Geeetech Acrylic Prusa I3 Pro B Unassembled 3D printer DIY Kit

Firstly this printer is quite daunting, open up and there are loads of individual pieces - think flat pack furniture and this is exactly what you are getting.Personally as a first printer i wouldn't have enjoyed putting it together, i have about 3 years experience, many printers (none built like this) and it really helped me not only with setup but knowing exactly where parts should go (as they are pretty much all the same in layout). I'm not saying this wouldn't be a fun project for a newbite, but i think already having experence of a 3d printer would help. We put this together at a leisurely pace taking a few hours every day for a week, so probably 14 hours in total, we weren't rushing, and an hour of that was probably final cable management and making sure it heated up etc. and an hour pulling the protective covering off all the acrylic pieces.Hints and tipsFirst as most people will probably get bored of this review: We printed out the instructions all 100+ pages of them as we wanted to get a proper experience (i built along with someone who had never built a printer before) so this was very useful. I would say in some places the paper guide doesn't follow the Youtube guide, which we used alongside. Sometimes the paper guide makes reference to various 'washers' or certain parts like bearings that are already preinstalled for you (like the rollers for belts) and some other things.Tools are provided, but we thought we were missing a certain size allen key but found it along the way in another bag! Extras we needed were: pliers, adjustable spanner, scissors, snips, larger crosshead screwdriver for connectors on the power supply, and we also used what we consider to be better cable management covering (which can be seen in some photos as the black mesh type - not included but we used as felt it gave better stiffness where the cables needed it).WiringThere isn't too much wiring involved to be honest, wiring the power supply was easy and the video was great, however the let down was the control board plugging in - no video either we could find it stopped at the install of the power supply on Youtube and the written instructions basically went from 0-100mph on plugging in the board and didn't really describe things properly. Even though we think we were pretty good, the board wasn't labelled on some imports so we got a few things round the wrong way, mainly thermistor locations. Our advice for this is take note of the board wiring diagram hidden away on the page of the manual (then get a magnifying glass to read the location of the plugs).The board wiring is probably the only place the manual/youtube instructions were a let down and we did a lot on experience.Problems for usWith the build the only thing we actually got wrong was installing the limit screw on the Z axis upside down, but that was easily fixed and we didn't notice it until the machine was turned on and we manually moved the bed down and it was miles away from the limit switch. That was literally the only thing we got wrong as each 'part' is nicely strutured along the way so you should get to see any problems you have created before bolting stuff on.PrepYou need to take a lot of time taking the protective covering off the pieces, we did this at the start and got all the pieces cleaned up before doing anything. The spool holder is pretty pants to be honest and could've been supplied with a more rugged centre piece rather than some pieces of plastic pipe that don't fit together very well.Everything is bagged up extremely well, everything is numbered and there are spares of pretty much everything but well worth keeping everything in the bags and in number order as its makes the whole process a lot easier.FinishingCable management was quite tough at the end, and it was more luck than judgment that we got things where we wanted them, there are some nice holes in the frame that allow you to pass cables through which you might not notice at first until you think 'how the heck do i get a cable from here to there'. Trial and error on this front, we found the clear cable tidy wasn't thick enough for what we wanted to use, so had some mesh thicker stuff laying around - and used that on the hot end cables to make them more rigid and stop getting tangled on the X axis.PrintingMarked down on print quality purely because there is no parts cooling fan - again you know this before buying the machine, but really with space on the board anyway it wouldn't have taken much time and cost to add a parts cooling fan to this and we will probably take this action but really a printer at this price should have a £2 fan added!For a newbie printing on glass might be daunting, we are used to it and use glue stick or hairspray and it didn't phase us at all. I wouldn't expect this to stick properly without the use of those things though so worth taking into consideration.On the printing front we found that 215 and 55 for the bed was absolutely fine, no skipping from the extruder and the prints were fine. Sounds strange not to go on about this printers print quality - this we found to be all fine, the experience with this is the putting it together. The bed got to temperature pretty quickly, and levelled out along with the hotend pretty well, not too many fluctuations with no PID calibration done either.Printed accurately out of the box in terms of extruder calibration, just the parts cooling letting it down for anything with an overhang.Keep in mind this printer comes with a 0.3mm nozzle so don't set it up with the standard 0.4mm nozzle settings that occur in many slicers. We used Simplify3d as we have other printers we use and that profile was created with 0.3mm nozzle straight from their library.LevellingLevelling was easier than it actually looked, although be prepared to have an allen key along with twiddling the wingnuts on the bottom - its a small bed so hoping it won't go out of level very often as its not quite as simple as most other printers with fixed bolts and just nuts on the bottom to turn. Again something simple in a design which could be changed to give a slightly easier user experience.In general, a good entry level printer, possibly not for the entry level user. Would be good though for someone who likes building things, getting to know how a machine works and acts before then tearing their hair out working out how to slice things to print. Luckily we have already done the last part so was less of a pain for us.

