My Replikeo Prusa i3 Rework Build

Hey gang,

Great information in this thread. Thank you all for that. I'm looking to build my first reprap and was looking at a Prusa i3 rework. I posted a thread about it at the beginning of the month and even found out about the Replikeo one. Just found this thread yesterday and finally finished reading through it. I had a buddy that was going to see if he could hook me up with all the vitamins, but never heard back from him. I'm seriously considering just pulling the trigger on this Replikeo so I can start tooling around. I have the printer bug. It's kind of like the more cowbell fever, only more motor noises

My extruder fan runs all the time, its connected right to the power buss without issues. I did order some ferrule crimping pliers yesterday, should make things a little cleaner.
Mike- I have to say Replikeo was a pretty good deal, and they have very reasonable customer service. Hard to piece everything together for that price. I bought the plexi frame one. While the frame is awesome, plexiglass turns out to not be the best thing for the table. Not stiff enough, i had an aluminum one made.

And getting back to the thermal layer between the glass and the heat bead..My local rubber supplier ended up not having what i wanted, and to top it off, had a $100.00 minimum. Thats not going to happen. I have ordered something else, but the thermal transfer property was almost double of what i really wanted, so we'll see if it works.

Hey Mike! I have the steel frame and it's great. The only down side I can think of is that it's only 3mm wide and most of the add-ons that other people have made is for the 6mm aluminum frame. Not that big of a deal really. The steel frame is the cheapest!

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underthetire
My extruder fan runs all the time, its connected right to the power buss without issues. I did order some ferrule crimping pliers yesterday, should make things a little cleaner.
Mike- I have to say Replikeo was a pretty good deal, and they have very reasonable customer service. Hard to piece everything together for that price. I bought the plexi frame one. While the frame is awesome, plexiglass turns out to not be the best thing for the table. Not stiff enough, i had an aluminum one made.

And getting back to the thermal layer between the glass and the heat bead..My local rubber supplier ended up not having what i wanted, and to top it off, had a $100.00 minimum. Thats not going to happen. I have ordered something else, but the thermal transfer property was almost double of what i really wanted, so we'll see if it works.

So would you say it's worth the extra $50 to go the aluminum frame or the steel one? Both are being offered, as well as the plexiglass. If the plexiglass isn't sturdy enough, I won't bother.

Greg - that's the one I was originally looking at. So it's not that big of a deal that it's only 3mm? No stability issues?

I think the steel frame is just fine, it's plenty rigid. Some of the first things I'd print out though are the z-axis stabilizers that Tech2C designed and posted a couple weeks ago. I just used 3/8" rod that I sourced locally at Tractor Supply; it was like half the price of metric.

Also, I was having all sorts of print quality issues and 90% of it was from a too-loose x-axis belt! The rest was fixed with slic3r settings...

If the $50 is burning a hole in your pocket opt for the DHL shipping. The $94 shipping option took 29-31 days. Others here did DHL and had it in their hands in a little over a week!

G

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gadget_greg
I think the steel frame is just fine, it's plenty rigid. Some of the first things I'd print out though are the z-axis stabilizers that Tech2C designed and posted a couple weeks ago. I just used 3/8" rod that I sourced locally at Tractor Supply; it was like half the price of metric.

Also, I was having all sorts of print quality issues and 90% of it was from a too-loose x-axis belt! The rest was fixed with slic3r settings...

If the $50 is burning a hole in your pocket opt for the DHL shipping. The $94 shipping option took 29-31 days. Others here did DHL and had it in their hands in a little over a week!

G

Haha, well it's not exactly burning a hole in my pocket, but I could opt for the aluminum (and DHL shipping, which I already accounted for) if it would be a better idea. If the steel is fine, then maybe I'll just get that. I could always upgrade the frame later, right? Isn't that part of the joy of having one of these?

I'd get the steel. Save the $$ for filament!

I'm getting a fair amount of popping lately with the ABS from Replikeo but I think it's just picking up moisture, it IS summer after all.

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gadget_greg
I'd get the steel. Save the $$ for filament!

I'm getting a fair amount of popping lately with the ABS from Replikeo but I think it's just picking up moisture, it IS summer after all.

Good idea - more filament so that I can play/tinker, learn, then I can always build a new frame later on. I think I'm going to do it. I'm excited! Haha

I picked up some PLA on eBay for about $22 and it got here in under a week! I had it two weeks BEFORE the printer! Anyway, PLA is a good starter filament because of the lower extrusion temperature, lower bed temperature, fewer adhesion problems, etc.

