Prusa XL 3D Printer

[GreenTwin]

The Ball Hopper Monitor kits I have seen have a bore of about 1.6 inches, with a 9" diameter flywheel.

Scaling the flywheel to 11 inches would give something close to a 2.0" bore.

Overall engine height would be 20.5 inches.

The ball hopper would be 6.3 inches diameter.

Overall crankcase height of 12 inches.

This is one engine I would cast with a 2.0 inch bore, no matter how heavy it was.

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[GreenTwin]

Perhaps a Frisco Standard flywheel.

A 3hp Frisco Standard scaled to give a 2 inch bore would have an 11 inch flywheel, and I would make this engine with a 2 inch bore regardless of the overall engine weight.

The cylinder height would be close to 6 inches.
The base would be about 7 inches tall, and about 9 inches wide at its base.

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[GreenTwin]

It seems like anything less than about 11 inches diameter is not really going to test the Prusa XL, and so I guess I will start with an 11" diameter flywheel half pattern.

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[stanstocker]

I ordered the Prusa XL because I did not know how long it would take to receive one, and it did take a long time to get one delivered.

I did not want to get on the bottom of a years-long waiting list.

Unfortunately I am as busy as I have ever been with work projects, so my time at the moment using the XL will be limited.

I will try to find something suitable to use as a test print.

I am not sure if that will be a flywheel, engine frame, or what, but I will come up with something to try.

I am looking through my 3D models to see what can be used on the XL.

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The important thing is to get a print going before the Haribo container is empty. Not always easy, I'm a fool for the things!
Cheers,
Stan

 

[GreenTwin]

The first problem I am running into is that although I am pretty sure I ordered a "fully assembled" unit with the substantial additional fee, the printer does not actually come fully assembled.

The screen is not attached, nor is the print head or the tube associated with that.

And apparently the spool support is also not attached.

No big deal, but I need find a video or Prusa instructions on how to finish out the assembly, and I don't see anything in the book that came with the printer on how to attach the lose parts.

I will go to the Prusa site and see if I can get a live chat going.

One of the things I like about Prusa is they do seem to support their printers well.

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[GreenTwin]

The important thing is to get a print going before the Haribo container is empty. Not always easy, I'm a fool for the things!
Cheers,
Stan

I have food alergies, and so I don't eat gummy stuff like that.
My wife's eyes got very big when I asked her if she could get rid of the tub of candy for me.

Instead of the typical small package of candy you get with a smaller Prusa printer, the XL comes with a large tub of candy.
Big candy for a big printer I guess.

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[GreenTwin]

The beauty of a Prusa machine is that they are well supported, and also well made.
That is why I buy Prusa, because I know I can get the support to make the machine work no matter what.

I went to their support page, started a live chat, and a few minutes later a real human came on line.
He directed me to this page for Prusa XL unpacking and assembling a few small items.
I have used the Prusa chat at all hours of the day and night, and somebody over there apparently sits around the clock and supports Prusa machines.

https://help.prusa3d.com/guide/1-introduction_402339
I am going through the steps to get the XL ready to print.

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[GreenTwin]

This guy is really long-winded, but I think he will cover the initial unboxing and setup, and perhaps provide a bit more information, since is also a Beta tester for Prusa.



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[GreenTwin]

I did not realize this printer had WIFI.

That will be a great feature if it works correctly.

Prusa also has a support forum for their machines.

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[lee webster]

That looks a tad better built than my Ender3. I would like to see a side by side print test between the two machines. When I print something on the Ender, I know I will have hours of surface prep ahead of me, and if I want say, a 6mm hole in the part, I size the hole at 6.4mm in cad. How would the Prusa compare hole wise? The holes are for bolts/pins holding patterns and moulds together.

 

[GreenTwin]

Some interesting features in the latest Prusa Slicer program, especially the tree supports, which I have not seen before.



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[GreenTwin]

That looks a tad better built than my Ender3. I would like to see a side by side print test between the two machines. When I print something on the Ender, I know I will have hours of surface prep ahead of me, and if I want say, a 6mm hole in the part, I size the hole at 6.4mm in cad. How would the Prusa compare hole wise? The holes are for bolts/pins holding patterns and moulds together.

