Makerfarm Prusa 10" i3v Available!

[gmay3]

Well, I think you made a good choice, even though it's disappointing that it won't be there as quickly. I think it will save you some headaches so you can just focus on the build process!

[clough42]

I had to email Colin and put my order on hold. I originally ordered without a hot end and was going to order an E3d. Since I was having issues figuring how I was going to mount the E3d, since it doesn't come with a mount plate and I just couldn't confirm how I was going to mount it, and since gmay3 and some others have said that they had good luck with the hexagon, I figured I will just go with that for now, and when I get more experience or build another printer will give the E3d a shot. Because of all this, I went to pay the difference, and had issues with paypal, and am now travelling for work, so now my kit won't be there waiting for me when I get back. sooo bummed!

The hex is a good choice. I'm very happy with mine. I would recommend heating it to temperature the first time and retightening the nozzle and barrel. All-metal hot ends can loosen as the aluminum block expands.

[Drone]

My 10" i3v came in yesterday and started the build yesterday evening. Have an iPad next to my build area to play the build videos and follow along. So far build is going very nicely, all parts are there and no issues to deal with yet. Going together quite well. Colin did a great job on the videos, but I really would have liked to see a DVD with the build videos with a menu system to navigate easily to the right building section. Wouldn't be expensive to do and would add some value to an already great kit.

Just got home from work and after a bite to eat I'm going to start on the frame assembly. I'm enjoying the build and am taking my time since half the fun for me is building and configuring, so I'm in no rush. I figure I should be ready to fire up and start calibration Saturday afternoon, but I'll see how it goes.

Thanks for all the advice from previous posters in this forum. Even though I had read most of it before, now that I have the kit and I'm assembling it these posts make a lot more sense.

[gzzmos]

I got my 10" I3v 2 weeks ago and love it! took me about 10hrs to build. been making spare parts and small upgrades for it.

[usarmyaircav]

I should be fixing my order tonight, so mine should ship early next week. I think I am going to go the route of gmay3, and spray paint the wood pieces before putting them together.

[jtice]

Some great info here guys. I am very seriously considering this printer.

I originally was going to buy a Wanhao Duplicator 4. They seem to have a decent following, and since they are modeled off the Makerbots alot of the support for them carries over.
I generally dont mind kits, but this being my first 3D printer I was leaving toward an assembled printer.
The Wanhao seems like it would be very sturdy since it has a full case, they actually just released the Duplicator 4S, that has an all steel case.

Do you guys feel the Prusa printers are made well as far as being sturdy and ridged?

One thing I seem to be hung up on is build volume. I dont neeeeed it to be huge, but I really dont want to run into things I want to print but cant due to size.
The Wanhao has a build volume of 225mm x 145mm x 150mm, vs. the Prusa 10" being 254mm x 254mm
I also like that the Prusa is upgradable, and I see there are already larger heated beds available.
Really wish they had a 12" x 12" kit !!!!!!!! I would buy that for sure!
I dont want to deal with modding it right at first though, since this is my first printer, I think it would be best to build it stock. Then maybe upgrade later.

The Wanhaos are also enclosed. Do any of you feel that the open design of the Prusa hurts your prints?
I have read that having an enclosure helps with printer ABS.
I suppose I could eventually build some sort of lexan box to place over the Prusa.

I assume the software side of things is good with the Prusa also?
As far as being able to use the typical softwares like ReplicatorG, Makerware, Sli3r? (I plan to print from SD card)
What about the firmware thats on the Prusa, is it considered to be good firmware?

Thanks for the help guys, itching to order one!

[gmay3]

usarmyaircav,

I just wanted to clarify that it was printbus that spray painted his parts before assembly. Mine's still the bare wood but if I had to do it again I would spray paint em!

[usarmyaircav]

Thanks for the clarification gmay3! I just got notification that my 10" I3v shipped!

[gmay3]

That's great! Also, I should mention that I used thread locker blue on every structural screw without a locknut that did not need to be calibrated or adjusted in the future.

Just to avoid any confusion, some examples of where not to put threadlocker would be the bed leveling screws, screws used to mount the 3d printed extruder parts or hot end to the x carriage, and essentric spacer assemblies. Also do not use threadlocker when the nylon locking nuts are required.

Some examples of where to use threadlocker would be the x and y carriage structures and frame screws where a nut trap is used with a non locking nut.

If you have any questions during your build, Colin is a great resource, but also feel free to ask all of us!

[Drone]

I finished my printer this weekend and printed out a few test prints. Overall it looks pretty good, but a few areas of the print could be improved like the top layer is not smooth. It looks like there is not enough material on the top horizontal surface after the infill. Maybe the infill should stop a couple of layers sooner and the top surface should be solid for a thicker surface. Maybe a design issue of the tool holder, I'm not really sure. If you look at the first picture you can see inside the square recess and see the honeycomb infill pattern like the solid layer over the top of the surface is not thick enough and the top horizontal surface did not come out smooth at all. It looks like it needs more PLA extruded for solid horizontal surfaces. Not sure. Here's a tool holder from Thingiverse and this took 14hrs to print.

IMG_0304a.jpg

The vertical surfaces look pretty good except for the cupping at all the corners. I'm not sure what's causing that, but layer heights look consistent.

IMG_0308a.jpg

Here's 2 more from different angles.

IMG_0306a.jpgIMG_0307a.jpg

The pictures look like there are some small gaps between layers, but there are no gaps. Just bad lighting, bad iPhone camera, and bad photographer (me). I made the mistake of using a heated bed with PLA and blue tape, I thought that was what I was supposed to do. Getting this off the build plate was seriously difficult even after a 2 hr cool down and I still have some tape adhered to the bottom of the print that will need to be scraped off I guess unless anyone has a good trick to get rid of the tape. I will try blue tape without heat and see if that helps with print release while still holding well during a print. The bottom covered very well and it looks like if I want a smooth bottom blue tape is not going to be the answer since the bottom has the transferred the tape texture and lines to the bottom surface of the print. Here is the bottom.

IMG_0309a.jpg

I'm not unhappy with the first prints, although the first 2 prints weren't great until I measured the distance from either side of the build plate to the underside of the X axis aluminum extrusion and adjust the Z nuts until the extrusion was level to the bed (why wasn't this step in the instructions? Seems kind of important) and this made a very big difference in the squareness of the test prints . I did print a few small parts before the tool holder print, but I really wanted to know if the printer could sustain long print jobs without issue. At 14 hrs this gives me confidence that the printer is reasonably built and just needs a bit of tweaking here and there. The motors never got that hot, even the extruder motor. I could hold my finger on the motor indefinitely even at the 14hr mark, so I guess the driver must be close to a good adjustment. I also haven't really done any calibration yet either other than bed leveling, but my next step will be to calibrate the filament feed rate.

Like I said, I'm pretty happy with the early results and I'm sure this is going to work fine for the prototyping I want to do with this printer. I just need to address some fine tuning issues at this point. If any of you see obvious areas I should consider changing/adjusting please feel free to comment. All I've done so far is pretty much stock build and stock settings, so I'm sure there is lots of room for improvement. Comments welcome!