Folger Prusa i3 Kit from ebay

Good deal coldfront. Thanks for all the info. I cant wait till mine shows up. I'm going to have to try the cork thing and see how that works.

You wouldnt have the scad file or model file or can modify it maybe 10mm lower so the switch can hit my table and not heatbed, i really enjoy this endstop and dont really want to change the mount..

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jjbunn
Yes, I put it on Thingiverse:

Extended Y endstop

Since I also have purchased one of the Folger Prusa i3 kits, I figured that I should also contribute my $0.02.

I ordered the kit near the end of October and got it a few weeks later. Everything was in the kit and in one piece. The only thing that I noticed was that I could have used some more of the m3x18mm screws and nuts, however I think that this is my personal preference more than anything. I had enough parts for the whole assembly.

Assembly was a breeze, but troubleshooting took a bit longer. I eventually built a power switch so I could quickly shut the power unit down without having to unplug it so I could modify the wiring on the RAMPS board while doing the troubleshooting.

I mounted the printer to a 6mm Al plate that I happened to have lying around and kept the power supply and RAMPS board separate from the frame - This makes for a messier work area, but I like being able to access the bits easily without having to climb over the printer.

I have been printing with 1.75mm PLA for the past week (nearly nonstop - my scrap bin is getting full) and have not noticed any wear on any of the rails that the bearings are moving along. I took the y-frame apart and resquared it and managed to get it to within 2mm square corner to corner. Those elusive last 2mm are from the play in the printed corner parts.

Right now I am in the process of dialing in the z-axis. My bottom layers are kind of squiggly, but I see that the hot end is to high off the print bed. So once I figure out how to lower that it will be show time.

One thing that I found is that one of my stepper drivers was dead out of the bag. Once I get some more time, I will do a more detailed check on it to see what is actually going on.

Overall it has been a good experience with the kit.

I used Tinkercad to model it ... adjusting the height would be quite easy. You can find it here: endstop

To shorten it, one method is to duplicate the piece, cut a section out of each of the duplicates (using a hollow shape), then combine the two shortened pieces into one.

Julian

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coldfront
I have finished drilling the new holes and assembling the new bed onto my prusa i3. A few things I noticed when attaching the bed was the clearance from the screws that are screwed into the beard holders and the frame. I had to cut down the screws for them to pass over the frame. As for drilling the new holes i took the old acrylic bed screwed it down to the aluminium bed and used a drill press it came out pretty nice everything fit well and was perfect. Leveling the bed is 100% better and really easy now. I also added cork board between the heat bed and the aluminium bed giving more insulation, and helping with heating up the bed really well. Heating the bed at 100c took only 12 mins total aside from around 25 mins before.

Pros:
Easy Manual Leveling
Not Acrylic
Better Stability
The (4) screws for leveling the bed have a lot more room and the nut doesn't fall off.

Cons:
The Pre-Drilled holes are not in the right place, I pretty much purchased this board feeling it would be an easy swap in and out.
There is a small gap overhang due to the bed being a little bigger than the Heat bed this has messed up the height of my Y-EndStop, I will need to print a lower endstop mount.

Aside from everything I had to do I like this bed better then the acrylic bed, here are some photos.

Thanks for the great review and great pictures. I'm a bit bummed that it was not a plug and play affair.

I did see this one on ebay. I wonder how well it lines up? Ebay Aluminum Bed

I think I may just bite the bullet and get a full aluminum frame kit, using just the bed until my frame cracks. From what I hear its not if an acrylic frame will crack, but when.

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KeyserSoze3d

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coldfront
I have finished drilling the new holes and assembling the new bed onto my prusa i3. A few things I noticed when attaching the bed was the clearance from the screws that are screwed into the beard holders and the frame. I had to cut down the screws for them to pass over the frame. As for drilling the new holes i took the old acrylic bed screwed it down to the aluminium bed and used a drill press it came out pretty nice everything fit well and was perfect. Leveling the bed is 100% better and really easy now. I also added cork board between the heat bed and the aluminium bed giving more insulation, and helping with heating up the bed really well. Heating the bed at 100c took only 12 mins total aside from around 25 mins before.