I bought this kit to introduce myself to the world of 3D printing and am very pleased both with the build experience and the print quality. First thing to be said is that this is not a kit for a beginner or for someone with limited technical ability. A fair amount of technical common sense is required as the assembly instructions, which you have to download, are vague and inaccurate with many mistakes. The instructions have links to videos which are helpful but, again, not without mistakes. Using a combination of the manual, the videos and your own technical skill will get you through the construction. What also helps is the comprehensive parts list which is packed with the kit. This was found to be very useful for identifying similar-looking parts. No parts were missing and, as I took extra care with the assembly, the printer worked without any problems.I was very pleased with initial test print results even though they weren't perfect. I am in the process of learning about fine-tuning the printer and can see improvements in results as I learn more. I highly recommend this kit for the fun of building and for the learning curve of actually printing.

The Prusa i3 pro B is an astonishing kit for a very affordable price (bought it on sales for 169 GBP, shipping to EU included). I'm writing this review as someone who has never had any experience or knowledge of 3D printing but is an avid DIY-er and no problems around mechanics or electronics.The first thing I noticed at the post office was that they were pushing the package on the floor. Turns out the box is slightly heavier and around 10kg (22 pounds). This is because, on top of all the metallic parts and motors, this printer is built with 8mm think acrylic and is very solid and robust. The package is well protected and everything is stowed in appropriately fitted compartments. They had a slight delay (a few days) when sending the package and they promptly offered 1kg of PLA as compensation, which if find really nice of GEEETech.It took me about 5 evenings to assemble the printer, calibrate it and print the first test (which came out great). I could probably have done it faster but I wanted to assemble it as precisely as possible. The instructions are quite clear (both the pdf and the videos on youtube). And you won't have any issues assembling it if you're a DIY-er. The quality control of the components is quite good. They give you a checklist with the elements in the package and for many smaller elements (screws, etc.) they give many more spares than needed. Only a linear ball baring worked slightly less good but it's causing no issues to the printer. I think that for the acrylic version of this printer, the one I bought, you spend more time peeling of the acrylic plates than assembling the printer :)After I've assembled the printer, I've first calibrated the bed and the extruder (it was extruding slightly less filament than needed but it was really easy to calibrate it as there are videos from other people on youtube). I have never tried to connect the printer to a computer and I've been using the sdhc card to transfer gcode and print independently (I think this is a great feature as I wouldn't wont to have my laptop connected to the printer the whole time). It was relatively easy to find configurations files for slic3r for this 3d printer so I didn't have to worry about configuring the slicer and worrying which temp. to use for PLA etc. I printed a xyz calibration cube and I was amazed at how well and and smooth it came out. It was my first 3D print ever and everything went great. Later on, I copied the parameters to cura,and I've tried printing some hollow objects with bridges (e.g. two whistles) or models that need support material (e.g. a t-rex skull) and I have to admit the printer works really well. I will add an additional fan to cool the filament to improve bridges but it really works well out of the box even for that.This kit might be slightly more complex for somebody who is not used to play with mechanical stuff and is not keen on googling up various settings but for any passionate DIY-er, I highly recommend this printer as it's very robust and offers a great value for the price.

Os cuento mi experiencia con esta máquina.Supone un buen reto al venir desmontada completamente, pero la buscaba asi precisamente para aprender. Trae un manual y una hoja de despiece, os recomiendo cotejar lo que viene, ya que serán de más y asi sabeis para cualquier mejora posterior cuales tornillos pueden venir bien. En la pagina del fabricante hay un videotutorial que no está mal, pero tiene algunos fallitos. Empezando a montar los ejes, las varillas tanto lisas como roscadas bastante bien equilibradas. Tras montar el eje Y (inferior) nos encontramos la diferencia con el tutorial, el motor hay que colocarlo al lado contrario, o sea, con el engranaje a la derecha, para que la correa vaya lo mas recta posible. Ahí nos encontramos la primera mejora que hay que hacer, bajo la cama caliente, el tensor de correa que trae recomiendo cambiarlo por uno que hay en thingiverse (si no teneis otra impresora buscad algun amigo que os la imprima) ya que este es un perno y hay que agujerear correa, restando firmeza. Ya alzando la máquina, compuesta de toda la estructura acrilica de buena calidad, se monta el resto de ejes y fines de carrera. Atentos al montar el eje Z (superior), ya que debemos equilibrar las dos partes lo más preciso (para colocar el husillo que va de los motores a varas roscadas metí un cutter y mientras estaba apollado sobre él, apreté los pasadores, asi la altura era igual.),ya que si no podemos descuadrar estructura y dañar motores.Ya toda la parte mecánica montada, toca la electrónica. Ahí os aconsejo no mirar el montaje paso a paso, que está mal, sino el esquema de conexiones del manual. Los fines de trayecto van en placa conectados a los zocalos 1-3-5.Una vez hecho esto, ya teneis todo listo para disfrutar esta máquina, con cualquier laminador.Me ha sorprendido que es bastante rápida, y pese a tener snozzer del 0'3 va muy bien.Si te gustan los retos y tienes paciencia, es ideal para adentrarte en el mundo de las impresoras 3d en profundidad a nivel mecánico.

