Trevor Rushton

Thanks MM; Uxbridge cold be doable at a stretch for me, but not ideal; I will keep an eye out for something closer to home ( Surrey). My Prusa earned its keep at the weekend by making a Stand-off for a new ceiling mounted light; I used the lowest red for this, but the quality was still very good. I think the next trick is to configure the print to make best use of the "grain"; it's a trade off between a simple print ( i.e. No temporary support) and strength.

Tony, I have long had designs on a DH Flamingo but the Albatross looks superb for a pre War airliner. I have a facsimile copy of the Flight International report on it; runs to several pages with some use ful detail if you are interested. Let me know and I can PM you a copy. Trevor

Dear MM; I echo DF; it will be worth the wait. The course sounds good - where was it if you don't mind me asking? I am on a diy learning curve with Fusion 360 but I am sure would benefit from a more structured approach.

David Not sure I can give any advice but how about slicing it through the middle to that the cut face can lay flat - print 2 sides and join them? Split some of the other parts to make them easier to fit rather than trying to print them in one.? I printed some large parts in "normal" mode today; still took 5.5 hours each but still pleased with the result; more grainy but for these parts (feet for a display board) it does not matter. Not having to use Pritt at all now, but I am printing with a brim to help adhesion. Trevor

Dave, glad it is meeting expectation. I tried the bottle opener today and was very satisfied with that; slide a penny in as the blade and it works fine. However, a few issues today - tried printing my Avia Instrument panel and had a couple of aborted attempts; the first one I tried without the printed brim; it curled and so I abandoned it and spent a lot of time cleaning the bed - stupidly managed to gouge a small fingernail sized chunk out of the smooth surface. Moral of that is take great care with a scraper. I think I can smooth it off with a filling of epoxy resin. After a couple further attempts and some more tweaking of the z axis I managed to get the zig zag pattern to work without Pritt. 2 hours into the print and the house power tripped out - grrr! back to the start again! I made up a small set of switches for the instrument panel - a bank of 3 on a base plate. In retrospect they were a bit too small and did not print very well, They were about 3 mm high and 1mm in diameter - I think it was a bit ambitious but might do better if they were part of a larger print. That's the problem with Cad - you cant resist drawing something in fine detail - dome headed panel screws circa 0.5mm dia was a bit silly! Managed to break one of the spool support arms as well - so all in all not a very successful day. However, its all down to operator error and lack of experience. I will draw up a replacement spool arm - any excuse for printing things! The latest iteration of the instrument panel has 2 hours to go but is looking good thus far. One lesson taken the hard way - if you do calibrate the z axis do take it right to the top; I cheated (because I had just done it a few moments previously) and only ran it up half way. Not a good plan - it wants to go past the bed when it travels down again so I ended up having to recalibrate the whole thing again. No damage done but it was pressing down quite hard on the board. I like the look of that radial engine Mal - I could do with something like that on my RBC Havard.   Edited By Trevor Rushton on 05/03/2017 20:27:37

Sorry, I should have said that the thin blade can be worked under the print; the stiff one was too thick.

Dear David Jolly good; I am not too fussed about the Pritt, but I had a similar problem removing my print from the bed. The boss lent me a thin blade that she had bought from Metal Clay Limited (pro cutting blades) - there are three blades in the pack but the thin one worked really well - see here Instrument panel for my Avia coming up next!

Dave I hope that it goes well today. I am very happy with print quality so far. I am finding that a bit of Pritt is preferable on the bed despite the heating so I will be interested to see how you get on; perhaps I need to adjust the z a fraction more. The printed filament is so small I don't know how you can see the shape of it and compare it with the profiles in the pictures. At present, and if Pritt works its not a hardship.

Any good Dave?

Ah, just seen your second post - I hope that that is the answer.

David hmm, that sounds correct, have you got them the correct way round at the lcd? Fun and games! Good luck.

Hi Dave That's odd; its not helped by the orientation of the photos but I installed mine per the photo - my connectors were not reversed. Have you got the single and double lined ribbons in the right sockets? the red tapes should be facing toward the usb port, the single lined cable is nearest the edge of the board Mine is printing at the moment so I can't check it.

David, I did not find it very loud so I guess you could shut it away somewhere overnight. As to whether its a good idea I cannot say; common sense suggests probably not. Long print runs could be a bind - the maximum evening run for me would be about 3 hrs - 4 at a stretch. I might be overdoing it in terms of resolution, but when I bought the Prusa I was looking for something that would give a high quality finish so I guess I will have to print at weekends - or make smaller parts!

