Prusa mini Fysetc clone - log of a journey  

Mini Base

Thanks @ryandam, appreciate the kind words.  I used the clone as well as my Ender 3 to print the parts.  The right front and rear legs are pretty long prints as they require supports.  I printed everything at .28 layer height and 20% infill.  I would say about 2 days of printing with two printers.  Wasn't too bad.  I spread it out over a week.  I printed the parts here and there until I had them all done.   It really is a great little addition.  Looks good and functional.  Recommended!

Example print: Folding phone stand

I printed this a couple of days ago before I assembled the mini base.  A folding, planetary gear stand (you can find it on myminifactory.)  Really neat.  Prints flat, then folds together and has a built in bolt that screws it down in the position you want your phone in.   Planetary gears work great and are nice and smooth.  I'm pretty impressed with this printer so far.  Print isn't perfect, but pretty darn good.

Phone stand

Phone stand

Pretty neat print.  I absolutely love mine.  

RE: Filament stuck in tube

@cwbullet, I was printing a handle for the clone and found the nozzle a 1/4" above the print with nothing coming out.  Looks like retraction issue.  Small larger diameter gets stuck in Capricorn tubing.  Hot end was clear.  Seems pulling out and pushing in makes filament a little larger and the extruder can't push it through.  Is this common with prints with a lot of retraction?  It's happened to me twice, first time was with some super cheap filament.  Happened with that stuff no matter what I did.  The stuff I'm using now is good stuff (Hatchbox) and has not given me any issues.  Just wondering if you have encountered it?  I switched to a new piece of capricorn, this stuff has a 2mm inside diameter.  I shouldn't have to do that though.  Printed handle again and it printed fine.

Retraction

I have a few issues where retraction causes a partial jam or jam and print failures.  I usually can get by it with a cold pull and purge filament.

RE: Retraction

Thanks!  That's what I did also.  Hot end was clean.  I may put the BMG clone extruder on this weekend.  I also have the actual Prusa mini hot end and Bondtech heatbreak.  I may just change it all over to that and see if it gets along better.  I am still waiting on delivery of some PC4-M8 connectors to do the hot end though.  Honestly, other than that retraction issue that creeps up now and then, this little thing works great.

Posted by: @cwbullet

I have a few issues where retraction causes a partial jam or jam and print failures.  I usually can get by it with a cold pull and purge filament.

extruder

Posted by: @urshurak776

Thanks!  That's what I did also.  Hot end was clean.  I may put the BMG clone extruder on this weekend.  I also have the actual Prusa mini hot end and Bondtech heatbreak.  I may just change it all over to that and see if it gets along better.  I am still waiting on delivery of some PC4-M8 connectors to do the hot end though.  Honestly, other than that retraction issue that creeps up now and then, this little thing works great.

Posted by: @cwbullet

I have a few issues where retraction causes a partial jam or jam and print failures.  I usually can get by it with a cold pull and purge filament.

 

Looking to update my extruder on my original mini , can I ask did you change yours and if so any good ?

personally looking into one of these by triangle labs https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000816286181.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.2c353c00yqWX15&mp=1

FW alterations

Posted by: @menaku

Hey there,

I found a custom firmware that allows easy ajustments for your prusa mini clone, bondtech extruder, etc.

It is called Llama Firmware and it is working really well. Here is the github link:

https://github.com/matthewlloyd/Llama-Mini-Firmware

Here are some of its features:

• Configurable E-steps
• Set Hotend fan speed
• Skew compensation
• PID tuning

I tested version 1.0.5 with my clone and I am very happy with it.

Maybe this firmware is a good choice for you too 😉

Best regards

been using this for awhile now but is there a way to go about making changes so you can alter options within the firmware like how much filament to load if changing the overall length of the PTFE tube when it comes to exchanging to a different extruder.

Most successful change

With my clones, I replaced their hotend and that made a huge jump in quality.  I installed a standard V6.  

