Friday 2 October 2015

No More Mendel90 kits

We sold our last Mendel90 kit today. We found it increasingly difficult to get Dibond that wasn't scratched and after going through four different suppliers we eventually gave up and synchronised the rest of our stock to the number of good Dibond sheets we had managed to get.

The problem is we don't have room for an 8' x 4' router, so we get the sheets cut into smaller blanks that fit on my A2 router. The sawyers that cut them keep forgetting that, unlike other materials like wood and acrylic, the aluminium chips that come off Dibond are sharp enough to cut through the protective film and damage the surface. That means that all the chips need to be cleaned off the cut pieces before they are stacked. You would think that companies whose main business is selling cut to size sheets for decorative use would know this, but they all seem to make the same mistakes over and over again, wasting my time and their money.

Many thanks to all our customers for all their kind words and recommendations.

Back to experimenting and blogging ...



16 comments:

  1. I am so glad that I followed advice and bought your Mendel90 kit. It is a great machine and my daughter and I with no experience were able to put it together and get it working without much difficulty. I'm kind of sad to hear no more kits will be sold but I'm looking forward to what you will come up with next.

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  2. I can cut and send you dibond m90. I do it already in Poland so it wouldn't be a problem for me.

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  3. Hello Chris.
    I was very sad when I heard the news. Thanks for the great kit. I had never in my life so much fun to assemble such a kit. The Mendel90 Kit was really perfect. You've thought of everything and even the cardboard from the parcel was used. Thanks also to your wife, who has helped you diligently. The instruction was truly unique. Each handle has been declared and it was super easy to build the printer together.

    I had/have lot of fun with my printer and I have learned a lot about 3D printing. I will never sell your printer, because I am proud to own an original Mendl90 from you. =)

    However, I hope that you do not give the development of your printer and we can print additional improvements ourselves.

    So again, thank you for everything and happy blogging.

    On my blog I'm going to continue to report on my Mendel90.

    http://blog.seidel-philipp.de/category/3d-druck/mendel90/

    Phil

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  4. I am an importer of various products for 40+ years. Can I help you ? Just give me specs for the size and thicknesses you need with a quantity .

    julius rosen

    acme_mktg@yahoo.com

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  5. I think i bought the last one. Thank you Chris ans Mary.

    Regards

    Dominick

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  6. Glad I got mine while they were available from the best supplier. Only silver lining in this is that the blogging will start again,and maybe Mary will not go to sleep counting M4 nuts in her head......

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  7. I got mine years ago - it's still running great! Sad to hear you will not sell them anymore...
    But maybe you will work on a new design and blog about it!? That would be awesome! :)

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  8. Aw, that's sad to hear. I hope you find a reasonable replacement for the Dibond. I have one of your machines since the early spring and it works really well - I am not regretting the money spent.

    Kudos and keep up the good work!

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  9. That's no good :( am I able to still purchase the kit without the dibond? I can source aluminum sheet here without an issue. Regards Gav
    gmlewry@gmail.com

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  10. I thank you and your wife for all that you have done with the Mendel90 kits. I have two DiBond kits I'm still working on, it's been a great experience building the Mendel90. You are what makes the RepRap community great, I can't wait to see what's next.

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  11. Hi Chris,

    Thats bad news to me, luckely I bought your kit and never in my life I had so much fun assembling something The printer still runs perfect. Nothing broke, nothing is wearing out. On average the printer runs 8 hours a day within the last two years. As Philipp wrote your kit is perfect and so well made its unparalleled.

    If a fairy godmother would grand me three wishes: 1. Chris would often write in his blog. 2. Chris would come up with another printer. 3. A screw&r&nails packaging machinery for your wife.

    Thank you Chris and Mary,
    Ingo

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  12. Sad news, but all the more glad that I have a slice of RepRap history. From the problems I hear other people having with cheap clones I'm glad I learned how to build, calibrate and refine my own printer from this kit, and that once setup it hasn't skipped a beat in nearly three years.
    Whilst the appeal of a delta has almost tempted me to hit the buy button (they are mesmerising to watch!) I'm actually thinking that I have no need for a replacement until affordable home SLA printing comes of age.
    I wonder if the decision to stop selling these kits is what influenced IKEA to stop selling SORLI 200x200mm mirror tiles? :D

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    1. Now that is sad news although the missing corners where I clip them means I preferred plain glass.

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  13. Hi Chris,
    I would like to thank you and wish the best of luck on your future endeavors

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  14. Just my luck. I want to get into the game just after it ends. I notice a couple people adding comments with possible solutions to the dibond problem. Any chance that you might start making kits or are you tired of it now? I sure would like to find one of these kits.

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    1. Yes I am tired of making the same kits for three years. See http://hydraraptor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/end-game.html for more clarification.

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