picking up my second well my first real printer

So I've been looking around here for a few weeks now finally made an account. Well my first misadventure was buying a davinci from a close out store got it home and plug everything in screen lights up and nothing works after 3 days of trying to deal with xyz i said screw it and took the thing back. For the last 5 months I've been looking at different printers and came across the makerfarm i3v kits about 3 weeks ago. so far everything that I've read about support and colin, has been very positive. with that being said i have settled on the 12" kit due to what I'm going to be using the printer for. I've went ahead and bought the power supply and glass already, and I'm ready to place my order. I just have a few questions before I finalize everything,
what is the benefit of getting the full graphical display vs. the standard lcd, along with the advantages of rumba over the ramps board. Second is the nozzles is it worth it getting the hexagon nozzle over the jhead.

I spend most of my free time on here or thingiverse and youmagine along with downloading a host if items for the printer itself like the anti-vibration feet and what not. Any and All help will be greatly appreciated Thank you.

rumba just gives you more options for fans, additional extruders etc... Overall, i think its worth the extra cost.
Nozzle is definately worth it. More material you can print with, as it can go higher in temperature, and its all metal, so its more sturdy. Good upgrade.

I just finished my 12" kit build a week ago and am really putting it through its paces. i like it so far.

I have the full graphics display but don't have the smaller display so I can't give you a 100% accurate comparison...

But I do know that it displays each hotend & bed temp with a small graphic for the items as well as a fan speed indicator with a graphic. If printing from the SD it has a progress indicator, shows you the hot end position and a message area that can be used by slicers. To I did at things like heating printing finished etc.

I think if you plan to go multi extruder I would suggest full graphics display but for single I don't think it really matters. I currently use a dual extruder.

Tldr: it has more room to display thing with cool graphics along with info

I recently purchased the 12" myself and I purchased the Rumba/Graphical LCD. I did this because its a $25.00 fee right now to upgrade, otherwise you are paying more if you plan to upgrade in the future.

Thats the way it is in the automotive world i figured it all was worth it but, was unsure.

I have the full graphic lcd and got the Rambo board. I think if I were looking to buy a printer either for the first time or additional printer, I would definitley go the route that I did. The Rambo is so simple to plug everything into and understand and the kit build itself goes pretty quickly. The only things that gave me any problem at all was the size of the 12 gauge wire compared to the holes and slots it is designed to go into. One trick I found after a couple of attempts was to not twist the ends of the wire and solder tin the ends of the wires. That kept them together better and gave me the ability to use a pair of pliers to "form" the end of the wire to fit where it needed to go. Also, the first time I hooked my Rambo board to my computer via the USB cable, static electricity fried the board. I contacted the maker of the Rambo board and they graciously replaced it at no additional cost to me even though I had purchased it from Colin at MakerFarm. While the original board was down, I had purchased a replacement board with the Static Protection Mod in place and that board has beeen rock solid. I absolutely love it.

The full graphic lcd is really nice as others have mentioned as it has a graphic for the extruder or extruders you may have as well as heat bed and fan. It gives you a temperature readout for what your target temperature is and the temperature each is currently at. It gives you an x, y, and z readout as to the location of the extruder in relation to the heated bed. It gives you a percentage of print completed as well as percentage on feed rate. Though the SD Card gives you the ability to print without a computer attached, I found it very helpful to control and print hooked to my computer or laptop using a control program like Pronterface. Using the lcd interface to try to move the printer in its axis is an exercise in patience at best. After trying it once or twice you will quickly wish you were hooked to a computer.

I am currently in the process of adding Auto Bed Leveling and hope to have that going later this afternoon. A couple of things you may want to look at printing are these Z- Nut Clips, ,One Hand Bed Leveling Tool, and Z-Supports. With the One Hand Bed Leveling Tool, you will only want to print two. One for the front two corners. I had put one on the back corner opposite the bed spacer and found that it hung on the back of the printer when the bed went beyond the back edge of the printer. With the Z-Support, I printed the one without bearings as my Z-Rods were only long enough to just fit into the bottom of the support. I'm very happy with those. I have purchased two Prometheus V1 Hot Ends from DisTech Automation for an eventual Direct Drive - Dual Extruder setup but won't implement those until sometime later this year once I get some experience with the printer itself.

well placed my order today now starts the 5 day wait before it ships, now to order some pla and abs

just a few frog shots for you to look at
made on my i3v 12" with GITD PLA at 195c 50mm/s slic3r 0.1mm layer height
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c8h0oxuoeq...05.41.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/np05kvgb8m...05.47.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h9d9fj36pk...06.28.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mtj70bsnbw...08.08.jpg?dl=0

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Originally Posted by neverlift

well placed my order today now starts the 5 day wait before it ships, now to order some pla and abs

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I can totally relate to the waiting part, Mine went from processing to complete on the makerfarm page on Thursday and is out for delivery right now!

I know you already placed your order, I went with the normal display not the graphical one for two reasones, one i plan to use octoprint as my display, and second because I had a fixed amount to spend and the shipping and tax was higher than I planned so even though it was only a $15 diff I skipped it.

Yea I said screw it and got the graphical display and hex hot end, the anticipation has begun lol

I know exactly how you feel! I am full of anticipation and I have my printer!

I just have been sick and cannot finish the last 10%.

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Originally Posted by BLKKROW

I know exactly how you feel! I am full of anticipation and I have my printer!

I just have been sick and cannot finish the last 10%.

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thats horrible i would be trying to power threw myself lol

So ive been looking threw the build guide and came across the z axis assembly, and man I don"t like that. the vinyl tubes there out cant do it, cant see how that would be a good long term solution, I remembered seeing something about a coupler in the mods section and now understand why so last night i went ahead and bought 2.

well, honestly if the z axis had to move rapidly in one direction or the next I can see your point. but it moves very slowly in tiny increments. I have no issues with it. However, its one of the spots on the printer where I can see upgrading at some point.. It will wear out and loosen up over time.

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Originally Posted by dunginhawk

well, honestly if the z axis had to move rapidly in one direction or the next I can see your point. but it moves very slowly in tiny increments. I have no issues with it. However, its one of the spots on the printer where I can see upgrading at some point.. It will wear out and loosen up over time.

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yea but id rather fix it up front then wait till it decides to slip in the middle of a print, plus were only talking 9 dollars to correct it it would have been cheaper but i didnt want to wait from china and have to tear the rods down after the printer is all set up

so do you mind sharing a link to what you bought?
thanks

This is one that I have seen recommended on the forms, so I bookmarked it on amazon for a future upgrade.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R5CESKY/...I2ZE57OJK5VQLA

That's the ones I got

Just got my shipping confirmation looks like the printer will be here wed.

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Originally Posted by neverlift

Just got my shipping confirmation looks like the printer will be here wed.

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Awesome, it is to bad I don't smoke these are the times where passing out cigars would make sense, lol.

im now to the point of deciding if i want to stain the wood or just leave it raw

well just got my confirmation that the printer was delivered at the house. cant wait to get off of work in a few hours to look at it and start then staining process and then hopefully get to build it this weekend.