MakerFarm 8" i3v Prusa build by Printbus

[CoffeeCup]

RobH2 that’s great to hear! Im curious if the rod version before the v-rails lends more stability. This week as I’ve been looking at newer printers to see what has been going on in the industry I couldn’t help but notice the highly praised Original Prusa MK3 uses rods.
While I have only adjusted my x-carriage rollers, they do give some play if they loosen.

[RobH2]

I always assumed the rail version was more stable but I have no way to compare. I'm guessing the rail version is better though. I was planning to upgrade with the rail kit but never did. I bought this printer to do quick prototypes of items for clients. I soon found that I could order much, much better parts online as prices dropped and quality got better so I began using my printer less and less and never bought the rail upgrade kit. Now I just make parts for friends boats or cars now and then. It's still a great printer.

I would be curious to see what the current top rated do-it-yourself printer is. Maybe it's still the Maker Farm. I just haven't researched it.

[printbus]

...Can you comment on your experience with your Bondtech BMG?

Similar to RobH2, I only rarely use the printer these days - my time seems to continually get tied up in other things. With one exception, I've been pretty happy with the BMG. The big advantages are it's small, compact, and light. I do seem to have to level the print surface every time I print something, but only using the printer every few months could have more to do with that than the BMG and/or the associated carriage plate & hot end mount.

The one thing I miss from the Greg's Wade extruder is that the BMG has no easy way to release a filament. With the Greg's Wade, I'd heat up the hot end, reverse the extruder a few mm, and then release the grip on the filament so I could pull the soft filament out without the hobbed bolt pressing against the filament. With the BMG, you essentially have no choice but to keep reversing the extruder until the filament can be pulled from the gearing. There's a access lever you can unscrew that removes one of the gears, but the filament continues to press against the rear gear. I only rarely change filaments, so it isn't that big of a deal but it is something I don't care for.

If you opt to stick with the Greg's Wade, I'd definitely check out my remix of it. My research concluded the parts MF was shipping with the printer really weren't very optimal. The last Greg's Wade I printed was on my printer a couple of years before I swapped it out for the BMG approach.

On the rails vs. rods, yeah I don't know which provides a more rigid approach. I opted for the MF rail approach since what I read made me want to avoid linear bearings, and one of my goals was also to minimize the use of zip ties as mechanical fasteners on my printer. Seems that most printers using rods use zip ties to hold the linear bearings in place, and I didn't care for that.

[CoffeeCup]

I did see your revision to Greg Wade’s Extruder and thank you for the comments. Has there been a noticeable increase in print quality with the BMG? With the lighter weight I would assume there would be less lash/play but maybe it only comes into play at higher speeds.

[printbus]

I did see your revision to Greg Wade’s Extruder and thank you for the comments. Has there been a noticeable increase in print quality with the BMG? With the lighter weight I would assume there would be less lash/play but maybe it only comes into play at higher speeds.

I don't think it would be fair for me to try to address that, based on the limited printing that I've done. I also know that the filament I have now prints crappier than the filament I used to have, so there's that significant factor as well.

As you suggest, I think the BMG approach has a lot of potential over the Greg's Wade. No gear backlash. Better grip on the filament - perhaps especially beneficial in precise retraction & recovery control. Yes, the lighter extruder, especially along with the smaller/lighter stepper motor I used should lead to a lighter carriage that is quicker to accelerate/decelerate. I remember running some mechanical tests to determine what settings I'd use, but I don't recall how the settings compare to what I used to run.

Improving cooling airflow was a driver in the carriage redesign and migration to the BMG. I'm pretty sure the new approach provides better print cooling airflow, so that has potential for improved print results if the cooling is applied properly.

[bobsaid]

I feel almost bad about bumping a thread that hasn't seen activity in over 4 years that was already 6+ years old but I just wanted to say that this post is inspiring me to actually try to invest a little capital into and revive/update my i3v 8" vs just tearing it down or letting it continue to gather dust. We will see if this is a smart decision or not in the next few months as there is a lot to re-learn and do but it was once a great printer for me I just want to get it back to that state again.

[RobH2]

I hear you. I just gave mine to a guy who is excited about doing the same thing. It was a good printer and I used it a lot for a long time. About 3-years ago my "Itty Bitty" motor/head mount cracked. I didn't have another printer and like a dummy, didn't have a spare ready to go on the shelf. Instead I bought a Bambu P1S. But when I went to look at new machines, none of them took 3mm filament by default. And only a couple could even do that with a mod kit. I had about 20 rolls of filament, all stored in plastic bins with desiccant that was not totally absorbed yet. I didn't want to just throw that out or recycle it. I listed it on Craigs List and after about 3-months a guy wrote and said he wanted it. He was going to tear it down, put it back together and give it to kid to use. He also had access to industrial bulk filament dryers. So I think my old 'i3v-8' will live on. It was a great printer and had nothing wrong with it except the cracked mount. If you revive yours write back. If the guys updates me one day I'll do the same.