Pros:
Easy Manual Leveling
Not Acrylic
Better Stability
The (4) screws for leveling the bed have a lot more room and the nut doesn't fall off.

Cons:
The Pre-Drilled holes are not in the right place, I pretty much purchased this board feeling it would be an easy swap in and out.
There is a small gap overhang due to the bed being a little bigger than the Heat bed this has messed up the height of my Y-EndStop, I will need to print a lower endstop mount.

Aside from everything I had to do I like this bed better then the acrylic bed, here are some photos.

Thanks for the great review and great pictures. I'm a bit bummed that it was not a plug and play affair.

I did see this one on ebay. I wonder how well it lines up? Ebay Aluminum Bed

I think I may just bite the bullet and get a full aluminum frame kit, using just the bed until my frame cracks. From what I hear its not if an acrylic frame will crack, but when.

Yeah I was thinking about ordering an aluminum frame or just maybe making the base frame out of wood, I really don't care what it looks like i would rather have more stability, I think i would rather get the boxed aluminum frame then a single plate though. I was searching on ebay a couple months ago there was a good deal on one, but I can't seem to locate it anymore....

Also the bed folger sells looks like they just used a sheet cutter to cut it down to size, if i would of known this i would of just made one myself seeing i was looking for a cnc milled style bed.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2014 12:30PM by coldfront.

Hi, I almost finish building Folger i3, I have a few questions.

1.) When setting the home position, I am not sure how far the extruder should be from the heated bed, should it be 1mm or more?
2.) During testing, on all X, Y and Z, when they touch the endstops, they all bounce back for about 2-3mm then they will return to where they are suppose to stop, then they stop. Is this normal?

Thanks

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rich1812
Hi, I almost finish building Folger i3, I have a few questions.

1.) When setting the home position, I am not sure how far the extruder should be from the heated bed, should it be 1mm or more?
2.) During testing, on all X, Y and Z, when they touch the endstops, they all bounce back for about 2-3mm then they will return to where they are suppose to stop, then they stop. Is this normal?

Thanks

1) there should be just barely the thickness of a piece of paper between the tip of the extruder and the glass (or whatever you're using on your heated bed)

2) Yes. There's a setting to change this, but I can't remember where it is.

Hey guys/gals, I got everything hooked up and electronics all wired, but when I pull up pronterface and try to connect it just reads connecting... forever. Drivers are loaded and in the device manager it recognizes the arduino. Tried all baud rates and tried to connect, nothing. I get a green blinking light on the ramps and a yellow blinking light on the arduino when I put power to it.

any thoughts? I feel like I need to reinstall firmware or something.

Edit: ha ok I guess I did need to load the firmware. Just found out my ends stops were on backwards too

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2014 10:23PM by BayAreaRepRap.

My aluminum bed came today. Might get a chance to install this weekend but not sure. I have way too much to do. Here are a few pictures. I bought it Tuesday and it came today so shipping was very fast. It is 3mm thick and weighs 312 grams. The holes all seem to line up except the two in the middle are shifted slightly but that don't matter. I want to get some cork or something to put between it and the heatbed like coldfront did.

Hi, I have some more questions.
1.) When I have the heated bed on and the temperature on, I leave it for about 10 minutes or so, than it would shut itself off, I can no longer move the axes. Is this some kind of over heat protection? If so, how am I suppose to print an object as printing an object likely take longer then 10 minutes. Is there something in the framework setting I need to change? I has the Marlin framework.
2.) The heated bed that comes with theFolger kit, It only heats the lower part of the bed, the upper part remains cold. is there something wrong with it?
3.) When I need to order more filament, is 3mm the right size for the Folger extruder?

Thanks again.

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rich1812
Hi, I have some more questions.
1.) When I have the heated bed on and the temperature on, I leave it for about 10 minutes or so, than it would shut itself off, I can no longer move the axes. Is this some kind of over heat protection? If so, how am I suppose to print an object as printing an object likely take longer then 10 minutes. Is there something in the framework setting I need to change? I has the Marlin framework.
2.) The heated bed that comes with theFolger kit, It only heats the lower part of the bed, the upper part remains cold. is there something wrong with it?
3.) When I need to order more filament, is 3mm the right size for the Folger extruder?

