Episode: 2017
Title: HPR2017: Here are my thoughts on a 3D printer Kit.
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2017/hpr2017.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-18 13:21:12

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This is HPR episode 2017 entitled, Here are my thoughts on a 3D printer kit.
It is hosted by Cheeto 4493 and is about 13 minutes long.
The summary is, bought a 3D printer kit.
My thoughts on how it went together.
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Hello there, hacker public radio.
This is Travis again.
You might remember me that I did a recording on tips and tricks with audacity.
Well I thought I'd like to start a series on 3D printers and the kit I bought and why
I bought that one and probably do another show on the software and stuff and then a third
one on some improvements I've done on the kit and some changes that were made and maybe
I'll just keep going from there.
I'll just have to see how many recordings I'll make out of this.
I'll try to do several short ones as opposed to one long one.
Back ground on the printer, the one I'd end up getting is what they call a fused filament
fabrication which is basically where you're you melt plastic or wax or something like that
and it's laid one layer on top of another layer or next to it and basically the material
is added that way.
Easiest way to think about it is kind of like a hot glue gun where you're just laying down
layers of melted material on top of something else.
As opposed to some different types of fabrication one is called stereolithography or selective laser
centering or basically a laser is used to cure a UV resin in a vat one layer at a time
and then add it on.
I know that method can provide more accurate prints but the cost of the material is fairly
expensive.
I forget how much the resin is per ounce but it does get quite expensive.
Where the fused filament that material has become fairly cheap where you can get a 1 kilogram
which is a 2.2 pound spool for about 30 dollars with shipping and that can last quite a
while.
Offhand I remember someone saying that can make like 200 regular sized chest pieces out
of one spool so it does take a little while to go through that so there's not a huge
expense there.
The printer I ended up getting I decided to go with a kit because that's kind of what
fit in my budget and I'm kind of a hands on person and was able to put a kit together.
I think if you're going to get your own 3D printer and actually do it yourself you almost
need to be kind of a hands on person because they are not really like a desktop printer
where you just send your text to it and it prints it out on a sheet of paper.
There's a lot of fine tuning you can do, changing options, the speed of the print, temperature
or all kinds of things can make changes in your print and how they come out and how things
fail and how things work.
So you kind of need to be like I said a hands on person who can get in there and play
with things.
So you don't just expect things to just pop out like a Star Trek replicator.
Like I said I ended up getting a kit, I did a little bit of shopping around and ended
up getting one from Aliexpress, just online order place that I sometimes use, I ended
up spending about $230 US, that was in the fall of 2015, I looked at about the same price
now, some are more expensive, it just kind of depends on sale prices and stuff.
The brand I got was a Zone Star, I only mentioned that one because I had good luck with the
kit and so if I was to buy another one I would definitely buy another Zone Star.
There were a few issues with the shipping and stuff that they were mild and overlookable.
I was looking on the Aliexpress where I ordered it from and customers have rated out
at 4.7 out of 5 stars and that's with over 780 votes, so it's got a pretty good reputation
there, even came with its own tools to put it together so you didn't have to get any tools.
Like I said I had a few problems, mine was missing some screws, I think it had some wrong screws,
it maybe like they changed some of the way they'll get went together and replace some things but
didn't change the hardware out to match it. So I had to go down to the hardware store and buy
some metric screws for a couple dollars, it's got a big deal there, mine was also missing the
spool holder that holds the spool just kind of the metal bar in between and it'd get a dowel rod
stick it in there so I didn't end up working out okay for me. I also came with the wrong plug,
I had specified a US plug but it came with a European plug sometimes I'm not sure but I had one
of those as well so not a big deal on my part. There was a slight delay in shipping I ended up
ordering it right about the time of the Chinese holiday so I think it was another week or so before
it got shipped out but once it shipped out I think I actually got it within like three days
for the US so I was quite pleased with the shipping. A few features of the printer, the print size,
what it'll print is it says 220 millimeters by 220 millimeters wide and 230 millimeters tall I
think most of the rep wrap models they say they're generally 200 by 200 by 200 so I bet that's
probably what this is or probably just squeezing a few extra millimeters out in the margins there
somewhere. The printer I got was a rep wrap Prusa Mendo i3 kit and basically that rep wrap is just
a form of printer that's got an open hardware type that allows basically it was meant to be able
to print its own parts so once you get a rep wrap you can actually print some of the parts,
can't print the rails you can't print the motors but you can print some of the support pieces.
