looking for first 3D printer

Hi Guys,

I am looking into hobby 3d printing, and i have a budged of less then 400$. i wanted to ask if i can get anything with this money?
Are the prusia i3 kits sold on ebay worth the money.

any suggestions.

PS. i am good with mechanical things and electronics and have spare arduinos for it. any way i can get the mechanical parts sorted out by going the build way ???


Timi,

if you going for the i3, build the mega i3 instead, it about the same money as buying the i3 kit thats half the size, I bought the mega i3 printed kit on ebay and bought the rest of the material in local hardware store, have the printer almost finished its costing me 150 so far without the hotend and electronics yet, im transferring everything from my small i3 to it so it is only costing me 150 dollars and I have double the print volume and I be left with the little i3 frame I don't know what I be doing with it, I wish I had went for the mega from the start, would have saved that 100 dollars then....

all in all I say you would build the mega for under 400 bucks, thats giving me 400mm x400mm x400mm to print

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2015 02:16PM by deaconfrost.

You could look at ReplikEo. They are based in Hong Kong but run by a couple of Ex Pats (Westerners).
They had problems in the early days with shippers but seem to have overcome these problems.
I bought an Ormerod2 from them but have not assembled it yet.
They charge $249.99 for an i3 Prusa. Here they are
Bye the way all the plastic parts are ABS moulded.
PS. I just added a dummy order and shipping to the US would be $103.35 giving a total of $353.34.

If your in the U.S. You might want to take a look at the Makerfarm Pegasus, it's a i3 style vslot printer kit and comes with a E3Dv6 Lite hotend.

Makerfarm Pegasus

I don't own one, but it does look pretty good to me, and I've been happy with my previous Makerfarm purchases.

Hi Guys,

I searched around and the minimum i need to spend even for ReplikEo would be around 500$ with shipping and 2 spools of PLA 1.75mm + few spare plastic parts and a couple of stop switches in case it goes south.

i will try to go with ReplikEo with 3mm steel frame and dual extruders "in case one does not work". Hope to get a working printer . will update when i will get it.

If it works with the spare plastic parts will try to make another one later on.


Thanks a lot to:
-------------
deaconfrost
BriComp
madmike8
-------------


Timi.

Quote
deaconfrost
if you going for the i3, build the mega i3 instead, it about the same money as buying the i3 kit thats half the size, I bought the mega i3 printed kit on ebay and bought the rest of the material in local hardware store, have the printer almost finished its costing me 150 so far without the hotend and electronics yet, im transferring everything from my small i3 to it so it is only costing me 150 dollars and I have double the print volume and I be left with the little i3 frame I don't know what I be doing with it, I wish I had went for the mega from the start, would have saved that 100 dollars then....

all in all I say you would build the mega for under 400 bucks, thats giving me 400mm x400mm x400mm to print

Why? What are going to print on that printer as a beginner?

You keep on mentioning that mega is twice as big but it actually has 8 times the volume of the i3. I find i3 plentifull in size and could live with a smaller printer for 90% of the prints.

Dont forget that by increasing the lenght of all the smooth rods you are making them flimsy. Heatbed would by a lot heavier. You would have to print slower and if you are printing objects that are larger than 200x200x200 (mm) then they are going to take days to print if not close to a week(s). Make sure you get a good extruder and a best genuine nozzle available.

I have designed parts for a bigger printer than the mega, and I need to print them in one piece, and the bed will be on Z axis on the new printer, so if I need to go slower on the mega, hope its only a once off, I can use all the electronics from that again to the new design, which are from the current standard i3, I have genuine E3D v6 at the moment with greg's wade on bowden, it uses bigger rods all round, and I'm using 10mm leadscrew instead of 8mm, a lot of things I like to print I would much prefer to print in 1 piece, it would actually take me less time. print time is a big thing, as a beginner after 3 months I have managed to reduce the print time by a lot, I manage to get a part to print that used to be done at 0.3mm now at 0.1 with 30mins less print time, still learning and trial and error

With a 200x200x200 build plate you can get up to ~280mm build space on x and y if you print on a 45. I have noticed that my want to build a gigantic printer as a beginner was pretty unfounded, and the time to print stuff was way too long. It is my experience that 9 times out of 10 a 200x200 build plate will suffice, and that 10th time could be solved with a 250x250mm build plate.

Hi Guys,

Ordered the Replikeo with e few spare parts made some changes to my list, added a driver a bolt and some other parts, also Gilles from the replikeo was very fast and nice at my emails.
I will go with DHL soo in a week or two will get the printer up and running hopefully.