Thanks again.

How do you have your Heatbed wired 12v or 24v? the filament with the extruder is 1.75mm ABS/PLA.

Also for the heatbed did you place the - wire over both - 2,3 pads and + on pad 1?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2014 04:46AM by coldfront.

Hi coldfront, thanks for such a uick reply.

I have the hot bed on 12V, should I use 24V? Doesn't the Folger PSU only output 3 pairs of 12V?

Prior to buying the kit, I bought a 1.75mm filament, but it seems the diameter is too big for the Folger extruder, when I got the kit, it came with a roll of filament that 's much thiner, about 3mm. I am abit confused, the 1.75mm does mean the diameter, is that correct? When I look on eBay, some sellers have both numbers listed such as 3D Printer Filament 1kg/2.2lb 1.75mm 3mm ABS / PLA MakerBot RepRap, why is that?

Thanks again

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2014 12:05AM by rich1812.

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mikez104
My aluminum bed came today. Might get a chance to install this weekend but not sure. I have way too much to do. Here are a few pictures. I bought it Tuesday and it came today so shipping was very fast. It is 3mm thick and weighs 312 grams. The holes all seem to line up except the two in the middle are shifted slightly but that don't matter. I want to get some cork or something to put between it and the heatbed like coldfront did.

20141211_180211.jpg

Are the original plastic bearing holders supposed to be attached to the aluminum plate, or are the bearings supposed to be tie-wrapped into the slots in the plate?

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rich1812
Hi coldfront, thanks for such a uick reply.

I have the hot bed on 12V, should I use 24V?

Prior to buying the kit, I bought a 1.75mm filament, but it seems the diameter is too big for the Folger extruder, when I got the kit, it came with a roll of filament that 's much thiner, about 3mm. I am abit confused, the 1.75mm does mean the diameter, is that correct? When I look on eBay, some sellers have both numbers listed such as 3D Printer Filament 1kg/2.2lb 1.75mm 3mm ABS / PLA MakerBot RepRap, why is that?

Thanks again

Rich1812,

Mine is connect 12v and it should be connected 12v unless you have modified your ramps 1.4 board to support 24v. As for your bed heating up half I believe your wiring is wrong for it maybe you dont have the - wire going across both pads??

if you purchased the Prusa i3 from Folger it uses 1.75mm filament yeah that is the diameter. Maybe they sell both i know in some ebay postings you can select which item to purchase they might have a small dropdown box somewhere for select ABS or PLA. For Filament I have had problems with 1.75mm filament not fitting or being the wrong diameter. I have sense changed to ABS and it prints pretty well, i made some ABS Juice from using acetone+ABS which makes it stick to the heatbed glass good. I have also tried HairSpary which works pretty good also.

I have attached an image of how the board should be wired. You most wire the pad 2. and 3 together if you are supplying 12v if you don't have it this way that is why i believe you are getting only half the bed heated.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2014 12:16AM by coldfront.

Quote
mikez104
My aluminum bed came today. Might get a chance to install this weekend but not sure. I have way too much to do. Here are a few pictures. I bought it Tuesday and it came today so shipping was very fast. It is 3mm thick and weighs 312 grams. The holes all seem to line up except the two in the middle are shifted slightly but that don't matter. I want to get some cork or something to put between it and the heatbed like coldfront did.

20141211_180211.jpg

Nice bed btw would of costed me $5 more for ordering this and would of been a lot less work hahha.... but my bed now does what it should do so i am pretty happy with it.

Quote
mikez104
I want to get some cork or something to put between it and the heatbed like coldfront did.

20141211_180211.jpg

Consider some fiberglass pipe wrap from your hardware store plumbing or heating and air conditioning department. Completely fire proof, electrically non-conducting and great thermal insulating properties.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2014 12:28AM by Easy.

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coldfront
Also for the heatbed did you place the GND wire over both - 1,2 pads and + on pad 1?

I screwed it up the first time It took forever to get hot. It should be set up like this.

