Saturday, October 16, 2010

Starting to build

I started building the mechanical part of my Mendel this morning. I've encountered some small problems, but apart from those it went rather smooth. I started with the extruder. I couldn't find much documentation about it, so if I encountered problems I could ask for help while building the other parts. All the other parts have a nice 3D assembly that I can look at from every angle, but the extruder just has a few pictures.

Once I started building it, I noticed that the bolts didn't fit in the holes in the Idler-holder. I don't know why this is. Maybe Nophead printed the part with too small holes, or maybe Mendel-parts is using bigger bolts than the default ones, or it could also be a combination of both. The result stays the same, it doesn't fit. I don't really know how to make them bigger, as all my files are too big for that and my drill would make them round instead of hexagonal. Maybe I just have to buy a smaller file to do the job.
I also noticed an other problem. Because Mendel-parts assumes I use the older version of the driven-holder and I have the new version with the extra strengthening beam, the screw is too short. I'll have to buy a longer one for that. I should have checked it before ordering my parts.

After those small problems with the extruder, everything went rather smooth. I started building the x-axis. The wiki suggested to use m4x16 bolts for the x-idler-bracked. Those were too short, so I used m4x25 instead and added a second big washer so the belt is between two washers, which should be better for holding it in place. I didn't add the bars yet, as I'll do those at the end.

Once the x-axis was done, I started with the y-axis. The only problem I encountered here was that one of the bearings doesn't turn, even when the bolts are loose. I suppose its broken, so I put it aside. I think there are some extra bearings in the package, so hopefully I won't have to use the broken one. Again I didn't add the bars and went on to the z-axis. That one was easy, so I had a little time left to assemble the frame sides.

Below is a picture of my messy desk after a whole day of building. I hope the building will be done by tomorrow evening, so I can start adding the motors and electronics next weekend.


No comments:

Post a Comment