Afinibot Prusa i3

Anyone got one yet?

I have one, works good.

It's the only i3 with buttons instead of a knob, for the LCD. Also it seems to be the only one with some partially-built components.

Always the question of acrylic though; will it warp over time.

And the SD card; is it on the LCD, or on the main board?

Any new owners?

I've ordered one from a big main 3dprinter website from Denmark, cause i'm a Dane of course.
Looking forward to using it! And yes, it seems that it is a very new product, that's why no one have heard of it before.

I think it looks the best.

Here are some instructions:
[electronicgeektips.wordpress.com]

[www.electronicgeek.ca]
[afinibot.de]

Hi this is my first post here*.

I bought this printer 2 weeks ago. I’m in Germany so i bought it from afinibot.de.

I have the version with the manual bed leveling. I see they have already upgraded the printer again with autoleveling.

The total build time was around 9 hours over three days. I could only work on it after work for a few hours and because this is my first 3D printer i didn’t want to rush it. The build time of 4-5 hours claimed on the website seems a little optimistic for my taste.

Building the thing worked without major problems. They have good instructions with a lot of pictures. Even if you don’t speek german it might be possible to build for a beginner by only going by the pictures.

The set has everything included even the tools (which are as you might expect of lowest quality :-) ) and a self standing filament roll holder.

The electronics board is unknown to me. I think its some kind of proprietary board. Assembling the electronics is a little tricky because the board is mounted between the front an side panels of the printer and it is very hard to access the wire slots.

The board is running the repetier firmware and it has an eeprom, so you can access and calibrate the printer without flashing the whole firmware. I like that.

Speeking of calibration. After I had the thing running I tried to calibrate the extruder using this method intructables

The printer had the steps per mm set to 80.0 in firmware. I tested the extrusion for 100mm and found out that is was seriously underextruding (it was only using 87.85mm of filament). I did the calculation and set the steps per mm to 96.75. After that the printer was way overextruding. I now settled at 82.50 steps per mm, which seems to be fine. Maybe someone can explain this to me.

I didn’t calibrate anything else other than bed leveling of course. The manual bed leveling with thumb screws is a little fiddly but it works.

Two problems i had were:

1 The pre assembled heat bed had lost a screw for the belt mount, so i had to take it apart and put it back together. The pre assembling was therefore useless.

2 When i did the first print I noticed that the x-axis was moving very shakey with lots of vibration. It was so bad that I could not print a proper diagonal line. All the diagonals looked like snakes. I found out that the screws that hold the bearings to the extruder assembly (again came pre-assembled) were tightened way too fast. I loosened the screws an re tightened them correctly and after that the X-Axis is running perfectly.

So, if you choose to buy this thing. Check all the pre assembled parts for errors.

I am now very happy with the printer. It took a lot of attention and tinkering to get it running really good which i totally underestimated ;-)
I made some prints** which came out very nica at 0.2 and 0.1 mm.

*About me:
I am totaly new to 3D printing. I do have some experience in programming and in mechanics but never had anything to do 3d printing or CNC. Please bear that in mind if you think I’m doing/writing something totaly idiotic :-)


**prints I made
[www.thingiverse.com]
[www.thingiverse.com]

and of course the obvious calibration cube and triangles :-)

cu
Chris

Although it's your first printer, how would you say the noise/vibration is?

Hello,

I have lots of vibration and noise but you can do this : [www.electronicgeek.ca]

I think this is a good printer but i had lots of problem with the ABS and the heatbed. Impossible to have a temperature over 104 Celcius, even with some glass fiber between the heatbed and the support.
I will buy a SSR40 to override the power of the heatbed.

I have pretty good print with PLA.

I'm on my way to do another one but from scratch : PRUSA i3 Rework mixed with Prusa I3 IPI version. You can look to the both version on thingiverse

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2015 12:26PM by hochefab.

Just saw that the Affinibot has the SD card on the main board, and not the LCD. I think that this make for better SD card functioning?

Is it a Melzi, and if so is a Ramps preferred?

I dont known if it's for better functioning but it's not easy to use.
I think Ramps or Newest controler board will be more efficient if you need some extra functions like auto bed-leveling, dual extruder or more, etc....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2015 02:23PM by hochefab.

