Merry Christmas to me!

[Kim]

Over in my Pennsy A3 Switcher build thread, I talked about another project that was taking my time.  It just happens that this isn’t a domestic project, but building my new Christmas present!

My wife asked me what I wanted this year and I told her I wanted a 3d printer!  So she ordered one (using me as the conduit to select the printer and actually place the order  ).

We ordered it early since I’ve heard the lead time can be long. I was ordering directly from Prusa, which is in Prague, so I was worried the shipping could be quite long – not to mention, they have a fairly significant backlog of orders apparently.  Anyway, we ordered in early October and 3 weeks later it arrived (that would be, on Monday of this week).


How cool is that?

And you can’t just let it sit for 2 months in the box, now can you?  What if there’s a problem of some kind, right?  So, clearly, I had to assemble it!

Here are all the parts that come in the kit.  I ordered the kit version – you can order it fully assembled for additional money, but why would I want to do that?  And let someone else have the fun of building it?!?


And a few days later, here’s the completed printer.  It wasn’t too difficult to assemble, but there is a lot to it. The instructions are quite good.  Very complete.  And they have an online version of the instructions (which is what I used) that have comments from many people who have assembled the kit.  By the issues in the comments, it’s clear that many people building this printer have had very little to no experience in building things.  But there is good help there.  And by looking at the comments I could tell where some of the more troublesome spots were and get people’s input before running into that same problem.  So all in all, it was quite a good experience.  I would highly recommend it!


And after completing the printer I had to print some things.  The printer works great!


Here are the three things I’ve printed so far.  The first one was the Prusa logo below. And the other two are “Benchy” which anyone who’s done any 3d printing probably knows about.  The one on the right was my first attempt.  It was going great till the very end when it detached from the bed and the smokestack became a little bird nest blob.  After diagnosing my issue (I didn’t clean the bed! ) I re-ran Benchy and he came out great the second time.


I’m quite excited about the new addition to my shop.  I don’t have any specific plans for it, but I’ve always wanted one.  And the more I see what people do with their printers on this forum, the more it was clear to me that I needed one too

Thus begins a journey down another rabbit hole!
Kim

[Dave Otto]

Nice present Kim, I'm sure that you will enjoy, it and now that you have it you will find lots of things to print.
I don't have one at home, but do have pretty much unlimited access to the ones at work, FDM, MJF and SLA. If that wasn't the case I would be shopping. 

Dave

[crueby]

Nice present!!




I got the same one a year or so ago, am printing some RC model parts as we speak. Well, type. Nice machine, I also learned early on to wipe down the print bed with alcohol, while its cold, before every use. So far only have used PLA, works great. Also did the kit, fun to assemble, the printhead was tricky. I was impressed with the diagnostic it ran first power up, it detected and told me about two swapped connectors. Their most recent slicer app now takes  .step files from the CAD, no need to save meshes anymore.




Enjoy your new toy, try and keep your shop elves away or they'll print their own pub (trust me, I know)

[Jo]

Nice present  You will learn a lot when you are allowed to use it... after Christmas 


My cheap as chips is still sitting there in case I need a quick jig or something printed 

Jo

[simplyloco]

I bought a Prusa a few years ago now. After learning some Fusion 360 during an initial flurry of excitement, it now sits on the shelf akin to my vacuum cleaner: gathering dust!

[packmule]

Congratulations on your printer.

I bought the same one and its proved invaluable in the workshop, from making replacement gears to holdown clamps. It has also got me to use Fusion 360,something i had no experience of but a lot of playing around and the help of youtube and we're now producing parts i would only have dreamed of making.

[Admiral_dk]

Congratulation with your Prusa 3D Printer 

I got mine in 2019 and it has been a experience mixed with success  and despair   

Mine has been upgraded (MMU2) and slightly modified (added LED's to show Filament Status).
Most of the time it's not in use - but it do participate in Production (making Custom Washer/Spacers in PETG).

It worked almost perfect after assembly and very well a few days later after some adjustments - but some 6-7 weeks later it went downhill and got more and Printed more and more random .... 
First discovered Mistake - I had only turned one of the screw in till it touched during adjustment off the X-Belt and forgot to come back and tightnig it fully - IE. then reason I got more and more imprecise Prints 

The Printer was ordered with the MMU2 but that had longer delivery time, so when I recieved this - I had to disassemble the E-Axis - in order to modify it for the MMU2. This revealed my other mishap - again bad memory - another Screw / Nut - that now was loose      
As the last one explained why it got more and more problems with the Filament Feed - I thought that all my problems where a thing of the past - and they where for several months 

But Filament Feed and Layer Zero problems came back with a Vengance       - to the point off giving up -> six months off disgust + not using ......
When I 'came back' - I started by searching the Prusa - User Board. Here I found out about the Status LED additions. So I added a Red LED to the Printinghead to show the Filament Status and a Green LED to the MMU2. Both work Perfect - but the Colors should have been swapped, as the Red is on when All is Good and the Green lights up when I got a Problem 
With the LED in place, it was easy to Adjust the Tension on the Filament on the E-Axis - so I haven't had any of those problems since .... Knock on Wood etc.

