Back in late 2010 I decided to change career a little. I had been doing freelance consulting for a number of years. I liked it but now I felt for a change. First thing I did was to just not take new contracts. It was hard to say no.

I didn’t really look for an employment but got a couple offers. Sometimes I regret I turned down the first offer which in hindsight actually turned out to be a pretty awesome place. The second one sounded very challenging and fun so I accepted that. I got to work with some amazing people! During this time, after freelancing and before becoming employed I stumbled upon 3D printing which seemed very exciting. I did some investigation and the software looked very hard to use (this back in early 2011). So I thought it could be a fun thing to jump into an maybe one could help out make it a little easier use.

I started to write a simplified slicer. Screencast demo.

But, I did not have a printer. So I set out to purchase an assembled one. This was a bad idea, as I got scammed and never saw a functioning machine or my money back. Besides the non-functioning 3D printer I ended up buying a kit and some pieces from RepRapPro.

RepRapPro is kind of the source of the RepRap project. In 2005 the RepRap project started more or less the DIY 3D printing movement, where the goal is to create a 3D printer that can print itself.

The kit I bought was a printer called Huxley, I also bought pieces for a printer called Mendel. The pieces even came with a Certificate of Authenticity with its heritage description (from the first RepRap printer). Well, the last weeks I have finally gotten around to build the Mendel. A couple of weeks ago I got help from a colleague to build the Huxley and I learnt a lot from that. As it was an old kit it was hard to find good instructions online and upgrading the firmware also required some research to get it all calibrated correctly. So, I also went on to build the Mendel. Not from a neat kit but from parts from various sources.

This Mendel must be one of the last being built to those specifications as the model has improved since. And I feel so proud now as I think I finally have come to the point for what’s it all about. Today I printed some new parts I designed myself to improve the printer itself. Full circle. The parts changed the position and angle of the electronics panel. Lifting it up and straightening it up. This maked room for the large extruder gear behind the panel.

The stl file for this piece is available here, share and enjoy!

Yeah, I have also started to print parts for a new printer. Wonder if that one will ever be built.

Everyone should have a 3D printer!