About ready to give up on the Prusa Mini  

RE: About ready to give up on the Prusa Mini

According to my tracking information my printer should arrive Wednesday next week. Hopefully most of the issues have been worked out. If not, you guys have been a great source of information.

While I can sense the frustrations you are experiencing, the fact we have a forum to voice them is a good thing. Hopefully whatever issues I face and solve will help the next guy after me.

RE: About ready to give up on the Prusa Mini

Posted by: @tlovern

Hopefully most of the issues have been worked out. If not, you guys have been a great source of information.

Not to rain on your parade but until Prusa changes the design of the hot end, everyone will eventually experience an issue. I thought I was one of the lucky ones after reading so many posts about under extrusion. Three months later it happened to me. The PTFE tube in the heat break is too close to the hot end and eventually deforms/shrinks, allowing filament to collect under the PTFE tube. Luckily it's easy to fix and your mini comes with a spare.

RE: About ready to give up on the Prusa Mini

@tracy

So it sounds like possibly I will get the Bondtech heat break in the future, if this persists as a problem.

RE: About ready to give up on the Prusa Mini

Posted by: @tlovern

@tracy

So it sounds like possibly I will get the Bondtech heat break in the future, if this persists as a problem.

That's my plan as well. People seem to be having great success with it.

RE: About ready to give up on the Prusa Mini

That seems like a $15 upgrade I should just order right now (and the mini won't be here until September).  This is it, and that's all I need right?

https://www.bondtech.se/en/product/bondtech-heat-break-for-prusa-mini/

RE: About ready to give up on the Prusa Mini

I'm running into this issue with my personal Mini and it's driving me bonkers. I've gone through all of the guides and posts, but nothing seems to be helping. I think that I'm missing something. I've gone ahead and purchased the Bondtech heat break so we'll see if that helps. I've owned a decent amount of printers and I've never had one that had been this temperament before and I'm worried about dealing with these issues with the other 5 Minis that I've purchased for my Engineering class. 😒 

RE: About ready to give up on the Prusa Mini

I have been running a stock Mini since March 28. Only twice have I had an issue with the heat break but now I have been operating it without ANY problems for 5 months. Daily prints in ASA, PETG and PLA. It simply works. (I have a Bondtech heartbreak waiting to go in but no need!) Very happy customer! 

RE: About ready to give up on the Prusa Mini

After getting underextrusion/jamming for the third time, even after upgrading to Bondtech heatbreak, I have decided to call time on the Mini hotend. I suspect that over time the efficiency of the heatsink declines, possibly due to dust build up or whatever. Whatever the reason, The Mini hotend is too much hassle for me.

I have decided to swap out the Mini hotend for an E3D v6, it looks like a straightforward upgrade.

RE: About ready to give up on the Prusa Mini

Well, only day later I received my genuine E3D hotend and installed it. Installation was easier than I expected. Am now up and printing again. So far results are as good or better than anything I achieved before.

For info, I am using this adapter https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/31006 I managed to print a usable copy with my failing Mini hotend, I will need to reprint the parts in PETG for long term use.

RE: About ready to give up on the Prusa Mini

@bobcousins

That's a little disappointing to gear that you were still having issues, despite adding the Bondtech heat break since I just installed mine (so far so good). At least it's good to know that I can always install an E3D V6 instead. Thank you for the info.