My first printer Geeetech i3 Pro (review so far)

I wanted to share this incase others are looking at this printer. I took a chance and ordered the Geetech Prusa i3 Pro (not the “B” version) and got just what I expected. A complete 3D printer kit with most everything to get up and running. I wanted a kit to remove the possibility of mismatched parts and incompatible electronics. For the most part I got what I wanted. Some of the parts were really tight and needed some adjustment but the supplied file fixed that every time and this was not unexpected as it is a DIY kit.

The BAD:

The issues all stemmed from the lack luster instructions and cheap parts. The instructions are out of order at times or just missing all together. I was nearly finished when I figured out that I was missing the smooth rod end stops, that there are washers for all the screws or that there is a screw for the z axis end stop. If I hadn’t read the instructions a few times before starting I would have had to unassembled and reassemble the frame numerous extra times which, as it was, had to happen 10+ times because of the bad/missing instructions. I spent a lot of my time watching videos and reading build logs as I was working to offset the supplied instructions (downloaded from the geeetech wiki, not shipped with the kit).
As for cheap parts, the threaded rod was inconsistent in size and a little bent. The inconsistent size caused the bend to be exaggerated, as it would not center in the coupling, which In turn caused one of the “y” axis motors to lock up or stutter. This was fixed in part with nylon thread tape added to the end where the flexible coupling meets the motor; centering the rod in the coupling. I also flipped the rod ends so that the bend was less noticeable on the motor end which helped some. The “Y” axis still make noise for the extra friction but I think with a little more work and some white grease I can get it reasonable. If I still have issues after that I’ll replace the offending rod. But even that is not a huge issue and I know the exact part to replace and it is not stopping me from printing.

I had a few other small issues.

• One of the motors had a loose connector causing the extruder to stutter.
• The mounting brackets for the LCD panel was the wrong size so I had to mount it differently than pictured but then again the instructions were sparse about how to mount it so maybe I did it as intended.
• Both of the belt adjustment screws where the wrong length, too short, so I had to find replacements.
• The screws for mounting the extruder to the “y” axis were too long and I needed to replace them (called for 16 mm screws but needed 10 mm).

The GOOD:

Generally speaking it came with everything and was rather easy to assemble once I realized the correct order (which was really important for the frame and axis mounts). I only needed to get blue tape, a power cord which was my fault as I did not ask for a “US” plug (I have plenty of extras) and a couple replacement screws.
Once assembled I had a couple tiny issues as is expected with a kit project but nothing major and was printing within an hour of completing the build. It was really easy to get the bed leveled and to start my first print. It took me another 2 hours to get the print to a good quality but most of that time was spend reading up on all the settings so that I would make the right changes. I got it printing reasonably within 3 prints and as this is my first 3D printer I think that is amazing.

The CONCLUSION:

Over all I am really happy with the Geeetech Prusa i3 Pro (not “B”) for the price it is turning out to be a good printer. I recommend this kit if you are:

• Looking for a cheap Prusa i3 kit to tinker with.
• Don’t mind having to improvise a little during the build.
• Don't mind tinkering to get the print just right.
• Don’t mind sparse instructions.

Lastly, I regret not getting the "B" version (I really want to play with ninjaflex) so now I need to upgrade the extruder and I'll most likely spend more than the cost difference between the two versions.

Hope this helps someone. Let me know if I can answer any questions.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2015 06:46PM by Tigreen.

Thanks for your review. Any pictures ?

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

Would you mind sharing how you got all the software and calibrations done and what you used for your config.h?

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kingnyx
Would you mind sharing how you got all the software and calibrations done and what you used for your config.h?

When I get home tonight I'll grab the info for you from the config file. As for the software I am using the software supplied from Geeetech (Geetech I3 Pro Docs right under the "Install Software" header). For the most part I am using everything in the default settings.I have adjusted the heat and speed settings but little else.

A little update...

