Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread  

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@crawlerin

A little different in the US but not much.  

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Posted by: @nathanwms

As a noob to 3D printing, do you have any recommendations on what to do while I wait? What 3D printing resources (books, websites, YouTube channels, etc. ) have you found informative and helpful?

The anticipation of getting my first printer is agonizing and I need something constructive to do with my time  

 

You can install PrusaSlicer 2.1.0 and learn how to turn STL model files into g code that the printer uses to print.  The Mini profiles aren't included yet but you can use the MK3s profiles. to learn.

Decide which CAD tool you want to make your own models with.  I use Fusion 360.  You can get a free personal use license and do Fusion 360 tutorials to learn it.    Another option to make models is Blender which is also free.   Desktop Makes and the Fusion 360 website has good tutorials.  https://www.desktopmakes.com/

You can checkout sites that have stl files for downloading such as https://www.prusaprinters.org/   or https://www.thingiverse.com/

There are many G-code tutorials out on the internet where you can learn how the g-code language works.

Other websites and you tube channels

Makersmuse

V1 engineering

 3D Printing Nerd

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@nathanwms

You can familiarize yourself with 3D modelling software of your choice, and slicer while you wait for printer to turn up. Get to know lingo being used with 3D printers, they have their specific parts and workings, knowing those will help you from the start. On youtube there are some good peeps covering 3D printing and similar tech, worth watching: Angus from Maker's Muse, Thomas Sanladerer, Stefan from CNC Kitchen, Joel from 3D Printing Nerd, Michael from

Teaching Tech. As for websites, Reddit's Wikipedia at r/3dprinting is good comprehensive documentation, and Bobstro from over here has good website regarding printers maintenance and other projects, check him out: http://projects.ttlexceeded.com/index.html

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@nathanwms

You can familiarize yourself with 3D modelling software of your choice, and slicer while you wait for printer to turn up. Get to know lingo being used with 3D printers, they have their specific parts and workings, knowing those will help you from the start. On youtube there are some good peeps covering 3D printing and similar tech, worth watching: Angus from Maker's Muse, Thomas Sanladerer, Stefan from CNC Kitchen, Joel from 3D Printing Nerd, Michael from

Teaching Tech. As for websites, Reddit's Wikipedia at r/3dprinting is good comprehensive documentation, and Bobstro from over here has good website regarding printers maintenance and other projects, check him out: http://projects.ttlexceeded.com/index.html

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@bruce-p4 & @crawlerin

Thanks so much! This will definitely keep me occupied while I wait on the mini.

I definitely plan on using PrusaSlicer, only makes sense and I hear that it is very good. I’m thinking about Fusion 360. I’ve seen a few YouTube videos from some of the people you both mentioned and they spoke highly of Fusion. I know there are some simpler programs to get started on, but my day job is as a software engineer, so I’ve used some fairly sophisticated software applications. Besides, I’d rather get proficient on a program that I will not outgrow as my skills increase.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Yet another beautiful print from Tom @FilamentFrenzy

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Ordered mine at the end of October so looking at end of Jan beginning Feb next year. I think it will be worth the wait! Currently have a FlashForge Create Pro and am looking forward to a self levelling print bed that is easy to get prints off of ;-). Was thinking about saving for the Mk3S but the mini appeared and in one interview, I heard a MK4 is in research so I'll use the mini for now and hope the Mk4 has the 32bit setup when I can afford it.

Does anyone know if I can get used to Prusa Slicer 2.0 by using it on my creator pro?

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

I have thought about ordering a second.  

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@nathanwms

Also check out Lars Christansen

He has some of the best training videos for Fusion 360

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Posted by: @mai-19

[...] Does anyone know if I can get used to Prusa Slicer 2.0 by using it on my creator pro?

I was under the impression that the FlashForge printers could only be used with their proprietary slicer. Are you able to print gcode files from other sources? Are you cable to use Cura? If so, with the appropriate hardware settings, you should be able to get it working with PrusaSlicer. If not, you may be out of options.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Thanks @bobstro,

The Creator Pro doesn't need their slicer, it works with things like Simplify 3D. The next question would be how can I download Prusa Slicer?

