MakerFarm 8" i3v Prusa build by Printbus

[tfast500]

Hello and thank you for this very detailed build thread! Will be very useful to me for my new MakersFarm prusa i3v 10" kit. I am curious how much this will pertain to the newer and bigger kit. I'm not sure if there is any difference other than size? I am debating to paint mine I'm wondering if I should mess with it I usually feel like a kid on Christmas day when I receive something new and rush to put everything together... Going to refrain from that as much as possible as this is my first printer and I'm a complete newb. I am curious how you like simplify3d I see you have it listed in your sig. I am debating to just get this and use it right out of the gate with this new printer. Also I'm from Fort Morgan CO glad to see a fellow Colorado member right off the bat!

[printbus]

Hello and thank you for this very detailed build thread! Will be very useful to me for my new MakersFarm prusa i3v 10" kit.

Thanks. There certainly are other build threads. At the time of my build, person after person seemed to raise the same questions and issues regarding their printer. There only was one i3v model at the time, so all of us had the same size printer with the same display and the same electronics. The only option was with the hot end. This left it easier than it is today to understand issues and share lessons learned. The main reason I started putting together the build thread was to have a reference to point to when someone had a question on their (identical) printer. With today's range of printer sizes and options, I'm not sure I'd do it again.

... I am curious how much this will pertain to the newer and bigger kit. I'm not sure if there is any difference other than size?

The degree of applicability will vary. First, note that MakerFarm has improved the detail and quality of the build guides considerably from that of the 8-inch i3v as of April 2014 when I started the thread. That alone eliminates the need for some of the detail included in my build thread. Some of the gripes we had about the i3v in 2014 (like the frustrating approach to setting Z-axis bed clearance) have been resolved through changes MakerFarm has made to the design. This eliminates the need for more of the build thread detail. To a major extent, the 8, 10, and 12 inch printers are just scaled versions of each other, so when something applies to one size printer it generally applies to the others as well. Printer differences mostly surface in the options for electronics and display. Even with those options, the printer will function the same but will need to be built/wired a bit differently.

What reading any build thread will show you is that there likely WILL be things you'll have to figure out. There likely WILL be things about your prints that you won't understand. You likely WILL realize there's a lot more to 3D printing than you thought, and that there WILL be a lot you'll have to learn.

...I am debating to paint mine I'm wondering if I should mess with it I usually feel like a kid on Christmas day when I receive something new and rush to put everything together... Going to refrain from that as much as possible as this is my first printer and I'm a complete newb.

There have been multiple discussions over these points. First, note that in the warranty, I believe MakerFarm now excludes coverage if the printer has been painted. I'd probably still paint mine and risk the warranty coverage since I prefer the painted look. Especially for the larger printers, the wood plate for the Y-bed has a history of warping problems; I have suggested a few users leave that plate unpainted in case warpage replacement is needed under warranty. The y-bed plate is mostly hidden from view anyway.

Some prefer to rush through a build and get the printer working, perhaps backtracking to dress up the build later. I was in the other extreme that did a very drawn out build, trying to optimize things as I went. There are advantages and disadvantages to both extremes, and nothing wrong with striving for something in-between. For what it is worth, there's a lot of wiring involved in the printer. Deciding on how much time and effort you put into dressing up the wiring is a big driver in how "finished" the printer will look when you are done. Again, there have been some that just get the printer working with haphazard wiring, and then go back and clean things up later.

...I am curious how you like simplify3d I see you have it listed in your sig. I am debating to just get this and use it right out of the gate with this new printer...

I only have a few points to add beyond what RobH2 already said. I transitioned through slic3r, Cura, the Repetier Host & Cura combination, and then Simplify3D. I moved away from Slic3r mainly because I grew frustrated with having to try figuring out what worked and what didn't work in each new release, often reverting back to an older version after a while. Standalone Cura provided great printing results, but I found the structure of the user interface frustrating. For the longest while, the combination of Repetier Host using Cura Engine as the integrated slicer was superb. I especially liked how I could do EVERYTHING I wanted to from within Repetier Host, with the same print quality results from Cura, in a user interface structure I found made sense. As most people do, I eventually grew to the point where I wanted more slicing control than possible with Cura. For example, I wanted to print infill as fast as I could where quality was hidden, while striving for good top/bottom solid layer quality by printing them slower. Cura doesn't (or at least didn't at the time) have speed settings that differentiated infill vs. exposed solid layers. I like the print results I get with Simplify3D, but I have to admit that I do miss a number of printer control features I grew used to in Repetier Host. Yes, I could slice in Simplify3D and print from Repetier Host, but come on...

