As I mentioned on the ToolGuyd Instagram channel and also in our what did you buy during Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales? post, I finally bought a 3D printer.
Well, this is technically the second 3D printer I bought. My first purchase was a few years back, for a Printrbot Simple that I couldn’t get to work before I finally returned it.
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I opted for a Prusa i3 MK3S+ kit.
I have a long learning curve ahead of me as I figure out how to 3D-print the parts and components I cannot easily or quickly fabricate via other means. One good thing about Prusa is that they update and revise their i3 printer regularly. The i3 is a hugely popular model, and so I won’t be alone if I encounter all but the rarest of problems or issues.
I took advantage of Prusa’s holiday deal, where they offered free shipping (from Europe), a free spool of PET filament (on top of the included spool of PLA), and a second removable build sheet.
Benjamen has been either teasing me or using reverse psychology, and so I unboxed the printer today to start assembling it.
If I recall correctly, it’s said to require 8 to 10 hours to built from the kit – at the least.
You can purchase a pre-assembled version, if you don’t want to spend time assembling the kit, but building the printer is a good learning experience. Yes, I wanted to save money, but I also considered that international shipping is going to be easier on a box of parts than a fully-assembled machine.
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With my track record, it’d take me a month to build this, maybe two. Or maybe even a year.
So, wanting to prove Ben wrong, I got started today. (That’s a half-truth – I was set to spend some time cleaning my garage workshop and my office workspace, and I convinced myself that getting the 3D printer built would help serve that goal at least partially.)
Above is where I am at now – I built the frame, X, Y, and Z axes. Now I’m up to the extruder axis, which is said to be the hardest and most important part, and so it seems to be a good place to stop.
To be frank, I’m not in love with the idea of using 3D-printed parts to assemble the machine, but there are reasons why this is done. I assume that 1) what better way to showcase what the machine can do?, 2) it allows for faster iterations and less expensive parts than injection molding, and 3) it allows for user-printed updates in the future as revisions are made.
I would say I might try to replicate the parts via manual machining or a small CNC router I’ve been meaning to spend more time with, but the parts’ shapes are too complex. That could also be why they’re 3D-printed – doing so allows for different possibilities than subtractive fabrication technologies, which is why I wanted to buy this machine in the first place.
Once everything is up and ready, and presumably working perfectly, I’ve got some shopping to do. I’m already thinking that it the printer needs an enclosure, but I also want to look around for a fume extractor. I might use my soldering fume extractor short-term, but that’s not a long-term solution.
I have a full schedule tomorrow, but I’ll try to get some more progress done this week.
Any questions?
There’s also a ton of resources at Prusa’s website. So far, I’m already spoiled by their excellent documentation.
MFC
I’ve been wondering about these. What makes you want to use one? What parts/pieces will you be making with it.
Stuart
Jigs, prototyping for misc accessories I would want to machine out of solid wood, plastic, or metal, electronics project components and small enclosures, support accessories, testing accessories.
One thing I’d like to design, if I can find suitable electrical contacts, is a cordless power tool battery pass-thru adapter so I can measure digital signals and also current draw non-destructively.
Mike
Go to thingaverse.com and just browse the things people have been cranking out. Small replacement parts companies don’t sell, gizmos to organize your stuff, etc. If you can’t find more than a handful of things that would improve your life you’re probably reading the wrong blog.
Viv Kirkpatrick
When our Garage door button broke, my son designed and printed a replacement button.
Once you have one, you find all sorts of uses for it. 🙂
Scott ALKB
correction: thingiverse.com
Aaron
Nice! A friend of mine got a creality cr6 se which I think is the opposite philosophy– almost entirely preassembled. Whenever I see something like that I remember an old Dilbert comic where he’s doing for a computer and the salesman says “this one is very user friendly! It has only one button and they push it before it leaves the factory”
Have fun learning, and do keep bringing us along on your journey!
MoogleMan3
Congrats! The prusa is an amazing printer! I’m saving for one now. I have an ender 3 pro, and it gets the job done, but it takes a good bit of tinkering to get very good results. Now that I’m intimate with the parts of a 3d printer and how they work, I’m ready for the step-up myself.
I would have grabbed that prusa holiday deal too, but *somebody* kept posting deals on packouts and other things…
Fazal Majid
It took me about 20 hours over two days to assemble mine earlier this year. Unfortunately the worst is still ahead of you, but you didn’t crack the motor housing on the X axis as I did from over-torquing.
Pay attention to the critical first layer calibration step as filament 3D printing is more art than science. I almost always stick with PETG as material even though it is trickier to work with, because it is less brittle and more temperature resistant.
Viv Kirkpatrick
I built a Mark 2S (later upgraded to Mark 2.5S), and a Mark 3S (+ upgrade kit on order).
I also got their Mini (comes pre-assembled).
I also over-tightened mark of the Mark 3S and had to re-print a part on my Mark 2.5S to replace it.
We got the first printer since my son is in FTC Robotics and developed a talent for drafting that I wanted to encourage. Then we found our local library and churches could use promotional goods that we would design and print for them. We found we would break down at the worst times, so ordered a second printer.
