Researched, Purchased Kit From 3DPrinterCzar

Hello All,
I am brand new to this forum and am excited to get started. This community seems to be thriving and full of individuals as excited about additive manufacturing as I am (probably even more so!) As the title says I just purchased my own Prusia I3 from 3DPrinterCzar.com because of a decent amount of good experiences given on this forum by other Czar printer owners. In total I paid 501$, had a RAMPS 1.4 board shipped in hopes to work with dual extruders later (there was an option to choose the Melzi 2.0, but according to specs and RepRap wiki that only has support for 1 extruder). I also chose the MK3 Heated Aluminium Heatbed (As opposed to the MK2a with Borosilicate glass because I can purchase a glass plate if I need later, and the lighter all-in-one nature of the aluminium bed "should" allow easier, quicker prints "should") I also just went back on their site, and they no longer have the MK2a option FYI. I am going to try to update this post consistently as the process continues to help others with their printer experience. As it continues I look forward to everyone's thoughts on my procedure and help in troubleshooting tips. There are plenty of threads within the forum, but you all may know its location a lot better than I.

Updates Forthcoming!

After a few days I finally have an update. I was a little excited to receive an update so I emailed 3dprinterczar to inquire where my printer may be, turns out they had shipped it two days prior! I'm not complaining or didisappointed. It would have been nice to have an update earlier but they did have it shipped and provided me a tracking number for DHL. I will receive my printer today! Unfortunately I cannot unbox until the weekend but I am very excited to provide photos and build experience thoughts.

Updates forthcoming

I bought a Rostock Mini Pro from 3D Printer Czar this spring. I am interested to see if the packaging for the i3 is as nice as the Rostock was.

I had 30 minutes so I did a quick unboxing. Now I have a few minutes to write about it as well. The kit was very well packaged, and very well labeled for customs. I have quite a few pictures, so I will include some in this post as well as others. The packaging was clean and well organized. The foam packed around each piece just right. I was very excited to see how well packaged the pieces were. I only noticed one bag within a single packaged box that had what seemed like an abundance of oil within it. Overall very impressed thus far with both their response to my emails and the packaging.

Imgur.com is the only way I know thus far to give you access to the pictures, they are a little too high quality.
This is the unboxing, just the condition of the box as well as the isnide compartmentalized pieces.
[m.imgur.com]

I think the pictures will show you just how well packaged this was. If your packaging was anything like mine, I'm sure you were impressed. It's really hit and miss when you're trying to purchase something from China. I'm very happy thus far.

If you run into any troubles putting your kit together go over to the Folger i3 Prusa thread and on page 29 is a reference page that someone has put together including manuals, videos, and the most popular prints of the thread.

It is not your exact printer but it may help you to get out of a bind.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2015 09:12PM by jrcaster.

Alright I have it opened and the frame assembled. The electronics are almost all sitting on the frame as well. The Plastic frame is very solid and sits snugly together with nary a wobble. I had more than enough nuts and washers for everything that was required. Further, when I took out the threaded rods as well as the precision rods I checked for straightness and i was impressed. Not a wiggle on any of them. In fact there are only two complaints thay I have in this kit so far after mechanical assembly.
The first is the poor quality of the M3 nuts. Unfortunately eight of the 30 some nuts were unable to be screwed onto the bolts they were designed for. With only 6 extras that left two very difficult nuts which I ultimately need to replace before I can use them with plastic parts.
Second would be that there seems to be a leveling issue with the plastic frame where the back flaps do not touch the ground. The whole printer does not wobble, but that does not mean when it prints it will not. Along those lines the z stepper motor on one side is touching the surface the printer sits on while the other side is about half a centimeter awaway from touching. This could provide leveling issues.
Lastly, the LM8UU bearings were hit and miss with their smoothness. Time will tell if they are sufficient to handle the quick printing movements.
Are there items anyone knows about that I should be aware of before I begin wiring? Anything that you have seen before that I should be aware of now?

Ps. Pictures incoming

Quote
jrcaster
If you run into any troubles putting your kit together go over to the Folger i3 Prusa thread and on page 29 is a reference page that someone has put together including manuals, videos, and the most popular prints of the thread.

It is not your exact printer but it may help you to get out of a bind.

thanks a lot, I am going to take a look at that very soon!