I have been spending most of my time on the hardware. I found a lot of variation in the z axis threaded rod and nut/runner (not sure what to call it) so I removed the z axis and used a tap and die to smooth the threads. I also smoothed out and enlarged the top guide where the threaded rod sits in the upper frame. I realize that the z axis is not a high speed part but smoothing it out has drastically lowered the stress on the motors and the noise generated by the excessive friction ( the motors where straining and seizing from time to time from the friction). I also added lubricant to all the bearings and friction points, this seems to have helped with the overall noise ( and I am hoping the longevity of the motors as well ). I think lowering the friction is helping the printing as the tests seem sharper but that is anecdotal. I am using one of the nickel tests and they are getting rather nice. My only print issue now is that the side slots on the test are set to 21.21mm but I am getting about 20.5mm, so about 3.3% off. I am not sure where to adjust this but I am hoping to work on it this weekend.

I have found some more issues such as the SD card reader is not working, the LCD gets corrupt from time to time and the computer and printer come out of sync from time to time requiring me to restart the repeater software and the printer to get control of the printer back. The sync issue has not happened during a print just as the print starts so it has not been much of a problem.

I am still happy with the overall ability of the printer but I am starting to think that it might be a good idea to update the firmware and either get the latest repeater software or different software altogether for sending the prints. I have a raspberry pi 2 I am going to setup as the controller for the printer but I want to have it running stable before I start that part of the project.

My current thought is, this sort of purchase ( cheepy china prusa i3 kit ) is, a good starting point but you need to be willing to tinker a lot. If you want a kit that doesn't require tinkering then the higher quality kits in the $500+(us) range are probably a better choice. I am having a great time with this but I am finding it's down a lot for tweeking. I am currently waiting for ptfe tube as I got a clog and I think I ruined the tube that is currently installed. Not a big issue but I think this is less likely with the higher quality kits.

Also, I started accumulating parts for an i3 last year but decided to get a kit to simplify the setup for my first printer. So while the Geeetech printer prints I work on the single frame i3 I am also building. The self sourcing process in contrast to the $360 kit is silly. Having the complete kit was so nice and the over all cost is about the same so far. I have made so many mistakes with the other i3 that I don't think I have saved much in cost and will most likely get rid of it when I am done with the build. I am not seeing the advantage of sourcing unless you have access to free/cheap parts. I don't have access to any sort of discount so I think the cheap kit was the best route for my situation.

I'll post more this weekend.

BTW the firmware in the printer can be Repetier or Marlin, but not repeater. And the software on the PC is called Repetier-host or another software Pronterface.

Interesting review but it would be very much enhanced if you added some pictures.

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AndrewBCN
BTW the firmware in the printer can be Repetier or Marlin, but not repeater. And the software on the PC is called Repetier-host or another software Pronterface.

Interesting review but it would be very much enhanced if you added some pictures.

I'll get some pics up this weekend.

I bought one few month ago, Prusa i3 pro, 8mm acrylic frame. The machine is good and strong, but the mechanical design is weak. You will have to modify and change parts.

the main frame is engrave wrong side. use the pictures of the machine for orientation. (position of power supply, Arduino....)

The 8mm rods, are very bad quality, Measure them at 7.92mm, (linear bearing can rotate around the rod axis and that is bad),
The 2 carriages on each sides for the Y axis (plastic parts), will not be tight enough,
your guiding on X, Y, Z will be weak and you will get wave design on your print walls. change the rod with a good 8mm and this will solve the problem

The Z axis use 2xM8 thread rod, the hole at the top of the machine are not aligned correctly and too tight, this will pinch your Z axis and you will miss some steps. you better increase those diameters a lot.

the heater bed is really not flat, and even if you place the glass over it, you will have trouble getting 110 deg C. I have place 4 big large springs under the bed to push it up (large but not very strong), and clips my glass on each corners, Help a lot.

the extruder support is not strong at all, 2 plastic parts fixed with 2 small screws, The nozzle is pushed up when extruding near the glass. glue the 2 plastic parts together.

After all of this and few minor changes, the machine work well. good precision with ABS.

After all calibrations, do not forget to check the perpendicularity of X and Y. You can get good lengh measurement in X and Y, but if you measure a circle at 45 deg, you can easily get out of measurement. .

if you find out that your motors make lot of noise, readjust the Vref of the drivers at 0.8 Volts, and the machine is in fact very quiet.

Wish this can help.

Very cool, thanks for the descriptive review.

Can you tell me the difference between yours and the "B" model?

