MakerFarm 8" i3v Prusa build by Printbus

[printbus]

FEBRUARY 2019 STATUS UPDATE

As a courtesy to anyone still subscribed to this build thread, I thought I'd summarize where I'm at with the 8-inch i3v. As suggested by the opening paragraph in the thread, the i3v is still the only 3D printer in the house. Much of the status update from December 2016 still applies. I pretty much only use the printer when I need some functional widget, and I still only print PLA. The wife and I have been through two moves and some health issues since the last update, so it's easy to say the printer can still sit unused for months at a time. Quiet times and winter weather have allowed some focus on the i3v recently, and I've taken advantage of it with some upgrades I'll summarize over the next few days.

I'm still pretty content with the mods I made to the i3v. All maybe weren't necessary, but I'm into 3D printing for the tinker-pit aspect as much as anything. The most recent mods with the aluminum bed and PrintBite print surface has worked out great - at least for the PLA printing that I do. I can't recall complete loss of adhesion on anything I've printed on it. Once in a while I'll see first layer artifacts suggesting I was starting to lose adhesion, and I use that as a reminder that it may be time to wipe the PrintBite down with acetone. The aluminum bed is pretty flat. Some custom g-code routines accessible from the printer LCD makes it a quick exercise to walk around the bed and check/adjust for my preferred nozzle clearance. Yep, I still manually level the bed. Updates to follow won't change that.