Mendocino Motor
I was very excited to see that the new Up 3D printer was set up and running when my daughter and I came to the lab today. A month or so ago my son asked to make the Mendocino Motor that was featured in Volume 31 of Make Magazine. It requires making several parts using a 3D printer. We tried making the rotor using the cupcake printer, but it broke loose from the platform when it was about 75% complete. We decided to wait until the new printer was in before trying again, and now it is here. I did not realize it had come in or my son would have come with us. I still wanted to see the new printer in action so with Bob's help I printed the rear bushing and the motor fan (here are some pictures). The bushing took about 7 minutes and the fan took 14 minutes. It was amazing to watch the printer build the fan blades, which are at about a 30 degree angle, without any support structure to hold them. Next week we will be returning, and my son is coming with us to try and print the rotor again. We probably won't be able to print more than one or two parts each week, but once we are done we will update with a picture and maybe some video of the finished product.