![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.keegan.org\/reprapblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/l_2048_1536_68E16621-FE72-4F18-9279-A61D05D9A012.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe MDF sheet I had was an unwieldy 2′ x 4′, so first I cut off the relevant area:<\/p>\n
Many cuts with the jigsaw later, I’d cut out the five pieces (scotch taping the template down again to the newly cut sides as I went). I’ll drill the holes and jigsaw out the internal ovals later.<\/p>\n Here’s the bed that the Mendel will print on: I also was cutting rod today. Here are the fully completed smooth rod pieces, which make up the X, Y, and Z axes:<\/p>\n Those were cut out of 3 original rods. In addition to the 3 original smooth rods, there are 9 threaded rods that need to be cut into many pieces. I was able to get through one of those today, resulting in 3 threaded rod pieces:<\/p>\n Unfortunately the cutting drains the rechargable battery on my Dremel like crazy. I went to the store looking for a spare rechargable battery (quite naively) and of course no one carries them locally. I considered buying a 2nd Dremel that was corded, but even if I can only cut 1-2 rods every 3 hours, I’ll still get them all done pretty quickly, so it didn’t seem worth it. (I may just do more cutting with a hack saw, but it’s a pain). I did order a spare battery online – it’ll probably arrive by the time my Mendel is fully completed. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Oh, one more off-topic thing.. Last week when I ordered some red and black wire for the power connections from sparkfun.com, I saw they had some stepper motors<\/A> that looked to both be NEMA 17 and have more holding torque than the ones I’d purchased from makerbot.com (at least that’s what I thought after a quick calculation.. I might be wrong). We’ll see when they arrive – they were cheap enough that it won’t break me if I bought four extra steppers for nothing – I’ll find a home for them.<\/p>\n Next up – a lot more cutting of threaded rod, drilling holes in the MDF, more assembly of the X carriage, and a bunch of electronics work to redo<\/A> the boards I have for Mendel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here’s a bit more progress that I made today. I finally got around to cutting the bed, circuit board holder, and other pieces out of MDF (medium density fibreboard). I don’t have easy access to a plotter, so I needed … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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