Jas

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Hiya, name added to the list....going to be a long wait til end of February! It will be my 2nd printer. I cut my teeth on a Chinese i3 copy, spent most of the time printing upgrades and spares whilst pulling my hair out trying to get a level bed and something that sticks! Put a e3d Titan on it and, to be fair, when it worked we got some really nice prints. But then the fan melted onto the hot end and I didn’t have any spares so it’s just gathered dust (thankfully my youngest had printed the largest parts of the portal gun replica he was designing so could have been worse!). After all that aggro, I was sick of the whole damn hobby!

but last night I decided to take a look to see if there was a spare fan and somehow ended up seeing the mini...live at first sight! I had always wanted a genuine Prusa but for our needs, I just couldn’t warrant spending that much but I couldn’t really say no at the price and spec so slept on it over night and hit the order button this morning. I can’t wait to finally have something usable and (relatively) stress free! I just can’t wait for my youngest to get home so I can tell him the news that he’ll soon be able to print again! Already got a list of stuff that needs printing and I’m sure he will add to it nicely 🙂

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Any guesses as to when the review embargo will be up? As far as I can tell Beta testers have only been allowed to show prints, and not even the printer in action (unless I'm mistaken about that). Maybe only once the shipping firmware is released will they be allowed to post full reviews, which will probably coincide with the public ship start date.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Really hope the ship soon.  I had my additions to the order shipped early.  

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

To be honest I am not sure whether there is a review embargo, or beta-testers just differ from reviewers. It is possible there were no early units sent for reviews = no embargoes, and those who currently have units (like FilamentFrenzy, PracticalPrinting etc.) really help tweak stuff rather than working on reviews. (Or they are just high on Josef's friend list and were right time at the right place 🙂 )

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@crawlerin

As far as I remember it was always this way. First units are being used to remove biggest issues for the wider audience. It also doesn't make sense to show off this issues because they should be fixed fast. I think it's beneficial for the community that PR has a different approach in regards to that then for example Creality.

We just need to wait 🙂

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@mai-19

In case it's relevant, the FlashForge Creator doesn't print gcode text files, it prints a pre-processed version called .x3g that takes the parsing off of the wimpy Arduino in the printer, so it can print smoother/faster. It's not proprietary, it's open source firmware called Sailfish, that was first written to run on the Makerbot Replicator, and is used by the various "clones", which all use that format. You can generate that format out of Makerbot's slicer (which you can download for free), Simplify 3d, etc. There's an open source tool called GPX, written by the people that wrote the Sailfish firmware, which processes gcode into X3G, which is these days supported by pretty much any slicer to output files for Makerbot and clones. In most slicers, there's an option to generate different flavors of gcode, and when you pick Sailfish/Makerbot, it'll output x3g files that those printers will print.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@crawlerin

Given that Prusa employees were just starting to get the first units a week or two ago (when I saw Joe and his team at the Orlando Maker Faire, with a MINI running) my guess is that they're early in ramping up production, so review units may just be going out now, since reviewers would come after early testers.

And it looked fantastic. Really looking forward to it.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Posted by: @laird-p

@crawlerin

Given that Prusa employees were just starting to get the first units a week or two ago (when I saw Joe and his team at the Orlando Maker Faire, with a MINI running) my guess is that they're early in ramping up production, so review units may just be going out now, since reviewers would come after early testers.

And it looked fantastic. Really looking forward to it.

Printers were shipped to external (non-PR staff) beta testers over 2 weeks ago and internal testing commenced a long time (2 months+) before that.

I can't confirm the production.  AFAIK, no reviewers have received printers as yet.  There is no review "embargo" and there are some beta-tester videos out there already along with the photos.

Yes, it is an exceptional printer, capable of a lot more than most would expect.

Peter

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

It's time for some organization! Hereby a sheet that you can fill in to follow the orders 🙂

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cEUO-8AQevqBbD37C25bSPWbb3Lpk6q_-WZuZ0HOIOY/edit?usp=sharing