Thanks David The frog is complete and I am delighted with it. The Boss was impressed and is already thinking up projects to print. Resolution was superb; I am really chuffed. I abandoned the test cube and went straight in and designed a pen holder for my Stepcraft - I have just rebuilt that following problems with the Y axis; using a pen is a cheap way of testing it without cutting out and wasting material. Started to print it but at high resolution it will take 4 hours. I need to experiment with lower settings but the measurements of the 30% that I printed are spot on. (Slight disagreement about leaving it running overnight! I backed down.) T

Dave I did not have to tap any holes other than by screwing in the various machine screws. The hardest ones were those that fix the Rambo box to the frame; its worth screwing those in first to cut a thread but no real problems. I think that the final stage took a bit longer than I anticipated - I'd say I spent 6 evenings at a couple of hours each evening to complete it plus a couple of hours messing about with final adjustments and calibration. I agree with you, the bearings do tend to stick a little, but they don't seem to be causing any problems in use. Mine is now up and running; calibration was fairly easy but I did make a couple of errors. My self test failed as I ad not connected one of the fans correctly - getting all of tthe iwires in is a bit fiddly and if, like me your eyseight is not good for close up work, the combination of a black background and artificial light was a pain. I found some difficulty getting the print to stick to the bed; the supplied Pritt stick improved matters but in the end I used the live z adjustment to set it at -.35 - that seemed to do the trick. The machine is now busy printing a tree frog as a test piece - don't ask me why a tree frog other than this is on the sd card and is seemingly commononly used for comparison purposes; Its been chugging away for about an hour so far. If that turns out okay I shall prepare a 20mm cube to measure the accuracy. Good luck with your build - I am not sure that I enjoyed every minute of mine but I think it was worthwhile because I now have a good idea of how these things work and tthe function of the various components. Short bursts and patience are the key I think. T

I used Mick Reeves Bendy pipe on my ASP 50fs for my DB Cirrus moth; I joined this to a fs silencer and then ran an alu tube down the fuselage. Not totally scale but gave a good impression, but the best bit was the sound - really purrs away and for this model the loss of power (and I am not totally convinced about loss of power) was of no consequence. I later substituted the MR bendy pipe for a proprietary flexible alu pipe - this was harder to keep in shape and did not like the S bend very much. I forgot to re-balance the model and had an awful job getting her back in one piece!

Thanks both and Dave, good luck with your build. I don't think that you will find many complications (the instructions suggest moderate difficulty) although I have "enjoyed "a few small frustrations -one being the fitting of the psu which, with only 4 fixings ought to have been easy. It wasn't! The nut retainers that are moulded into the printed bracket on the main y axis frame seem to be the wrong size for the supplied 3mm nuts. However, the bolts do cut their own thread into the part, but I could not get the nuts to bite, they kept falling off. I will have another go today. I need to make some small adjustments to the x axis to align it normal to y; the method described in the instructions is a bit hit and miss- I will use a square rather than a visual alignment, but adjustment of the 10mm nuts looks to be simple enough - I would have thought that the correct positioning of the frame could have been made easier by using sleeves of the correct length on the studs - but its not a big deal. Cable management is interesting - I have not installed the electronics yet but there are lots of wires! I am still finding the extensive use of cable ties a bit odd - fine for fixing cables but they are also used for retaining things like the led screen assembly - no reason not to I suppose but it lends a bit of a "jury rig" feel to the whole thing - this should not be a surprise given the evolution of this type of machine. Total build time so far - 5 evenings at circa a couple of hours each - I probably need one more session to install the electronics, adjust and calibrate before the real fun starts. Sadly the Boss is becoming critical over the delayed completion of house decorating so I may have to divert time to that instead. Ho hum.

Hi Dave and Times I did not see a steel frame option either but the frame that came with the kit seems to be quite robust; not exactly sure what it is and time will tell if it is up to the job. Dave I will have a look at the video; The part that delaminated was simply a raised circular moulding for the bolt head, I should have realised that it would separate easily but being unfamiliar with the materials did not even think about it. You comments make sense regarding the orientation; it will be a learning experience to work out how to align the part to make best use of this whilst at the same time making it printable. For example (and this is probably a bad example) suppose you wanted to make a control horn. To print the horn with say the base at the bottom you would end up with laminations going the wrong way. To avoid this you would say turn the part on its side, but if you do this (bearing in mind I have no experience of this whatsoever) do you then have to use "scaffolding" to support it?

Dave, I hope your back improves soon; nasty things backs; had my fair share. Another session last night; slightly less rewarding and a bit more troublesome building and fitting the extruder; my problems were mainly caused by a square nut getting wedged in the wrong place and misreading the photographs resulting in misplaced wiring runs. No major issues, just a matter of patience and following the instructions very carefully. As noted in a previous post some of the assembly instructions contain posts sent in by other builders; it is worth reading these but I found that I was not encountering many of the issues so perhaps the kit has been improved. One small point was that in my efforts to remove the wedged nut (and bolt) I managed to peel off a small lamination of the printed part. Not a big deal but the plastic was surprisingly weak in tension. Once I am up and running I will do some tests - could be critical for some component designs. Electronics and printer bed tonight. T

