Mendel or Prusa Mendel

Hi

The more I read about this "Mendel" the more confused I get!

Someone can explain me the difference between a (Prusa Mendel) and a (Mendel)?
1 - Quality.
2 - Definition Printing.
3 - price.The
4 - Ease of operation and software.
5 - Maximum print size.

Thanks

Read the Prusa Mendel article in the wiki.

1 - Quality - possibly a little worse than the normal Mendel.
2 - Definition Printing - possibly a little worse than the normal Mendel.
3 - Price - You save $30 on bearings plus significantly less plastic is needed for the RP parts.
4 - Ease of operation and software - the same as for Mendel and Huxley.
5 - Maximum print size - the same as for Mendel.

You forgot:

6 - Operational life - by saving on the cost of a few bearings you will be constantly replacing the printed bushings.

IMHO you will save yourself a lot of grief by building the 'real' Mendel.
I do like the simplified bar clamps though!

---

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

rhmorrison Wrote:
> 1 - Quality - possibly a little worse than the
> normal Mendel.
> 2 - Definition Printing - possibly a little worse
> than the normal Mendel.

This is probably true, but does anyone have any empirical evidence of this? Prusa seems to be getting good quality prints. I guess I'll know soon enough as I plan on building a prusa mendel and comparing prints from my regular mendel.

---

--
Tony Buser http://tonybuser.com * http://reprap.org/wiki/User:Tbuser#Projects

prusa is new, and not as well understood yet, but it works. if you are looking for mendel or prusa think of it this way. a prusa will give you a mendel faster as in make prusa, then make a mendel. even if it does not work the best, you can easily and cheaply hack parts for it. granted i have not built one, but i do know how well bushings can work out of hdpe. i also know abs is the wrong material to make them out of.

the main issue besides axis alignment is electronics. get whatever your research and heart tells you is best.

if i were out there and looking for cheap parts currently:
I would get a prusa kit from nophead.

here is one he sells.
[cgi.ebay.com]

look for a kit that is made out of abs, but has bushings in pla. doing bushings in abs is plain wrong. the friction from abs is too high, not to mention it absorbs moisture and would tighten as it swells. as far as i can tell people have had good results with pla.

Why is ABS the wrong material?

Quote
jamesdanielv
the friction from abs is too high, not to mention it absorbs moisture and would tighten as it swells.

---

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Also ABS is relatively soft so it will wear quickly. PLA is much harder.

A better material would be HDPE as it is used for bearings, but the Prusa requires them to be glued on and it is very hard to glue HDPE.

---

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

I'm nearly finished with my Prusa Mendel, and so far I think it has a lot of room for improvement.

For example: I'm supposed to glue the lower bed to the bushings that are snapped onto the Y rails. I haven't done that yet because I know it will be difficult to get it back off. I want a solution where the bed is securely but not permanently attached to the linear bearings of some sort, but can be removed without breaking a bushing or re-gluing. I WILL start with the pla bushings because I have them printed... then I will hopefully print a replacement options which will undoubtedly mean more parts and plastic than the original design. [picasaweb.google.com]

the Z axis motor alignment can also be problematic.

I think the biggest improvement that the prusa mendel brings to the table is a shorter time to print. Once you are printing you can print things to add stability or make it easier to maintain etc. I see no reason why a Prusa Mendel can't evolve to be anything the standard mendel is, it would just be more of an evolutionary process.

I think it depends more on your nature... FDM printing is pretty forgiving and I believe that a well tuned Prusa will produce just as good prints as a well tuned Sells mendel..

So then you make the decision on esthetics... The Prusa mendel (I believe, without having printed any parts or built one) has a 'temporary' feel about it... Sells mendels have been printing LOTS of hours without needing much maintenaince...

You get a Prusa faster and cheaper.. and you may be happy with it long term.. if not.. use it to print something that suits you more... Or.. build a Sells Mendel and be happy with it for a while...

Al...

---

[araspitfire.blogspot.com]