A new post for an old topic, this is long over due…
I wanted to get into 3D printing because I had the desire to design, to fabricate and create “things”.. 3D printing seemed like another path to be able to do those things.
When I bought this kit, 3D printers were just coming onto the market, they weren’t as popular as they are today and mainstream printers were just expensive, so this was a great budget way to get into the space. The kit I purchased was a CoreXY design, it had a large print space 320×320 and was reasonably priced, a couple hundred dollars, if I recall. It came with all the extruded aluminum and 3D printed parts that would make up the machines structure, the electronics and hot end were not included…
The assembly was pretty straight forward, lots of nuts and bolts… I was surprised at the accuracy and quality of the parts. The kit came with a defective part though, one of the corners had a split, but it didn’t seem to impact the assembly or rigidness of the machine.
The next step was to install a control board, I went with the Duet 3D, it had great reviews. Also, if I decided to re-purpose on down the road, I could utilize this in a laser printer… something else I’ve been wanting to get into.
Wiring it up was the most challenging, but I managed with the documentation from Duet and through their support website.
I also purchased a MatterHackers E3D v6 Hotend… this is one of the best on the market.
The last part of the project was figuring out how to use the printer… since this was a kit build, there really aren’t any directions… so there’s a lot to learn. Ultimately I used CURA Ultimaker or Slic3r for slicing my prints… the hardest part about using slicing software are the settings, they are numerous to say the least, and they are very particular to your machine and what your machines capabilities are… OMG! just so much to learn…
Here are a few prints, and some samples, from this machine… the quality is just not what I would expect, I want better and more useful prints. The layers didn’t adhere to the bed, a common problem, and I just couldn’t get over the other issues as encountered them.