Another couple of hours last night; its starting to look like something now. Assembled the x,ynd z axis and finished the extruder holder. No particular issues; fitting the captive nuts is a bit of a fiddle but if you pull them into place with a suitable bolt first its fine. Quality of the printed parts is good; they fit well ( I think its because I am unused to 3d printing that I half expected things not to fit very well). The only thing that I am not so sure about is the x and y drive belts - these do seem a bit hit and miss in terms of tension; the belt material is a straight length and you have to join it at a central printed part by looping it around and wedging it. I am not sure if I have got the tension right; movement feels fairly stiff but I have nothing to compare it with. Instructions say it should twang - which it does so I suppose its okay. Another couple of sessions should see it through unless we have calibration issues. Trevor

Thanks Dave. The y-axis starts off hit and miss, but you get the correct length by inserting the rods and the correct width by using notches in the metal frame so its not a big deal. I think it probably would be easier if there was a jig, but I don't think its essential (with the caveat that I'm not yet operational). Fitting the y axis belt was a bit fiddly and took some adjustment but I was pleased to find that the assembly remained true. The construction makes quite extensive use of cable ties - this felt a bit temporary, but they are quite effective and seemingly robust. I am pleased with the quality of the 3d printed parts; they have fitted well so far. I finished the y-axis tonight and then assembled the x-axis which presented no particular issues. Assembly time so far circa 4 hours - 2 evenings. Trevor

At long last my Prusa arrived on 14th Feb - exactly when they said it would. First impressions were of a neat and well packaged kit with the parts for each stage carefully packed and labelled. I have not made very much progress due to other commitments but I have assembled the y-axis frame which is constructed of studding and 3 d printed corners. The lit comes with a printed manual but the photographs are small and unclear - its easier to follow on the on-line version. The instructions are clear for the most part, save that the fixing of the bearings was a bit misleading. Helpfully, the on-line version allows you to post comments so its worth reading those at each stage. Initial alignment of the parts feels a bit hit and miss but once you have worked it out it makes sense. The key seems to be to get it absolutely right now as its much harder to fix later. I spent ages levelling the four feet. I will not post any pictures just yet as in reality everything you need is shown on the assembly instructions.

43 but it was nearly 44 - is woz robbed by a careless contact with the touchpad

Well its now February and according to Prusa's website I have just a couple more weeks to wait. I hope it lives up to expectation when it arrives. Tony, from some of your other posts you look to be getting a bit frustrated with yours? I'm keen to see how the resolution works out; one of the reasons why I opted for the Original Prusa was that I wanted prints that were as smooth as practicable; it remains to be seen whether it will fit the bill and how I will get on with the long print times. In the mean time I downloaded Fusion 360 which is an Autodesk Product - you get a free trial month, but its also possible to register as a hobbyist and get a free 1 year licence. I thought that it was just students and teachers that could register for the free licence but that is not the case. Now I have to say that after a huge amount of messing about with TurboCad and Sketchup I have found a programme that seems to suit my method of working. I watched one video on parametric modelling on the Fusion site and everything suddenly fell into place. Sure, you need to work at it but within a short space of time I was churning out designs for an old timer wheel hub and rim, bellcrank and more magnetic clamps. There are several introductory videos on the Autodsk site - well worth looking at those; after that its simply worth having a design in mind and then finding out how to draw it. One of the problems that I have found with my Stepcraft CNC is that you can produce a drawing, import it into Cut2d to prepare the gcodes and then find that it cuts some but not all of the shapes. I found that I could improve matters by making sure that all polylines were closed, even if this meant going over the drawing again using the chain polyline tool in TurboCad or by using the close polyline tool in Cut2d. Even this does not work in every case - very frustrating. My question is do you get similar problems in 3d printing and if so how do you prevent it?

Well its now February and according to Prusa's website I have just a couple more weeks to wait. I hope it lives up to expectation when it arrives. Tony, from some of your other posts you look to be getting a bit frustrated with yours? I'm keen to see how the resolution works out; one of the reasons why I opted for the Original Prusa was that I wanted prints that were as smooth as practicable; it remains to be seen whether it will fit the bill and how I will get on with the long print times. In the mean time I downloaded Fusion 360 which is an Autodesk Product - you get a free trial month, but its also possible to register as a hobbyist and get a free 1 year licence. I thought that it was just students and teachers that could register for the free licence but that is not the case. Now I have to say that after a huge amount of messing about with TurboCad and Sketchup I have found a programme that seems to suit my method of working. I watched one video on parametric modelling on the Fusion site and everything suddenly fell into place. Sure, you need to work at it but within a short space of time I was churning out designs for an old timer wheel hub and rim, bellcrank and more magnetic clamps. There are several introductory videos on the Autodsk site - well worth looking at those; after that its simply worth having a design in mind and then finding out how to draw it. One of the problems that I have found with my Stepcraft CNC is that you can produce a drawing, import it into Cut2d to prepare the gcodes and then find that it cuts some but not all of the shapes. I found that I could improve matters by making sure that all polylines were closed, even if this meant going over the drawing again using the chain polyline tool in TurboCad or by using the close polyline tool in Cut2d. Even this does not work in every case - very frustrating. My question is do you get similar problems in 3d printing and if so how do you prevent it?