New owner of an I3
High everybody
I just want to share my experience with you about the Prusa I3 Kit.
I think it will contain important messages for those willing to buy one.
Lets start:
Last friday I started asking questions via the support chat, where I had a nice conversiation with Ivana.
About lunch time I pressed the order button and paid via Paypal.
In the afternoon I ordered another filament roll (PET) to be shipped with the original order. I was told all will be shipped on Monday.
Indeed, on tuesday morning I got the info from UPS, to expect a parcel later that day. Came back home at 1330 and found the parcel at the doorstep.
Great Job so far, as patience is not for big boys with new toys. 🙂
Immideately unpacked the sturdy parcel and lots of smaller parcel were found. Everything labelled perfectly and logically set to assist a quick building.
So building was very uneventful, as I already posess an Airwolf 5.5 of the very early generation- I had a clue what to do. Just follow the internet instructions, it is really that easy. For those who have read the building instructions already and think they are not fit in doing so - well- for a few bucks more - you know........
Due to an unlucky move of my arm I broke the tiny upper attachment of the circular fan. Was able to repair it with super glue, sticks on till now.
Had it all built and wired up at 1930 same evening.
After lunch I first switched on- voila- LCD is working- temp of nozzle is rising and rising....... until I pulled the plug- not to overheat the system completely. No motors or extruder turning. Grmpf and bad mood around.
I dismanteled the electronics from the housing again and laid it flat on the table.
Now I realised that I have swapped the extruder/Heatbead plugs with the two main 12V supply ones!
Swapped them and display not working any more. Checked fuses and AHA , one 5V fuse blown.
Released all cables from the board and started from scratch with power supply- then display, then extruder heat - bed heat- extruder- motors - endstop. This time correct.
TIP: When connecting all the cables, have the board not mounted on the frame- or you will have a lot of guesswork to compare with the pics of the inet manual!
TIP: TEST EVERY SINGLE STEP YOU MAKE.
You will not destroy the board if anything is not connected and you fire it up.
Found out that one Z-axis motor pin had a bad crimp on the pin with the black cable- simply came off. So I did a microsurgery on the tiny plug as well. 🙂
Around midnight I was ready and the first prusa test plate was baked with moderate result, as the filament flow was too high, and the print bed totally misaligned as being bent slightly.
Wednesday I completed the alignment of the bed and is printing since then.
Conclusion:
I have a new shortcut for the Prusa I3. I will call mine ZTO. Stands for Zip Tie Orgy. 🙂
It is a quick and dirty engineering but ingenious.
Printing quality : excellent- what I did not expect during build!!
Noise level: wow !!!!! If there would be no fan, you would not realise that the printer is running. Did not use the felt pads, as I could not peel them off their backing- the wrong side came loose first- but used 2 cm high real rubber pads- Conrad stuff.
What I dislike :
Personally I don´t like the Pronterface U.I. Tried the Repetier one, but failed in communication with the ZTO.
The linear bearings: I think the whole 3D printing world is using this bullshit. They are dead before you install them. You can feel the grinding on the 8 mm rod even when sliding them on! Unfortunately the IGUS ones dont fit, the 8 mm ones are longer and fatter. I really recommend to get a version out with the igus linear slides and shafts. They cost more, but you get much much more repeatability out of the system.
I am missing a belt tensioner on the x and y axis. Found one at thingiverse, is on my to do list! Would make the assembly much easier, this was the only difficult part to get the tension in the belt, while mounting them in place. A third hand could be helpful.
X- and Y- limiter switches fixed with cable ties on corresponding shafts. Besides it works, but is a no go for me. Will change that asap.
The attachment of the heat plate to the alu lower frame does not make me happy. It is tricky to level and not repeatable, as there is no fix connection with the lower body. To less space below the frame does not allow the easy change to springloaded systems, there is room for improvement. Here we are talking about tolerances to the nozzle tip of about 0.1 to 0.05 to get a print really good on the way. Especially when total clearance is about 0.2mm.
Is it worth the money?
Yes, every Euro or USD is a good investment in this little machine as discribed above- besides there is room for improvement. Anyway we love tinkering with our toys- dont we?
Would I buy another one?- Definately yes
Thanks for your attention
b.r.
Wolfgang
pic of frog 150%scale printed with PET.
Changed heatbed to 60°C. Preset is too high.
Printed on masking tape with ABS juice.
Very fine print, great tensile strength, excellent layer attachment, no warping- for me no more ABS if I can avoid.
Re: New owner of an I3
Dragonlady
Yesterday I produced a very nice foul print of the biest.
