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About to undertake a large print run - any advice?  

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chipmc
(@chipmc)
Active Member
About to undertake a large print run - any advice?

All, 

I have been printing using my Prusa Mini+ for a little over a year and have gone through ~4kg of filament.  Everything is working perfectly, so well in fact that I am about to commit to a project that will require me to print a about 50 enclosures - about 25 days of printing continuously.  Before I undertake this endeavor, I wanted to ask the following:

- Am I nuts to take on this big a print backlog - or am I lulled into a sense of optimism by the printers excellent performance so far.

- Should I pre-order any parts so if something breaks / wears out, my downtime would be minimal?  If so, what?

- Is there any maintenance I should do other than the light greasing and compressed air blowing called for in the handbook chapter nine?

If this matters - Polymer PolyLite ASA 1.75mm, 0.2mm Speed, enclosure about 28º C - three parts - ~6 hours, ~4 hours and ~2 hours

Thank you in advance,

Chip

 

 

Any advise would be appreciated.

Chip McClelland
See Insights LLC

Posted : 23/04/2022 5:53 pm
Razor liked
mrstoned
(@mrstoned)
Reputable Member
RE: About to undertake a large print run - any advice?

I always have spare ptfe-tubes, long and short.

Spare hotend heater, termistor, heatbed termister.

Spare nozzles.

Spare partcooling and hotend fan.

 

And spare printed parts that goes around the hotend (pinda holder, fan spacer, cable-clip) but not the x-carrige itself.

 

Prusa Mini+ kit. BondTech extruder. FW 5.1.2
Prusa MK3S+ kit. Stock. FW 3.11.0
Prusa MK3S+, used. Stock. FW 3.13.3

Posted : 23/04/2022 6:30 pm
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fuchsr
(@fuchsr)
Famed Member
RE: About to undertake a large print run - any advice?

What mrstoned said. Plus, if you're printing enclosures 0.3 layer height is probably plenty enough and would cut down on print time. 

Posted : 23/04/2022 7:24 pm
chipmc liked
K7ZPJ
(@k7zpj)
Reputable Member
RE: About to undertake a large print run - any advice?

With the repeated high temperature on the heat bed, I would inspect the printer at least once a day so you can detect any problems early.

When printing  a lot of ASA, I had some of the magnets in the heat bed come loose dropped off when I removed the spring steel sheet.  I found them stuck to the Y-axis rods and some under the printer.  I used Red (High Temp) RTV Silicon to glue the magnets back on the heat bed.

Also, the spring steel sheet is a consumable item.   I would add one or two of them to your list of spares.

 

Posted : 23/04/2022 8:19 pm
Razor and chipmc liked
Diem
 Diem
(@diem)
Illustrious Member

Mini - https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/regular-maintenance-mini_133222

The proper state of a 3D printer is printing.  25 days is not particularly big job but it will require regular maintenance and cleaning.

Cheerio,

Posted : 23/04/2022 9:28 pm
chipmc liked
mrstoned
(@mrstoned)
Reputable Member
RE: About to undertake a large print run - any advice?

And for my own experience, i regularly print objects that takes between 2-4 hours, most recently i have put thru about 3kg of abs over the past month or so and sofar i have had no failures. I always use a superthin layer of gluestick and i dont touch the plate itself without cottongloves when prying the parts off.

And i also check the heater and termister cables dont touch the fan before starting prints.

Prusa Mini+ kit. BondTech extruder. FW 5.1.2
Prusa MK3S+ kit. Stock. FW 3.11.0
Prusa MK3S+, used. Stock. FW 3.13.3

Posted : 24/04/2022 6:55 am
chipmc liked
MysDawg
(@mysdawg)
Estimable Member
RE: About to undertake a large print run - any advice?

I agree about using an enclosure. Possibly use a monitoring program to assure that the print is progressing while you are away

Posted : 24/04/2022 3:45 pm
chipmc liked
chipmc
(@chipmc)
Active Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: About to undertake a large print run - any advice?