Hi coldfront, thanks for your reply. You were right, I did wire the hot bed wrong, after re-wired now it works fine.

as for the filament, this is the one I bought on eBay, 2meters PTFE Teflon Tube For 1.75mm Filament for 3D Printer RepRap Rostock. It says 1.75mm but it's way to big.(too big.jpg)

I bought the printer from the same seller, this is the one came with the printer(perfect.jpg.) which fits perfectly and it measures 3mm Shouldn't 1.75mm smaller then 3mm? why is it thicker?

And to confuse me further, this seller has the headline of "3D Printer Filament 1kg/2.2lb 1.75mm 3mm ABS / PLA MakerBot RepRap", so which is it? 1.75 or 3??:

Very confused!

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Easy

Quote
mikez104
My aluminum bed came today. Might get a chance to install this weekend but not sure. I have way too much to do. Here are a few pictures. I bought it Tuesday and it came today so shipping was very fast. It is 3mm thick and weighs 312 grams. The holes all seem to line up except the two in the middle are shifted slightly but that don't matter. I want to get some cork or something to put between it and the heatbed like coldfront did.

20141211_180211.jpg

Are the original plastic bearing holders supposed to be attached to the aluminum plate, or are the bearings supposed to be tie-wrapped into the slots in the plate?

You can do either as there are holes set for both. I'm going to print new plastic holders and screw them to the plate if they come out very even. If not, I may just zip tie to the bearings.

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Easy
Are the original plastic bearing holders supposed to be attached to the aluminum plate, or are the bearings supposed to be tie-wrapped into the slots in the plate?

IMHO it's better to zip-tied them directly on the plate. The machining is more precise than the printed parts, and you will get few extra millimeters gained for your printing area.

---

Collective intelligence emerges when a group of people work together effectively. Prusa i3 Folger (A lot of the parts are wrong, boring !)

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rich1812
Hi coldfront, thanks for your reply. You were right, I did wire the hot bed wrong, after re-wired now it works fine.

as for the filament, this is the one I bought on eBay, 2meters PTFE Teflon Tube For 1.75mm Filament for 3D Printer RepRap Rostock. It says 1.75mm but it's way to big.(too big.jpg)

I bought the printer from the same seller, this is the one came with the printer(perfect.jpg.) which fits perfectly and it measures 3mm Shouldn't 1.75mm smaller then 3mm? why is it thicker?

And to confuse me further, this seller has the headline of "3D Printer Filament 1kg/2.2lb 1.75mm 3mm ABS / PLA MakerBot RepRap", so which is it? 1.75 or 3??:

Very confused!

Hey Rich,

ummm if i am reading this right you bought PTFE Teflon Tube which is a tube to feed filament PLA/ABS into, you need to purchase ABS or PLA Plastic not the shell tubing. This is the kind of tube that goes into the Printer extrudes shaft to feed the filament into the nozzle. [i00.i.aliimg.com]

Notice in this image the white tubing?? that is PTFE Teflon Tube, and this is filament (http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-Colors-ABS-PLA-3D-Printer-Filament-KBell-Engineering-1-75-3-0mm-US-SHIP-/171169005670?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item27da77c066). Notice the drop-down box that it has?? where you can select color and material size. that is what i was talking about.

Duh! I feel so dumb now Can't you tell I am an absolute newbie now?
Thank you for taking the time to clear this up. I am glad to have people like you to guide a noob like me, greatly appreciate!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2014 04:49PM by rich1812.

Once I get this printer running, I like to fancy it up. I am thinking of getting an aluminum frame, I am not too crazy about the shiny aluminum frame but something like the kind of aluminum used on Apple's Macbook Air or brushed aluminium. I searched eBay but found nothing of that sort, does anyone know where I can find something like that?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2014 04:55PM by rich1812.

Anyone use any LM8uu linear bearing alternatives? The ones included lose balls like crazy and are the crunchiest bearings I've ever seen. I'm thinking of getting some 8mm bronze bushings.