Well I ordered a Createc Steel i3 instead, and it has Ramps 1.4

I solved all my problems, Just change the power supply and setup the output to 13,2 volt. Shunt all the connecter together , the 3 V+ and the 3 V-, it works pretty well with PLA and ABS. No problem for the heat bed to go to 115 degres with ABS and need to wait only 18 minutes. With PLA , 65 degres on 3 minutes and 28 sec.

Now i have a very good printer. I can print With 0.3mm layer at 100 mm/s and infill at 30% and 80 mm/s. I will post some pictures.

Quote

Although it's your first printer, how would you say the noise/vibration is?

No problems with vibration or noise. The steppers play mario theme like a champ :-) The loudest things are the two fans. The fan on the 12V power supply is always on and quite noisy.

I'm getting great results with PLA. Have not used anything else (will try ABS soon). I have no problems with the heatbed. I started printing the PLA on blue tape, now switched to glass.

I do have to say that i print quite slowly. Never went higher than 50mm/sec so far. I think the printer is capable of going faster but I have not tested it yet.

If you want to see some results, this is what I made: [www.thingiverse.com]

cu
Chris

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2015 07:05PM by ChrisJ.

Hi all!

Our hackerspace is currently exploring this printer to give a workshop. I would like take a look into the firmware. If anybody has a printer with the new board, I would be very grateful if you can send me the firmware files.

---

MfG / Regards

Stefan

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Blog / Gallery / Wiki / Mendel90 kit since Sep 2013 from Nophead / Original Prusa I3 MK3 since Feb 2018 /
OpenScad Workshop: Kursdateien
Octoprint Patron since April 2016

Just assembled a new Afinibot A3 Prusa. Can't get the extruder to turn on. My computer can send gcode to the printer but the printer can't find it. It says the SD Card isn't "Mounted". Any ideas as to what the causes are? (I can control the x-y-z directions manually through Repetier-Host.)

Squid.

Ahhh! Just as I posted this last message I found where to turn these on. Sorry! Still working on the SD Mounting problem.

Squid.

I'm looking for any help on connecting the computer to the printer board. Instructions aren't detailed enough
if it doesn't connect automatically. Please help

Its USB to Serial. Look in the device manager in Windows and look for a new com port mine came up as COM4. I also believe that the baud rate on the controller is 115200 not 250000. Make sure the Reptier-Host software knows that in the settings.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2015 11:10AM by Simptek.

Oh and I am running Windows 10. No Drivers needed.

It will run on window 10 ?

I am running Windows 10..

Is it an upgraded computer or a new windows 10 computer

I am connecting with both. My PC is a new install but my laptop is an upgrade from 8.1.

I have a problem with the x axis not moving. I checked the limit switch and switched the motors
and both motors and the switch is fine. Anyone have any idea what to try to resolve this problem
I have contacted the place I got the kit from but haven't heard back from them.

I have just finished building my Afinibot Prusa i3.

I was able to calibrate it and was ready to print the stl test file which came with the printer on a micro sd card.

The display said: Printer ready. I load the stl file and the display showed : Printing 1%... Than within a second it jumps back to: Printer ready.

Nothing happens.

Thru the display I can change the temperatures, xyz positions etc etc. But it doesn't print any stl file... I have no idea what to do next. Could somewhere here give any pointers? Thank you!

Ignore my earlier post. Got it printing. The generated gcode was corrupt. :p

Now need to find the ideal settings for smooth prints.

Cheers!

Quote
Joempie
Ignore my earlier post. Got it printing. The generated gcode was corrupt. :p

Now need to find the ideal settings for smooth prints.

Cheers!

Hi! I just finished to build mine. I tried to print something and the outcome is quite good. I used PLA so far, the one included in the printer kit, and I'm extruding at 220 °C without bed heating. Initial and following layer thickness 0.1 mm. Extrusion feed 100% leaving the stock firmware.

Bye
Alex

I have a problem with the x axis sometimes I can get it to move but then it just stops. Is there a setting that
I could change to get it to move all the time. I have changed the motors between the x and y axis and the y
is always working. I have checked all the limit switches and all are working. correctly. Any ideas ?