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<div style="font-family: Tahoma;font-size: 10pt;color: #000000;margin: 0;">Hey Greg, welcome to the club! It sounds like you are a bit further ahead than I am at this point.<br>
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I recently sourced a couple Prusa Mendel i2 kits as well (figured it's always good to have spare parts or a spare machine when one breaks)... LOL but have intentions of having separate PLA and ABS printers in the future. I have been printing some of my parts
in PLA on the ModLab printer but also ordered a set of ABS parts from eBay to get started quickly. Currently i have the frame assembled for one and have everything except some of the electronics to complete my build. I am crossing my fingers hoping that
the remainder of my parts arrive before the weekend so that I can continue my build.<br>
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Back to your questions:<br>
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I haven't heard of any 3D Printing meetups other than the 3D Print-a-thon that was held at mod lab last month which was more of a show off your printer to the public and less chit chat with fellow printer owners. ModLab is a great place to talk to people about
3D printing though and although I'm not sure there are many other RepRap owners that attend, many of the basics apply to any FDM printer. That said, maybe there is interest in trying out some 3D printer meetups. As you say, so much can be learned in just
a few hours.<br>
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Being that I have a second kit I haven't started yet, I do have a few bearings you could borrow until new ones arrive if needed. I think you might be able to find them at General Bearing Service on Kent St but haven't tried myself. Not sure if they would
have the smooth rod either, but again, I have another kit if it is urgent.<br>
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I ordered my kits from MIXSHOP.com out of Toronto and they do have smooth rod and bearings for sale on their website if you wanted to try that route. The one thing I would sugest with them though is to send them an email and check if it is in stock first because
even though they showed the Prusa Kit in stock they didn't have any electronics for it and I am stuck waiting although they did send me the rest of the kit in the mean time albeit at my shipping expense. I also ordered some parts from Voxel Factory out of
Montreal and they have great customer service and pretty fast shipping (1-2 days) but it doesn't look like they have smooth rod listed on their site but it wouldn't hurt to ask.<br>
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As for the over extruding, while I am only a beginner, a few things I would check might be number of steps on the extruder motor, temperature being too hot and ensure that you are retracting when moving the head without printing.<br>
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Hope some of this helps.<br>
<br>
Dave<br>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg"><font style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000" face="Calibri, sans-serif"><b>From:</b> lab-bounces@artengine.ca on behalf of greg atcheson<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, March 26, 2013 9:45 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> lab@artengine.ca<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Lab] Reprap parts and people questions<br>
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<div>Hello all,<br>
<br>
I've bought and assembled a RepRap Prusa Mendel i2 3d printer. I know some other people in this group have them, as well. Are there any Reprap-related meetups for tuning these things? I'm still trying to get a decent print after weeks of trial and error, and
I feel that an hour of discussion with someone who's been through it would probably be more productive than a month of google searches. Mostly I have been having problems with blobbing and sometimes-excessive extrusion, it builds up above the nozzle level,
cools, then the nozzle impacts it and either dislodges the print, or causes the nozzle to deflect, putting great strain on the x-carriage. As it is I don't have the ability to print a replacement x-carriage as a spare.<br>
<br>
Also, my Y-axis bearings simply do not slide very well, which causes the printer to "skip steps" on fast moves and become misaligned on the Y. Decreasing print speeds GREATLY has helped, but now it's slow. After having it apart and swapping parts around to
troubleshoot, I have concluded that some of the bearings are "gritty" and do not slide well, also, the "ground drill rod" i purchased seems to have some high spots (I think I should have cut off the unfinished ends). So the next question is: Does anyone know
a place where you can walk in and purchase these lm8uu bearings and/or 8mm drill rod? The bearings came in a kit, and the drill rod was from Metal Supermarket, however they took almost a month to get it. Or suggestions on other places to order from.<br>
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Thanks for your help!<br>
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