Random thoughts and questions after my build
So I've finished building my printer. I didn't expect to need to because I ordered an assembled unit and was sent a kit. I decided to just roll with it and take the $200 (+ extra shipping) refund. Some random thoughts:
I didn't expect the printer to ship to Texas with custom charges due. (About $47.) I've been reading over these fora for months and don't recall anyone mentioning it.
My kit was complete except for one piece of spiral wrap. I'm honestly not sure which one because the sizes don't appear to be listed anywhere in the kit or manuals unlike the various bits of hardware. I ended up using the two pieces I had for the heatbed and the extruder cabling and just zip-tying the X axis motor and end stop cables together. Seems to be working OK.
I spent four days on the build, but I was doing this in the office. I work in the mathematics department at a large university and am pretty busy, so I put in time here and there when I could.
The online manual started off really good but by the end of the process things started to get a bit less clear. I didn't really have any problems and things generally became obvious once I realized how everything was supposed to fit together.
First calibration was successful and it didn't complain about any skew at all. Ran a few random prints from the SD card and things seem mostly OK. Ran the demo gear bearing thing overnight and it came out as close to perfect as I think I could expect.
I note that I have some oozing during the very beginning of a print, when the machine is calibrating. It leaves a little dab of plastic at each of the calibration points and strings between them. I'm not sure if I need to be completely unloading the filament after each print.
I also had an adhesion problem while printing a whistle this morning. It was fine until the very last few layers and then the print slid off. I'm pretty sure I have more work do to on the first layer calibration so it will probably clear up with that.
The pre-printed selection knob for the display didn't want to fit properly on its post. I went and tried to mess with it to see if there was some reason why and ended up breaking it. I don't have any machine set up with a slicer yet, so I was wondering if someone could send me a gcode file to print a new knob out of some PLA really quick?
Re: Random thoughts and questions after my build
It sounds like you need to get your first layer set better. Check out this thread:
Also, You can fix the little dabs during the calibration FOR THINGS YOU SLICE by changing the starting code in your slicer to:
M115 U3.0.12 ; tell printer latest fw version
G21 ; set units to millimeters
G90 ; use absolute coordinates
M83 ; extruder relative mode
M104 S170; Extruder to 170
M140 S[first_layer_bed_temperature] ; set bed temp
G28 W ; home all without mesh bed level
G1 X0 Y0 Z125; home X axis Lift to 125
M190 S[first_layer_bed_temperature] ; wait for bed temp
M109 S170 ; wait for extruder temp to hit 170
M104 S[first_layer_temperature] ; set extruder temp
G80 ; mesh bed leveling while rising in temp
G1 Y-3.0 F1000.0 ; go outside printing area
M109 S[first_layer_temperature] ; wait for extruder temp if needed
G92 E0 ; reset extrusion distance
G1 X100.0 E9.0 F1000.0 ; intro line
G1 X200.0 E12.5 F1000.0 ; intro line
which reduced the nozzle temperature a bit during calibration.
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 or loss. If you solve your problem, please post the solution…
Re: Random thoughts and questions after my build
Here's the sliced LCD knob, hope it helps.
Re: Random thoughts and questions after my build
So I've finished building my printer. I didn't expect to need to because I ordered an assembled unit and was sent a kit. I decided to just roll with it and take the $200 (+ extra shipping) refund. Some random thoughts:
I didn't expect the printer to ship to Texas with custom charges due. (About $47.) I've been reading over these fora for months and don't recall anyone mentioning it.
I live in Texas and have multiple printers from Prusa. I have never paid customs charges but I believe it is dollar based and when you ordered the Pre-Built it was over the limit. That's the amount listed on the invoice/shipping label and what the Customs people see.
Re: Random thoughts and questions after my build
Thanks for the info, folks. I promptly got buried in random stuff and then went on vacation.
My total order did come to over $1200 given the assembled kit and the multimaterial upgrade, so perhaps that's why the customs fees kicked in. It wasn't a huge deal but it did mean much more more paperwork.
Thanks also for the knob slice. It's a big help as I am still wrangling with Cura and trying to get The Prusa Slic3r release built.
And I thought I had the first layer pretty well dialed in as the pre-sliced models have been printing fine. Just not having any luck printing anything I've sliced myself. Anyway, I know I still have a load of tinkering to do. And then I can work on my MM upgrade. And by then maybe the Mk3 I ordered will ship. This is surprisingly addictive.