Only real problem left is Layer Zero - and no Alcohol Wipe has solved that ....
But having the Printer print the whole Layer and just stopping here if it's bad - remove Layer Zero and Start from Start again usually works very well (a few times I have needed to do it more than once for the same print). The times where it has done Production Runs, I only had to do this first time and then it will do as many times as I need without any problems - they only reapear when the Printer hasn't been use for a while or I'm printion on an 'unused part of the plate'.

I have lost the 'Glue-Stick' long time ago - and often wondered if it would have solved these situations as no matter how much I rub the Plate with Alcohol (IsoPropyl) it doesn't make a difference - but printing a 'Lost Layer Zero' do ....

The latest Slicer rev. 2.5 has solved many of the other small niggles I had - except now I get a high number of tiny strings - I didn't have before .... Let's see what Revision 2.6 brings 

Per

[RReid]

You must have been a very good boy this year. How about an engineer and fireman for the A3? Whatever, I'm sure you'll have fun with it.

[crueby]

Per, thats why I've stuck with the PLA filament, it doesn't need anything special to adhere to the plate, and seems like a good all-round plastic. Unless there is a need for the properties of one of the others, I'll stay with that one. Fully understand that if there is a need for another, food-safe or extra strength or something, its well worth the extra steps.
 

[Kim]

Thanks, everyone!

Yes, I'm quite excited about it!  Per, sorry to hear of all your problems.  But as with any new tool, there's always a learning curve, and I think I'm up for it.  Guess we'll see!

And I believe an MMU2S is in my future too, though not for a while.  I figured I'd get to know the base machine and work with it for a while before I added the multi-color complications.

Dave, you have a lot of options available to you at work!  That's pretty cool.  I looked at SLA but the smell and messing with the resin just put me off. I figure FDM will do me for a while

Ron, good suggestions!  Now I need to see if Thingiverse has the appropriate models for an engineer and a fireman!

Kim

[A7er]

Per.
I had a lot of trouble with my Ender3 prints not sticking to the bed, until I raised the bed temp to 60 deg. One print I ws sent to try had been set to 50 and i didn't check before printing. It failed. I then reset the temp to 60 and it worked. My new filament is good stuff, (pla), but the print bed resembles an explosion in a string factory. I also have a "ghost" outline of almost everything I have printed with the new filament.
Lee

[Vixen]

This is my early Christmas present to myself. A Clarke 1 ton Press, to which I have added a 9" diameter hand wheel. The hand wheel was based on an idea from Chris (crueby).



Mike   

[crueby]

Nice present! I can't take any credit for the wheel - my press happened to come with one from the factory, and I have to say I never use the wheel, though all I've used the press for so far is broaching, which needs the extra power that the longer lever provides. For light work, the wheel would likely be useful. Your wheel is larger diameter, which will make it more useful too.

Now, get a handful of peanuts, a clean steel plate, and start making peanut butter!   

Chris

[Admiral_dk]

Nice Press Mike 

I didn't mean it as a complain (though I would have liked to had less problems with 3D printing) ....
More some of the things that can happen (at least to me) ....
I don't know about Temperature or Materials .... as I can't (usually) see any other relationship than time between prints - if it has been less than a day or two, I normally get a fine Layer Zero 
Several weeks and I often has First Time, Layer Zero trouble    though to be honest - PLA is often more problematic than PETG 

I have tried to experiment with temperature and I can't say that is has done much to Layer Zero in regard to sticking to the 'Bed' - but it has influence on other parts of the Print - including Warping ....

Regarding my Status LED Mod - I really wished that I had done it when I assembled the Printer the first time, as this could have saved me a LOT of hair on my head (too much scratching) over the years .... but I also get the impression that it is a very tiny amount of Prusa i3 Mk3S users that has these problems (or are aware of them).

Lastly - the MMU2 .... As it was my Boss that payed for the Printer (he oves me more) and he thought that some of the thing that I would be printing for the Company would be in two Colors and I thought that I would need it to Print in two or more different Materials .... But so far I have only 'used it' as a Selector before starting the Print as they ALL has been done with one Filament and no change during Print 
That might change if I start with Flexiables again - they withstand Oil and other agressive substances ....

Thank you all for your suggestions - apreciated - but @ this time in Life - I do have a good relation to my Prusa ....     

Per

[Kim]

Yeah, the MMU2S is a very interesting thing (at least to me).  I'm interested in the multi-color aspect for sure.  But another thing that sounds interesting is using a water-soluble filament for supports.  That seems like it would be really cool.  But then, I haven't done enough 3D printing to have earned the right to any real opinions yet.

Kim