Category Archives: Mendel Build

Stepper motors or a BLDC servo motors? Which is better and when to use them.

Posted on July 30, 2017 by

Which is better, a stepper motor or a brushless DC (BLDC) servo motor like these from Teknic (Clearpath)? The short answer: It depends on your application. If you only need open-loop position control (no shaft position feedback), are on a … Continue reading →

Posted in Mendel Build | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bootstrapping a pen plotter to make a 3d printer

Posted on February 21, 2015 by

Back in 2010 I developed an intense interested in understanding and eventually building a 3D printer. This interest took me down the path of reading all the material available at the time and purchasing a RAMPS (V1.2) which I used to control … Continue reading →

Posted in Mendel Build | 1 Comment

MIT: 3-D printing with variable densities

Posted on October 19, 2011 by

By variable densities this video is referring to the density of the infill, not the density of the material extruded. At least that was my take on it. Hasn’t the DIY 3D printing scene been doing this for quite some time now with the use … Continue reading →

Posted in Mendel Build | 5 Comments

2011 – The year of the 3D printer?

Posted on December 29, 2010 by

Just how popular is the desktop 3D printer now as opposed to a year ago? How popular will it be this time next year? There are a few tools available that may help provide quantitative answers to these questions. One such tool is Google … Continue reading →

Posted in Mendel Build | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Using cad.py on a Windows PC

Posted on December 7, 2010 by

To quote from makeyourbot.org cad.py is a CAM program that can be used to generate g-code tool paths for milling 2D and 3D objects. It operates on images instead of vector formats like Gerber, DXF, or SVG, so you’ll have … Continue reading →

Posted in Mendel Build | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

CNC milling with RAMPS.

Posted on December 5, 2010 by

My Mantis inspired repstrap/CNC mill is finally up and running. All the mechanical parts were scavenged used for the repstrap were from old printers. The total cost ended up being around $140AUD. This was all spent on the electronics and includes … Continue reading →

Posted in Mendel Build | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Making endstops from printer photo interrupters.

Posted on November 24, 2010 by

If you have pulled apart a printer, fax or scanner then there is a high likelihood that you have found a few photo interrupters. Some of these may be pre-packaged in a plastic housing with three wires attached which you can modify to use … Continue reading →

Posted in Mendel Build | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments