ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!  

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Hi everyone, and congratulations on the great work on the MM kit.
I recently assembled my MK2 with a new aluminum profile frame, I wonder when the STL files of the printable parts will be available so that it can change them for the new frame?

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

I asked for the .stl files, so far we released everything we developed to public. In case of Multi Material there should be no difference.

As soon as I have the link, I will post it to the "Important Links" thread.

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

OK thank you

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

I have on order both the MK2S upgrade parts and the MM upgrade. I probably will get one before the other. What is the recommendation? To wait until I have both upgrades and do them the same time or it doesn't matter?

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

I have on order both the MK2S upgrade parts and the MM upgrade. I probably will get one before the other. What is the recommendation? To wait until I have both upgrades and do them the same time or it doesn't matter?

You need to have a printer which works well before you install the MM upgrade. If you have issues following the S upgrade, then you probably won't have much chance with MM printing.

Do the S upgrade, print a few models, then the MM upgrade.

Peter

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Do the S upgrade, print a few models, then the MM upgrade.

The good news is that I received yesterday the notification that the MK2S upgrade is on its way. The MM upgrade will take a while I am sure because I ordered it in November. This will give me enough time to install and verify the MK2S upgrade.

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Yeah! My upgrade kit came in yesterday. Today i upgraded the printer, took me around 5 hours.
Now printing 2 color version of Marvin the Martian (g-code supplied with the upgrade package , Downloaded from the site).
After 28 minutes i got loose. so i am now printing again (it's at 24 minutes in now, let's see if i was just unlucky or what.

Some remarks about the build:

at the end when building the extruders both the right hand side extruders the filament didn't load as nice then the left (2 dots) ones.
There it was so easy to insert filament, the side with 1 dot seem to have a hard time, just like it was out alignment 0,5mm or so.
I ended up unscrewing the motor, inserting filament , adjusting pulley, then screwing in motor. Then kept pulling the filament back and forth to " break it in" . That seemed to have helped.

Also at the end of a print, or if you stop it when something is wrong it will unload the filaments. Ofcourse the printer doesn't know if you have 2 or 4 filaments loaded so will always unload them all (starting from 1 to the end).
When this is finished ALWAYS CLIP the ends of the filament !
At one point it wasn't fully eject, when then loading it because the tip wasn't nice and sharp i heard a clicking sound at the Y-adapter where everything comes together... this was because the tip wasn't sharp and it could enter the small metal tubes. Hence the print failed.
After clipping it it was ok!

Also at step 10, chapter 3 extruder build, it says in the manual in text to have a screw, put a washer on, then a spring and then a washer.
In my MK2 indeed this was how it was, washer spring washer, but on the picture you don't see it and it should be there (there aren't enough in the bag also) , so the picture is ok, but text is wrong.

Step 12 in chapter 5 (Spoolholder) it says:
Place the printed part approximately in the middle. We will set the correct position later.
Nowhere in the rest of the manual the correct position is mentioned or how it should be for optimal performance.

All minor things, somewhere in the manual there was mentioning of Multiplexer when it needs to say Nozzle/printhead.
But i can't seem to find it anymore.

Brilliant piece of kit, now i hope i can understand how to make multicolor objects myself.
I use Fusion360 and have made some items myself, which is ok, now i need to find out how to export the objects seperately so i can join them in slicer to one model with 2 or 4 colors.

But thanks for the brilliant piece of kit ! Hopefully my Marvin will succeed now, it's at 49 minutes !

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Are there plans for offering this as an option on the assembled version? As much as I've enjoyed building printer kits & upgrading parts over the years, I'm currently unable to, but while I'm "On the fence" about buying the assembled unit now, this would put me over the edge for certain!

I understand that pre-order fulfillment has to come first, but I'm just asking for the future?

Don.

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

http://manual.prusa3d.com/Guide/Export+model+from+Fusion+360/378

I use Fusion360 and have made some items myself, which is ok, now i need to find out how to export the objects seperately so i can join them in slicer to one model with 2 or 4 colors.

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Thanks Roman.t!
Just what i was looking for, will try it out this week!

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Just finished modifying my MK2 with the MM E4 kit. Minor issue at first with the filament not being fed properly from E1. After some troubleshooting, it appeared that the filament was getting caught on entry into the hotend PTFE tube. Re-positioned the multiplexer slightly which seem to eliminate the problem. The assembly itself went very smoothly, thanks to the clear set of instructions. All-in-all, I am very happy with the quality & thought that went into this kit. I ordered my kit back in September & it was well worth the wait.