Problem was the left front leg.
When producing an exerted overhang, the end part will stand up a little due to more cooling on the top side. After a few rounds it is building a little wall. When the nozzle head comes exactly from behind it has following possibilities:
1) brake the part itself
2) brake the part loose from heatbed
3) jump over the wall by pressing the heatbed down
4) stall the y-motor
Well later happened and the layers were shifted.
That is why I love the spring loaded attachment of the heatbed. 🙂
b.r.
Wolfgang
Re: New owner of an I3
Dragonlady the second
After the misprint, I started another go on he lady.
This time with a little help from my side, bending the little walls on both front legs down just a litte with my fingers during print. Ears on top have the same problem.
Astonishing print quality, I am booked on the ZTO.
Pic made with no cleaning of the dragon, just off the board.
b.r.
Wolfgang
Re: New owner of an I3
Hi Wolfgang
Yes, several other users have had issues with this print, but usually near to the top of the wings.
I also have a second printer (a Chinese clone) which has a sprung-loaded bed and does not suffer these issues. I think that it is a matter of using the printer which will work best for each model.
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: New owner of an I3
High Peter,
absolutely correct,
for Joseph it would be an easy change.
Simply make M3 threads in the Alu bed holder and supply 4 springs.
Adjustment made from screwhead.
Would save the 8 self locking nuts and 4 plastic parts.
b.r.
Wolfgang
Re: New owner of an I3
No, not quite.
The screws would protrude too far through the Y chassis and would hit the vertical frame when passing through. The frame would need changing to accommodate the bottom ends of the screws.
Peter
P.S. for some reason I have not been able to determine why Josef doesn't like the sprung bed. There is a post elsewhere on this forum where he dismisses the use of springs.
I know my clone is not particularly accurate in the XY planes because of the horizontal movement allowed by the springs. The layering on that is much more obvious than on the original.
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: New owner of an I3
ZTO Stands for Zip Tie Orgy 😮 😯 😈
Thanks for the feedback. We are working on some upgrades, so I will try to work it in.
We are also making a new heatbed at the moment, so I can try again with springs. But it usually wobbles and layer alignment is not always as great.
Main goal are 20% more power, more power in the corners to have more even heating and find better alternative to glass.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAnJYEqBAy9/
Re: New owner of an I3
Dear Joseph
Txs for your comment.
to eliminate the wobble one attach point of the bed does not have a spring but is adjustable in height. It is fix connected to the v-carriage.
you see what I mean?
b.r.
Wolfgang
Re: New owner of an I3
Hello Wolfgang, I'm new to the I3 too and my bed was also bent. I read too many bad things about the spring solution so I designed a holder that keeps the leveling wheel down.
It fixed my issue and makes the bed leveling easier, before I had to push a little bit on the corners to get it to go down. Now I just turn the wheel and it follows both ways. It would work better if it was a metal part but it works fine.
The space is limited so I made it to be ZIPPED-TIED!! lol the ZTO continues... anyway I hope it does the trick for you too.
Just make sure the Zips clear everything on its path, it can be challenging for some corners 😉
Here is the file on Thingverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1293598
Re: New owner of an I3
That is very nice. I think I will have to do that too. One corner seems to pop up due to the wiring tied to the arm for the heating bed.
Re: New owner of an I3
Hi Scott
On my printer, I found that it was better to route the hot bed wiring closer to the centre of the bed and cable tie it to a different part of the Y chassis.
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: New owner of an I3
Peter
I have to agree with you. I just took a look at mine and it seems the heater wire from the bed has been rubbing on the Y-endstop switch and rubbed through to almost bare wire. I will be wrapping it up with electric tape and moving it.
Re: New owner of an I3
Agreed. I moved it closer to the center (I was getting conflict with the leveler knob).
Re: New owner of an I3
Hello Wolfgang, I'm new to the I3 too and my bed was also bent. I read too many bad things about the spring solution so I designed a holder that keeps the leveling wheel down.
It fixed my issue and makes the bed leveling easier, before I had to push a little bit on the corners to get it to go down. Now I just turn the wheel and it follows both ways. It would work better if it was a metal part but it works fine.
The space is limited so I made it to be ZIPPED-TIED!! lol the ZTO continues... anyway I hope it does the trick for you too.
Just make sure the Zips clear everything on its path, it can be challenging for some corners 😉
Here is the file on Thingverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1293598
Thanks For this!
I was actually in the process of designing something similar (as i have a corner of one of my printers which lines to pop up here and there.
Thanks for saving me the trouble!