MakerFarm 8" i3v Prusa build by Printbus

[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.