During the COVID lock down, we started printing Face Shields for local hospitals and long term care facilities. We had no time for our own projects so we got the Mini.
We haven’t been sorry. And building our own printers gave us the knowledge and confidence to dig in to fix them when something broke down.
William Adams
Once you start printing, one technique to look into is printing parts in a plastic which can be melted and resolidified a second time at 100% fill, then placing them in a tray of “flour salt” or some similar material, then baking them — doing this is supposed to result in a part as strong as just casting.
Need to get my Ordbot working again and try it myself.
Shirley
I don’t have one but my local library has one and you can do any printing under 4hrs. I used it for printing broken plastic parts, like on toys and my HESH headphone yokes. Now with the lockdowns I’m debating getting one too.
John
You’ll enjoy the printer. I’ve had a Mk3s for year and a half and it’s been trouble free and prints great. I use it with a textured plate for PETG only now. Last I checked, I’ve put close to 30 spools through it (10 kilometers). Once you feel it is printing perfectly, don’t tinker with the printer, just use it. I’ve not needed to change the original nozzle, no clogs, no changing or adjusting the belts. Lubricate the rods with super lube 51004 synthetic grease every month.
Also have an Ender 3 V2 for PLA+ and does a very good job and has been hassle free as well.
Learning 3D printing is the tricky part. Lots of nuances that take time to understand. Slicing correctly and not just using defaults. Prusa has a good forum and there’s one on Reddit as well.
Ray
I bought an Anet A8 in 2018, which I believe is a clone of an i3. Never had a major issue and after working out some bugs I get great prints. I make lots of fixtures and brackets. Some “dial in” tips I learned, get the frame sitting perfectly flat on your surface, it may take loosening some joints and re-tightening. I also used zip ties to keep the Y bearing rails nested at the bottom of their holes, as there is clearance for them to wiggle. I also use a glass bed and wind up having to level it often to get good first layers with PLA, I changed the leveling screws to make it easier to do.
bill in NJ
PRUSA is awesome. Reasonably priced, well built. Just printed a few shelf pegs last night. My kid is CAD’ing up a screw in wall mount for a 3 socket extension cord. 3d printers are all part of the future and at a state where cordless drills were in the mid-90’s.
Benjamen
At first I was a little worried about using 3D printed parts in the construction of the i3 because I’ve had other printers that used 3D printed parts that broke or deformed. But, I think there is big difference between a well engineered printer and a clone/cheap printer.
Prusas are well designed taking into account the properties of the 3D printed parts. The printed parts aren’t used anywhere they are going to get too hot or have too much stress. The other thing is that the design, material, orientation, and print settings make a huge difference in a 3D printed part. Take two similar looking 3D printed parts, one can be 10x stronger/durable than the other depending on the criteria above.
I also wonder if you aren’t stuck in the CNC mindset where as a general rule the CNC machine has to be stronger/stiffer than the material you are working. Since the “business” end doesn’t need to come into contact with the workpiece, the machine only needs to be as strong stiff as required to get the level of precision you are printing and as strong as required so it doesn’t break down.
TonyT
My feelings are along these lines. Note that the original RepRap-style printers had a lot more laser cut (and probably 3D printed) parts; over time, Prusa has gone to more custom parts.
I wouldn’t say I’m a big fan of all the 3D printed parts, but when I built my Prusa, I did see some of the advantages; the 3D printed parts do allow the possibility of complex parts that perform multiple functions (like the X carriage) , and can be improved over time (the Mk3S+ has some), along with easy replacement parts and user improvements.
I recently dropped a filament spool on my printers; it broke the Y axis motor mount. Right now, the motor is tie-wrapped on, and working OK, but I will be printing another mount. If it was metal, it wouldn’t have broken, but it might have been bent, which can be hard to fix, too.
Frank D
I have this printer on my short list as a possible future upgrade for my ender-3, but I would order it with the multi-material head.
Their mini version is tempting, as it is pre-assembled, and has the new UI controller screen. I’m hoping they add that to MK3 this year. Plus for such a relatively expensive system it really REALLY ought to have networking and wifi out the gate, included. Not aftermarket. Not with the weakest raspberries possible like they did. It is underpowered. And, setting up raspbian boxes with extra hardware and octoprint can be a giant pita. I got stuck with a few printer issues and a couple raspbian/octoprint bugs during a clean install … and felt close to chucking the lot out the window.
I hope Prusa steps up their game with more user friendly features.
Steve M
My Anet A8 has been indispensible for jigs – I put in new decking this fall and used it to:
– set the exact angle on my circ saw for the fascia miter cuts
– mark the offset for correct gaps between the deck boards and the fascia
– make a spacer for the circ saw guide when I needed to cut a narrower strip than the guide would allow
Plus, it’s been super useful in making custom cookie cutters for my wife.
Make sure to get the FREE hobbyist license for Autodesk’s Fusion 360 – very powerful s/w for part design.
Scott ALKB
https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/personal
“Fusion 360 for personal use is a limited version that includes basic functionality, free for 1-year for non-commercial use.”
