2017 UPGRADED DIY CTC I3 Prusa Ebay Clone 3D Printer Printing Out Of The Box (more or less)
This is my first 3D printer. It's a DIY CTC I3 Pro B Prusa Clone from eBay. It took me about 3 - 4 hours to assemble and this is my first print with it. The only set up I've done has been to level the bed and set the gap between the bed and the nozzle. Nothing else.
The motherboard on this model seems to be a GT2560 or a clone of one and it still has the default firmware and settings installed. I've not flashed it or anything. This is it as it came.
The main software I'm using to connect to the printer and to slice my objects etc is Repetier Host which comes with Slic3r. The only settings I've altered in Slic3r are those relevant to my printer e.g. nozzle size and filament size and I also slowed down the Perimeter speed to around 25 - 30 mm/s, changed the layer height down to 0.25mm and lastly I altered the temps for my PLA to be at 210C for the first layer with the bed at 65C and then 200C for the PLA and 60C for the bed for all other layers.
I did have to tweak the stepper driver pot for the extruder a little because I could hear it clicking as it tried feeding the filament but that all seems okay now.
The only problem I've actually had with the printer has been that I don't seem to be able to print directly from my laptop via USB using repetier. For some reason the printer just doesn't like it. It performs some strange moves and sometimes just stops dead so I've now opted to save my slic3d files directly to SD Card and print from that.
Overall, apart from those few little tweaks and slight adjustments, this thing is pretty much straight out the box. I'm very happy with my first print. Had I printed something like a bracket instead of a batman logo it would be quite a usable part as it stands.
The instructions that come with this printer are notoriously useless but having read about these printers before purchasing, I was ready for that and the few adjustments I mentioned above. The internet is brimming with helpful information for assembling and setting these things up and that helped a lot. One thing I will say is don't trust the board wiring instructions. Quite a few things are mis-labelled and you'll end up with the extruder motor connected to the Z driver and all sorts of crazy stuff. Just go cautiously and logically and it doesn't take long to get these printers assembled.
Just be sure to have plenty of tea flowing :)
For more information on this video, please see my complete blog entry on my website: http://www.m6mdr.co.uk/2017/04/08/my-...
Thanks for watching!
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