How long did assembly take  

Re: How long did assembly take

Hello Chad,

It highly depends who is doing it. Some people spending hours only to get the bed a little bit better leveled. Some people are rushing just to start the print. So any time comparison for the build process is kind of hard.

The only hint I can give you is to watch the build process on youtube. Many people have done this and you can get many best practices out of it. Read also the comments in the online build instruction. They we very helpful to me.

No rush and try to enjoy the build process paying attention to all small details. You will benefit from it in long term. (broken cables ....)

Re: How long did assembly take

Hello.
For me (i am old but not yet tired) i take time :
Time to read instructions and comments (instructive)
Time to prepare pieces, clean, remove rest of filament, hole and angle with a file (soft)
Time to mount, assemble, dispose
Time for nut in hole to put well in bottom with a screw

Take time for a goodworking-machine after that (ooohoo my english).

I take 20 at 30 hours cool.
But i am not a reference.
Claire

Re: How long did assembly take

My MK3 assembly 6 hours, my Ender3 assembly 50 minutes, both on the same weekend and without internet access.

Re: How long did assembly take

I'm wondering, how long did it take you to assemble?

2.5 packets of Haribos 😆

Re: How long did assembly take

If you spend a few extra hours getting a perfect frame that is not skewed then the hours will pay off then.

Re: How long did assembly take

16 hours with lots of stops and starts and family interruptions. I usually only got about 45-90 minute blocks of time to work on it before I had to stop and put everything away and come back to it later. I included all the time I spent carefully readying the online assembly manual and the great user comments suggesting better ways to do certain things. I also spent probably 1.5 hours on the frame getting it to sit perfectly flat.

I am confident that I could build another one in 8 hours. At least until I forgot all the little tips and techniques I developed/learned on the first one.

Re: How long did assembly take

I respectfully disagree about needing a couple of extra hours to get the frame straight. My MK3 was the my first exposure to 3D printers, and just by following the printed hardcopy instructions it self-tested and reported perpendicular and zero skew on first assembly. I did make two errors, which I'll put in another thread to avoid hijacking this one.

Re: How long did assembly take

I respectfully disagree about needing a couple of extra hours to get the frame straight. My MK3 was the my first exposure to 3D printers, and just by following the printed hardcopy instructions it self-tested and reported perpendicular and zero skew on first assembly. I did make two errors, which I'll put in another thread to avoid hijacking this one.

There is leveled and there is true leveled 😉

Re: How long did assembly take

I respectfully disagree about needing a couple of extra hours to get the frame straight.

That's great for you, but there are manufacturing tolerances that mean each build is slightly different.

Re: How long did assembly take

I spent five or six hours. Mechanical and electrical assembly is something I've done in real life for decades, and this is not a BAD job.

Make sure your work area is well-lit. I also kept a little flashlight handy. It helped when making up connections in the electronic assembly.

Re: How long did assembly take

5 or 6 hours spread over 2 or 3 nights. Had a video going, was working partly on the desk and partly on the floor, went to reference the online PDF a few times but only had to undo maybe two steps in the course of it.

My first printer, and it's nice to understand how it all goes together, so I was trying to be careful and deliberate. Also worth mentioning that I was using entirely hand tools, no automatic screwdriver for assembly.

Re: How long did assembly take

Hi there I am pretty new to 3d printing and I want to post my comments here.

First, assembly took me about 6 hours but: we wanted to get rid of a n y problem as it is the very first 3d printer I got.
After assembling we calibrated several times until we found out to adjust the axis correctly (distance of the nozzle to the heat-bed was quite to great).

After that it worked "out of the box" with almost no problems. Now I am figuring out the best way for adhering the different filaments and found out some experience which filament needs to have some glue and which not...

It is running very fine now.
One hint for beginners: the nozzle has to be really very clean all the way - this was a little problem with my first projects - some fibres were towing the fresh, hot filament from the surface ...

All in all, I am very happy with this printer!!
--> Thanks a lot to the staff!

ps
I always would prefer to by a kit because you can examine the distinct parts and will have an idea if something is going wrong...

Re: How long did assembly take

Also a newbie here: I've just ordered a Mk3 today. What are people's recent experiences - are they being delivered quickly now?

Re: How long did assembly take

Manek.d, shipping was fast for me. I paid for my MK3 kit on Nov. 27 and received it Dec. 11 (2018). That's only 2 weeks between payment and arrival to the U.S.

As far as build time, I spread my build out into little chunks at a time and really took my time reading the instructions, understanding, assembling and just enjoying the build overall. I was in no rush. I estimate it took me 2 full working days to assemble it (had I gone through the build non-stop).

Carlos

Re: How long did assembly take

it depends if you spent your youth in the 1960s building Heathkit and EICO electronics kits if you moved on to more complex builds like rebuilding an antique car or fixing mechanical antiques and if you built an early Mendle printer from just info found on line then I am sure you can do it in 3 or 4 hours... if you have never assembled anything more complex than an Ikea chest of drawers then you want to set aside more time perhaps 10 or 20 hours.... the key is don't rush it read and understand the online assembly manual and prepare your build area and check over your tools https://shop.prusa3d.com/forum/assembly-and-first-prints-troubleshooting-f62/most-useful-extra-tools-for-assembly-of-the-kit-an-t24847.html and decide if any extras would make your assembly easier

study the manual and in particular read the comments on each step and if any step has more than a few study bothe the steps and the images and this comments for insight into any gotchas that others have found and overcome.

Re: How long did assembly take

Manek.d, shipping was fast for me. I paid for my MK3 kit on Nov. 27 and received it Dec. 11 (2018). That's only 2 weeks between payment and arrival to the U.S.

As far as build time, I spread my build out into little chunks at a time and really took my time reading the instructions, understanding, assembling and just enjoying the build overall. I was in no rush. I estimate it took me 2 full working days to assemble it (had I gone through the build non-stop).

Carlos

Thanks. The printer arrived today about a week after I ordered it. Eight hours later, it's physically assembled up to the head and LCD panel.The electronics and bed assembly must wait until tomorrow but I don't expect that to take more than a couple of hours. Pre-flght checks and calibration on the other hand, might take all weekend...

Re: How long did assembly take

It's finished now, total build time about 14 hours. Not too long, I think, as I'm mechanically competent: I've been building my own PCs for over 20 years, and I fix my own car. Frame-levelling took about 30 minutes on a flat slate surface.

I did think I'd got it wrong when the first self-test failed with a thermistor/heater not connected error but I hadn't. I triple-checked the wiring - all fine - then found a forum entry suggesting pre-heating the bed & hotend.

So I did that, and after an automatic pause for cooling, it all worked, and the bed is detected as perfectly flat, so I'm happy.

Z level calibration will be done today.

Re: How long did assembly take

Built mine yesterday, started at 11am and first print at 9pm, probably around 8 hours real work, my back and fingers are hurting today.

Re: How long did assembly take

I can't quote an exact number now that its been so long since I assembled it, but I do remember I spent a good chunk of the time in each step reading the instructions and then in some cases the comments on the particulars. I think I broke it down into about 3-4 sessions of 2-3 hours each, basically wherever the logical stopping point was for the evening. Being my first time ever working on a 3d printer I was pleasantly surprised the instructions in almost every case are very easy to follow and as a result it printed after going through the cals and first layer adjuments with no issues. I will say I have built my own computer and therefore am not completely new to more complex builds so keep that in mind.