Timi,

Hi guys,

i received my repliceo and assembled it. it came with induction autoleveling but i switched to endstops as i am not confident with the induction leveling "ordered a few reserve endstops when i got the kit". i have the ormerod 2 hot end.

i have the following issue.
i have installed the firmware that repliceo suggested, but when i connect to pronterface it gives me the following error:

Connecting...
start
Printer is now online.
echo:Marlin1.0.2
echo: Last Updated: Nov 29 2015 23:20:28 | Author: (none, default config)
Compiled: Nov 29 2015
echo: Free Memory: 5241 PlannerBufferBytes: 1232
echo:Hardcoded Default Settings Loaded
echoteps per unit:
echo: M92 X78.74 Y78.74 Z533.33 E836.00
echo:Maximum feedrates (mm/s):
echo: M203 X500.00 Y500.00 Z5.00 E25.00
echo:Maximum Acceleration (mm/s2):
echo: M201 X9000 Y9000 Z100 E10000
echo:Acceleration: S=acceleration, T=retract acceleration
echo: M204 S3000.00 T3000.00
echo:Advanced variables: S=Min feedrate (mm/s), T=Min travel feedrate (mm/s), B=minimum segment time (ms), X=maximum XY jerk (mm/s), Z=maximum Z jerk (mm/s), E=maximum E jerk (mm/s)
echo: M205 S0.00 T0.00 B20000 X20.00 Z0.40 E5.00
echo:Home offset (mm):
echo: M206 X0.00 Y0.00 Z0.00
echoID settings:
echo: M301 P22.20 I1.08 D114.00
Error:0
[ERROR] Error:0

: Extruder switched off. MAXTEMP triggered !
Errorrinter stopped due to errors. Fix the error and use M999 to restart. (Temperature is reset. Set it after restarting)
[ERROR] Errorrinter stopped due to errors. Fix the error and use M999 to restart. (Temperature is reset. Set it after restarting)

i tried with a genuine arduino and its the same. i measured the resistance of the thermistors and they are 79 in hand and 137 untouched

i measured the voltage at the thermistor ends and its 4.93V on both thermistors, so i know that the voltage is there.

it shows me extruder 0 -> 450 grade and hotbed and extruder 1 -> 0 grade. i tried to switch the thermistor the same. also disconnect the ramps 1.4 and gives me the same issue.

i want to know is this an configuration issue or i got a lemon ramps 1.4 from replikeo.

Please help i am messing with this error a few days now.

Timi,

Are you sure you have the thermistors on the correct pins? The error is saying it thinks your hotend is too hot. That is normally a sign the thermistors are not connected.

Oh. And did you set the correct thermistor type when you compiled Marlin?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2015 07:39PM by ElmoC.

Hi ElmoC,

yes i connected the thermistors to T0 and T2 "dual extruder setup" on T1 i have the hotbed thermistor. i checked the wires with the digital voltmeter and they are ok one by one.

<<<>>>>

i didnt changed anything on the replikeo files i just selected the Configuration__DUAL_EXTRUDER_MODE.h from the \Prusa-i3-Bowden-Extruder-master\Prusa-i3-Bowden-Extruder-master\marlin they have on github.

please can you help me on where to look for those values.

i will post the photos in a minute or two.

PS: thanks for the help.


Timi,

Hi Guys,

Here are the photos, i disconnected the motors endstopsas i am afraid i might screw something up.

Timi,

The values you need to check for the thermistors is in Configuration.h. There is a list of different types of thermistors you can use. Make sure you have the correct one selected. Just as a test, you should be able to set them to 998 or 999 and that will give a fake reading to the firmware. There is some information about those values at the end of the table.

There is also a table in Configuration.h that specifies the type of controller you are using. If that is not set correctly, you will get strange behaviour like this.

Hi ElmoC,

thanks a lot will try it right now .

Timi,

Hi ElmoC,

i am not finding the value for thermistor on configuration file.

Please can you give it a look,

Timi,

HI ElmoC,

i set the following vaules and still nothing the same errors:

// 1010 is Pt1000 with 1k pullup (non standard)
// 147 is Pt100 with 4k7 pullup
// 110 is Pt100 with 1k pullup (non standard)

#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 1
#define TEMP_SENSOR_1 1 // REPLIKEO DUAL (SINGLE:0)
#define TEMP_SENSOR_2 0
#define TEMP_SENSOR_BED 1

// This makes temp sensor 1 a redundant sensor for sensor 0. If the temperatures difference between these sensors is to high the print will be aborted.
//#define TEMP_SENSOR_1_AS_REDUNDANT
#define MAX_REDUNDANT_TEMP_SENSOR_DIFF 10

// Actual temperature must be close to target for this long before M109 returns success
#define TEMP_RESIDENCY_TIME 10 // (seconds)
#define TEMP_HYSTERESIS 3 // (degC) range of +/- temperatures considered "close" to the target one
#define TEMP_WINDOW 1 // (degC) Window around target to start the residency timer x degC early.