Thanks Prusa Team! Marc

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Got my MM upgrade last week. it took about 3.5 hrs to install. I had upgraded my MK2 to 2S last mionth and that went well and the printer was nicely dialed in.

The build was straightforward, just a few minor things to watch out for like fitting the Y to the hot end carriage. My PTFE was just a little too long (1mm) so it wouldn't fit properly. The top of this tube is chamfered to help the filament guide in - easy to do with a brand new X-acto blade and steady hands.

Now I'm working on printing. Calibration went fine and I have a good 1st layer thickness. I am having some extrusion issues with skipped steps. I have 9 Bondtech extruders on other printers and have never heard one skip a step! So something is not quite right. I have checked the filament paths in the extruders and the idlers are tensioned as per the guide. Just getting started sorting this out so hopefully I'll find the issue soon. It is pretty interesting to watch the swap over process.

I'm just finishing a print now and this might be a clue... I'm printing the gear bearing in 4 colors. I got fairly routine clicking (extruder skipped steps) with each of the 4 colors. This model prints the first 1.2mm in multi colors then uses filament in extruder 1 for most of the print and then finishes the last 1.2mm in multi colors. As soon as the single color printed the skipping stopped and the next 13.6mm printed quite nicely without skipped extruder. Then when the multi color started printing again, that first extruder is skipping steps again as are the others. Odd behavior that might be indicative of the root problem. Perhaps binding of some sort in the Y splitter.

I read in a previous post in this thread about "back pressure" during the purge palette print. Perhaps it's related to that. After this print is complete I'll go through each extruder carefully. Any recommendations or insight greatly appreciated.

Also, @PJR, I'd love a copy of your KISS post processor. I'm a ,major KISS supporter and have been working on testing the next version. Perhaps I can convince Jonathan to implement support in a future release.

cheers,
Michael

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

After few days of installing I am disappointed.
Mounting is fairly easy, even if the tube of the multiplexer keep falling out at risk of loosing them.
First calibration Z, the pinda keps failing and the head kept crashing on the bed. Moving the PIna down of less than 0.5mm solved the issue ... very weird.
First print the heat break snaps. Never heard of.

I replaced the hot end with a standard one, all I had and now it prints but the filments on 3 and 4 keep getting stuck at the exit of the multiplexer.

The result is decent, pity for the irregularities caused by the filament blocking.

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Really?

Thats not the feeling I'm getting, its more of a 'ready or not it's going on sale' attitude.

My personal experience so far is one of 'beta' product with little to no support at all.

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

After installing the kit, I made a bunch of single color parts on each of the extruders to make sure each one was dialed in correctly. I just started my first multicolor print this morning and it's running perfectly.

I recommend printing single color objects for a while from each extruder so you can learn the ins and outs of the system. I also use a single layer test patch file from thingiverse to dial in my bed and Z setting. It prints 5 or 6 patches and allows you to dial in Z using live Z adjust.

HINT: There is a slight bug in the code when printing single color. Since there is no wipe process, the freshly loaded filament might not get to the hotend before the print starts. After I "load filament" I go to the settings - move axis -extruder screen and dial exactly two turns of the knob which seems to be 40 mm or so to properly prime a single filament job. This only needs to be done when loading a filament, not between each print.

Happy printing

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

BTW - Do NOT use the Prusa control software. I used it for the first couple of weeks and had nothing but trouble. It is not ready. One I switched to Slic3r everything started printing perfectly.

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

I have the MMU on the Mk2s and have gone from printing fine on the MK2s to multiple blockages. Getting tired of pulling the head apart to get filament out (both below the PTFE & below the steel tube in the Y block)

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

I have exacly the same experience. This MMU is just not good enough !!!!! Please make a FREE upgrade to a solution that works.

I don't understand why some many people are not making a case out of this. I have never paid for a system that are this much unreliable. This is just not good enough Pruda !

I look forward to see an upcoming solution for:

1) thickenings of filament that comes out of the heat-break and blocks when they are tried to be pulled back through the metal pipes. The intention was to make it 1.75 back again. This doesn't work!

