Black Beauty the MK3 arrived "review" and a preview of new robot project.

[robothut]

A review of the new MK3 printer. Still a few things that need to change I think. And you can see a preview of the 3d printed Zathura robot project.

 

[Brian..]

Zathura looks very ambitious, John. I love its old-style looks. I'm sure your example will be awash with technical gizmos.

 

I also have a Prusa on order after the Dreamer gave up the ghost.  It's such a reliable brand.

 

As far as getting parts to stick to the Prusa I kept getting slight warping at the corners like the example in your video. It was very annoying so I looked for a solution on YouTube. Someone recommended a 50/50 mix of PLA glue and water, painted on to a heated bed. Two or three coats were fine. It sounded far-fetched, but I gave it a go. It was astonishing. I have no more warping. I used it on the CR-10. (Where's yours, John? It's an absolute stunner of a machine.) I got a 30x30 mirror from IKEA to replace the wavy Chinese glass and used the PLA mix on it. I can't believe the improvement.

 

The bridging is most impressive. I can see that it will save a ton of filament if I can stop using so much support material.

[robothut]

Yes I tried the 50 / 50 glue mix a year or more ago then switched to glue stick, the glue sticks are so cheep and  easy to use and you clean the bed with a wet cloth. That's what I use on my CR 10 S5 "the big mother" out in the shop. Its to cold for me out there and the S5 is to large to bring in the house 500mm by 500mm glass build plate. To get the money to order the MK3 I had to sell off the smaller CR 10 I had and both Dreamers and the Prusa MK2. They did not all need to go but I needed the money before the credit card bill came in and did not know what ones would sell so listed them all, and they all sold. That left me with the big ass CR 10 S5 and that was fine until winter set in. So as I waited for the MK3 to arrive I bought the Any Cubic i3 Mega and JG arora. I sold the JG arora as soone as I saw my MK3 was about to ship. Had to keep the AnyCubic i3 Mega as it is just to good of a printer .

 

[robothut]

So I resliced the file that failed and ran it again on both the AnyCubic i3 Mega printer and the new MK3. The Anycubic did a great job and the new MK3 had a layer shift fail near the top of the 15 hour print. But I did spray the fan gun metal so it would blend in. Oh Well. The remove able build plate is nice.

 

[Brian..]

Layer shifting has been reported by a quite a few users. It may be connected with firmware, specifically b150. Reverting to b143 has helped some to solve it.

 

[robothut]

Thanks Brian mine has the RC5 150 so I will try and down load the older b143 and see how that goes. Right now I am thinking about just selling it. The Any cubic i3 mega does such a nice job and never screw up, never have to use glue on the bed, no auto bed level but in the 4 months that I have been using the printer I leveled the bed when I got it and its been good ever since. But first I will try the b143.

[robothut]

With all the guys adding spinning things magnetically to there extruder stepper motors for fun and to be able to see when it is turning I thought I would make one that looks more like a dial indicator and the marks show 1mm and 2 mm increments or movement.

 

[robothut]

Ok had to call it what it is, a Filament disposal meter.