3D Printing and RVing

[BuckyII]

Okay @redbaron, kit or assembled? Again, my inclination is to assemble...what are your thoughts after going thru the assembly process?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BuckyII]

Haha, I know how to hide, don't you worry! I absolutely love and swear by the Prusa i3 MK3 (S is now the latest). The MMU2S I added and it's been extremely frustrating, I would avoid that for now. Assembled vs. not. Assembling it will teach you much more about it as you WILL have to disassemble something and fix things, clear clogs, etc. so this will help you learn. Their instructions are outstanding. I opted for the assembled version, I took it out of the box and it was ready to print. @redbaron assembled his so he may be able to provide better feedback on that front.

You will love it, you'll get addicted, apologies in advance. This is the best series, I have only watched some but LARS is amazing:

The #LarsLive With Fusion 360

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Thanks Neal...Yes, I also enjoyed the Lars' videos that I watched.

 

[Neal]

It's really basic, it's all just squares, circles, extruding. You'll do the most basic stuff then build on that. I wish I could really harness Fusion 360 and will continue to watch videos, I absolutely love doing the CAD then printing. I take my Prusa in the coach with me and keep filament under the bed and print all the time. I think my printer printed non stop for months, so much stuff to do, so many ideas, and the RV is ideal for it.

There are two types of metal sheets to print on that Prusa offers, get BOTH. The coated sheet is amazing as it requires no prep to help adhesion but it doesn't work good in the RV due to the air conditioners, etc. - I cover it with a towel to help. I got mine with the uncoated sheet (steel PEI I think it's called) as they were still working out the kinks on the new coated one and they sell out so fast. Prusa is so popular, prepare to wait! For the non coated sheet you'll want to prep it with hairspray - yes hairspray, it helps with adhesion. This is the one that's recommended:

Amazon.com: Aqua Net Professional Hair Spray Extra Super Hold 3 Fresh Scent, 11 Oz: Health & Personal Care

I ordered 2-3 as they are hard to get, I'll have spares should I need ever:

Textured Powder-coated Steel Sheet | Original Prusa 3D printers directly from Josef Prusa

Double-sided textured PEI powder-coated spring steel sheet for Original Prusa i3 MK3/S/+ and MK2.5/S heatbeds.

shop.prusa3d.com

The regular one which I use hairspray on:

Smooth PEI Steel Sheet | Original Prusa 3D printers directly from Josef Prusa

This product is a replacement Spring Steel Sheet With Smooth Double-sided PEI for the Original Prusa i3 MK3/S and MK2.5/S heatbeds. Update: The steel sheet color may differ from the product picture (black, gold, green, etc). The smooth PEI surface on the steel sheet, as well as all other...

shop.prusa3d.com

Prusa's filament is the best, prusament, etc. It's expensive due to the shipping so when they run deals that's the time to get it such as free shipping offers over $200 etc. Otherwise AmazonBasics is good as well as Hatchbox. PLA, PETG, ABS are the typical ones, I'm trying out Prusa's new invention of ASA I think it's called.

 

[redbaron]

I did assemble my MK3S, and later assembled and installed my MMU2S. At the same time, I built the Prusa Printer Enclosure V2 - with MMU2S support.

As @Neal mentioned, the MMU2 has been the source of great frustration. I may end up going back to the original setup, but for now, I am learning what to adjust and trying to deal with it.

Printing the parts for the lack table prior to the "upgrade" to MMU2S, I went thru 10 spool changes without a single hiccup.

The same is not true with MMU2S yet. I have struggled with every change, and when the spool gets near the end, it wants to catch.

Part of this is due to the angles with the lack table. Part is due to the MMU2S.

As of now, I would recommend the MK3S, unassembled. You will learn a lot about the leveling and components by building it.

Plan on 8 hours to build the MK3s. I did this over a week, spending a few hours a night working on it.

Once assembled, plan on 4 hours of tinkering to get a good first layer print, and then a few days of testing objects before you know its dialed in properly.

2019 DSDP 4369 * Active Air * NHSO

 

[BuckyII]

Thanks @Neal & @redbaron for all your suggestions. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

 

[BuckyII]

@Neal ...yesterday, after MANY failed “First Layer Calibrations”, I was not very happy with you and this thread. However, things started to come together today and I have successfully printed a couple small test items! Things are looking up...

 

[Golfer Guy]

Neil, your post begs the question. Does anyone have a problem with pulling the generator release and not getting it to unlatch? I have that problem,tug all I want it stays locks. Crawl under the coach give it just a little pull from there and it pops right open. Not sure why the cable pull is not getting the tension it needs to unlock the generator slide.

 

[NWIP]

I think this is a common problem. I heard you can adjust and someone changed the spring. Mine works for now so I haven’t investigated this myself.

 

[Neal]

@Neal ...yesterday, after MANY failed “First Layer Calibrations”, I was not very happy with you and this thread. However, things started to come together today and I have successfully printed a couple small test items! Things are looking up...

Haha, it takes time, the learning curve is steep! But it's fun, you'll get it. 1st layer calibrations are an art and they change depending on smooth or textured sheets if you got both. The desired result is a smooth piece of plastic and not ridged, it takes time. I suggest find some 1st layer calibration tests on Thingiverse.com so you have more time to play with the adjustment vs. the default one from Prusa although that's what I end up using now that I have it figured out. Remember this is a hobby thing so it's not science, it's someone invention in progress and they need TLC to work but it's fun to make things.

Neil, your post begs the question. Does anyone have a problem with pulling the generator release and not getting it to unlatch?

I think the latch pulls fine but the weight of the hood won't pop out enough to hold the open position. There are bumpers you can adjust be Newmar uses these more for alignment than a spring to keep flush with the left/right body around the hood.

 

[Neal]

For the 3D printing nerds I finally added OctoPrint to my setup. I've had the raspberry pi b+ for probably a year now but as I've never worked with something like this I figured it would be painful to setup so I never did it. I was wrong, it was so easy to setup by downloading octopi, etcher, install the image to the drive, setup the network, done. Easier than that. There is a newer raspberry pi zero W out but that is NOT recommended from what I read so what I bought was the best option. I'll include links to that as well.

Parts:

Amazon.com: CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 B+ (B Plus) Starter Kit (32 GB EVO+ Edition, Premium Black Case): Computers & Accessories

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ER2SKFS/?tag=rvf01-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JZKCCQH/?tag=rvf01-20

Thingiverse (other options available) camera mount:

Search Thingiverse - Thingiverse

Download files and build them with your 3D printer, laser cutter, or CNC.

www.thingiverse.com

YouTube video on setup, you'll stumble on more in your setup with some googling, add-ons for OctoPrint such as Anywhere and SpaghettiDetective