Prusa is actually the name of the guy who came up with that design and i3 is the third iteration
into the newest and most current 3D printer design by rep wrap core developer Prusa Junior and i3
incorporates lessons learned from the previous two Prusa designs as well as other popular more
modern rep wrap designs kind of what I got off the wiki. Also the printer included a heated bed
which allows you to use the materials such as ABS and nylon which can experience significant
warping if printed on a cold platform and my testing yeah it does require a heated bed.
You almost kind of need to even be print in a room without a lot of drafts because sometimes
cool breeze blowing over the printer can cool off your part enough to cause it to warp.
On assembling the printer I think I had read some stuff on on assembling those that a lot of
people say it takes like some about six hours. I think that's what it ended up taking me. I thought
I could maybe get it done a little quicker but I was wrong it took me about that long. Part of that
I think was kind of read through the instructions first and then looked back through it and I sorted
out all my screws and it came packaged very well everything was wrapped up and labeled and all
the sides had like stickers on them that were showing which ones were which the instructions were
kind of like Lego instructions just kind of pictures that show where everything went and how
many of what you needed. I kind of gave their instructions about a B minus mainly because
they did no explanation of where wiring runs so I'd get up like the motor put on and then find out
well it worked better if the motor was turned around the other directions of the wires around to
the sides so I'd take the motor off with the motor back off. I noticed that that brand I was looking
at the specifications today that the new one comes with a video I don't remember mine having a video
it was just a PDF document so their instructions may have gotten a little better I'm hoping
we said they weren't terrible but I'd give it about a B B minus. The body frame of the printer is
acrylic quarter inch or six millimeter acrylic and the hardware is all nuts and bolts
and just kind of put the nut in a slot and then put the other piece on and then tighten the bolt
in and like I said went together fairly well it was kind of crooked as I assembled it I had a
loosened some feed nuts up and set it on table get it straightened back out square and then tighten
the nuts back up but once I got it totally assembled and plugged it in ran through the test just fine
I think I first time I plugged it into my computer I did have a problem with a USB driver and
think I had to download the proper USB driver for it it came with an SD card that had the hardware
had the PDF on an SD card they have had the software on the on the card as well that goes on the
computer the firmware for the printer was already installed on the printer so I didn't have
to do anything there once I got the driver installed and I installed the software plugged it in
and it ran its first test very well everything got the motors all hooked up and all the motors were
right and the heater was working well there's a few things you have to do with leveling the bed
and that makes it part of the one that kind of hands on thing you have to
go in there and adjust the height of the bed to get it straight and level it is not a fast
printer it does take it a little while to print things out take it a couple hours to print a small
item to five or six hours if you wanted to print something pretty good size I ended up putting my
printer out in my garage mainly because of two things one is the smell of the plastic I bought two
different types of plastic when I got mine I got the PLA which is a biodegradable plastic
and it actually doesn't smell when it heats up and then I got ABS plastic and the ABS does
gives off a little bit of odor as it as it's printing that's one of the reasons I put it in the
garage and the other is that the printer kind of has a tendency to sing a little bit the stepper
motor is spitting back and forth it actually makes a little bit of a noise and I just figured after
if it was inside and it was a two or three hour print that might get a little old after a while
so I actually set it up in my garage with a computer out there to run the prints off of
and that works fairly well for me I can say if I was to do it again I think I would definitely order
another printer kit just like that one the only other thing I might do different is if I had a
little bit more budget to spend on it I might get the dual head instead of the single head and
basically what that does is allows you to do rather like two different colors you can load different
colors of a filament in each head or you can even do different types of material so if you
wanted some parts to be a hard plastic and others to be a soft plastic you can do that I think I'll
end it right there I think my next episode I think I'll actually talk about some of the different
types of plastics as well because there are quite a few of those different a lot of different
options to choose from thanks for your time thanks for listening and I'll see you next episode
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