Do understand that the slicing process includes somewhere over 100 settings regarding your printer, your filament, and what you are trying to accomplish in a print. Whether starting from the MakerFarm suggestion of slic3r or a slicer like Simplify3D, try to find existing configuration files or setup details that will hopefully give you a chance at reasonable results on initial attempts without the frustration of learning or guessing at every one of those settings up front. Expect to to research and experiment with the settings as you work to improve your prints. With time, you'll learn which of those are set-once-and-forget vs the few that have to be tweaked nearly every print.

Pretty excited for my printer haha I can barely wait!

3D printing turns out to be too frustrating for some and fascinating for others. If you're expecting injection-molded print quality from a plug-and-play printer, leave the box closed when you receive it and resell it. If your degree of handiness involves only a pair of pliers and you're not sure where even those are, also leave the box closed and resell it. I was and continue to be in the other extreme. For me, it provides a fascinating combination of electronics, mechanics, materials science, microcontrollers, and firmware programming that can be hard to beat, at a fairly reasonable cost compared to what some other hobbies or interests could run.

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Welcome to the MakerFarm community, and enjoy your build. The thread traffic in the MakerFarm subforum is a fraction of what it used to be. When you get your kit, start a build thread and let us know how you're doing, posting any questions you run into there.

[tfast500]

MakerFarm has improved the detail and quality of the build guides considerably from that of the 8-inch i3v as of April 2014 when I started the thread. That alone eliminates the need for some of the detail included in my build thread. Some of the gripes we had about the i3v in 2014 (like the frustrating approach to setting Z-axis bed clearance) have been resolved through changes MakerFarm has made to the design. This eliminates some more of the need for build thread detail..

I am happy to hear that some of these things wont be an issue for me with this new build.

What reading any build thread will show you is that there likely WILL be things you'll have to figure out. There likely WILL be things about your prints that you won't understand. You likely WILL realize there's a lot more to 3D printing than you thought, and that there WILL be a lot you'll have to learn.

I totally get that. I am sure I will have so much to learn maybe even more then some newbies, but I am both eager and excited to do so. I am confident this will be a challenge I can take on and defeat.

Some prefer to rush through a build and see the printer working, perhaps backtracking to dress up the build later.

I am thinking ill probably be one of those people haha

Do understand that the slicing process includes somewhere over 100 settings regarding your printer, your filament, and what you are trying to accomplish in a print. Whether starting from the MakerFarm suggestion of slic3r or a slicer like Simplify3D, try to find existing configuration files or setup details that will hopefully give you a chance at reasonable results on initial attempts without the frustration of learning or guessing at all those settings up front. Plan to research and experiment with the settings. With time, you'll learn which of those are set-once-and-forget vs the few that have to be tweaked nearly every print.

This seems tedious hopefully its not too bad. I went ahead and purchased the Simplify3d software. I hope this eliminates wasted time trying to learn the many other slicers. It was a bit steep for me to spend that much on something I was ultimately clueless about but from what I have seen and read about it. It is truly the way to go. I have played with it and it seems great so far.

3D printing turns out to be too frustrating for some and fascinating for others. If you're expecting injection-molded print quality from a plug-and-play printer, leave the box closed when you receive it and resell it. If your degree of handiness involves only a pair of pliers and you're not sure where even those are, leave the box closed and resell it. I was and continue to be in the other extreme. For me, it provides a fascinating combination of electronics, mechanics, materials science, microcontrollers, and firmware programming that can be hard to beat, at a comparably effective cost as opposed to some other hobbies or interests.

I am very confident I have the skills to complete and enjoy this printer. I do come in to this understanding this will not be something to just plug in and use. I understand this takes a whole lot of tinkering. How much of that is required I do not know, but if you knew my life style and hobbies you would know I love to tinker!

IMG_20150923_191705125_1.jpg

I do worry that I may be let down by the quality of prints that this and all other consumer grade 3d printers are capable of. I have looked online and have seen some pretty horrible stuff produced but have also seen some pretty great stuff which leaves me at some pretty high expectations. I am not sure how great these prints are in person as I have not actually seen anything in person that has been printed from a 3dprinter. I am pretty sheltered when it comes to this technology. You can imagine the small town I am from that I am very new to the 3d printing world.


