My experiences building and maintaining a low cost 3D printer kit.
Getting a 3D printer requires an investment of time and money. It also helps to understand your objectives. Once you get bitten by the 3D printer bug, it becomes more a matter of how than what. You know you are going to end up with your own 3D printer. It becomes an obsession. Here’s how I handled my obsession. How did you handle yours?
If you can assemble children’s toys on Christmas Eve, you can build a 3D printer kit. And it will probably work fine. But remember this: a 3D printer kit is not a finished product. You are buying a proven design, a box of parts, and assembly instructions. There will be bumps in the road. Here is the story of my ride.
Calibrating a 3D printer kit can be a lot harder than building it. And, if you are not careful, you can make it even harder. Here is my experience with my Sunhokey 3D printer kit. Remember that a 3D printer kit is not a precision instrument. It’s more likely a good enough instrument. So, have reasonable expectations. Perfect is the enemy of good.
Getting the first layer right is the holy grail of 3D printing. This is hard if your print bed is not completely level. Here’s the story of why and how I added 3D printer auto leveling to my Sunhokey Prusa i3.
My 3D printer now does auto-leveling using a proximity sensor and an external control board. This DIY PCB article describes completion of printed circuit board used in this project.
Nearly half was through printing my MPCNC plastic parts, I have had another heated bed failure on my 3D printer.
Time to reflect on my 3D printer experience. How has my Sunhokey Prusa i3 performed? Has my 3D printer experience been good?
Lots of people have problems printing with PETG. Me, too. But with a bit of tweaking, my PETG project case turned out great. Read more