I plan on making this my first 3D printer: the Geeetech i3 Pro B, I choose this because I'd like to print in wood filament.

[www.ebay.com]

Hi,

My Printer was a PRO B. the only difference with PRO, is you get a 1Kg ABS of PLA reel.
all others are the same.

I have also chosen RAMP1.4 + Arduino Mega, to get more flexible.

I got the 1Kg ABS of PLA reel as well and I don't have the "B". From the geeetech site the difference is "I3 pro B features newly added potential for 3D prints—support 5 types of filament: ABS, PLA, Wood, Nylon, flexible PLA and filament, create flexible hinges, joints, shaped parts; enable you to get the most out of your 3D Printer.". I assume that means a different hot end and/or extruder but to be honest I am not sure.

Sorry I haven't added any pictures yet had to put this on the back burner, should be getting back to this this weekend. I'm also looking at adding auto bed leveling, if I can get it working I'll post pics of that too.

ahh I've been reading about the RAMPs1.4. thanks.

@ Tigreen I suppose you could find the model of the extruder and still that to get wood filament.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2015 07:10PM by XYZM.

@XYZM In the Geeetech forums people have asked about getting the new extruder/hot end but they are not selling it yet.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2015 07:31PM by Tigreen.

Hi, I have geeetech i3 as well, i think mine is the I3B series, the one with mk8 extruder. i had problems with my build, destroyed my first nozzle (assembled the wrong way), the board shipped were sanguinololu 1.3 turned out to be a blank board without bootloader ( can't even burn the bootloader). Ordered from an agent and luckily the agent/reseller agreed to give me replacement for both electronic and nozzle while the geeetech themselves didn't want to give replacement by saying I wired it the wrong way in fact gave them the picture; their support said it was correct

Thanks very much for the great reviews, I just put together the i3ProB and testing printing. I will say that I had many of the construction issues noted above. In addition, my extruded carriage piece that connects to the belt was poor quality and I had to get a replacement from Geeetech. Unfortunately they send it by postal service and it took 3 weeks to get. I also used their software and the prints are ok, but I am having problems with the initial layers being of poor quality. I even used their trick of spraying the glass with hairspray to enhance the sticking of the PLA to the bed. I'm suspecting that the temperature and speed may be the issue. Does anyone have changes to the Geeetech config file that might help.

so I read on this forum of someone having that same issue, with the first couple layers being off...the solution was tightening some belts.....just ordered that printer off ebay..soon ill join in on the adventure


Can you explain what the "extruded carriage piece" is??

Picture?

Thanks!

I have the I3 Pro B, and have been printing for a few weeks now. Some things that I found during the build and use:

- do not tighten the bolt and nut too much where the two Perspex pieces are attached at 90 degrees, this connection is seen as an upside down little 't' and the nut sits inside it. It is weak and will crack if tightened too much.
- I had issues with the belt holder (the C that holds the bearings) for the X axis. The bolt supplied was not long enough which pinned the belt between the bearings and the cage that the 'C' holder went in.
- Download the latest Marlin firmware and follow the instructions, and you will be provided with some new features such as prepare heating for PLA now contains two options. I also found I had less printing issues.
- You should only need to touch the configuration and the configuration_adv files. Each setting has comments.
- My board came weathered and parts rusted. Ordered another online but hope mine is not the 'norm', it affected the stepper motor settings - I suspect the connectors on the sanguinololu for the step sticks as most of the pins and components were crusted with some sort of crystal.
- LCD garbled display can easily be fixed even during the middle of a print - no need to reboot; when the display text becomes corrupt just navigate (blindly) away from the current screen so that it is refreshed by a new page. For example when the image is corrupted at the 'info' page, I press the knob to initiate the settings page and this is sufficient. This might only be applicable to the latest Marlin firmware although I cant see why it won't work with the stock firmware.
- The heated print board should be mounted low enough to allow you to tighten or loosen the wing nuts. Mount it mid way of the bolts for example.


Hope this helps. Its a good unit.

Hey so I know what you mean about the belt holder, I plan on getting a longer screw to solve that.

Currently I am having issues putting the acrylic piece on top of the two vertical rods, the right hole on top is a little to small to fit the threaded rod.
Did you have this issue?

