Prusa i3v on the way!

[cjalas]

Thanks everyone so much for your replies, this community definitely is very helpful!

I've purchased four of the 5x5mm couplers (off of ebay, cheaper than amazon), is that enough or do I need more? And I definitely plan to use threadlocker for the metal screws and bolts where necessary; has anyone also used wood glue when fitting together the printer? Or is that not ideal? I'm thinking about the heat (especially if I build an enclosure) and possible expansion/contraction of the glue.

Also I did go with an aluminum heat bed plate that mounts on top of the heat bed itself, so I'll let you all know how that goes. Probably will use cork underneath as everyone suggested for some insulation too.

So excited, my package arrives this coming Monday, practically refreshing the UPS page every few hours haha.



@gmay3 -- I definitely would like an aluminum extruder, Gregs' if I have to. I'm not too informed about extruder assemblies though. Eventually my goal was to have dual extrusion capabilities on my printer (I originally was eyeing the Ez3D Phoenix printer because of this, but 10-12wk lead time...), so I'll probably hold off on changing extruders (or adding another magma?) until I assemble and learn more. IF I go the aluminum route for Greg's, I'll let you all know about ordering so we can get a lower discount price .

@old man emu -- I definitely don't want to / can't use the spool holder as shown in the pics (I think it sits above?) due to space constraints. Ideally my printer height would be as short as possible. I'm thinking to create a holder in the rear, like I have seen on many other 'box' type 3d printers out there, and run the filament through the top back.


I just had a thought, how awesome would it be to have everything painted black (or some color), and utilize anodized aluminum screws where possible (thinking bright blue), then get some LED strip lighting for the inside of my enclosure to light everything up. Pimped out i3v!

[gmay3]

You only need 2 couplers for the Z axis threaded rods. They will attach on the each zstepper motor shaft and then will be coupled to the threaded rod. Just like in OME's picture.

I would stay away from the wood glue, the kit is actually very rigid, much more than I thought it would be. The main reason I would stay away from the glue is to allow you to easily take something apart if you need to access, adjust, or replace any parts.

I definitely could be wrong but the aluminum on the heat bed might make it take very long to heat up. I guess this could hold in the heat longer once it's heated up but essentially, it sounds like an aluminum plate above the heat bed and below the glass would act as a heatsink during the initial heat.

[printbus]

FYI on the screws - In case it factors into what you're going to do for paint or hardware, the kits are currently shipping with all black screws (the videos show a mixture of black and plain steel). Washers and nuts included in the kit are plain steel or stainless steel, not black. If you want to replace the screws, you're looking at a lot of hardware to buy - for example, there are over 50 places where M3x16 screws are used.

As gmay3 already suggested, you'd want to be careful what you glue so that you can still make necessary adjustments. I had two focus areas in where I used glue. One was the motor mounts - Even though the parts fit together pretty good, I wanted to do what I could to ensure it stayed that way over time. The second area was to simply improve how the i3v looks when it's done. Gluing the major frame components, for example, allowed me to fill (I used epoxy based wood filler) and sand over the visible joints that remind me of snap-together plywood dinosaur kits that our kids have put together. I figured it is unlikely that I'll need to take the frame apart or remove motor mounts, and that if the glue softens with temperature, the mechanical fasteners are still there to do their job. Should you decide to glue, note that the laser cut edges are glazed, and you'll want to sand this before trying to glue. I found some of the straight-line cuts where multiple parts butted up together in the plywood layout needed some cleanup work anyway. Again, only because I'm particular about how the i3v is going to look when it's done.

EDIT: Added pic showing the front of the finished y-idler plate and how the glued joints for the idler pulley brackets have been filled in.