RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@crawlerin
Mine came 100% assembled outside of needing to add the heater and thermistor.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@crawlerin
That is not entirely true. My MK3S clone is not PTFE lined. I carefully research it to ensure I got the one from TriangleLabs to ensure it was not.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@charles-h13
Trianglelab is different company from Fysetc though. I was talking about Fysetc.
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@crawlerin
I know. I am talking about two different machines also. Triangle Labs does not make minis. I was using that to explain how I researched to find one that did not go all the way through. You said that all Mk3S clones go all the way through. D-Force and Triangle Labs certainly do not.
I just contacted FYSETC to ask if my kit has the heartbreak replaced or if they all come this way now.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
Haha no, I was talking about Fysetc specifically, that their clones use PTFE-lined hotend both MK3S and MINI (and whatever else they make). Sorry for misunderstanding.
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@crawlerin
No issue. I would just replace the heartbreak.
I have been printing for over a week. The only complaint I have is that I had a little difficult dialing it on the first day for a first layer. I scratched the bed a little. It was my mistake. I tried to print a temp tower sliced for the MK3S. Don't do that again.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@zoltan
I do not. I will be writing a complete review for this forum and on my own personal website. I will tell you that I am impressed with the printer but I do think it is overpriced. If I were going to order one at full price, I would wait until the Original Mini from Prusa is available in a more timely availability from the Prusa. I think price will plummet.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@crawlerin
I got an answer from the seller. My printer was returned and they broke the heartbreak. They replaced the heartbreak so you might be right. My purchase was from a 3rd party vendor.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
I looked on the FYSETC:
The heartbreak is different than the one on mine.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
I am done testing and reviewing my clone. I would strong recommend against being a clone from China. The kit was challenging to build and the quality was suspect. I got lucky and most have not. I will not be posting anymore on my clone.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@charles-h13
Thanks for the interesting and informative feedback series.
I just hope that one day we will not walk around as clones 😋
Statt zu klagen, dass wir nicht alles haben, was wir wollen, sollten wir lieber dankbar sein, dass wir nicht alles bekommen, was wir verdienen.
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
Thanks Charles.
This also confirms my decision to go with a genuine Prusa rather than a clone or a cheaper competitor.
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@charles-h13 Your experience with a cheap(ish) clone pretty much mirrors mine.
- I ordered an Artillery Sidewinder X1 at the start of the pandemic for PPE printing.
- It worked well enough for 15 days, at which time the bed thermistor cable failed. This cable is run along with AC bed power in a suspect sleeve that is subject to high stress and bending with very poor cable relief.
- After being assured a replacement would rushed at the end of a multi-day email exchange, I decided to patch in a repair. Just as well as the replacement part took 60 days to arrive. I wound up doing extensive work internally to add strain relief and print a set of cable chains to protect the cabling. I was able to print at more-or-less the same level as on day one.
- Various other parts within the extruder began to experience problems, and the PTFE-lined heartbreak limited filament options. I wound up replacing the cover/heatsink, extruder gears, heartbreak, heat block and nozzle. I also had to go through the joy of finding and recompiling my firmware to extend the temperature range.
- I also wound up on a quest to find reasonable cooling and wound up replacing the part cooling fan with a larger 5015.
While I quite like the Sidewinder, I will in no way recommend it to a newcomer. The bed cabling can harm or kill somebody, whether due to shock or fire hazard. The PTFE-lined heatbreak is a shortcut that only benefits the manufacturer. There were lots of issues with over-tightened screws, excessive hot glue application on the boards and connectors, and a variety of other QC issues.
That said, my prior experience with my Prusa Mk3 prepared me well and knowing what and how things should work was of tremendous help. I am way past enjoying twiddling and assembling kits, but I am able to recognize the problems and identify fixes. It's a reasonable SECOND printer. For all that, now that I have this thing working, I really do like it. I'm getting good and surprisingly detailed results with it. It is quiet enough and has great production volume. It's a shame these companies won't spend a bit more on good QC, parts and support. The printer designs are decent and competitive once assembled and tuned correctly.
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
I am starting a blog for my reviews. I will write this up a little more professionally.
The bottom line from start to finish is that I would never think twice about a clone if Prusa offered a kit version. I would never suggest it to my club if Prusa offered a kit.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
I am starting a blog for my reviews. I will write this up a little more professionally.
The bottom line from start to finish is that I would never think twice about a clone if Prusa offered a kit version. I would never suggest it to my club if Prusa offered a kit.
Nice writeup @charles-h13. Waiting for more 😉
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
Oh and did I mention aluminium profiles are of different type than those with original MINI? Then your printed parts won't fit with standard T-slot nuts. These are from China, while original uses such with slot. As I said previously, seems like they sourced hodge-podge of random parts taken from BOM, regardless if they fit together or not.
And missing 2 M5 screws. What comes good of it is that I have built supplies of proper screws, nuts and spare parts now, because I had to order those. Just assembling it takes me very long right now, I am in no hurry and do it whenever I am not occupied by something else.
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@crawlerin
Odd. Either they shipped me more or I got a bunch of important parts left over.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@charles-h13
There's quite an excess of other screws and nuts in the kit, just missing 2 M5s 😀 it's solved now, we have stashes and stashes of various screws at work which we don't use because we standardized on M6 for mounting equipment to racks.
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
@crawlerin
I really wish Prusa would offer the Mini in Kit Form.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog
RE: Prusa Mini Clone from China
There was no missing screws in my kit @crawlerin.