I like the mini-Mendel, don’t get me wrong, but there isn’t nearly the kind of documentation for it as you would find for the full fledged Mendel. Sure, it’s a little cheaper, but a Mendel gives you nearly four times the build area. Since the price barrier to entry into the RepRap project just isn’t that high, the bigger issues are probably going to be quality of documentation, support, skill level required, and interest. Is there a detailed mini-Mendel construction guide somewhere?
MakerBlock
And I, for one, welcome our new robotic overlords
I would never want a mini-Mendel for myself. I’d sell any of the parts I make for it to someone who would want that instead of a MakerBot. I really like the Mendel’s huge build area because it can make a bunch of its parts at once. At least, more parts at once than a MakerBot.
There’s no doubt the MakerBot loses in the build area competition – it’s smaller than even the mini-Mendel. However, it is agreed! Cryozap and I will sell you mini-Mendel parts!
The awesomeness comes from the fact that you can (I think) produce mini mendels like 3 times faster than a regular mendel! That could help RepRaps spread much faster.
@Tony: Thought you might enjoy this: https://makerblock.com/2010/02/is-it-an-evil-replicator/
It seems like right now all of the major bottlenecks to RepRap proliferation have been removed – for those that want one. As beneficial as this technology is, I don’t think enough people really know about or want one yet.
I like the idea that a mini-Mendel can be replicated faster than a Mendel, but I think this is still a publicity problem for RepRap.
I just really like how easy it is to carry it around. Have you ever taken a RepRap to a friend by bicycle? :)
The other thing I like is that it took me 18 hours to print. Which, while still to long for my liking, it is much more acceptable than ~ 3 days of printing for a full Mendel.
Oh, the guys at AltLab got a set of parts from me. In exchange they would document the Mini-Mendel some more and use it to print parts for other Hackerspaces. As the technology currently is I wouln’t want to ask them to print full Mendels just yet. It’s a great bootstrap and (portable) demo machine. I also like what Marcus Wohlschon is doing to further reduce print-time: create (intelligently) hollowed out parts.
@Erik: First off, the mini-Mendel is a great idea and design. I’ve never lugged a RepRap around – but seeing the pics of a mini-Mendel, I can see how easy it would be carry. I remember seeing a picture of a Mendel next to a full sized RepRap. It looked like a child’s toy! I’m really glad people are documenting it’s build process – publicity, availability of parts/kits, and great documentation are probably the keys to RepRap’s success.