The other 3D printer operational – Mendel90
The thing is not that the black 3D printer would be inoperative but it is just sitting there at the end of the table doing nothing. Or at least that is what it had been doing when Prenta arrived. The difference between the printers is the diameter of the plastic filament used to print things and variety of materials. It does not affect the outcome and end-product but gives some more possibilities with the filament stock we have at the Hacklab.
The slicing for Mendel90 is done with Cura and the printer is controlled with Octoprint. Read more about the usage of Mendel90. Proper settings for slicing are now available on the “Olmari” desktop computer. The same Cura is also configured to allow printing directly to Octoprint. The settings are ok for PLA plastic (at least the green one in printer at the moment), you can also try the glow in the dark PLA.
ABS prints would be possible also as we do have spools of that in stock. The challenge is that Mendel90 does not take extruder temperatures over 215 very well. It does allow it but it never settles so the print never starts.
- Turn on Mendel90 from the computer power supply
- Browse to http://mendel90.lan with any computer to see the UI
- Use “Olmari” computer (tunkki5) to slice with Cura
- Press the right hand side lower corner button “Print with Octoprint”
- Go to see what printer is doing, warming up and then printing
- Be ready to stop the printing (power off from PSU, cancel from octoprint) if the first layer is way too thin. It is hard to see with the fan duct but too thin of a layer will cause excess plastic inside the hotend and certain jam that is troublesome to sort out as it requires taking apart the printer a bit.
- Enjoy.
