I’ve finally given in and I’m going to get one of these… things…
Just asking for a little advice… Has anyone had any /problems/ with this company? It is by far the cheapest Perusa i3 kit that I’ve found including postage to Australia…
I don’t mind if some of the parts aren’t quite up to scratch, all the electronics look like clones of all the others and the motors seem OK or are easy to replace. Plus I don’t like the colour I’m happy to spend a little more if I get much better known quality but they are hard to differentiate between.
@Kenneth_Cummings , I did. Or rather, the Printrbot Simple Metal.
Been building and setting up a builder’s edition for the last few weeks(owned by someone else), it’s what got me started down this path… Main limits are are: Heavily limited upgrade options(Can’t make it larger(I /need/ 350mm build area), no dual head possibility) and the PEEK jhead. Plus it ends up costing about $700 to get to Australia and I can get an i3 locally for about that.
There are too many companies selling printers now to keep track of them all. Someone else will have to comment on the MKIV J-head. I have no experience with those. GT2 belts and pulleys are good. I have my doubts about LM8 bearings running on zinc plated rods though. I would worry that the plating would eventually be problematic. Cheap enough to replace if they area a problem.
Still, it should get you up and running, and this brings me to what I really wanted to talk about. Don’t worry too much about your upgrades until you’ve learned your way around a working printer. You may decide you don’t need the larger build area (needs heated chamber for very large parts), or the LCD, or auto-level, or… Fortunately, most of the upgrades will transfer to whatever printer you decide to build next. And some of your money will be spent on fixes. Maybe a lot. But it’s good to start on a less expensive printer.
However, if you want it more as a tool than as a tinkering project, spend more money.
@NathanielStenzel I hope to have the frame replaced long before then but thanks for the warning! It’ll definally wear better than the timber option I was looking at before. @Dale_Dunn The ‘clear upgrade path’ was a major factor in looking at the Perusa, once I’ve verified the parts and played around, building the larger frame will also include replacing most of the rods and I’ll make a point of hunting down hardened stainless steel, I hadn’t noticed that the kit ones were galv. I estimate about half the kit will be replaced by the time the planned upgrades are done.
I also like that I can ‘pause’ at any point and play with it as it is, experiment and learn before working on the next stage.
And fiddling/experimenting and at the end having something to make things with is the whole point. Plus I just can’t afford an Ultimaker…
Why buy a kit when you’ll replace most of the hardware? You could just as easily buy a prusa i3 printed parts kit, or get custom made printed parts (at 350mm you need at least 10mm rods, if not 12mm, none of the parts from the kit will work), buy the rods, and some good electronics.
Wood is not bad for a frame. With a table saw and a drill press you can make an awesome frame from MDF, seal it with a good paint or shellac, and it will last a long time.
If you plan to buy a kit just to upgrade it, then your wasting your time and money.
@Stephanie_A I double-checked, It’s a /250mm/ build space, not 350… Edited the post to fix this. 50mm up from the from the original, I’m hopeful this won’t be a problem, especially once I switch to a bowden extruder However I will remember to upgrade the rods if I do make a larger one.
Basically, the printer has to fit in a half meter cube box for travel. I’ve already got a 450mm square plate of Aluminium(from another project) ready for cutting, I also want to do what @Dale_Dunn suggested and learn the tricks of this particular style printer on a ‘known good’ kit before going into the upgrades.
@Electra_Flarefire A company called Gadgets 3D out of Hong Kong and Europe has an acrylic Prusa i3 WITH the screen you mentioned and other goodies for $499. I was about to purchase this when Solidoodle offered a great sale on its older models so I got an SD2. There is a lot to learn to 3D print and I am glad I purchased this unit. For the money, $399, it is a great unit and I am learning a lot. Because the price was low, I was able to purchase parts to build a CNC Router from OpenBuilds and printing some parts for it on the 3D printer. Eventually I will make a Prusa i3 milling an aluminum frame and table support on the CNC and buying parts from OpenBuilds, Inventables and Gadgets3D. For me this was the best choice. Good luck.
If the electronics and motors are good, I would say the size of the print bed does not matter too much since you can upgrade that later. Of course printing the parts for the next printer may be slower, but a smaller printer will not have to wait long to heat the bed either, so keep that in mind. I would say I could print more with a smaller printer than I do with the printer I have now. I do not print very tall of stuff and I rarely use more than 20% of the printer bed and it takes 45 minutes to heat the printer bed before each print. I just figured I would share that, since it may not have been considered. Of course, if I printed in PLA, I would not have to heat this printer bed up either.
I bought this kit and it worked fairly well, the main issues were trouble with high temperatures (all printed parts are PLA and the hotend mount/extruder did not stand up to printing ABS).
Additionally the acrylic bed platform is IMO a bit weak.