Ahhh, more question! When I connected Macpronterface to the printer, it comes online just fine, when I set the extruder to 180 degrees, it's fine as well. However once I set the bed to 60 degrees, within 1-2 seconds, RAMPS makes a click sound then shuts off. I checked all my wirings, I didn't see anything wrong. In the Marlin_v1 configure.h I see these lines of code for temp protection

// 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.
#define HEATER_0_MAXTEMP 275
#define HEATER_1_MAXTEMP 275
#define HEATER_2_MAXTEMP 275
#define BED_MAXTEMP 150

Do they look fine or do they need some tweak?

Hmm clicking sound I don't know anything about clicking, is it more of a clicking or is it a beeping sound??

but it seems that 1-2 seconds after starting the heat it happens right? i mean it can't even get to 60c that fast, must be another problem.

my settings for the HEATER_0 are as follows.

// 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.
#define HEATER_0_MAXTEMP 270
#define HEATER_1_MAXTEMP 245
#define HEATER_2_MAXTEMP 245
#define BED_MAXTEMP 120

EDITED: Also this only happens when you heat up your bed right?? not your extruder? Example.. if you turn on your extruder and leave it for a few mins no beeping or anything correct? but if you just enable your heatbed then you get this *clicking* sound, right? sounds like a bad connection somewhere check you wires.

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rich1812
Ahhh, more question! When I connected Macpronterface to the printer, it comes online just fine, when I set the extruder to 180 degrees, it's fine as well. However once I set the bed to 60 degrees, within 1-2 seconds, RAMPS makes a click sound then shuts off. I checked all my wirings, I didn't see anything wrong. In the Marlin_v1 configure.h I see these lines of code for temp protection

// 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.
#define HEATER_0_MAXTEMP 275
#define HEATER_1_MAXTEMP 275
#define HEATER_2_MAXTEMP 275
#define BED_MAXTEMP 150

Do they look fine or do they need some tweak?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2014 06:41PM by coldfront.

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BayAreaRepRap
Anyone use any LM8uu linear bearing alternatives? The ones included lose balls like crazy and are the crunchiest bearings I've ever seen. I'm thinking of getting some 8mm bronze bushings.

I haven't had any issues with grinding sound or lose of balls but sorry i dont know of an alternative.

Quote
coldfront
Hmm clicking sound I don't know anything about clicking, is it more of a clicking or is it a beeping sound??

but it seems that 1-2 seconds after starting the heat it happens right? i mean it can't even get to 60c that fast, must be another problem.

my settings for the HEATER_0 are as follows.

// 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.
#define HEATER_0_MAXTEMP 270
#define HEATER_1_MAXTEMP 245
#define HEATER_2_MAXTEMP 245
#define BED_MAXTEMP 120

EDITED: Also this only happens when you heat up your bed right?? not your extruder? Example.. if you turn on your extruder and leave it for a few mins no beeping or anything correct? but if you just enable your heatbed then you get this *clicking* sound, right? sounds like a bad connection somewhere check you wires.

Quote
rich1812
Ahhh, more question! When I connected Macpronterface to the printer, it comes online just fine, when I set the extruder to 180 degrees, it's fine as well. However once I set the bed to 60 degrees, within 1-2 seconds, RAMPS makes a click sound then shuts off. I checked all my wirings, I didn't see anything wrong. In the Marlin_v1 configure.h I see these lines of code for temp protection

// 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.
#define HEATER_0_MAXTEMP 275
#define HEATER_1_MAXTEMP 275
#define HEATER_2_MAXTEMP 275
#define BED_MAXTEMP 150

Do they look fine or do they need some tweak?

Sounds like a wiring issue to me: I would look for a short between the wires powering the heatbed. (Make sure you have strain relief on them - they get subjected to a lot of bending as the Y bed jerks backwards and forwards during printing). Do you have a multimeter to measure the resistance between the wires at the heatbed solder points (power off of course)? It should not read zero.

For the bearings LM8uu bearings, all mine have worked fine with no crunching, binding, grinding or other issues.

The bearing holders can slip off the bearings unless at least one of them uses the modified holder design discussed earlier in this thread. My experience is that you only need one of the modified holders, as that one will essentially fix the others in position.

Julian