Mini+ maintenance guide?  

mini

Pretty easy to find with Google:

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

thanks

Thanks. I actually did search "mini+ maintenance" on the forum and didn't find anything.

My personal procedure

The official procedure is indeed easy to find, but let me add my personal procedure, which contains some things that are not in the official guide that I think are a good idea to perform at least once in a while:

1. Use a pick to gently dislodge stuck filament from the extruder gear while rotating it manually.
2. Cleanup the whole machine with compressed air (remove dust, filament and small particles that could get stuck in the belts, etc.), including inside the extruder by opening the little trap door on top
3. Lubricate smooth rods (cleanup with a paper towel first, then add a small amount of lubricant and spread it with your finger)
4. Adjust tension of all belts with this tool https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/46639-tension-meter-for-the-gt2-belts-of-i3-mk3s-or-prus
5. Check tightness of screws all around
6. Perform about 3 cold pulls to cleanup the inside of the nozzle (do not perform cold pulls if you have a Nozzle X). Removing the hotend PTFE tube before performing a cold pull can remove additional gunk that may be sitting between the heatbreak base and the PTFE tube. I especially recommend doing it this way if you tend to get full clogs.
7. Measure the length of the hotend PTFE tube, re-compress it if slightly too short or replace it entirely if it's shrunk by more than ~1mm (this tube has a tendency to shrink with time, potentially leading to partial or full clogs)  https://help.prusa3d.com/en/guide/how-to-replace-a-hotend-ptfe-tube-mini-mini_119449
8. Cleanup the outside of the nozzle with a nylon brush (quick strokes)

In addition, I try to think to run some cleaning filament through the nozzle (just a load, one or two purges then unload, with a high-temp filament preset such as PC) when I switch from a higher-temp filament to a lower-temp one. That could help to prevent gunk from accumulating in or near the nozzle, potentially causing clogs down the line.

I'd be interested in hearing about others' cleanup procedures.

RE: Mini+ maintenance guide?

Hello! I have a Prusa mini + machine. I would like to ask for help with greasing linear bearings. To be able to grease it, I really have to take the whole machine to pieces to get access, or just wipe the rods and apply the grease or oil to it (eg what I have in PTFE. Lithium grease spray) and then run the Z, Y and X axes back there? Is silicone spray good for lubrication?

RE: Mini+ maintenance guide?

If you properly greased (not oiled!) bearings at assembly, then I see no reason to disassemble the whole thing because of that reason (grease doesn't just disappear inside bearing) -cleaning rods with a tissue and applying thin film of grease should be enough.
I wouldn't use spray, because it's too liquid and thus hard to apply exactly where you want it. Without going into details, I wouldn't use silicone stuff. Get a tube of white/transparent lithium grease: it will serve you better, longer and is cheaper.

Some will maybe say that you need to make "full maintenance" (disassemble, lubricate, assemble, adjust, etc.) every few months, also depending on how much you print. Speaking for me, I simply ignore such advice. Over the years, and if you print a lot, you will probably need to replace bearings (and maybe rods) anyway.

Just sharing my opinion

RE: Mini+ maintenance guide?

Thanks for the reply and confirmation!

I have that kind of fat. https://dobozrendelo.hu/spd/17282/Litium-bazisu-kenozsir-PTFE-adalekkal?gclid=Cj0KCQiA47GNBhDrARIsAKfZ2rAmW_Pf8nGUhr-MF0uZGI6gWi7hha9MFVLIH6Sn if I blow it on a rod in front of it and lubricate it on the rods so good, or is this lubricant good for it?

RE: Mini+ maintenance guide?

I don't know this spray. But I see it also contains PTFE (teflon) and so, I would try to avoid it. Anyway, if you decide for spray, do NOT spray directly on printer -because grease will be all over the printer. Spray on some tissue first and then use the tissue for lubricating.
I am using this, but any other brand will be good.

RE: Mini+ maintenance guide?

Thanks for the help!

I ordered it. Is it okay to lubricate the rods once with this PTFE-containing lithium grease?

RE: Mini+ maintenance guide?

the recommended lubricant is white lithium soap, grease, as supplied with the kit. 

lots of people have alternate beliefs. 

any light grease is likely to be better than no grease. 

do not overfill the bearings, the balls need to be able to recirculate through the return paths in the bearings. if these are stuffed with lubricant it is likely the balls will slide on the smooth rod, rather than recirculate, and this will lead to damage

Good luck, 

and Happy Printing

regards Joan

RE: Mini+ maintenance guide?

Thank You!

RE: Mini+ maintenance guide?

Probably also not good to mix different lubricant types unless you're sure how they may interact with each other. One could cause the other or both to break down and you'll be left with very poor lubricating properties. If you want to switch to a different lubricant type, it's probably best to start with a new set of bearings since you'll probably never get all of the old lubricant out of the ones that shipped with the printer. You could attempt to use some kind of a degreaser, brake cleaner, carb cleaner to clean them out, but this might also damage the plastic seals at each end of the bearing cause them to shrink or get brittle and crack.

RE: Mini+ maintenance guide?

How often does everyone ACTUALLY re-apply lubrication to the axis rods? I saw the maintenance guide says 200 hrs of printing. Some prusa employees have posted 350 hours in the comments, but that may have been for the mk3s. I just got mine and have been running it almost constantly for a little over a week, so I'm coming up on the 200hr mark and was wondering.

RE: Mini+ maintenance guide?

I do it maybe once a month, during regular maintenance. Never actually bothered to measure it but I guess I'm a lot closer to 350 than 200 hours. 

It might pay to do extra in the early days.  I lubricate my Mk3 monthly, more often if the smooth rods are collecting dust and parking the greasy dust at the ends - microscope examination shows the usual range of dust particles but, at certain times of year, a surprising amount of pollen grains.

Cheerio,