U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?  

Re: U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?

Why don't you contact Prusa support via chat? They should be able to ship out the missing parts right away to you.

Re: U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?

I sent them an email, but considering it's the weekend, I'm guessing they won't be able to ship until Monday which means Thursday or later before the part arrives from Prague. Was just trying to find somewhere to get it sooner.

Re: U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?

Hmm ... this concerns me. Prusa did not send the correct rods with my kit. It will be an incredible annoyance if after waiting for the correct rods to discover something else is missing or incorrect. There is a heck of a lot of parts to check. 🙁

Re: U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?

Might want to have some M3 screws of various lengths handy, as well as M3 locking nuts. There were several of each missing, even after using up what was included in the spares bag. Fortunately for me, I have plenty of both from other projects. The spacers were a difference story.

Also, make sure you know whether you're assembling the original MK3 or the updated MK3S. There are differences in the printed parts and assembly instructions.

Re: U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?

Good advice. Those shouldn't be too hard to source locally if needed and it looks like my spare bag has plenty of those fastners and nuts. And yes, I received the upgraded MK3S. I was expecting the MK3 and was pleasantly surprised when it arrived that it was the upgraded version.

Re: U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?

you could just do this

https://github.com/PrusaOwners/prusaowners/wiki/Bed_Leveling_without_Wave_Springs

Re: U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?

@robin.a That is awesome. Thank you for providing. I ended up ordering some nylon spacers from Amazon, figuring they would probably be fine for printing PLA or PETG until I could get a suitable replacement. However, what you provided seems to be a better solution all the way around. Thank you!

Re: U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?

Next you can do the calibration. :geek:

I just finished some modifications to https://github.com/PrusaOwners/g81-to-heatmap (with some parts from https://github.com/PrusaOwners/OctoPrint-PrusaMeshMap ) by changing it to show the levels relative to the middle point instead of all-over-the-place which I did not understand at all. Here's my fork with the changes: https://github.com/JPTa/g81-to-heatmap

I used the mk52 board layout as backgound image. It made more sense when you see the heatbed bolt places with the heat map. I'm thinking of adding one more improvement to show which bolt to tighten/loosen and how much (in degrees). As soon as I get over the shock being forced to do Python.. 😈

Re: U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?

I had a little trouble sourcing these myself - along with the u bolts to mount the linear bearings on the Y axis carriage. I finally found a source but the lead time is kind of absurd. So I had a thought - PC motherboard stand-offs. Not the nylon ones that clip on - the brass or stainless screw-in type. Using those would require a much shorter countersunk mounting screw for the heat bed, as the M3x12 would be too long. Also you would have to make sure that you got the right thread pitch as (iirc) most PC motherboard stand-offs have a thread pitch > .5mm (both inside and out).

Re: U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?

https://www.mcmaster.com/94669a009

Re: U.S. source for spacers for the heatbed?

Thanks everyone for the help. It is really appreciated.

I did find that Digi-Key has the spacers in addition to the link William posted above. For now, I've gone with the solution from the PrusaUsers github using just a single spacer in the center hole and then screws with nuts in the remaining holes. I finished the build yesterday morning, but haven't had time yet to go through calibration and adjusting the bed leveling based on the script JTa provided. Pretty swamped with work, so it will probably be tomorrow.

Again, I can't thank everyone enough for the suggestions and help.