Prusa Mendel Build Page 3

This is where I am. Once the hardware arrived, the frame seemed to take shape pretty quick. This is a couple of hours work shown above.

I bought the SAE hardware from ebay seller svkrobotkits. The photo above is from the auction.There was an issue with the straightness of the smooth rods, but we worked it out.

They also had some grooving. I would buy from this seller again, but I would try to source the smooth rods locally, so I could see them first.

The kit included this "hobbed bolt" for the Wades extruder. Not what I was expecting, but apparently it is an accepted alternative to tap hobbing. I'll probably just hob one myself.

The kit was pretty decent, everything was bagged and labeled.

There is a problem with trying to use SAE hardware with metric printed parts. The threaded rods are pretty close. 8MM is .315 inches and 5/16" is .3125 inches. But the other hardware is quite different.

This is a 6-32 nut and bolt. The hole for the bolt is OK, but the hex hole is too small.

The accepted fix is to heat it with a soldering iron...

...and push it in. It's pretty easy to do.

The Y axis table is next. Just snap the plastic bushings on the rods and slide them around a few minutes to loosen them up...

...and then hot glue on the deck. In this case it's made of hardboard (Masonite). I had some concerns about getting the rods parallel enough. I adjusted them to .005" difference from one end to the other, according to my 6" digital caliper. Evidently this is good enough, as the table slides pretty good and seems very stable.

I have to stop here to rectify some hardware issues. Even with a kit, it's hard to get all the right stuff. One of the problems with repraps in general is revision control. Open source is so prolific with modifications, it's hard to get everything to work together.

Ace hardware, here I come...

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