Re: Alterations

I didn't get the Trianglelabs one, I got the FYSETC BMG V1 extruder. They're like $15 on Aliexpress.  I haven't put it on yet though.  I am waiting on a V6 hotend like @cwbullet has.  I already printed the parts needed to mount it, iincluding a new Z bottom to move the Y-Axis 3mm (the V6 nozzle is 3mm forward.) You can change it in your slicer or firmware, but I chose to just change the Z bottom.  I can switch back later if I want to go back to original hot end.

BMG

Posted by: @brettg

 Looking to update my extruder on my original mini , can I ask did you change yours and if so any good ?

personally looking into one of these by triangle labs https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000816286181.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.2c353c00yqWX15&mp=1

I am currently using this extruder (plus trianglelab all metal hotend). Definitely recommend it, work fine!
The default extruder come with the clone is very noisy with gear backslash noise when doing multiple short retract/un-retract which is the main reason I switch to BMG. Now its much quiet and I quite happy with my decision.
About the print quality between BMG and stock extruder, for me its not very difference, both result beautiful prints.

Interesting

Posted by: @urshurak776

I didn't get the Trianglelabs one, I got the FYSETC BMG V1 extruder. They're like $15 on Aliexpress.  I haven't put it on yet though.  I am waiting on a V6 hotend like @cwbullet has.  I already printed the parts needed to mount it, iincluding a new Z bottom to move the Y-Axis 3mm (the V6 nozzle is 3mm forward.) You can change it in your slicer or firmware, but I chose to just change the Z bottom.  I can switch back later if I want to go back to original hot end.

Ok thanks looks like I’m going to for the triangle then ,

ye upgraded my mini’s to the v6 hotends already with Capricorn tubing straight through to the titanium heartbreak ,

just looking to improve the extruder now 

Extruder

Messed around creating a extruder based on bernies but couldn’t dial it in to a satisfied point, so ideally after reliability that the labs extruder offers at a lower cost then the bond tech 

RE: Extruder

Interesting you should just post this. Installed the FYSETC BMG clone today.  Went on pretty easy. Changed direction of motor and adjusted esteps to 409 (not 415 like the Bondtech.).  Filament loaded FIRST time. Never done that before.  Just now printing the Prusa nut and bolt.  So far so good.  In fairness, the stock extruder worked most of the time just fine, but would get jammed during a print with a lot of small retractions.  

RE: Heatbreak

Wanted to point out that the heatbreak that came with my clone looks just like the bondtech one. It’s not just straight to the threads like the earlier clones were, so it seems FYSETC does make some improvements.  I still haven’t touched the hotend and it seems to work great.  I will probably swap it for the V6 like you guys did, but I think for PLA, it’s just fine. Still waiting for parts for my V6.  May be a few more weeks probably.  

Good news.

That is good news!  Does the PTFE stop higher also?

Posted by: @urshurak776

Wanted to point out that the heatbreak that came with my clone looks just like the bondtech one. It’s not just straight to the threads like the earlier clones were, so it seems FYSETC does make some improvements.  I still haven’t touched the hotend and it seems to work great.  I will probably swap it for the V6 like you guys did, but I think for PLA, it’s just fine. Still waiting for parts for my V6.  May be a few more weeks probably.  

Heatbreak

It does.  It’s almost identical to the bondtech or triangle labs one.

Posted by: @cwbullet

That is good news!  Does the PTFE stop higher also?

Posted by: @urshurak776

Wanted to point out that the heatbreak that came with my clone looks just like the bondtech one. It’s not just straight to the threads like the earlier clones were, so it seems FYSETC does make some improvements.  I still haven’t touched the hotend and it seems to work great.  I will probably swap it for the V6 like you guys did, but I think for PLA, it’s just fine. Still waiting for parts for my V6.  May be a few more weeks probably.  

 

RE: Extruder

So, the nut and bolt printed awesome!   Nice and smooth.  Nut threaded into bolt fine.  A touch tight but it went on.  

Printed a benchy and overall it’s pretty good.  Not too bad.  New filament from Jesse  never used before   Has little specs of darker blue in it.  A little bit of stringing  need to tweak in the temperature for this filament   

Can't wait

Thank you all for this thread guys, I ordered one and can't wait to see how it performs out of the box. Already have an Original Prusa Mini so I'm excited to get some comparisons.