Ce n'est certainement pas la meilleur imprimante du marché, mais pour ce prix et l'utilisation que j'en fait elle est plus que très bien.J'écris ce commentaire 1 mois après l'avoir reçu, donc avec un temps de réflexion de pratique et d'expérience en tout genre.Soyons clair à la réception il faut aimer bricoler, être organiser, patient, et avoir un espace assez grand. Voyez ça comme un puzzle de 10 000 pièces (je suis pas sur qu'il y en est moins).Les vidéos disponible sur internet vous guide pas à pas et à part quelques petits points sensibles (pièces montées à l'envers, tuto qui ne correspond pas exactement au modèle), dans l'ensemble en prenant son temps et en utilisant le truc gris qui es dans la boite crânienne (vous en trouverez dans toute les bonne droguerie) on s'en sort assez facilement.Une fois l'assemblage fini, les branchement effectués et la configuration du logiciel indiqué, réalisé, on clique pour imprimer la première pièce, on reste hypnotisé et tremblotant devant le modèle qui apparait couche par couche.on s’inquiète du petit bruit suspecte de moteur qui force, des vibrations, des tensions de courroie, des câbles qui semble vouloir interféré dans les déplacement de la buse.Et voila le petit bateau qui apparait une fois l'impression fini.Alors non ce n'est pas parfait, la première pièce a imprimer d'urgence pour moi c'est l'anti wobble de Z, et pour le coup je pense que c'est une modification de conception qui devrait être fait.Le câblage provoque un amas de fil sur le coté de l'imprimante qui réduit a mon avis fortement l'intérêt du ventilateur de la carte mère.Il y a plein de petite modification a apporté et on trouve tout ce qu'il faut sur différent site.Je pense que l'un des éléments les plus important reste le filament que l'on met, et pour le coup, celui de la même marque donne de bon résultat, a croire qu'il a été fait pour :).Je pense que pour débuter en impression 3D, le fait de devoir monter soi-même l'imprimante est un plus. On comprend mieux le fonctionnement,ce qui peu clocher, ce qu'il faut changer pour améliorer les choses. Depuis un mois que je l'ai j'ai imprimer des pièces que j'ai conçu, d'autre que j'ai récupéré sur le net, et dans tous les cas elle a suivi et m'a effectué un travail d'une qualité honorable.Et pour ce prix je ne m'attendais pas à ça.5 étoiles

Dopo Alcuni mesi di prova, posso recensire questa stampante dal costo contenutoma che può dare ottimi risultati.La stampante è arrivata velocemente, grazie alla distribuzione da magazino europeo di geeetech,Confezionata con cura, presentava un buon imballo con tutti i componenti ben protetti.l'assemblaggio e' stato facile grazie alle dettagliate istruzioni fornite onlinecon supporti video oltre che in pdf, tutti i singoli componenti sono forniti su buste numeratein modo da non trovare problemi seguendo le istruzioni di montaggio.L'area di stampa di 20x20x18 è perfetta per stampe di piccole e medie dimensioni,e con mia sorpresa la stampa mantiene la qualità anche ai piani alti, la dovealcune stampanti tendono a dare piu problemi.La struttura in PVC è di buona fattura, con tagli precisi non ha dato ancora problemi,essendo il PVC di circa 8mm non tende a deformarsi con il calore ed è possibile scatolare la strutturaper un maggior controllo termico su stampe piu complicate.I componenti meccanici sono di buona fattura, necessitano di piccoli ritocchi a volte per ottenererisultati ottimali di allineamento, ed è richiesta un pò di manualità per settare tutto,usate sempre le rondelle fornite, anche se nelle istruzioni non sono sempre segnalate.Se siete fortunati, anche le barre filettate vi arriveranno "decentemente" precisealtrimenti è necessario sostituirle con 2 di miglior fattura o installare degli upgrade per altiwooble.L'estrusore fin ora si è comportato sempre bene, visto il basso costo del componente proveròa breve la sostituzione con il kit in alluminio, per provare a stampare materiali piu complessi.La parte elettronica è perfetta e la scheda GT2560 non ha mai dato problemi sia stampando da sdche gestendo la stampante via usb da pc.In conclusione, consiglierei questa stampante a chi come me si è avvicinato al mondo della stampa 3din considerazione del suo basso costo, della possibilita di trovare online info e upgradee non per ultimo della buona qualità di stampa ottenibile.Allego un immagine di un BuddaVader, stampato in PLA con questa stampante.