Spent all weekend assembling this Core One. It probably took 14 hours in total. 12 hours to build and 2 hours to troubleshoot issues. Broke some parts made some mistakes but I finished the build.
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Hey congratulations! I hope you enjoy owning a printer!
I had a very similar experience building my first printer (a Prusa MK3S) a bit over five years ago. I’ve rebuilt it a couple of times since.
That experience is serving me well as I build a Voron 2.4R2 (with ASA parts printed on the MK3S). The learning curve part appears to be largely behind me, and owning the Prusa did help ease that since they make a lot of things pretty easy.
Thanks!
Fellow Voron builder. I agree that getting reps in on other things made the build a lot easier. I found the mechanical portion of the build very straightforward thanks to things like flat pack furniture and Legos - it’s basically being able to follow well documented spacial instructions. Wiring wasn’t particularly difficult, but I’ve crimped things and built wiring harnesses before. The thing I was the most apprehensive about was getting the pi running and the initial tune, but everything is so well documented even that was pretty straightforward.
The Voron build is absolutely long, but it’s surprisingly approachable and well thought out. I guess that’s why there hasn’t been a revision in a while.
Hey I just built my Core One a few months ago! Mine took a bit longer than yours, but I did also have the MMU to put together. I had some issues with the MMU spool holders, but now that I’ve sorted that out (by using different holders), I’m printing like a dream! Have fun printing!
Thank you! You too!
I stared a lot at the red circle thinking that you were trying to point something out.
LOL I didn’t even notice
Core one nice choice, i bought and built one 2 months ago. And its been a rocksoild printer i also got a x1 carbon off Facebook, but the x1 feels like a cheap twin compared to Core one.
Also the machinist in me loved seeing all the machined parts as i assembled the machine.
Those planetary gears are just so beautiful!
Im kinda a opensource nut, so i went with a prusa instead of a bambu. Then a co-worker talked me into buying an x1
Honestly regret buying the carbon,
Cheap parts break all the time, and you really feel the walled garden with there ecosystem
Congrats! On the same day they broke news about the core 1 L though. Hope that wasn’t bittersweet.
Would you build your second printer? To me that kind of time investment might be justified for a better understanding of how these work and what can go wrong, but after doing it once I would say the extra dough to have it reassembled is completely worth it.
Thank you!
I bought the printer after the core one L news. The core one L is way more expensive (it’s almost double the price) so I went with the core one.
Would you build your second printer?
Haha. No.
I wanted to build the printer because like you said it helps you understand how printers work and this was my first printer so I thought it was a good idea. It also helps if you ever need to service the thing since you get a good idea of where everything is and what each part does. I also thought it might be fun because some people likened the experience go building a PC and I enjoy building PCs.
Unfortunately I have to say building this 3D printer was nothing like building a PC. It was way more challenging in my opinion. I was also very nervous the entire time because you don’t get to find out if the thing actually works until the very end. My heart sunk when I first turned the thing on and the Z axis was just completely not working. Thankfully the issue was resolved after talking with support. Definitely have to agree that Prusa support is amazing.
Also, I found assembly to take way too long. It’s my first printer so that might have been why it took 12 hours. I heard it took some people only 7 or 8 hours. I think I would draw the line at 5 to 6 hours for 3D printer assembly if I were to assembly another one unless the printer allowed you to test during assembly.
It is the curse of Prusa. It doesn’t matter what you buy, the “next great thing” will always be released while you’re building the old model, guaranteed. The good news is they almost always have upgrade kids. And the truth is, you actually probably don’t really need it.
Ahh, the Prussian Curse!
I actually wasn’t bothered at all by the release. The price tag of the L is insane. And the Core One is already pretty insane especially for me as a hobbiest. I spent a long time trying to justify the price.
Nice! I rember almost stripping a few plastic threads and then hoping for the best. So far so good. I hope you lots of fun and productive printing.
Thank you! I spent the whole day learning FreeCAD. Made a case for a ESP32 board.
Now use it to print another 3d printer!
What broke, why and how?
I broke one of the tension adjustment pulley thing. I loosened the belts to calibrate the y axis. When I was tightening the tension belt I absentmindedly tightened the bolt all the way and then some which broke something. Not sure what but turning that bolt now no longer moves the tension belt pulley. I can see the screw spinning so it’s not a stripped screw.
I’m going to look into what actually broke in a few days. Kind of exhausted from assembling the thing. As a result of this the top belt is a bit tight (its like 105HZ) but the prints come out ok-ish so I’m not in a rush to fix it.
Obviously, your next print is a replacement tension adjustment pulley thing, as is tradition.
I have some PETG filament on the way which is another reason why I haven’t looked at the issue yet. All I have is PLA at the moment.
I don’t know how critical this part is but if it sees any kind of load, re-pint in abs/ASA or better. Petg and PLA creep under consent load.
It’s pretty critical. It holds one of the pulleys that the belt is attached to. The belt moves the print head in the x/y axis. I actually did print the part in PETG. Hopefully it just works and I won’t have to touch it for a year :D
And look into brick layers for extra durability.
On the chance that it helps you at all, I broke the same part.
For some reason Prusa loves using those slim squarenuts that tend to bind up due to how few threads they have. Chances are the nut in the pully bound up and stripped out the plastic so now it’s just spinning with the bolt.
There’s a few community made models on printables that replace the nut with threaded inserts. The part should be printed in pc-cf however, and that’s frequently out of stock it seems.
Ah I see. I’m guessing I need a hardened nozzle since it’s CF. :/
A hardened nozzle for sure.
You got this repair, you built this thing remember? You are the master of your printer.
Actually ended up printing the part with PETG. It worked and the issue is fixed (for now). Removing the broken part was a huge pain. I ended up using a drill and just drilling around where the nut is until I could fit tweezers onto the nut then I used the tweezers to keep the nut from moving and a screwdriver to loosen the nut until the part came out. All-in-all it was pretty time consuming and annoying. Hope I won’t have to do that again for a while.
I think I’m just going to buy the part from Prusa.
- They appear to be out of stock for PC - CF
- PC releases harmful fumes and needs to be ventilated. I’m going to find a venting solution eventually but not now.
- The part is way cheaper than a spool of the filament, I can get a few in case they break. I know I can print a lot of parts with that same filament but I don’t really have an interest in printing with PC - CF.
