New to 3d printing, and being gifted a Prusa Mk 4
hi guys and girls,
so i've never owned or used a 3d printer before and a friend is gifting me a brand new Prusa Mk 4
I know there's a lot to learn so was hoping you guys would point me in the right direction of where to learn the ins and outs of this machine.
i realise there's a lot to take in but am a willing student
Thanks
Harv
RE: New to 3d printing, and being gifted a Prusa Mk 4
You are right that there is a lot to learn, but hopefully you will enjoy the journey. My MK4 is my second 3D printer, and I love it. It's printing away as I write this.
Lots of good information on YouTube. I would start here:
RE: New to 3d printing, and being gifted a Prusa Mk 4
Is it pre-assembled, or a kit?
RE:
Welcome to 3d printing 😀
There's quite a few beginners videos our there that can help you, but first thing first, you should read your printer's manual at least once, and then also read the follwing in order to better understand the different slicing settings you can use on PrusaSlicer : https://help.prusa3d.com/category/prusaslicer_204 (especially the PRINT SETTINGS section)
Then after you got the basics, I'd say HAVE FUN. You will learn a lot by encountering problems and learning to solve them. (Youtube, this discussion board and google will be your best friends there).
Start with PLA or PLA+, which are the easiest filaments to work with. They're very forgiving. PETG isnt too hard to handle either, but is a bit more prone to warping and supports are more difficult to remove cleanly.
Also, make sure you get the right accessories. Here's a quick beginners list of things to have (or print!)
-99% alcohol to wipe your print bed clean before each print (if you cant find 99%, 90% will do fine too...). I also have little spray bottles to spray the alcohol from, very usfeul!
-Acetone to restore your print bed about once a month (for the smooth sheet ONLY, they dont recommend using acetone on the satin or textured sheets)
-Printable bed scraper. I really like this one : https://www.printables.com/model/277302-thin-layers-scraper-tinyergonomic/comments/1069966
-A caliper! Once you start creating your own models (you will want to eventually), you will NEED a caliper to take exact measurements. About that, when you want to venture there, I suggest downloading Blender, its free. Watch videos online to help you familiarize with the software, but beware, the learning curve is steep at first.
-Vacuum bags to store your filament rolls when not using them, especially if you get some PETG rolls, they suck in humidity pretty quickly, which degrades the quality of the filament and your prints. Once that happens you need to dry the filament, using either your stove at low temp, or with a filament dryer. So if you don't want that hassle, buy a vacuum bags kit that comes with a small air pump. Easily found on amazon.