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------After a few months of testing, I can review this affordable printerThe printer arrived quickly, thanks to the European distribution of geeetech,Packaged with care, presented a good packaging with all components well protected.The assembly process was easy thanks to the detailed instructions provided onlinewith video supports as well as in pdf, all the individual components are supplied on numbered envelopesso you will not find any problems by following the assembly instructions.The 20x20x18 print area is perfect for small and medium sized prints.and to my surprise the press maintains the quality even on the upper floors, wheresome printers tend to give more problems.The PVC structure is well made, with precise cuts has not yet given problems,since the PVC of about 8mm does not tend to deform with heat and it is possible to box the structurefor greater thermal control on more complicated prints.The mechanical components are well made, they need little tweaks sometimes to getoptimal alignment results, and some manual skills are required to set everything up,always use the washers provided, even if they are not always indicated in the instructions.If you're lucky, even the threaded rods will get you "decently" preciseotherwise it is necessary to replace them with 2 of the best invoice or to install upgrades for altiwooble.The extruder has always behaved well, given the low cost of the component I'll trysoon the replacement with the aluminum kit, to try to print more complex materials.The electronic part is perfect and the GT2560 card has never given problems either by printing from sdthat managing the printer via usb from pc.In conclusion, I would recommend this printer to people like me who approached the world of 3D printingin consideration of its low cost, the possibility of finding online info and upgradesand not least of the good print quality obtainable.I attach an image of a BuddaVader, printed in PLA with this printer.

En mi impresora no venían instrucciones y encontrarlas en la web ha sido imposible. En el libro del despiece de la impresora venía un enlace a una lista de reproducción de youtube donde se montaba la impresora paso a paso.El primer problema lo encontré en uno de los primeros pasos, los videos especificaban un tamaño de tornillo y era otro diferente. Cuando intentas montarlo con el tamaño de tornillo que dicen te das cuenta de que es imposible porque el tornillo no llega. Revisas los comentarios y ves que no eres el único en esa situación, así que lo solucionas con los comentarios de otra gente y sigues. Esté problema se dá en otros muchos pasos.Otro problema con los videos es que cuando montan las piezas acrílicas, rara vez ponen la arandela M3, con lo cual, quien siga las instrucciones a rajatabla, estará obviando muchas arandelas (con el daño que eso pueda producir en el acrílico).Otro problema adicional que he encontrado, ha sido con el tornillo de final de carrera (creo que se llama así) que se añade en el eje Z (ver imagen adjunta). El rodamiento que ponemos en este paso es mucho mas corto que el que usan en los videos y por lo visto esto hace que choque en otras piezas (no puedo confirmarlo porque no he podido acabar de montarla).En el siguiente paso ya he decidido tirar la toalla, las dos imágenes adjuntas que son prácticamente iguales intentan mostrar el problema. La pieza dorada tiene que encajar perfectamente con la pieza metálica negra, pero tal y como se ve en las fotos, la pieza baila. He estado pasando por alto otros problemas con la esperanza que al montarla y calibrarla todo fuera bien, pero esa pieza tiene que estar perfectamente alineada con el eje Z, en caso contrario no irá bien y dará problemas, y con el juego que tiene es prácticamente imposible alinearla correctamente.En la última foto puede verse como llevaba el montaje, estaba bastante avanzado, pero así no puedo seguir. Constantes errores en las instrucciones y piezas que ajustan mal.Estaba disfrutando mucho montándola, pero no puedo esperar una precisión de 0.1/0.3mm en algo que no ajusta como debe.Los videos con las instrucciones están anticuados y no se toman la molestia de actualizarlos.La estructura de la impresora (hasta donde he construido) no es muy rígida, lo que suele traducirse en problemas con la calidad de impresión. Además alguna pieza acrílica de la estructura principal está algo doblada, entiendo que problema de fabricación.La placa de control está al aire libre, no costaba nada poner algún sistema de protección, quizás una caja de plástico con ventilación.Con todos los problemas que me ha dado la mia, me cuesta creer que tenga tantas opiniones positivas.Creo que la marca se aprovecha de dos cosas:1. Esto lo compramos gente a la que nos gusta hacer esté tipo de cosas manuales y disfrutamos con ello, con lo que si hay un problema intentamos solucionarlo.2. Cuando llevas varias horas montándola, si hay algo mal intentarás solucionarlo antes de devolverla (ya sea buscandote la vida o reclamándoles las piezas).Tal y como he dicho, estaba disfrutando muchísimo montándola, incluso con los constantes errores en las instrucciones, pero después de varias horas de montaje y con la pieza defectuosa que me he encontrado he decidido devolverla.Si te gusta el tema del montaje, disfrutaras de la impresora. Además es una impresora a la que se le pueden hacer muchísimas mejoras y que todo está a mano. Esta bien en ese sentido, para cacharrear. También es verdad que tienes que tener suerte y que te salgan todas las piezas bien que no ha sido mi caso.

