MendelMax 1.5 3D printer build

Since I already have the CNC mill (G0704) in the shop, the next logical choice was a 3D printer. I wanted something relatively affordable yet capable. I went with a MendelMax 1.5 Deluxe kit from 3D Factory LLC.

My free time is limited but I felt the value of having built it from scratch was worth the extra time vs. buying assembled.

I am already well versed in Arduino and CNC in general so I feel I am at an advantage to most, time will tell!

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unboxing jan 03 2014

Box one of two arrived, the other was delayed through customs. That is ok because it was the mechanical assemblies, which need to be completed first.

I had realistic expectations about the quality of the printed parts, these in particular were printed buy a MendelMax 1.5 so I was eager to asses them. The quality was greater than I expected, the Y axis carriage had failed during shipping but I should be able to repair it with some ABS cement.

I did a quick inventory and was surprised to have more than I needed, unlike most kits you buy. Everything was there (minus box 2) so I dug in immediately.

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Main frame assembly

This was a bit of a challenge because I did not yet have the build docs from the seller. I did some searching around on the internet and found a few sources that helped. This printer has a larger than normal build area (X 9.75" Y 11.00" Z 6.00") so I was not able to determine the correct position for some of the extrusions, this led me to first assemble the frame with the vertices in the Y position then have to disassemble to correct. In all this was fairly simple, everything lined up well and was square. I went with black extrusions, black printed parts and black hardware.

Bottom line, it looks good!

To get to this stage was about 3.5 hours. Doing it over again (and now having the build docs I could do it much quicker.

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electronics