Learning about 3D printers and looking for input

[RandyWilson]

The Ender 3 is more kit-like.
The base is prebuilt. Z-axis and X-axis have to be assembled and lead screw and belt installed. The extruder part is pre-assembled.
All in it took about an hour. I could have done it in less had I not misread the tiny pictures.

Did you pop the bottom cover off to see which controller board you have?

 

[Technical Ted]

I'll find out first hand tomorrow because FedEx says my Prusa kit will be delivered then. I'm not overly concerned about assembling the kit, but I am about finding the time to devote to working on it, since the 12 week old monster that now lives in my house demands 99% of my time!

Ted

 

[Aaron_W]

I'll find out first hand tomorrow because FedEx says my Prusa kit will be delivered then. I'm not overly concerned about assembling the kit, but I am about finding the time to devote to working on it, since the 12 week old monster that now lives in my house demands 99% of my time!

Ted

View attachment 356403

Look at those ears! I am sure you will have that exact same view when you open your Gummi bears.


I'm sure you won't have any trouble putting it together, I've just become accustomed to "kits" that in reality are just "some assembly required" and putting a few subassemblies together.

The Prusa printer kit is a legitimate use of the word kit, you get a decent size box filled with small boxes and baggies of parts. It is well organized with well thought out and detailed directions that even have CR codes for your phone with direct links to the internet if you need more details on any step. It was a pleasure to put it together, a few times a third hand or smaller fingers would have been nice, but that is always the case. They even include the screw driver and Allen wrenches you will need. I would suggest having a knife and a small adjustable wrench, handy for a few spots. There are a lot of small nuts and bolts, but they even include a baggie with some spares in case a few escape.

 

[Technical Ted]

Must be FedEx likes my printer more than I do since they have held it in Newark NJ for several days now and labeled the shipment date as "pending". It went from Europe to Indianapolis IN (FedEx major international hub), through customs, on to Newark NJ in just a couple of days. Now it sits in Newark for days which is only a couple hundred miles from me.

I contacted Prusa and they said FedEx is blaming the weather in Memphis TN for the delay. This seems a little like BS to me since Memphis is hundreds of miles away and the FedEx resource which shows delays in areas states that Newark and my whole state are good with no delays....

Go figure.
Ted

 

[7milesup]

Freaking shipping delays are everywhere. Looks like it is going to be almost 2 weeks for my new lathe to go from California to Wisconsin.

My brother ordered a starter at his work (he is an injector pump guru) with UPS next day air. Didn't show up until 5 days later. The lady at UPS told him that it was too cold for airplanes to fly. Seriously. I busted out laughing.

 

[7milesup]

Dave.... Glad to hear you recovered from PB. Scary stuff.
For some reason I am still not getting updates on threads that I am watching, so sorry I missed that about you.

Back on track..... The Prusa kits are the most well organized and have the most concise set of instructions that I have ever seen. Sort of like the McMaster website is the gold standard of how web filters should work.

 

[DavidR8]

Dave.... Glad to hear you recovered from PB. Scary stuff.
For some reason I am still not getting updates on threads that I am watching, so sorry I missed that about you.

Back on track..... The Prusa kits are the most well organized and have the most concise set of instructions that I have ever seen. Sort of like the McMaster website is the gold standard of how web filters should work.

Thanks 7, I’m feeling much better. I was also battling some kind of cold which didn’t help.
I’m having fun with my printer, made a base for an Arduino board that will power my CNC plasma cutter.
I’m also investigating printing movable type for use in letter press.

 

[RandyWilson]

Somone asked about Octoprint earlier. I'm sitting at work, monitoring a 10 hour print of an Er32 collet rack.This one is the second attempt. The first try this monring didn't stick to the bed in one corner. My fault, didn't clean the bed all the way to the edges. I was able to see the issue and abort the print while sitting in the doctor's office. When I stopped by the house afterward I was able to CLEAN and restart.

 

[Technical Ted]

My son gave me one of his Raspberry Pis that he wasn't using (3) and I bought a Pi camera V2 and have been playing with it. I've got it wired into my router and the video is great watching it on other wired PCs. But, wireless absolutely sucks! So choppy it's not even worth watching and huge legacy. I've played with resolution, quality, framerate and to get it even close to real time the picture quality is terrible. I searched on-line and the saw a video that demonstrated the bandwidth limitations of wireless.

Anyone have any experience with this and have some suggestions? Wired it perfect, wireless is horrible! Am I missing a compression setting or something???

Thanks,
Ted

 

[DavidR8]

Congrats, David. Welcome to the deepest rabbit hole on the planet. When you get the machine, pop the bottom cover off of the base and snap a picture of the motherboard. The 32 bit version should have V4.2.x screened on.

I looked last night and it's a 32 bit board.