obscurereality

Because I don’t have enough projects on my plate, I’ve decided to build a RepRap Mendel. The Mendel is the second generation RepRap, which has vast improvements over the first generation, called Darwin. I chose to build myself a RepRap for a lot of reasons. I have access to a MakerBot, and can print 60% of Mendel’s parts using it. The MakerBot isn’t enough to support all the people at Hive76 that want to print. It’s pretty awesome to make a robot with a robot. I can build a Mendel for much, much cheaper than buying a MakerBot. RepRap can print larger objects than the MakerBot as well. I printed the first four pieces today:

Hopefully, when it’s all done, it will look something like this:

I have four NEMA 17 steppers on the way. Once their in, and the pieces are printed (That’s gonna take some time), I’ll have most of it. A trip to Lowes, and I’ll have most of the hardware. The electronics will come last, as they’re the most costly. I will have to save up for those…