Shipping Damage - Possible Fixes?
(I already sent a message to support about this last night, but wanted to ask here just in case the community has any ideas.)
So I ordered the fully assembled, calibrated, etc. printer to get back in the game - I've built a 3d printer in the past, but ran into a few too many issues and stopped printing a while back. This one made it all the way to the states and to my local sorting facility, then suddenly stopped moving... and instead a package from "Corporate Overgoods" said it was coming to my house...
I know there's potential to file a claim, but I figured if the damage wasn't major it might make sense to just repair it.
As I inspected it I noticed a few points of damage: the front loop of the y-axis belt had popped off, the end cap on the y-axis rail (on the x = 0 side, next to the control panel - photo below) was busted out a little, and 2 of the 3 zip ties on the y carriage were snapped.
I fixed all the damage I saw, and at this point I've done some manual checks, and it appears that the majority of it is still OK:
Couple wonky bits though:
I've checked that the y frame is square as best I can while it's built and it seems to be fine - similar to the x/y alignment, any variation is very slight and might just be me moving slightly as I look. I've also retightened the belt, made sure the x-axis is perfectly level to the build plate, and checked the rest of it for damage (except for opening up any of the electronics).
I can't quite see it being the y axis being un-square - everything was super tight when it arrived; so if it isn't square I'd expect it to be that something is bent, which I won't be able to fix. Since it was the built and calibrated one, I also know it was working perfectly fine before it left Prusa last Friday (the 2 color Prusa logo was still on the plate and looks perfect).
Any ideas?
(Outside of debugging / small rant: Gah shipping companies. It's frustrating because this was also going to be my daughter's first exposure to a 3d printer or any sort of robotics; but instead someone at Prusa's time was basically wasted from it being knocked out of calibration, and my time is being wasted doing diagnostics and debugging. Half tempted to file the claim just to recoup the time costs even if I can get it back in working condition.)
Re: Shipping Damage - Possible Fixes?
Hi Paul
UPS is usually a great shipping company and I think you are the first to post on these forums about shipping damage, but mistakes do happen.
The problem here is that this is a precision instrument and any damage of this type can cause issues with printing - which you obviously don't want, having bought a pre-assembled printer.
The problem here is that we don't really know how much damage has occurred not how fixable it is (there may, for example, be a bent rod).
I really do think that you should make a claim and get a replacement.
Peter
Please note: I do not have any affiliation with Prusa Research. Any advices given are offered in good faith. It is your responsibility to ensure that by following my advice you do not suffer or cause injury, damage…
Re: Shipping Damage - Possible Fixes?
Thanks Peter,
Prusa got back to me with the same thoughts, and will be going the claim & replace route.
I normally don't have issues with any of the major shipping companies (UPS, FedEx, DHL, regular postage) to my home address, but I've seen a fair amount of entertaining damage at work from pretty much all of them - it's ultimately all just people and people make mistakes, which is understandable, just frustrating on something like this.