Farid
Good luck with the build. Assembling your own and learning about the parts helps with troubleshooting issues later down the road as the printer ages.
Prusa printers are nice. My FTC robotics team on a tight budget could not afford it though, so we have a creality 3D pro. So far, I must say I am impressed. We’ve been printing a lot of parts, such as motor mounts, bearing hubs, intake hubs, angle brackets, etc. What I like about it is the ability to use the Cura slicer. It’s much better software than my XYZ printer. While the XYZ PRO does nice ABS prints, the software and support is horrid.
We have been using Microcenter brand PLA+ and the strength & print quality is also impressive. They now carry PETG+ as well. Supposedly it is less gummy and easier to print, but I have not printed anything with it yet.
PETG is nice for large prints since it does not shrink and lift off the print plate. It also nice for printing items for the shop, since it can be easy cleaned an resists a lot of chemicals. If you need to glue it, 2-part polyurethane adhesive work really well. I have used PETG to print tool holders and organizers for my wall mount system , as well as dial indicator holder, lathe stop, cellphone stand (for endless teleconferences), and number of other parts. Like my son says, I like how you can think of something, design it, and just print it.
Final tip: this is my personal observation. Color affects filament quality to a degree, and the closer the filament color is to the filament’s natural state, the better strength and printability. Translucent colors in PETG have done better than dark opaque colors. For PLA, lighter colors looked nicer and smoother than darker colors (e.g. yellow vs navy). I can print green ABS at a slightly lower temp and higher speed than darker blue! However, it’s not always that easy and have seen tests online sometimes show better results with counterintuitive choices.
TonyT
For a printer case, I’d either go extruded aluminum (80/20, Faztek, etc) or the Lack case, which is quite popular. I’ll probably go the Lack route.
For a filter, you can find a variety of commercial and home-brew solutions, but note that unless they’ve been tested, you can’t be sure how well they work. Although I haven’t used it, https://www.printer-box.com/hepa-carbon-filter/ looks interesting because they’re using filters already specified by a reputable manufacturer (Zortrax).
For models, I typically look at PrusaPrinters.org and Thingiverse (which can be overwhelming), and occasionally at other sites like youmagine.com
Prusa’s blog often has good resources, too, such as:
https://blog.prusaprinters.org/how-to-make-3d-printed-lego-and-lego-duplo-parts_31741/
https://blog.prusaprinters.org/how-to-make-food-grade-3d-printed-models_40666/
Stuart
Thanks! I’ll likely price-out an 80/20 solution – I love working with the stuff.
Chris
I’d really like to get one. A prusa would be nice but for the stuff I’d be doing with it, I can’t justify the price. I don’t want to go and get a cheap one either. It’s hard to keep wanting things you can’t afford 😄
Stacey Jones
Awesome to see you getting more into 3D Printers! It would be great to get your thoughts in a review. On a side note, I’m not particularly mechanically inclined, but me and my son put together an Ender 3 Pro and a Ender 3 V2. It took about 2.5 hours apiece. Both are humming along nicely, but I would give a slight edge on quality to the E3PRO. It may just be the different filament in each printer. The Overture PLA looks best! I just got a Creality resin printer for Christmas but have been too ill to unbox it and play with it yet. Soon. Show us your prints!
Adam
I have not regretted our Prusa I3 Mk3S kit for a moment since buying and building it. Fun STEM activity with my HS freshman daughter, and great tool for all manner of fun and useful prints.
I found Fusion360 (free hobbyist license) reasonably straightforward to learn with some tutorials and example videos from makers on YouTube demonstrating their design processes. Keeping sketches simple and commiting key parameters of the design as variables (modify->parameters) really keeps things under control. And TinkerCAD is simple enough for the elementary school aged kids to make stuff too (more of a stacking and modifying 3D objects paradigm, vs. the F360 sketch/extrude/modify paradigm).
I just designed custom clips to attach 3 personal and work laptop power supplies under my desk, and becuase of the variables, the second two took less than 30 seconds each to produce the models (and much of that was measuring the power bricks).
From grabbing custom wall mounts for VR headsets and controllers off thingiverse to designing my own pegboard mount for a set of HF scrapers, I’m using it all the time. I love Overture PETG in black for anything functional/structural. Easy to print on the textured plate, and stronger and less brittle than PLA.
I keep a cheap composition book at hand to jot down ideas, measurments, and sketches, and then jump into F360 when I get the chance. I keep a 6 inch caliper and a stack of 3d-printed thickness/chamfer/filet size reference samples at hand too (great to decide whether I want a 3, 4, or 5 mm wall thickness, since I don’t yet think in metric, but prefer to design for 3D printing with metric Those are at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4610537
Scott
I have 3 mk3s printers and 4 Prusa minis. They are amazing machines. Make sure you lube the bearings before assembly and use the online manual instead of just the printed one. I know it says not to lube the bearings, but just do it, otherwise you might be dealing with scratched rods quickly.
Tim Metcalf
PLEASE publish more Prusa build pieces. I am just completing a custom cabinet on which I intend to mount a Prusa 3D printer. I enjoy your pieces.