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Welcome to the MakerFarm community, and enjoy your build. The thread traffic in the MakerFarm subforum is a fraction of what it used to be. When you get your kit, start a build thread and let us know how you're doing, posting any questions you run into there.

Thanks for the warm welcome I do plan to use this forum as a huge resource. I hope I don't ask to many newbish questions but i do know how to use the search function so i should be ok for the most part

[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.

[printbus]

Larry, thanks for the feedback on the build thread. Welcome to the MakerFarm community, and enjoy your build.

[printbus]

PRINT BED REVAMP - OVERVIEW

My intent here was to rethink the approach to the print surface. I had never cared for the standard Prusa approach of having screw heads sticking up at each corner of the heat bed, since they prevented use of a square piece of glass. The glass either needed to be rectangular to fit within the screw heads or needed to have corners cut/rounded to clear the screws. Finally, the use of binder clips to attach the glass could leave to inconsistencies as binder clip locations are varied. My low hanging print blower, if not adjusted just right, would sometimes catch on a binder clip and, well, that usually wasn't a good thing.

The holy grail solution I wanted to implement would have used the Panucatt Helios heat bed, which is twice as thick as a regular heat bed, provides for 3-point bed mounting/leveling, and has countersunk holes for use with flat head screws. People seemed to really like the Helios boards when they were available a few years ago. Unfortunately, watching out-of-stock status on the item for over a year and lack of any form of communication response from Panucatt leads me to question whether it will ever be available for order again.

The alternative solution I've implemented flips the original MK1 heater over so the heat bed traces face the print surface, combine it with an RP One Labs/reprapchampion aluminum plate, and use PrintBite as a print surface that should require no additional prep for printing. I shouldn't have to use glass again, but if I need to I can add something like the Vellemen GP8200 glass plate that is 215mm square, although I'm not sure what attachment scheme would work with the tall stackup of the heat bed, the aluminum plate, the PrintBite, and the glass. Even small binder clips can't grab all that, and medium clips might extend too far to the left and catch on the printer frame.

I'm flipping the MK1 heater over so that heat can be more directly applied to the aluminum plate. As I understand it, the original concept of the MK1 was to orient the heat traces down to protect them and use the opposite side of the circuit board directly as the print surface. Tricks like adding a glass plate came later when people struggled with the thin heater circuit board flexing. As I see it, once you add something like glass or an aluminum plate over the heater, there's no reason *not* to flip the MK1 over and allow it to do a better job heating whatever is above it.

I didn't migrate to one of the MK2 heaters since there's a post on the reprap wiki that cautions against heater boards that are plated, since the boards can't be plated very exactly or evenly. If true, that's not good for obtaining even heat distribution from the heater. All the MK2 boards I looked at were plated boards, driven by the plated through holes that accommodate wiring to either side of the board. The MK2 boards also have a small center hole to allow a thermistor to pass through it and touch the print surface. This sounds good, but it seems to me the disruption to trace routing caused by the thermistor hole would also impact even heat distribution from the heater. I didn't migrate to a MK3 aluminum heat bed since Flex3d says one should not install PrintBite directly on an aluminum heater. I'm not sure why, and I've effectively done the same thing, but at least in my approach I can swap out a failed heater board at minimal cost, retaining the aluminum plate and PrintBite for reuse with a new heater.

The RP One Labs aluminum plate design is specified to a flatness of 0.1mm. One side is notched to accommodate the exposed wiring pads on an MK2 heater, but the notch also works with the flipped-over MK1. The aluminum plate provides countersunk mounting screw holes (albeit 4-point instead of 3-point mounting), and provides a machined channel for installation of a thermistor directly onto the aluminum plate.

I opted for PrintBite as the print surface since you pretty much can find only good comments about it. There's more info on it in the Anyone used Printbite surface? thread. So far, I concur with everything positive Curious Aardvark has had to say about it. I wasn't expecting PrintBite to turn out to just be a thin sheet of FR4 fiberglass, but supposedly it has some characteristics not found in all FR4. That better be the case, since I already had sheets of FR4 that I could have at least tried instead of ordering from overseas to get PrintBite.

Unfortunately, the solution I've implemented may be pretty specific to the 8-inch version of the i3v. I'm not aware of a similar aluminum plate for the other sizes of i3v.

Installation insight and photos to follow.