Ho questa stampante da quasi 2 mesi e finalmente posso contribuire dando un parere approfondito. Perché scrivo questa recensione dopo tutto questo tempo? perché per poter avere un'esperienza completa con questo prodotto si deve provare a fondo!iniziamo col montaggio... sono uno che di questa roba ne mastica, dopo solo 6 ore dall'arrivo la stampante era montata e "pronta all'uso". Non è stato facilissimo, ma le guide sono ben fatte e disponibili anche nella nostra lingua. Successivamente al montaggio parliamo della configurazione software, è complessa, non si apprende con mezza giornata ma richiede tempo... tutt'ora devo ancora capire a pieno come utilizzarla al meglio. Attualmente sto utilizzando il firmware Marlin 2.0.X, avendo fatto l'upgrade del BLTouch (non incluso nel kit ma reperibile dalla geeetech ad un prezzo ottimo). La stampante non è tra le più silenziose, la ventola che soffia sulla scheda logica è molto rumorosa. Regge tranquillamente stampe lunghe, attualmente ho provato una stampa da 18 ore e l'ha conclusa senza troppi problemi, eccetto per un leggero layer shift finale ma che non ha inciso particolarmente sull'oggetto.Una grossa nota di merito va al servizio clienti della geeetech e in particolare a Phoenix, che mi ha aiutato mandandomi prontamente dei ricambi siccome la scheda della mia stampante e l'estrusore erano difettosi.In conclusione, la stampante è buona, la qualità di stampa direi che è sopra le aspettative e il servizio clienti in caso di problemi è eccellente.Non è un prodotto plug and play, quindi se volete una stampante che appena collegata al PC è perfetta avete sbagliato strada. tuttavia, una volta sistemata questa avrete appreso la giusta quantità di informazioni per poter stampare al meglio! Ci vuole calma e pazienza per questo genere di prodotti.Trick utili: sostituire l'ugello in ottone con uno in acciaio, aggiungere una ventola che soffia sul pezzo quando è in stampa e applicare uno strato di lacca per capelli prima di stampare sul vetro (smontatelo e spruzzate lontani dalla stampante).My review in English:I have had this printer for almost 2 months and I can finally contribute by giving an in-depth opinion. Why am I writing this review after all this time? because in order to have a complete experience with this product you have to try thoroughly! let's start with the assembly ... I'm the one who chews on this stuff, after only 6 hours from the arrival the printer was mounted and "ready to use". It was not easy, but the guides are well made and also available in our language. After assembly we talk about the software configuration, it is complex, it is not learned with half a day but it takes time ... I still have to fully understand how to use it to the fullest. I am currently using the Marlin 2.0.X firmware, having upgraded the BLTouch (not included in the kit but available from geeetech at an excellent price). The printer is not among the quietest, the fan blowing on the logic board is very noisy. He holds long prints quietly, currently I have tried an 18-hour print and he finished it without too many problems, except for a slight final layer shift but that did not particularly affect the object. A big note of merit goes to the customer service of geeetech and in particular to Phoenix, who helped me by sending me spare parts promptly as the card of my printer and the extruder were defective. In conclusion, the printer is good, the print quality I would say is above expectations and the customer service in case of problems is excellent. It is not a plug and play product, so if you want a printer that just connected to the PC is perfect, you have gone the wrong way. however, once you have fixed this you will have learned the right amount of information to be able to print better! It takes calm and patience for this kind of products. Useful tricks: replace the brass nozzle with a steel one, add a fan that blows on the piece when it is printing and apply a layer of hair spray before printing on the glass (disassemble it and spray away from the printer).