Owning a MakerBot, I’m not even sure why someone would need something to print pieces much larger than the MakerBot build area. Printing something as large as just the maximum build volume of a MakerBot would take ages.
- Darwin’s build area is about 23cm x 23cm x 10cm: 5290 cubic centimeters
- Mendel’s build area is about20cm x 20cm x 14cm: 5600 cubic centimeters
- Cupcake CNC’s build area is 10cm x 10cm 13cm: 1300 cubic centimeters
- Mendel Mini’s is supposedly approximately 11cm x 14cm x 10cm: 1540 cubic centimeters
While the official longest print logged on the Makerbot website is Zach’s Disney head, clocking in at 2 hours and 45 minutes, I’ve read about people printing for up to 8 continuous hours. If the build volume for a Mendel is 4.3 times that of a Makerbot, it would take more than 34 hours to fill that build area.
When you’re printing a door hook in 15 minutes, it doesn’t pay to drive to the hardware store. When it takes 34 hours to print a big plastic brick, you’re better off driving to the gas station, filling up your tank, driving to McDonald’s, filling out an application, working an hour, quitting and demanding your paycheck, driving to the hardware store, buying a single brick, and then driving back home. I figure that kind of silliness would only take half a day or so. Heck, with 34 hours, you could do this at least six times over.
I agree. I still think that Mendel was a mistake. Mini Mendel is what Mendel should have been in the 1st place considering their goals.
NEMA 14 are not much cheaper than NEMA 17, so no need for the bearing drive on Mendel. .10$ bushings would have been a better choice.
Build plate is oversized for replication, or even most normal printing.
I think the Micro Mendel will hit the sweet spot between Makerbot and Mendel. Good days coming.
So, I think an ancillary goal of RepRap is to be able to produce other goods. As a RepRap gets bigger it can produce more and more useful goods. With a HUGE build area such as on the Mendel or Darwin, it could easily take a day and a half to build something large enough to fill the build volume. But, then again, perhaps you really might need a plastic brick.
I would say it’s not so much about total build volume but about the maximum measurement in any particular dimension that matters. If I want to make a rod 15cm x 1cm x 1cm with a makerbot I’m pretty much hosed in terms of doing it as a single piece. It would be cool to have a mini mendel with twice the movement in the y axis!
Well… Printing diagonally will get you about 41%. You can print diagonally in the XY for 14cm or so. Then printing at a 45 degree angle or greater will net you at least another 40%. I figure you could probably get to about 20cm this way. Admittedly, I’m simplifying since you’re talking about a 1cm diameter cylinder – but with some planning you could absolutely get to 14cm no problem.
Which isn’t to say I wouldn’t want a mini-Mendel. It would be great – but not at all critical to printing parts of decent sizes.