// The minimal temperature defines the temperature below which the heater will not be enabled It is used
// to check that the wiring to the thermistor is not broken.
// Otherwise this would lead to the heater being powered on all the time.
#define HEATER_0_MINTEMP 5
#define HEATER_1_MINTEMP 5
#define HEATER_2_MINTEMP 5
#define BED_MINTEMP 5

// When temperature exceeds max temp, your heater will be switched off.
// This feature exists to protect your hotend from overheating accidentally, but *NOT* from thermistor short/failure!
// You should use MINTEMP for thermistor short/failure protection.
//TIMI#define HEATER_0_MAXTEMP 275
#define HEATER_0_MAXTEMP 998

//TIMI#define HEATER_1_MAXTEMP 275
#define HEATER_1_MAXTEMP 998

#define HEATER_2_MAXTEMP 275
//TIMI#define BED_MAXTEMP 150
#define BED_MAXTEMP 998
// If your bed has low resistance e.g. .6 ohm and throws the fuse you can duty cycle it to reduce the
// average current. The value should be an integer and the heat bed will be turned on for 1 interval of
// HEATER_BED_DUTY_CYCLE_DIVIDER intervals.
//#define HEATER_BED_DUTY_CYCLE_DIVIDER 4

i have type 34 meaning dual extruder,

Timi,

You need to rename Configuration__DUAL_EXTRUDER_MODE.h to Configuration.h, replacing the one there. Did you do that?

hi ElmoC,


i just did and i get this error.


ultralcd.cpp:36: error: initializer-string for array of chars is too long


very strange as i had changed the filename in the marlin.ino "i know some programming so i thought it would be enough "


any idea ??? about this error.

Timi,

Did you make the change back in the marlin.ino before compiling?

For now, try commenting out the #define G3D_PANEL around line 561 in the Configuration.h file. That should leave out the ultralcd.cpp file and clear that error.

Hi ElmoC,

yes before but anyhow i renamed it to Configuration.h and i am facing the lcd error so something was not ok i will do your suggestion and cross fingers

Timi,

ElmoC,

you are an angel . it worked.

the key was to rename the replikeo header file to Configuration.h so the Marlin.ino was untouched and comment out the #define G3D_PANEL at line 561. i will connect the rest and see if this thing works finally.

PS i started touching with the fingers the thermistors and they registered the change in temperature.


THANKS AGAIN 100000000... times.


Timi,

Great. Glad it is working now. Not sure what the problem is with the display, but if you aren't using one, you don't need that defined.

Hi ElmoC,

i wired it back together and it looks like it works just with one extruder but will try to figure it out most probably its me not knowing to set it up .


my kit does not have the LCD so better this way


Timi,

Hi Guys,

The replikeo prusa i3 kit with dual ormerod 2.xxx extruder turned out to be good stuff i managed to print well at first time. photos attached.




PS:
I still need to play with the amount of material and feedspeeds but as first prints they looks good .
Also i mounted the hot bed with the wires in front of the printer as they were to close to the end-stop has anyone managed to resolve this one .

Timi

Yes indeed - exeptional quality for a first print!

---

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Hi rhmorrison,

thanks a lot i will try to print other stuff to see how it goes. those two were things found on internet for testing.

The first casualty of printing was my finger, i thought the hotend was not getting hot and touched it very fast to see, BIG MISTAKE i have my finger swelling now it was damn to hot like 190 but i learned something new after all this years

If it helps anyone i found i could run to the glass with a metal file on the edges and around the corners and actually it was very easy, not pretty but it does not cut my hands.

Timi,

You can get better end stop holder on thingivers for the i3, my end stop is on the side with bumper on the side of the bed at the very front so doesn't get caught on anything

guys i doing M tech in mechatronics branch for master project i m working in a 3d printer actually speaking without any guidance i have designed my own printer and i cutted with acrylic sheet printer working nicely.now ill come to point i have implemented autobed leveling and online print with RASPBERRY PI and i wanted add some more feature like 2D to 3d conversion i m thinking to buy kinect xbos 360 scanner
but its already in developed condition and also i designed camera rig for 123D catch to convert 2D to 3D stl but its not giving accurate result
Apart from what i mentioned above please suggest some more feature so i can do my study on it and ill implement for printing

i know its bigger message but understand me
thanks for advance please help me