Pavel Jelic If you are among the loyal readers of our magazine, then you have most likely registered for a unique series of articles in which we looked together at how you can start engraving. This series of articles has been a great success and despite the fact that we reached the final installments several long weeks ago, many readers continue to write to me for advice, which I greatly appreciate. Gradually, however, I began to miss writing about engraving and other similar activities, so I decided to start another series. This time, however, it will not be about engraving, but about 3D printing, which can be considered a kind of twin of engraving.
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The new series Getting started with 3D printing is here
So I would like to introduce you to the new series Getting started with 3D printing, which will be in a similar spirit to the series Getting started with engraving. So we will gradually look together at how a completely ordinary person can start printing on a 3D printer. We will first focus on choosing a printer, then we will talk more about folding. Step by step we will get to the first print, go through all the necessary steps for calibration and show how 3D models can be downloaded and printed. Long story short, this series is going to be really hyped up and I dare say it will be longer in scope than just the original series mentioned.
Tip:: If you don't know anything about 3D printing yet, we recommend reading the article How a 3D printer works, which describes the principles on which individual 3D printing technologies work.
I personally encountered 3D printing for the first time in high school, roughly 3 years ago. It should be noted that I was already excited about 3D printing at that time, anyway, for a long time I decided to buy a 3D printer. However, the good news is that in the end I actually got it, although I didn't actually buy the printer, but it was delivered to us by PRUSA. This Czech company is one of the leading manufacturers of 3D printers, not only in the Czech Republic, but all over the world. PRUSA 3D printers have made 3D printing famous and are known in the printer world for being "just fold and you can immediately rush to print". Of course, it's easy to say. In any case, the truth is that PRUSA printers are really designed so that absolutely everyone can use them, without the need for programming or other technical knowledge. Of course, you cannot do without knowledge bases.
Available printers from PRUSA
There are currently not quite a few printers in PRUSA's portfolio. An improved version of the Prusa MINI+, i.e. the smallest available printer from the PRUSA company, has arrived at our editorial office. Furthermore, at the time of writing this article, the Prusa i3 MK3S+ 3D printer is available, which is therefore larger and more widespread among users - in a way it is a kind of iconic model. In addition to these two 3D printers, the Prusa SL1S SPEED is also available, but it is already on a completely different level and is uninteresting for individuals who want to start with 3D printing. Given that we have a MINI+ in the editorial office, we will mainly deal with printing on this 3D printer, and we may also occasionally mention the bigger brother in the form of the i3 MK3S+. However, it should be noted that the basics are the same for all 3D printers, so what you learn in this series you can also use with other 3D printers.
Original Prusa MINI+
Let's together in this part of the article introduce the MINI+ 3D printer, which we will be working with all the time. Specifically, it is a small and compact printer that has a printing space of 18×18×18 cm. It is thus an absolutely ideal printer for beginners who want to learn how to work with a 3D printer. Optionally, the MINI+ can also be used as a secondary printer in case the primary one breaks down in some way. The MINI+ is available in two colors, either black-orange or black, and you can also purchase a filament sensor or a special printing plate with different surfaces for an additional fee - we will talk more about these components in the next parts. MINI+ also offers a color LCD screen, simple operation, display of models before printing, a LAN connector for connecting to a network and much, much more. You get all this for 9 crowns in the case of a kit. If you do not want to fold the printer and want it to be delivered folded, you will pay an extra thousand crowns.
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Original Prusa i3 MK3S+
The Prusa i3 MK3S+ 3D printer is currently a bestseller. This is the latest version of the original award-winning MK3S 3D printer, which comes with many improvements. Specifically, the MK3S+ 3D printer offers a SuperPINDA probe, thanks to which it is possible to achieve an even better calibration of the first layer - we will talk about SuperPINDA and setting the first layer in other parts. There was also the use of better bearings and a general improvement. The MK3S+ is available in two colors, black-orange and black, and you can also purchase a special printing plate with different surfaces for printing different materials. The MK3S+ 3D printer also prides itself on being very quiet and fast, as well as having a power loss recovery function and a filament sensor. The printing space of this printer is up to 25×21×21 cm – you can certainly come up with more on this surface. This printer is of course more expensive than the MINI+. You will pay 19 crowns for the kit, if you don't want to assemble, prepare 990 crowns.
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Jigsaw puzzle or already assembled?
For both of the printers mentioned above, I stated that they are available in a jigsaw version, or already assembled. Some of you may be wondering right now whether you should just go for the folding kit, or whether you should pay extra and have the printer delivered to you already assembled. Personally, I would recommend a jigsaw puzzle to most people. When folding, you get at least an approximate picture of how the printer works. In addition, if something goes wrong, you will be able to partially disassemble the printer without any problems, because you already know how to do it. However, it is necessary to take into account that you will need quite strong nerves and, above all, enough time to compose. It's not so much that the assembly instructions are wrong, for example, but in short, it's simply a relatively complex construction - we'll talk more about assembly in the next part. I would recommend an already assembled printer to individuals who do not have time for assembly and who are not buying their first 3D printer.
záver
In this pilot of the new Getting Started with 3D Printing series, we looked together at a selection of printers available from PRUSA. Specifically, we focused on the two main 3D printers MINI+ and MK3S+ that you can currently purchase. In the second part of our series, we will look at how the 3D printer from PRUSA is assembled, if you buy it in the form of a kit. We can already reveal that this is a complex, but on the other hand fun process that you will want to complete as quickly as possible so that you can immediately jump into printing. It should be noted, however, that after the composition you still have a relatively long way to go before you can start printing. However, we will not unnecessarily "tease" you in advance.
You can buy PRUSA 3D printers here
If someone doesn't want to assemble and tune a printer, they can look for a ready-made solution, but these are more professional printers for companies. There is one more manufacturer in the Czech Republic, they also make another type of FDM printer, with delta kinematics, Trilab and their Deltiq 2, if you write about apple devices, you should take a look at their website: https://trilab3d.com/cs/3d-tiskarna-deltiq-2/