(Part 2) Top products from r/Reprap

I highly recommend Nophead's kit. It's fantastic--the quality of printed parts is excellent, the power supply and j-head are quality, and the Dibond helps to prevent resonances, making the printer quieter than ones built from plywood.

Don't over-tighten the nyloc nuts--it's very easy to do, and doing so will bend the Dibond slightly or crack the plastic parts.

Follow the directions very carefully. Everything is explicit in the instructions, but there aren't as many pictures/videos as I needed, and I ended up doing 2 steps incorrectly as a result. Nophead sells individual replacement parts, though, and everything he sells is quality and has a low profit margin. If you're not in the UK, though, shipping can get expensive.

You're going to need to strip very small gauge wire (for the ribbon cable, among others). Here's a great tip I learned to strip small gauge wire without breaking the wire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM4JsxirXPg

As others have stated, get a caliper. Also I find that a dial gauge is useful in leveling the bed--one like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-196521-Metric-Dial-Indicator/dp/B000LFYK0A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396249675&sr=8-1&keywords=dial+gauge
Basically, after you get your first print, print up something like this:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:92852
Change a setting in your firmware to allow the z-axis to go below '0', and attach the dial holder to your x-carriage instead of your extruder. This will allow you to get a very level bed. Bed leveling is everything--it will help adhesion and make your prints much more reliable.

After you've got your bed level, print replacement parts from ABS for your extruder, especially the gears and extruder block. I had problems at one point with a jammed extruder, and the resulting stresses cracked my extruder block. I had a PLA extruder block replacement, but the way the extruder mounts to the block on the Mendel90 (directly with screws, rather than using an aluminum mounting plate on the j-head's groove mount) meant that it got soft when the extruder got up to temperature, causing the tip of the extruder to wobble and the prints to go badly. Printing an ABS extruder block solved my problems. It's nice to have a backup so you don't need to rely on /r/reprappif or on friends.

You won't go wrong with Nophead's kit. I've seen many kits, and helped many friends build their printers at my local hackspace. Nophead's kit is the nicest I've found. The only other printer in the same league is the Ultimaker, and it's quite a bit more expensive, especially if you want the one with the heated bed.

Once you've got some experience under your belt, order an extra Nema17 motor, and get an extra D-Sub connector and custom PCB from Nophead, and purchase an E3D hot end. Build a 2nd extruder--the Mendel90 allows you to replace the extruder by unscrewing only 2 wingnuts (no tools necessary!). The E3D hot end can print nylon and other hot materials. It's a bit longer than the J-head, so you'll lose some space on the z-axis. But it's a fantastic all-metal hot end.

An easy option is to go to amazon.com and get this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TYHZ0A/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00

It's 30 bucks, has 2 heat pads, is all pre-wired, pre-stripped, glue backed, and has free shipping if you've got prime. I use it on EasyMaker( my own 3d printer design ) with a 1 foot square 1/8" thick piece of Aluminum from onlinemetals. It heats to 60C no problem. Something smaller -- say the size of a Prusa bed -- should easily heat to 110. Mark Gantor's lab ( aka the UW Seattle 3d printer lab/research group ) has used it to heat a prusa-sized bed to 110. EasyMaker uses a square foot sized bed, which is HUGE compared to other designs -- so don't let my 60C scare you. With 1 square foot of surface area, no existing heater can get to 110C.

you get 2 heat pads -- if you've got a really small bed -- say a makerbot cupcake or other mini-sized device, you could use just one. You can also use the switch if you like -- but I just wired directly to the RAMPS board. Super-easy. Done in 5 minutes.

Also -- I've found printing ABS on 60C Aluminum that has blue tape on top works great -- no curl, and safe to touch. I even printed a large, thin, flat thing using ABS -- no problem, everything stuck great, and nothing curled. Though, I normally print with PLA, and designed the machine around PLA, 60C is fine for ABS if you use blue tape instead of kapton( from my experience ).

Hope that helps!

The safest thing is a properly-sized resistor on the 5V rail. If you don't do that, the PSU may appear to run fine without it initially and then randomly shut down, reset, etc., potentially ruining prints. You need to keep drawing 1-2 amps at 5V to keep things happy. If you really want ideas for things to put on 5V that are actually useful:

• 5V LEDs
  
• Raspberry Pi
  
• a powered USB hub
  
• USB webcam
  
• 5V fan(s) to cool stepper drivers/control board
  
  Source: Have repurposed several AT and ATX PSUs for bench supplies and reprap power supplies.