I just drilled a tad bit larger hole no big deal.

What we should figure out is how to get rid of that wobble woobble ive been hearing about, maybe adding some weights to certain locations throughout the framee ehh?

I had the same problem with the rod and top acrilyc part, so I drill little bigger and after few days getting wobble problems. Because the rods are not straight and will still touch the acrilyc.
The solution is to shorten the threaded rod 1 cm under the acrilyc top plate.

Good luck.

About wobble on geeetech, I forgot to tell you, when you fix the threaded rod with the motor coupler, leave a gap, the rod cannot be seated on the axis motor.
and cut the rod under the acrilyc.

For bed adhesion print, I have try all this glue,tape.... Now very good for abs. So I use some varnish protection for electronic pcb. What we call clear coat varnish protection or tropical protection. You can find that in spray.
Place just a little on your glass, wait 20 min dry, and heat your bed at 110. For abs.
The problem is to remove the print. I now must remove the glass with the print, wait it cool down, and place in the fridge for 2 mn. And it unstick by itself.
You can reuse it for arround 5 prints.

To clean it, I use hot water, dish soap and metal dish scratcher, not dangerous for the glass. Place the glass over a cloth and brush for 2 mn until no coat.


Have nice prints.

Hi

I post the STL parts of the GEEETECH that I have modified.

Some parts are from internet and I have re design a little to fit. Care the X rod spacing are at 45mm, little different than the GEEETECH.

Also some pictures of the installations. all inside the zip.

- For the bed, I have some nut holders to adjust precisely the bed level.
Under the bed a heat protection, and 4 springs in the middle of the BED, to stick it flat. PCB heater is not flat enough, and you have air gaps under the glass.
On the top of the bed, I have placed a copper sheet of 0.2mm for heat repartition. Care not short circuit the connections.

- For the Z carriages, the fixation of the linear bearings start to break on the original parts. So I have redesign them.
Fix also the short screw to tighten the belt, and the rods where too loose.

- For the X carriage, the bearings was fixed too tight, so modify as 2 bearings for the x movement and one bearing for anti rotation, you can see it can move by itself up and down.

-Extruder support, I have change it to accept the old GEEETECH motor as direct drive with E3D extruder. or Bowden using the same motor.
The original part can also fit.

-E3D, I have placed some air flow left to right, I have find that some of my parts start to crack because the wind generated from the extruder cooler was blowing directly on the print.

And do not forget to cut short theses threaded rods to remove completely the Wobble.

Also attached my config.h for the GEEETECH with ramp 1.4 + arduino mega and original direct drive. As example.

Next modifications will be the Y table, too heavy for me. If you print too fast, you will get ripples on the print. I have already down the jerk to avoid that. But the lighter the better.
And auto bed leveling.

And for sure you can use and share as you like.

Thank you for the parts especially for the e3d mount. how about the x-carriage especially the 'extended' part, does it have the same length as the stock parts?

It would be a slight mess for me to fiddle with the firmware again

As for the wing nuts, I found out that these wing nuts tend to get loose whenever the printer shakes rigorously during the print and so I changed every wing nut to lock nuts since I got extras.

The C bearing holder, I used a longer screw, then I put lock nut to secure the screw into the C bearing holder so that the screw won't get turned when I tighten the lock nut at the end of the screw, both x and y belt idler I used longer screws with 2 lock nuts.

My stock lcd; 2004 practically dead even though I turned the potentiometer at the back, it was ok but only 5 x 2 character were displayed then dead.

My coupler were too big, 7.7mm threaded rod paired with 8mm coupler hole, I had to use ptfe tape but destroyed eventually, so I printed a coupler off from thingiverse.

I smeared too much glue stick on the glass last night and I wanted to clean it off and apply small amount only, any ideas?
My issues is now the wobbling. If I read the previous post right, I should leave a gap between the motor shaft and the threaded rod right?

Addition; I used m3 rosette to house the lock nuts, can be found here [www.thingiverse.com] and I printed some of this [www.thingiverse.com] to replace the metal ring clamp because it didn't fit on 3 of my smooth rods, reason why the x rods slid out during my 1st prints where it moves fast at 50mm/s. I also added this [www.thingiverse.com] to the belt idler bearing to avoid the belt being eaten away by the C bearing holder and do note that it will grind the plastic away, it does on my y belt, but it protects the belt and offers slightly smoother movements. do change the z scale of this tensioner guide

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2015 10:40PM by sarf2k4.