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gadget_greg
I picked up some PLA on eBay for about $22 and it got here in under a week! I had it two weeks BEFORE the printer! Anyway, PLA is a good starter filament because of the lower extrusion temperature, lower bed temperature, fewer adhesion problems, etc.

I'm definitely going to pick some up. I did it. I went with the steel version and DHL shipping to me in NY was listed as $98. Which is strange because the Air Mail option was $170! Well, hopefully it won't take a month to get to me. In the meantime, I'll continue to read up and maybe go through this thread again to prepare myself for any gotchas I may come across when it comes time to put it together.

Do yourself a favor and get the bigger-sized LCD too. I got this one but you can get the same one a little cheaper if you hunt around. [www.ebay.com]

I'm in upstate NY (Oneonta area) and at $94 it took a month, you might want to confirm with them and upgrade the shipping if you want it faster. They're usually pretty responsive with email.

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gadget_greg
I'm in upstate NY (Oneonta area) and at $94 it took a month, you might want to confirm with them and upgrade the shipping if you want it faster. They're usually pretty responsive with email.

These are the shipping options:

Airmail Shipping for United States (10-20 days): $170.00
DHL for USA (3-5 days) - Recommended: $98.65
Express Mail Shipping for United States (7-15 days): $169.75
SAL Shipping for United States (15-30 days): $94.00
Surface Shipping for United States (60-90 days): $45.50

So the only DHL option says 3 to 5 days and it was $98. That was the option I used. I think the times they have listed are off. Why would Express Mail be $170 and take longer than DHL? I'm tempted to just leave it as is just to see how fast it takes. Haha.

I'm downstate, by the way, so it might go faster regardless. The advantages of living in the suburbs of NYC

I wish they had that $98 option when I bought mine two months ago. Damn!

Being 'down there' you'd only get it a day or two sooner, if any difference at all. I used to live on Long Island but those days are long gone. My next move will be someplace warmer, maybe Santa Fe...

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gadget_greg
I wish they had that $98 option when I bought mine two months ago. Damn!

Being 'down there' you'd only get it a day or two sooner, if any difference at all. I used to live on Long Island but those days are long gone. My next move will be someplace warmer, maybe Santa Fe...

Haha, I guess they worked out a better deal with DHL? Not sure. In either case, out of those options, I obviously went with the "Recommended" one of DHL for $98. I'll keep you guys updated when mine arrives. And hey, a day sooner is a day sooner.Haha. I'm out in Suffolk, but I've lived all over Long Island. If I ever leave here, I'm going to where the people are nicer like it used to be here like western PA or something. Santa Fe could be nice, but too hot for me. My aunt left NY for Rio Rancho. She loves it, but she says the people are slow out there. LOL

Regarding the LCD you linked - do they make a bigger one than that? That's the biggest model I've seen. I think they called it the "graphic" LCD or "Smart" one or something.

That's the biggest LCD that I know of that's natively supported in Marlin. I've seen 'em for about $16 but with your shipping option from Replikeo you might want to find one that'll get it to you quicker even if you have to pay a few bucks more.

I grew up in East Northport but moved up here permanently a few years after college, then back on LI for 2 more years, then I finally decided I was done with that place.

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gadget_greg
That's the biggest LCD that I know of that's natively supported in Marlin. I've seen 'em for about $16 but with your shipping option from Replikeo you might want to find one that'll get it to you quicker even if you have to pay a few bucks more.

I grew up in East Northport but moved up here permanently a few years after college, then back on LI for 2 more years, then I finally decided I was done with that place.

Gotcha. I was a little confused. I thought you meant the one you linked was the one you got but wasn't the biggest one. They seem to average about $15 to $20. I may have to order one soon.

That's cool. I mostly grew up in Levittown, but I'm over in Nesconset nowadays. I'm almost done with the place myself. Haha

Hey, will this screen work?

[www.ebay.com]

$25 with free standard shipping. Seller is Sintron and this is a Sintron LCD, so I guess you can say it's direct from the manufacturer. I saw a bunch of other auctions for LCDs, but I wasn't sure if they had the right connectors or anything else I may need.

That's the one!

In other news... I'm thoroughly conviced at this point that Replikeo's ABS is CRAP! This is now the SECOND time it's gotten all clogged up and trying to take it apart I broke the hot end off the cold end.
So now I'm looking for a new extruder and I'm seriously considering throwing away half a spool of their CRAP.

VERY unhappy right now...

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gadget_greg
That's the one!

In other news... I'm thoroughly conviced at this point that Replikeo's ABS is CRAP! This is now the SECOND time it's gotten all clogged up and trying to take it apart I broke the hot end off the cold end.
So now I'm looking for a new extruder and I'm seriously considering throwing away half a spool of their CRAP.

