I’ve been so excited for a larger 3d printer (replacing my tiny Monoprice Mini Select). But the Prusa I3 MK3 I ordered isn’t slated to ship until March! Uggg, I am clearly not patient enough for this kind of backordered item.
So, some parts are duh stupid easy. A few others have some gotchas. I definitely had a minor casualty with a printed part that I’m hoping I can fix after it’s all assembled. I am enjoying it though.
When building my Prusa printer, I put a screw in backwards and stripped the 3D printed material around a captive nut. I still got the printer working with the damaged part, then used it to print its own replacement part!
Honestly, the biggest credit here goes to Prusa for being so committed to open source hardware. All the printer schematics and files for the 3D printed parts are available online. I just downloaded and printed.
Oh yeah! I was printing the next day. I had a couple snags that extended the build time - I’d say it took 7-8 hours to build? I should have timed it better. I did destroy one shipped 3D printed part.
One of the interesting and unexpected side effects of ordering the Prusa kit and assembling it myself is that I’ve got so many more ideas about how to design more complex 3d printed parts than previously.
I started with a $200 monoprice printer, low investment and sufficiently fun. Recently upgraded to a Prusa which I LOVE. Totally agree with starting with PLA. It’s still mostly what I use.
I think what was most funny to me is that my oldest came running over with a piece of paper - “look Dad, mom just 3d printed this!”. My kid has more familiarity with a 3d printer than a regular one.
PLA will absorb moisture, which causes it to print really poorly when that moisture steams up at the hot end. Personally, I’ve never really had any issues. I store in bins, and ignore the spools.
I went from the $200 monoprice mini to a Prusa i3 Mk3 and didn’t regret it one single bit. It’s an amazingly solid printer. Quality, speed, and noise levels are far superior to the mini - and price isn’t crazy.
Agree - good motors and firmware are a huge part. Print volume is still something I long for periodically, but I don’t really have space/good enough reason. But I went from the mono price mini, which makes the prusa seem giant.
This is awesome! I experimented with some similar a while back, but used ws2811 strips wrapped around a 3D printed cylinder. I love the all in one PCB.
My current asset pipeline is Fusion 360 -> STL to Blender -> Collada to Xcode.
It’s a bit silly, but I’m using the tools I know. I’ve gotten fairly proficient with Fusion doing 3D printing stuff. Blender I’m totally fumbling with, but have got some basic UV mapping figured out.
My 3D printer lives in the garage currently, and I use it FAR less than I would otherwise. I have a work bench, it’s just in a bad location and is often a disaster.
When we moved earlier this year, I gained a home office as part of my transition to permanent WFH. So I plan to slowly build out a tinkering workspace indoors as well, for electronics, 3d printing, etc. It’s nice to be able to separate that from garage construction workspace.
I love this! I did something similar a while back, but 3d printed so I could attach to a baseball cap. I used an nRF52 so I could control the sequences from my phone.
