Prusa i3 build - progress and delays
Jan. 21st, 2013 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnridleyI made a lot of progress on my i3 today. I hit some snags (see below) so I won't be able to do much more on it until Wednesday. I should easily be able to be printing by next weekend though.
WOW this thing has about 220mm of Z axis height. It'll be nice not being constrained to 100mm.
This is a fantastic evolution of the Prusa design, IMO far superior to the old triangle frame, though I haven't printed anything with it yet. Sure seems a ton nicer though in every way I can see. I think this is the way to go for any future build.
The construction is largely complete, all the axes are in place. Marlin firmware is compiled and working with panel. I have to disassemble partly after it's done to glue and paint the wood parts.
The current Marlin has some tweaks that make it nicer than the last version I compiled. They're both labeled 1.0. For one thing configuring this panel was just a matter of uncommenting one thing. Maybe that's just because I just bought the panel rather than wiring it up myself though.
Snags: the X axis is HUGE on this thing - I had to cut new smooth rod for it, and I didn't have enough belt to run it so I had to order more. Should be here on Wednesday. I got some new pulleys on the way too - it's not practical to print GT2 pulleys and the 36 tooth pulleys I have won't work with this setup on the X axis. So don't think you're just going to tear down an i1 or i2 and use the parts straight up to build one of these.
I used the old X axis rods on the Y axis. The pages call for 470mm rods on the Y as well but I have no idea why. I seem to be getting a full 200mm travel with the 405mm rods that came off the old X axis (I think)
I really like the control panel. I bought a RAMPS 1.4 board to replace my old 1.2 board, and I bought the control panel from ReprapDiscount (ebay). Both together were $100 (I provided the Arduino Mega and the four motor drivers that I already had). All told this set of electronics would run a bit short of $200, versus a minimum of $100 or so (with Sanguinololu and no panel). The panel is SUPER NICE - I personally won't build another printer without it. The RAMPS electronics I went with because I will eventually put a dual extruder on this thing.
WOW this thing has about 220mm of Z axis height. It'll be nice not being constrained to 100mm.
This is a fantastic evolution of the Prusa design, IMO far superior to the old triangle frame, though I haven't printed anything with it yet. Sure seems a ton nicer though in every way I can see. I think this is the way to go for any future build.
The construction is largely complete, all the axes are in place. Marlin firmware is compiled and working with panel. I have to disassemble partly after it's done to glue and paint the wood parts.
The current Marlin has some tweaks that make it nicer than the last version I compiled. They're both labeled 1.0. For one thing configuring this panel was just a matter of uncommenting one thing. Maybe that's just because I just bought the panel rather than wiring it up myself though.
Snags: the X axis is HUGE on this thing - I had to cut new smooth rod for it, and I didn't have enough belt to run it so I had to order more. Should be here on Wednesday. I got some new pulleys on the way too - it's not practical to print GT2 pulleys and the 36 tooth pulleys I have won't work with this setup on the X axis. So don't think you're just going to tear down an i1 or i2 and use the parts straight up to build one of these.
I used the old X axis rods on the Y axis. The pages call for 470mm rods on the Y as well but I have no idea why. I seem to be getting a full 200mm travel with the 405mm rods that came off the old X axis (I think)
I really like the control panel. I bought a RAMPS 1.4 board to replace my old 1.2 board, and I bought the control panel from ReprapDiscount (ebay). Both together were $100 (I provided the Arduino Mega and the four motor drivers that I already had). All told this set of electronics would run a bit short of $200, versus a minimum of $100 or so (with Sanguinololu and no panel). The panel is SUPER NICE - I personally won't build another printer without it. The RAMPS electronics I went with because I will eventually put a dual extruder on this thing.