VERY unhappy right now...

Excellent! I'm buying it, then. That should include everything I need, correct? It has the LCD, the controller board, and connectors. The other auctions seemed to have just the LCD for around $10 but nothing else. Either that or some crazy $100 package that had RAMPS 1.4, the LCD, the connectors, endstops and a whole bunch of other stuff coming with my printer. Speaking of which - how long did it take before yours listed as Shipped? Mine still says "Pending."

Oh man, that sucks! I was considering getting a roll each of ABS and PLA from MakerBot, though I think they are pricier than most. Any good sources for filament? Did you happen to print out your spare parts before it clogged up again?

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gadget_greg
That's the one!

In other news... I'm thoroughly conviced at this point that Replikeo's ABS is CRAP! This is now the SECOND time it's gotten all clogged up and trying to take it apart I broke the hot end off the cold end.
So now I'm looking for a new extruder and I'm seriously considering throwing away half a spool of their CRAP.

VERY unhappy right now...

So i'm not going crazy then! I've experienced 2 blockages with the replikeo black ABS. The green and blue ABS from ebay hasn't blocked the hotend (yet) so I assume it's the black. Sorry for your loss - broken J-head

I bought some cheap PLA on eBay and it's been fine. I switched to ABS so I could decide what to buy next but the ABS from Replikeo has been pretty problematic and doesn't give me that warm fuzzy feeling.

I was about to print out the idler I needed for the new extruder I was making when the nozzle clogged. I broke it the jhead because I was tired and not paying close enough attention to what I was doing. SMH

I bought another jhead from someone on eBay about 2 hours away but rather than drive there to get it I'm going to wait for it to ship, should be here Tuesday. I was thinking of trying a different hotend but I didn't want to be stuck in the event that it did fit into my extruder assembly and I wanted to make a quick purchase and get it here ASAP. This is the one I bought. [www.ebay.com] I'm a little concerned about that brass cap at the top though. The worst case is I think I can reuse the cap on my broken jhead.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2014 11:39AM by gadget_greg.

It must be bad printer news day today, though mine isn't *as* bad, thankfully. I got an email from Sintech saying all the local stock of their LCDs are broken and asked if they could refund me $5 USD and ship from Hong Kong. They said it will arrive in 7-11 days. The printer may get here before it does, at that rate. I told them it was fine, though, because I couldn't be bothered to look elsewhere for it. Also, my printer still says Pending in my order

My printer took 4 days to ship if I recall correctly. Patience young Padawan...

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gadget_greg
My printer took 4 days to ship if I recall correctly. Patience young Padawan...

But I want it naaaooo! Haha. It will be much easier to work with once the LCD comes in, so I have time. I'm just being impatient because I'm on vacation all next week, but that was only a pipe dream that it would be here so I have more time to play with it versus only after work. Haha.

I hear ya'!

Most of us here are using Marlin as the firmware. Also get yourself Pronterface/Printrun for your host platform.

Marlin [github.com]

Pronterface [github.com]

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gadget_greg
I hear ya'!

Most of us here are using Marlin as the firmware. Also get yourself Pronterface/Printrun for your host platform.

Marlin [github.com]

Pronterface [github.com]

Cool. Thanks for the links. I can't wait till this stuff arrives.

Have you ever used the arduino platform before?

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gadget_greg
Have you ever used the arduino platform before?

No. A bunch of my friends have, though, so I'm a little familiar with it. I know you program via the Arduino IDE and have to compile all the proper libs and I'm familiar with programming, so it shouldn't be too much of a stretch for me to figure out.

Sorry, been busy
The Plexi frame is quite sturdy, no flexing at all. Its the table i was having issues with, but it finally broke when i was drilling it out to install threaded inserts. My 1/8 aluminum replacement is working fine, and i drilled and tapped this one to mount the heatbead. Much easier to level.
From time to order, to my doorstep using DHL was almost exactly 2 weeks. I gave up on the Replikeo ABS myself. Switched to a cheap filament from Amazon, and also switched over to 1.75MM. It's called G-Star and its ~18.00 per 1KG with free Amazon prime shipping. Not one clog, not one pop yet and Ive tried 2 different colors. I don't think the stock hobbed bolt will handle the 1.75mm very well, but with the one i knurled on the lathe, and simply switching the PTFE liner in the hot end, was a easy conversion.

The large LCD i bought from Banggood was ~$15.00, took 3 weeks to get here and worked perfectly. I will say in operation, there is zero difference between the smaller non graphic one and the graphic one.