Heatbed Thermistor Sourcing for COVID printer
Hi
I am not sure where to post this but I figured I would start here. I have had my MK3S for about two years now with very little problems with it but it started giving me the "Heatbed Min Temp Error". I looked it up and did the troubleshooting on it and I am fairly sure the Thermistor wire has a short in it. I went ahead and order replacements yesterday from Prusa but this printer is part of a COVID19 mask donation project and it would really REALLY be helpful to get it back going (I work in a 3d print lab at our local community college that has 4 MakerBot Rep+s 1 Makerbot Z18 an Ultimaker S3 Extended and an Ultimaker S5) We have printed ~625 masks in the past 4 weeks working on this project. The two Prusa's that I and a coworker own have contributed roughly 30% of that output. Due to COVID restrictions at the college I can only print M-Th and then get a job started Friday morning for the Lab but that's damn impressive for the Prusa's. They also have better print quality even at draft settings!
The thing is I am not sure when the spare's will get to my house in Maryland from Prusa themselves and was wondering if anybody knows of an alternative sourcing for it? As you can see having one of the Prusa's offline for a couple of weeks will hurt our production quite a bit (We were hoping to average 200 a week if everything goes well now that we have ramped up to full production but without even one Prusa I have to knock that down by 42 masks a week)
I apologize if this is in the wrong forum.
Thanks!!
J
RE: Heatbed Thermistor Sourcing for COVID printer
One other thing I know there is a possibility of fixing it but I am afraid I don't have the skills or tools necessary and am afraid I would break something else if I tried.
J
RE: Heatbed Thermistor Sourcing for COVID printer
Voxel Factory:
https://www.voxelfactory.com/products/replacement-bed-thermistor-for-prusa-i3-mk3
Printed Solid:
https://www.printedsolid.com/products/ldo-prusa-mk2-or-mk3-bed-thermistor?variant=21566952505429
RE: Heatbed Thermistor Sourcing for COVID printer
Bruce
Thanks for the links! Unfortunately both seem to be out of stock. The only places I could find online were a couple of Chinese sources that said end of June or July delivery and a place in Australia that would take about as long. I am confident that I should get replacements from prusa in a couple of weeks but that's almost a hundred masks.
J
RE: Heatbed Thermistor Sourcing for COVID printer
FilamentOne seems to have them in stock.
Filastruder seems to have them in stock.
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
RE: Heatbed Thermistor Sourcing for COVID printer
Would that work for the heatbed? From what I can tell that's for the hotend but i am far from being an expert
RE: Heatbed Thermistor Sourcing for COVID printer
My heat bed thermister broke about 6 months ago on my MK3S and the only place I could find a replacement Chinese company. They were very cheap and I bought 3 just in case. The connecting cable was about twice as long as needed but that was not a problem. It works perfectly. It is not too hard to replace.
Because everything is shut down it is going be hard to get parts.
I could send you one of my spares if you like.
RE: Heatbed Thermistor Sourcing for COVID printer
@louis-j Thanks for the offer I will keep it in in mind!! Right now I have resliced the mask jobs from 2 11 hour jobs to multiple smaller jobs in order to keep everything in the very center of the build plate. So far it seems to be working *Knocks on wood* so I am hopeful I can keep churning out masks at a good pace (It's just less convenient)
If it goes completely offline I will reach out to you about the spare
Thanks again for the offer!
RE: Heatbed Thermistor Sourcing for COVID printer
Jeffrey,
If you don't already have a spare extruder thermistor and heater May I suggest that you buy one of each now,
the extruder thermistor is the same component as the bed thermistor, but it is potted in a metal tube.
you will almost certainly need a new extruder heater & thermistor and it will almost certainly happen at an inopportune time, in the meat time, If your heatbed thermistor finally dies you could consider trying the extruder thermistor under the heatbed. remove the old thermistor by peeling back the Kapton tape and aluminium tape then try and reude the tape to hold the replacement thermistor in position...
It's not an ideal solution, but it may get you out of a corner now. and If you don't use them now, they can be available for natural attrition, when the wires fatigue, or for the Blob of doom that rips the wires off your working heater and thermistor.
Regards Joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
RE: Heatbed Thermistor Sourcing for COVID printer
Would that work for the heatbed? From what I can tell that's for the hotend but i am far from being an expert
Ah sorry, those are nozzle thermistors.
Check with your local Makerspace or any local printing groups. We've been sharing spares here.
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
RE: Heatbed Thermistor Sourcing for COVID printer
@Joan,
Thanks for the tip! When I ordered the thermistor for the bed I went ahead and ordered a bunch of other spares just to have on hand since I am really pounding on this thing.
Jeff