2) stringing all over everything. Primary due to the Bowden system i believe

3) Blocking of the Y-splitter- (end near to hot-end) Here either fragments of filament og strings from an already retracted fileman causes the new filament not to being able to come through when expected for printing

4) Linear Advance for MMU doesn't simply not work correct.

5) A new upgrade for MMU says it have "a better user experience" . After contacting Prusa no clues at all. If the give a better experience I think they admin that this current MMU solution have som design flaws. But NOBODY admits this - this design is so much NOT READY for sale yet to my oppionion.

6) some (including my selves) have had hot-end, and Y-splitter exchanged du to some initial QA problems. (in fact wrong hot-end). Why should every frustrated person who have received this very bad kit - search for such informations by themselves. Why is this not informed to every customer to help them out of this frustration- What else has not been informed. I still have a system not working?

7) the load and unload menus don't have a possibility to just keep the filement in there - EVERYTIME with a user stopped job - you need to get it out and put it in again - and trust me - This happes nearly 90 percent of time that something goes wrong - and therefor its dull that you have to take the whole filament al the way out and put in all the way in again. In the meantime due to the user STOP also the temp have been dropped. Also in this very unreliable solution there should be a possiblity to keep the temperature there for both the extruder and the headbed.

8) the metal tubes inside in the Y-splitter is not necessarily aligned with the fitting. This causes troubles according to a lot of people Why haven't this been solved yet?

9) Why not playing with open cards PRUSA and admit this sucks !!! And INFORM INFROM INFORM. That's the best way to help your customers to get back the believing on the brand name "Prusa" I have heard so much that nearly everyone gets different kind of "hidden" hints and exchanges that helps each person out individually ??????

HKOCH - Happy new year by the way ! (and a hope for a upgrade/exchange for my unreliable MMU upgrade)

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Me too…seriously considering "downgrading" back to Mk2 w/o MMU.

My standard Mk2 was extremely reliable, it was a joy to use. This thing however messes things up almost every time. Main reason I bought the MMU is because I wanted to print soluble supports. Haha. Haven't had a SINGLE successful soluble print. I cheaped out on my first roll of PVA, maybe that's on me. But then I got the Prusa-sanctioned expensive stuff (Primavalue PVA, 100€/kg). Still no improvement. Beforehand I also was happily printing all kinds of materials (one at a time), now some PLA prints in single extruder mode do not fail. Yay.

I ordered the so called "upgrade" back in May 2017 and was happy to receive it by October. In the three months since I've been trying changing settings, printing different materials, swapping the original MUX with Seth's design, waiting for updates and hoping for any kind of comment or proposal by Prusa.

Supposedly noone at Prusa reads this forum, maybe all of us affected users can send them an open letter, sign a petition or whatever. I just feel so let down by Prusa. They don't seem to care at all about all their customers who spend a load of money on a Mk2/S, another one the MMU and now have a shit printer.

In case anyone there still reads this: It's alright to eff things up. You obviously did in this case. Mk2/S was awesome, but with the MMU you did a very half-assed job at best. Otherwise you wouldn't have nothing bit disappointed people in this forum. And we would have some blog post, advertisement or similar from you bragging how cool your fancy MMU is. Instead, it isn't even listed anymore under https://www.prusa3d.com but somewhere hidden in the E-Shop. Why? Because you know how much this thing sucks. All I and I'm sure a lot of other PAYING CUSTOMERS would appreciate is some kind of statement. BE PROFESSIONAL ABOUT IT! Find a solution to make our printers usable and reliable again. And if you don't, no biggie either. Just compensate people for their trust and money they've put into you (enabling you to grow and expand and come up with Mk3). Whether it's with money, a gift card for your shop or a big box with rolls of filament is up to you. But If you don't even acknowledge the problem, you lost me as a customer for good.
MAN UP AND FIX THIS!

Re: ORIGINAL PRUSA I3 MK2 MULTI MATERIAL - we are ready!

Hello all,

I have the upgrade for 2 weeks now but still considering actually installing it...it is still unboxed, I wish I read this forum before I purchase.

My main concern is not about reliability, this could happen...it is about Prusa not replying AT ALL to this thread.

I also ordered the MK2S -> MK3 upgrade AND the MMU upgrade to MK3...I think I will cancel this order and send back the MK2S MMU and ask for refund, the customer service is terrible and I can't buy something at that price just to be left alone with problems.

Joseph or whoever at Prusa, just REPLY this thread before it's too late !