Experience with maintenance a Prusa3D-Mk2?  

Re: Experience with maintenance a Prusa3D-Mk2?

if you really want to be 100% safe, you'd have to get a 2nd printer.. Which basically isnt the worst idea anyway 😉

(just kidding)

Now, realistically, lets see..

Once you got your printer tuned in and working, you can start printing a set of spare plastic parts.
STL files are available here: https://github.com/prusa3d/Original-Prusa-i3/tree/MK2/Printed-Parts/stl

The Y-Belt holder and Extruder mount (incl. PINDA holder) are prime candidates. (i didn't bother, cause it got more printers)

Next time you do order something from Prusa, ask for a spare PEI sheet (ask them via Live Chat, they're usually shown as "out of stock" in the shop).

It never hurts to have a spare hotend, nozzles and fans around. You can get those from Prusa or e3d-online.com (UK) - i get a feeling you're from Europe as well. I keep one complete hotend incl. thermistor, heater, etc as spare, just in case. Nozzles are considered consumables, so keep a spare, especially when printing abrasive filaments..

Both my hotend fan and the part cooling fans broke since i got the MK2, so that's something i recommend getting.

I have not much faith in the brass extruder drive gear, i will buy a spare eventually.

I had crappy bearings from the get go, so i had to swap them right then and there.

Since you asked: a replacement bed will be available from the Prusa shop eventually, looks like they can't get enough in stock to fulfill the demand. I personally don't think a spare bed is needed, but i could be wrong. It was wrong before 😉

I don't know about belts, motors, rambo, Pinda probe, power supply or display. I guess these could break as well but Prusa usually has stock set aside for emergencies, even if the shop says "sold out". If there's an emergency, always talk to live chat. While shipping isn't really cheap, they're pretty quick to send replacement parts if needed.

My 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

Murphy says: if something breaks, it will the part you don't have a spare for.

Re: Experience with maintenance a Prusa3D-Mk2?

Thank you very much.

Yes I'm from Germany/Hamburg.
🙂

Re: Experience with maintenance a Prusa3D-Mk2?

I am not sure if this is the right place or not. I did a search. But this was the closest subject I could find.

Anyhow, does anyone have any advice for printing the spare parts for the Mk2? I downloaded the files and got a spool of ABS. But I have been having trouble getting things to work quite right.

I had a great deal of trouble getting the first layer to stick at all. I now have that working well. But the problem I have no is keeping the part stuck down.

After several layers, a corner or two will start to come up resulting in a warped part. Also, the quality just doesn't look as good as the original parts.

I can try posting pictures if necessary. I am running the nozzle at 270 which is a little hotter than the recommended range for the filament. I am running the bed at 110. I am using hairspray as an adhesive.

I tried to find, but couldn't, any advice on settings for the print. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks,
Joe

Re: Experience with maintenance a Prusa3D-Mk2?

@joe.p - ABS can be a fickle mistress. I've printed the same part many times - sometimes it warps, sometimes it doesn't. Generally speaking ABS warps because it cools too quickly, so always print with no fan and minimize any air flow around the part and the printer. If you don't have an enclosure (most people don't), you can put up card board or foam board around the printer to help protect it and keep the heat in.

Hope this helps.

-Tom

Re: Experience with maintenance a Prusa3D-Mk2?

Tom,
Thank you very much for the reply. I have already figured out how to keep the fan turned off for the entire print.

I will try putting up some type of enclosure around the printer while trying to print.

Do you know of any other settings I should use when trying to print the Mk2 parts? For example, turning off the fan is an option I stumbled upon. I also tried printing with a brim of 5mm width. But I don't know if this is the right thing to do or not.

Also, does anyone know how many perimeters I should use? How much infill? What type of infill?

Thanks,
Joe

Re: Experience with maintenance a Prusa3D-Mk2?

Tom,
I want to thank you again for your help. While I still haven't followed your advice to build an enclosure, I have bought materials to do so. I just need some spare time.

However, I did make some significant progress on getting ABS to print well even without the enclosure. It seems the first step was to use quality filament. I did a search for the brand of ABS filament I was using. It seems that the feelings for it are pretty much unanimous: that is SUCKS!

After what I have experienced, I think I would have to agree. The brand I was using is Shaxon and is sold locally here at Fry's Electronics stores. My research also told me that the brand Hatchbox had much better reviews. So I ordered two rolls: blue and orange.

I haven't tried the orange yet. But I have been able to get pretty good prints from the blue using ABS juice that I made myself.

I have also found, as you said, that the room temperature has a big influence on the print. When I last posted, it was somewhat cold here and turning off the fan helped a lot. A few days later it was significantly warm here and without the fan, the layers seemed to look like they were falling off of one another. Structures that were supposed to be vertically straight were twisted like a spiral. In that case, turning the fan on after a few layers helped.

I think the enclosure you suggested will help take some of the environmental dependence off my prints.

Anyhow, thank you again for all your help.

Joe