I have lost count of the number of parts on my original Mendel Prusa style printer that I have replaced. It now is made of more replacement printed and electronic parts than original parts. After a period of being broken, once operational again the first thing I did was to print a spare for every printed part.
The reasons parts have broken
- PLA parts warped when printing ABS,
- Extruder gears broke from ware,
- Parts broke from stress or over tightening,
- Generally delicate parts - the manufacture appears to have reduced the printed volume of many parts.
The same applies to the Mendel90, I have had to make at least four repairs now. The broken parts have either been PLA
warping at ABS temperatures or bad prints to begin with. The Mendel90 is
a much more reliable design.
Having a 'spare' printer has reduced the need to backup the Mendel90, but I am also keen to one day convert the Prusa style printer into a Mendel90. I have been using periods between large prints to print a spare or two. The majority have been in PLA. I got carried away trying to print everything quickly and used PLA for some items that need to be ABS. I now have a few PLA spare of spares.
When printing ABS or for long periods in an enclosed chamber, parts near the extruder or in contact with the X Y or E stepper warp if made from PLA. PLA seams fine for the other parts.
In my experience parts that should be ABS
- x-motor
- y-motor bracket
- d_motor_bracket
- wades_block
- wades_gear_spacer
- wades_idler_block
- x_belt_clamp
- x_belt_grip
- x_belt_tensioner
- x_carriage
- x_carriage_fan_bracket
- x_carriage_fan_duct
- x_motor_bracket
- y_motor_bracket
Full set of Mendel90 v2 printed parts (grey PLA, black ABS)
Mendel Prusa style printer, Note that the original part colour was dark grey.
