to miss order these 2 parts on your build, the motors and the hot end! I have learned the hard way but it's not something I can't live with. Stay away from a copy hot end, well known people you can trust. I'm talking about the one and only J-Head and there are sub-par units out  there. I happen to find one before. Just the layer tightness is enough to sell you but I'm sure there are some comparable copy J-Heads that would so it for you. I'm just listing the link in my blog for the best one, IMHO.

www.hotends.com

The Mk V-BV to be exact.

Here are a couple of pictures and you can see how tight the layers are on that second pic.

Some designs

Things are looking up for the MendelMax! I am 97% there I believe and when I receive my new .35mm hot end, we will hit that 99.9999% mark! I am just not happy with the hot end I have at this time seeing it is a .50mm end and the filament is coming out at .65-.68mm. I understand from others that the metal swells but this may be a little much and it is throwing off some of the seams. At this point, that is not acceptable to me and if I hadn't made the end to "fit" my extruder, it would be on its way back to where I bought it from. ANOTHER lesson learned. I did a little fixing on my Y axis as I installed 2 solid blocks of wood on the edges and took out the 4 aluminum spacers I had there. It just makes it more rigid and less vibrations all around. I am happy I took it apart to fix!

SO here are a few designs I chose to print from thingverse.

YODA

BRAIN SLUG V2

MENDELMAX SKELETAL SPOOL MOUNT

This is printed at a 50% size. Notice the ears have some buggers and at the neck its a little bubbly.

If you notice on the feet, there is some separation of layers and I think this is from the hot end not being what its supposed to be. It will be better once I get the .35mm end. 

and just because I had black plastic in the unit when I first printed a 100% Yoda!

A mishaT version of the spool holder

Happy New Year to all! 2013

So lets get right to it. I bought 2 new motors to replace my X,Y axis motors. I for one will not disagree any longer that cheaper will work as good as mo money ones...! Just made a believer out of me. I purchased 2 - 2.8v/ 1.5A motors from www.lulzbot.com and very happy I did. I may go back for a third for the extruder but that will happen when I get a new hot end.  So I went from a hot motor to a very cool motor and it really makes a difference. I'm still trying to get this thing calibrated and hopefully will hit that soon! I'm getting closer. Time is what I lack since I can't spend every minute of the day working with it. You can see the difference in the cheap Ebay motor on the left and the nice chunky one on the right.

Here is a picture of bad motor mojo......

And here is a day 1 picture again and a newer version from today. Its getting better!

One of my very near future plans is to re-build my Y-axis platform. I think I need something more solid and rigid. The current one seems to have vibration occurring which may contribute to my issues.