Sarf2k4

The old extended part can fit on the X carriage.

For the wobble, you must fix a guide rod at each extremities, it will be your guide.
The threaded rods, cannot be touching the motor axes. Even inside the couplers.
The top side of the threaded rod must be free and touch nothing. Cut them short.

The plastic clip clamp, first loose the belt, then fix your clamps. If not your belt force will bend your guide rods.

For the glue stick, it is water base, so use hot water.

I have fixed the C-clamp issue on mine with this: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:829408

Thanks to all who have provided upgrade ideas. I am going to implement some of these suggestions.

Quote
Laopa
Sarf2k4

The old extended part can fit on the X carriage.

For the wobble, you must fix a guide rod at each extremities, it will be your guide.
The threaded rods, cannot be touching the motor axes. Even inside the couplers.
The top side of the threaded rod must be free and touch nothing. Cut them short.

The plastic clip clamp, first loose the belt, then fix your clamps. If not your belt force will bend your guide rods.

For the glue stick, it is water base, so use hot water.

I think my z threaded rod got bent a little bit

Another thing, when printing the vital parts, what is the minimum infill for them? 30%? I printed x motor part with 100% turned out to be peeled off at the bottom =(

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2015 03:59AM by sarf2k4.

Hi

For the infill, it is part of machine calibration.
Follow this link which is for me a very good one.
[wiki.solidoodle.com]

And with this you can also adjust your X,Y and Z dimensions.

For pets with mechanical strength, better increase the wall thickness, top and bottom to 4 layers. The infill can be 15 to 20%.

Quote
Laopa
Hi

For the infill, it is part of machine calibration.
Follow this link which is for me a very good one.
[wiki.solidoodle.com]

And with this you can also adjust your X,Y and Z dimensions.

For pets with mechanical strength, better increase the wall thickness, top and bottom to 4 layers. The infill can be 15 to 20%.

Thank you for pointing out the flow rate calibration, I was fiddling with it before I used gluestick in order to make it stick on to the glass surface but makes the object somehow off. I am more fond to cura than slic3r due to I had to manually set everything up before printing from slic3r gcodes. So I'm guessing in cura it should be 'shell thickness' is it?

I don't have a higher resolution caliper, just a .1mm resolution caliper so I guess measuring it with .6mm shell would be okay?

I still having issues about z-ribbing, it is still quite horrible, I wonder if it is due to electronic, left side z threaded rod already bent making the left side wobble (not right side, no wobble at all), changing the electronic would mean I have to do resonance test from Thomas Sanlanderer, to check if the motor would go skipping the steps during high speed travel, then I have to increase the current a little bit. Or was it too high acceleration?

But the ribbing is more like somewhat occurs every 1-2mm, and now it somewhat gets worst =(

edit: My 0.3mm brass nozzle got clogged and need to be soaked into acetone, currently using unsure what is the size of the nozzle should be 0.5mm. I printed some of the parts for the e3d v6 and I currently have e3d v6 cloned, the one you slide in the ptfe tube all the way to the heater block but the tube diameter is larger than 1.75mm, I wonder if this would be okay

edit 2: Any suggestion which greg's wade extruder or bowden setup parts I can use with my clone e3d?

edit 3: my lcd failed on me, but I wanted to print from sdcard, any tips here? I'm fond of using pronterface

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2015 04:13AM by sarf2k4.

Hey so I have been having a problem where it says "Extruder switched off. MINTEMP triggered !"

Did anyone with the have this. I am using the Gt2560 board.

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XYZM
Hey so I have been having a problem where it says "Extruder switched off. MINTEMP triggered !"

Did anyone with the have this. I am using the Gt2560 board.

Make sure you connected the thermistor cable into the correct port. You get that error because the thermistor isn't connected to your 'default' extruder thermistor input

I did make sure of that.

The GT2560 has two extruder connections, I tried both and the same result. I will try measuring voltage and resistance at the hotend.