If I were to buy a Prusa i3 kit in the same price range today I would go for a metal frame/bed (e.g. replikeo).
All that said it is a lot of printer for the money, but it requires a lot of tweaking, and it is not a printer for those that “just want to print”. If you want to learn about printers, and build a better printer down the road it’s an OK and inexpensive start.
Do not buy their ABS it really sucks, the PLA is OK.
If you are getting a bigger frame you will need longer rods/bars too…
My dad and I also bought and built this kit. The imitation J Head hotend included in this kit gets very hot when there is no fan on (first layers) and it ended up melting the 3d printed plate that held it in place within the first 10 hours of use, with the hotend temp never exceeding 200C. You could probably put a dedicated small brushless fan blowing all the time at the cold end to prevent this. We ended up working around the problem by replacing that plate with an aluminum one that distributes the heat better.
I estimate that after 100+ hours of successful prints, the y-axis linear bearings, which were not very good when new, went completely bad. My dad, thankfully, has metal machine tools and cut some nylon bushings on his lathe to replace the linear bearings. Believe it or not, the nylon has much less friction than the cheap linear bearings included in this kit when they were new.
Those are the show-stopping problems that were hardest to work around. Other problems with this kit are a general lack of build instruction, and bugs in how the hardware comes together. You are on your own for all electronics wiring and firmware programming. I am thankful I had previously tinkered with the Arduino platform, so this was not intimidating to me. I could, however, see how someone else would get it mechanically built and then be stuck not being able to get it to run because of the electronics or firmware.
In retrospect, I wish I had found a Prusa i3 kit that costs $100-200 more that is of proven higher quality. Some of the hardware bugs have been a fun challenge to work around, but I’m ready to stop fixing the printer and concentrate on building other neat things.
@Kartish_Nair , a Delta isn’t suitable. They are nice printers and maybe the next one will be, but It has to fit in a 500mm cube for transport and storage, plus they require dismantling to transport without damage(vs, just parking the head against a block of foam on the bed) . Plus I’m going for a RepRap as all the parts are very standard, upgradeable and replaceable when there’s a problem. As it seems there might be.
@Edmund_Betlinski I found the site and printer, the LCD is a $50 extra option(Vs. $20 of ebay:)… Otherwise it looks like a similar printer. Any idea of the parts are PLA or ABS? I’d like to know how the CNC i3 works. I’m intrested in a similar option using a dremel tool(using the flexi-shaft) to machine plastic parts to make more accurate surfaces if needed.
@Oystein_Krog that the parts are PLA is somthing that is very good to know! Did you have a fan blowing over the hot-end to cool it off? Its the ventilated type to allow that. Or did you end up printing an ABS replacement holder? I know the hotend I plan to get /needs/ a fan so it’s something I can add that soon enough.
That I have to replace the rods anyway is what makes me less worried about the zinc coating on these. @Tom_Buaas Any idea where there is one for $100 more? Considering the amount of parts I’ll end up replacing, the $300 extra to get one locally and better made is better spent on the longer rods and other replacements… I’ll /definally/ have to cool the hot end.
I’m no stranger to Arduinos and the RAMPS boards look very well documented along with the build instructions on the RepRap site.
Did the bearings sieze even with lubrication? And was it because of the bearings themselves or them clogging up with zinc?
Either of you; was there any problems with the motor or electronics wise that wasn’t just a software/instructions thing? Motors getting too hot, damaged drivers, bad soldering, that sort of thing? The parts that seem to be the problems are already going to be replaced, but I don’t want to have to replace a RAMPS board!
@Electra_Flarefire My Delta is shipped with all electronics assembled . All you need is place carriages , Smooth rods and pillars then its ready to print .If you want I can give a hackable version which can be upgraded for dual extruder . Heat bed attains 120 C within 5 mins . Aluminium heatbed well insulated below so that printer runs at room temperature for 24 hrs nonstop easily . The main body frame is made in alluminium inside not printed parts . Rest body is covered with acrylic for aesthetics . Will post a video of assemble which takes not more than 2 hours .
+Electra Flarefire I have not yet researched viable alternates to this kit. The RAMPS board was good and continues to remain reliable, as does the knock-off Arduino mega 2560. The pololu drivers and steppers all are good as well. I had to tune the current on the drivers for the motors, but I understand that is a pretty standard “calibration” activity.
@Kartish_Nair it still won’t fit in a 500x500x500 cube, the largest thing I can fit in the boot of my tiny car and on the back of the motorbike. And I doubt it’ll like it when I try and fit a dremel instead of the head! Plus they are fragile when knocked around during transport(Final design goal is ‘box open to ready to print in 5mins’ and this has to handle some real abuse over it’s life.
My next one might be a Delta, but it’s just not suitable at the moment. Plus that’s /way/ past my budget.
I’m happy to spend a little more if I get much better known quality but they are hard to differentiate between.