The benefit of hindsight  

Re: The benefit of hindsight

Having an extra PEI sheet or two is a good idea.

Original nozzle is fine until you want to do something special. I have a Ruby which is my default for printing abrasive filaments. I also use a 0.8mm nozzle to print at 0.4mm layer height for large low detail objects to increase speed.

After you are comfortable with printing from the LCD for a while, consider purchasing a Raspberry Pi, and using OctoPi and OctoPrint. Awesome stuff.

The enclosure can be a mixed blessing. If it heats up too much inside, it can prevent the heat break from cooling well, and causing a clog. If you find you are getting clogs well into a print this might be the case, and you might need to open the door while printing or have a thermostat controlled vent fan.

Here is my starter advice for getting your printer going well, and avoiding some of the common frustration inducing issues.

1) Run the Self Test from the menu. Make sure everything is connected correctly.

2) Make sure PINDA is above nozzle tip by <1mm but above the nozzle. About 0.6mm is a good starting point, which is about the thickness of a credit card. Place a sheet of paper on the bed, and run the XYZ Calibration from the menu. Stay with the machine, and watch it. As it hunts for the calibration points, watch if the paper moves. If it does, STOP THE PRINTER. That means the nozzle is dragging and the PINDA sensor is a bit too high, lower it and try again, but make sure it is still higher than the nozzle tip. Repeat until you have a good XYZ Calibration. (Note the instructions on the XYZ calibration, and make sure the nozzle tip is clean.)

3) Set your Live Adjust Z roughly correct.
a) Set Live adjust Z = 0.00. (XYZ Cal does this).
b) Do a Calibrate Z. (Head must be clean of drips and lumps).
c) Do a Home. This leaves the head at Z=0.15mm
d) Use Setting -> Move Axis X and Y to get in the approx center of the print space. DONT TOUCH Z.
e) Put a piece of printer paper under the head. Printer paper is approx 0.1mm
f) Wiggle the paper while adjusting "Live Adjust Z" (in settings) until the paper just starts to drag on the paper.
g) Back off a bit (50) on the “Live Adjust Z"

4) Load some filament.
a) Make sure the tension screws are about 14mm from the body with no filament in the extruder. (This is looser than is intuitive for most people. Too tight or too loose will cause issues.)
b) Heat the extruder. You can do this with pre-heat or settings->temperature.
c) Use Load Filament from the menu. Continue until you have a nice thin strand coming from the extruder.
d) Cool it back down.

5) Make sure the bed is very clean.
a) Wipe with as pure an isopropyl alcohol (IPA) as you can find. The little toweletts are not enough in my opinion. Use (and re-use) a paper towel and a good squirt of IPA.
b) (If really dirty, you can use Windex followed by Acetone followed by IPA, but that should only happen if you had used glue stick or other things on the bed and want to really clean it off). I do this if I am changing materials.

6) Get your Live Adjust Z dialed in real well.
a) Print using "Calibration_surface_PLA_75x75@200um_v4.gcode" found in Jeff's "Life Adjust My Way" Thread (Read through page 7 or so till you see the .v4 code. Look at the pictures.)
http://shop.prusa3d.com/forum/prusa-i3-kit-building-calibrating-first-print-main-f6/life-adjust-z-my-way-t2981-s150.html
b) Repeat until you have a nice test print - all stuck together and one nice clean sheet.

7) Print a few of the included gcode files. Start with the Prusa logo. The gears are a great test and fun thing to have.

8) Start with a few things on Thingiverse that are easy. Learn how to use the slicer of your choice (I like Slic3r, but there are many options and opinions and all have pros and cons). Start with things that don’t need supports. Trust me, supports should come in after you have good confidence in your printer and yourself.

9) Start designing your own things.

BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE: Don’t get frustrated. You WILL run into problems. Search this forum. Read. If you can’t find your answer in 10-15 minutes, post a question. This is a very supportive group that will likely get you going again.

Re: The benefit of hindsight

Tony,

Any photos of your enclosure? What about those "accessories" that you've added? I'm in the process of building my enclosure now and looking for various accessories to add to it. I'm currently using OctoPi and have an Arduino Uno with a number of sensors... was planning on adding a vent/filter controlled by the Arduino based on temperature/humidity, also by manual override, LED string lights. I may eventually add a filament out sensor after I get everything else up and running.

Re: The benefit of hindsight

Aaron
Your a star pal thankyou.

Bytor
I'll try and sort out some photos of where its upto tonight with a description of my intentions if I can get a minute.