Kit built - anxious to power it up!  

RE: Kit built - anxious to power it up!

Place the printer on a fire proof surface.  A fireproof enclosure vented out doors is best.  Use a power outlet that is switched across the room. Be sure to use a non-metal yardstick to flip the switch, rubber gloves optional. Full face splash shield and fireproof clothing also recommended. Oh, and have a Halon extinguisher handy.

ps: ... just in case someone thinks I am serious ... this is just expanding on the OP theme. 

RE: Kit built - anxious to power it up!

Really - just reread the assembly manual, make sure you didn't miss anything obvious. 

If you didn't grease the bearings, add some of that tube of grease they shipped to the X and Y rods, move the extruder back and forth a few times to work it past the grease seals and into the bearings; do the same for the bed.

Make sure the cables are all free and clear and can't catch on anything. Plug it in and flip the switch. 

Run the wizard, do all the steps it points you to, and use a piece of paper when instructed.  

Read Jeff's "Life adjust my way" thread to get a handle on what a good layer one looks like.

Handle the steel sheet by the edges and never touch the print surface.  And when you do, soap and water is the best, most reliable cleaning method.

RE: Kit built - anxious to power it up!

Great suggestion about the  tube grease.  I have not done that yet.  Well, I will and report back how it goes! 

RE: Kit built - anxious to power it up!

Good luck with your build!

My advice to you (from many printer builds over the last decade) is to try as hard as you can to be patient and optimistic. These printers are complex beasts with many points of failure. It typically takes weeks or months to fully understand both what might be going wrong and how to most easily and best fix issues as they arise. The MMU adds an extra layer of complexity. So when something doesn't work as it should try to take time to think through exactly what is happening  and what systems of the printer are involved. Don't be disappointed if there's a high failure rate with your early efforts; I would suggest starting with small, simple prints. In my first week with the MMU it was unusual to get a multicolor print of any complexity at all to make it to the end. Now about 6 weeks in, with the machine fully tuned, my success rate on all kinds of prints is up near 100%. When something does go wrong I am finding I now almost always know right away what happened and how to fix it. 

Some specific things that worked for me:

-If possible, at least at the beginning use high quality filament, i.e. Prusament or from a brand that's been around for a while and guarantees consistency. The MMU is not very forgiving of out of spec plastic.

-If you are having trouble with malformed filament tips jamming the MMU, try changing values in the Advanced Filament Settings- changing Ulnloading speed at the start to 120 and Number of cooling moves to 3 made a world of difference for me. There are several threads discussing this issue on this forum.

-The first layer Z setting is critical for print adhesion, be prepared to spend some time with that getting it just right. And, as advised above, be obsessive about keeping the surface as clean as possible.

-Most MMU issues can be resolved without losing your print, take it slow and check everything and don't be afraid to reset the MMU multiple times as needed, without stopping your print. 

-You probably will frequently need to open the top of the MMU. Several people have posted simple mods that keep the spring loaded bolts from jumping out as you open the it, highly recommended.

-Needle nose pliers are handy for moving filament around the MMU and the filament buffer.

-In general, have faith that if you built it properly according to the instructions, your printer will work, if not right away then a little bit down the road. If you start to get frustrated take a break from the hardware and think about what's happening, do research, ask questions, etc. It is almost a certainty that someone has already worked through your issue and can give good advice once you have figured out just what the problem is.

RE: Kit built - anxious to power it up!

Hi Eric - thank you for the really nice note.  I had one X axis issue when powering up during the self test . . .I had to trim the wire ties on the extruder umbilical cord wrap closer as it hit the right side.  After that it passed all the other self tests. Happy !  First layer sticking and Z optimization took some time but I have already had 2-3 successful prints (Prusa Logo, Pug, Beer Opener and my own design of a castle tower).  So things are going well !   The tips and suggestions were all good.  I had to buy a small tube of grease / lube as that was the one item I could not find in my kit.    Anyway . . thank you for the support and encouragement.  This was a complicated project for me but am very happy it all worked out OK ! 

RE: Kit built - anxious to power it up!

Well done, getting your build right that quickly is something you should be proud of.

At least in my experience once you've got your settings dialed in most of the issues you might run into will probably be due to either lack of filament consistency or seemingly random software glitches. On my printer the finda probe on the MMU has a couple of times stayed in the on position even though the filament had visibly retracted. Most likely a software glitch as resetting the MMU fliped it back to 0 without doing anything else. Not a big problem once it's recognized and hopefully has already been fixed in firmware (I just updated to the latest).

I also enjoy designing/printing buildings and architectural pieces. What does your castle tower look like and what design program did you use?