Wow, thank you all for your comments.  Based on your comments, it seems I might well be able to undertake this printing commitment.  Now have a shopping list for the Prusa store for when / if I run into an issue.  

"the proper state of a #D printer is printing" - I like that @Diem

@fucher, the largest layer height I see for the Prusa Mini+ is 0.25mm.  Can I create a 0.3mm layer height profile?  Also, what about increasing print speed to 125-150%) to speed things along?

Again, thank you all!

Chip

 

Chip McClelland
See Insights LLC

Posted : 24/04/2022 4:10 pm
fuchsr
(@fuchsr)
Famed Member
RE: About to undertake a large print run - any advice?

@fucher, the largest layer height I see for the Prusa Mini+ is 0.25mm.  Can I create a 0.3mm layer height profile?  Also, what about increasing print speed to 125-150%) to speed things along?

Sure, just use the 0.25 mm profile and change layer height to 0.3, then save it as a custom profile. In my version of it, I left first layer height at 0.2mm. I left my speeds at the ones transferred over from the 0.25mm profile but I don't see a reason why you can't go up. It's parts for an enclosure, so some cosmetic imperfections won't hurt anyone. I don't know for what enclosure you're printing parts. I've printed several LACKs, and used 3 perimeters, 15% gyroid infill. Plenty robust. 

 

Posted : 24/04/2022 5:48 pm
chipmc liked
chipmc
(@chipmc)
Active Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: About to undertake a large print run - any advice?

@MysDawg, 

Yes, good point.  I am currently using OctoPrint and The Spaghetti Detective.  I also just purchased a whiz bang device from Tindie that promises to cut power to the printer in case of fire.  

Other suggestions?

 

Chip

 

Chip McClelland
See Insights LLC

Posted : 24/04/2022 7:42 pm
mark
 mark
(@mark-3)
Reputable Member
RE:

I printed face shields and ear protectors for 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, for several months at a time. I would not be too concerned about it. Besides, a corollary to Murphy's law states that any spare parts you have will not fail and will not need to be used.

Regards,

Mark

Posted : 24/04/2022 7:43 pm
chipmc liked
jsw
 jsw
(@jsw)
Famed Member
RE: About to undertake a large print run - any advice?

I don't have the Mini, but I have done a number of day-long-plus and countless hours-long prints on the I3 without any issues.

The main parts of the 'digester eggs' (waste processing unit for industrial area of model railroad) took over a day each to print, as did the main section of a lithophane viewer, photos below.  I just make sure that I or someone else is available to look in on the print every so often and, at minimum, can pull the plug if anything significant goes wrong.

I've had no issues doing long runs of ABS prints, and I do agree that an enclosure is the way to go.  (I just did a lengthy response in another thread WRT ABS printing.)

I keep a 'crash kit' of spare parts for both of the machines.  For the Prusa I have spare printed parts of the extruder assemble, as in those most likely to be damaged by a meltdown or blob of doom.  I keep a complete spare hot end, an Einsy/Rambo board, belt material, etc.

Posted : 25/04/2022 12:09 am
chipmc liked
Chris Laudermilk
(@chris-laudermilk)
Estimable Member
RE: About to undertake a large print run - any advice?

 

Posted by: @mark-3

I printed face shields and ear protectors for 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, for several months at a time. I would not be too concerned about it. Besides, a corollary to Murphy's law states that any spare parts you have will not fail and will not need to be used.

Regards,

Mark

😆 I can vouch for that. I printed up a complete set of spares for my Mini, so of course nothing failed for my project. That project being printing up a set of ABS parts for my Vorod Trident. It was a couple of weeks of near-constant printing and the printer just ran.

Mini+ (kit) - Revo Micro | Antler Cooling | WiFi (4.4.0RC1)

Posted : 25/04/2022 2:32 pm
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