Great. I'll confirm with ryan turner what comes out of the box and go for a 24v. I really like your lighting, did you use something like this

Measure the center-to-center spacing of the wire housings. If they are 2.54mm (.1") they are the JST XHP series as the other commenters pointed out out. Usually though, stepper connectors are the JST PH series and spaced 2mm center-to-center. These definitely look different though... is that a NEMA 17 or a NEMA14? Anyways if it's the more standard connection, it's a JST PHR-6 connector. These are the crimp pins that mate to the PHR-6. There are other ones for thinner wires, but you will want these for steppers. If it is instead what the other commenters have pointed out, you will want these connectors with these crimp pins. If you don't already have a crimp tool for thinner wires, I recommend these from experience.

EDIT- just want to add that if you don't feel you have a reliable way to measure the center-to-center spacing (like using calipers), you can always hold up a connector for an Arduino or similar, or an Arduino itself, and eyeball the pin spacing.

In addition to flush cutters, I've found a few different types of picks help to clear out hard to reach support areas, and fastener holes. Just don't punture your finger!

https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-6943-Precision-Pick-4-Piece/dp/B000NPPBQK

This helps me so much when soldering. I'm not sure how much it would help your specific weld you have to do but it will help in the future


http://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-Helping-Hand-with-Magnifier/dp/B000P42O3C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421774456&sr=8-1&keywords=helping+hand+soldering

So, if I use this power supply with a 131W heatbed, would I have enough voltage/amplitude for the rest of the printer (dual extruders, small fan, 6 stepper motors) and would I still need the solid state DC relay?

> y machine has two motors. Would I just splice them t

Stepper Motor Parallel Module
https://www.amazon.com/Aokin-Printer-Accessories-Parallel-Stepping/dp/B07Y42B87X/

You'll save $2-3 by ordering from Aliexpress if you choose free shipping, but you wont get it until January.

About Calibrating a Delta, I'm using this wizard to calibrate mine and I've got to a point where I can't seem to get better than [-0.1:0.1] offset on all 7 probe points. I'm using 6 factor and [a gauge like this](uxcell Metric Thickness Feeler Gage Gauge (0.02-1.00mm) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052IRYVS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_WJL7ivK8ztXUi) using the 0.1 mm sheet to measure the height between the nozzle and the bed.

How do I know when to stop?

How is that different/better than something like this?

Micro Deans are what I use on my hotend. I have two 4pin connector running my heater cartridge , thermistor, fan, and LED ring.

http://www.amazon.com/Deans-Micro-Pin-Connector-Black/dp/B000BOXMDW

> a quarter inch wide on an SMT pad.

http://www.amazon.com/Weller-SP40LK-Watt-Soldering-Iron/dp/B000HE5BZS

I think it was pretty close. Whatever the case, it seems that I choose poorly. Hopefully I can still return it as defective or something.

I was warned via youtube tutorials to avoid the fixed-wattage irons, and I think I now understand why - lesson well learned.

Amazon has techflex flexo tubing in different colors.

I like to use a rework station, to reheat plastic parts for touch ups... You could probably connect the two halves and then heat the seam up to get it to hold. Then if you're really worried about the seam, you can heat it up and smooth it out.

I use these

I zero my extruder and move it to the corners. At each corner, I manually adjust the bed until the correct feeler gauge barely fits. Takes less than 5 minutes about once a month.

http://www.harborfreight.com/32-piece-sae-metric-feeler-gauge-32214.html


http://www.amazon.com/25025-26-Blade-Master-Feeler-Gauge/dp/B000BYGIR4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409135061&sr=8-1&keywords=feeler+gauge

If after reading these comments, you decide to learn to solder, here's a simple $8.59 kit that I recommend. Iron not included.

I used one of these instead of cutting up the cables in case I ever wanted to re-use the ATX supply with a computer in the future: http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-8-Inch-ATX12V-Extension-ATXP4EXT/dp/B000O7WFHA/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1426279478&sr=1-2&keywords=atx+4+pin

Check this out: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Pyrex-11-x-14-Glass-Cutting-Board/17479051

Too bad it's a few inches too big.

Edit: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OUXBKM/sr=1-4/qid=1319141064/ref=pop?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1319141064&sr=1-4 That might fit a little awkwardly, but it's closer.