I do plan on using the Prusa XL exclusively for pattern making, so I will be checking out the things that lee mentions, since I also use features like those.

I will check it out on the Prusa XL.

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Edit:
See 9:12, the locating pins apparently can now be added in the Prusa slicer program.

 

[GreenTwin]

The WIFI feature is supposedly a bit slow for a large print, but there is also the USB flash drive to transport files to the printer.

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[lee webster]

I look forward to seeing what you can do with the machine. It might be out of reach for a hobbiest like me, but, it's still interesting.
Knowing that the Ender wouldn't produce accurate holes (it could be me of course) if I had two pins holding a pattern together, one half of the pattern would have holes as close to size as I could make them, and the other half would have one hole at the right size, and the other hole 2mm oversize. I would then put the pins in the right sized holes, some plastic filler in the oversize hole, don't over fill, and put the two halves together making sure thay are lined up and matched. When the filler has set, separate the halves to leave one pin permanantly fixed, but both pins will line up. If I could have got well sized holes with the Ender, I might not have needed to do all that.

 

[GreenTwin]

Alignment of pattern halves can be a real pain, and I have experienced problems with that, especially manually inserted pins and holes.

I have also experiences problems using Adolf's buttons on the pattern board for cope/drag alignment.
I ended up using only one half of the Adolf's button, and let that leave a pocket in the opposite mold face.
These buttons are used with bound sand.

I will check to see how accurate Solidworks and the Prusa XL make pin holes.

One option I have seen is hobby folks using 3D printers which are located in Maker's spaces.
And another posibility is for a group/club to purchase a printer for use by all the members.

And lastly, I have farmed out 3D prints to companies that will mail you a 3D print if you send them a 3D file, for a fee.
You can get a superb quality 3D print from the on-demand 3D printing companies, with the exact quality level related to the price of the print.
The flywheel for the green twin was sent out to a 3D printing firm, and it did not require any surface finishing.

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[Jasonb]

My usual way with patterns be they hand or CNC machined is to clamp the two pattern halves together and then drill the pin holes almost right through. You then know they line up and can bond the pins into the half with the through hole filling the outer with bondo. The blind hole in the other half needs no further work and accepts the protruding pin.

 

[GreenTwin]

The Prusa "fully assembled" XL printer is not quite fully assembled.
They should say "almost fully assembled".

I went through the final assembly steps after watching a guy do it on ytube in 10 minutes.

It took me about 30 minutes, but I went slowly, so as not to damage anything.

Plugging in the screen was a little tricky.
The plug has to align exactly with the slots on either end, and the plug only goes in one way.
If you press the plug in without it being exactly in the slots and in the right orientation, you may damage the plug and socket.
Use caution.

The other plug was a connection from the print head cord to the socket in the frame, and again this plug has to be in the correct orientation, and feels a bit delicate, but not as delicate as the screen plug.

The screen has to be screwed to the base of the machine using two screws, with a ground wire attached, and the cord plugged in.

The WIFI antenna has to be screwed in.

The print head has to be screwed to its holder on the arms with four screws, after removing the cover.
Replace the cover when done.

The tube guide is screwed into the back of the machine at hole #3, and the tube is plugged in.

The filament holder is attached to the side of the machine with one screw.

There are very good Prusa directions for all of this, with color coded arrows pointing to each piece in each step.
https://help.prusa3d.com/guide/1-introduction_402339
Plug in the power cord and power up the machine.

It goes through various tests.

Finally select "load filament" and follow the directions.

My initial filament load did not work because I did not feed the filament in by hand with it asked me to.
I unloaded the filament, and then loaded it again, and assisted feeding in the filament until the mechanism engaged the filament.

I am printing one of the test items that comes on the Prusa flash drive.
I think it is a dog or something.
I will probably just print a few layers to make sure everything is working ok.

JasonB is working on a flywheel half 3D pattern, so that is what I propose to use for a first full print, assuming I remember how to use the Slicer.

I will download the lastest Prusa Slicer.

Edit:
The good part about the machine not being completely assembled is that it gives you some familiarity with some simple assembly/disassembly sets that may be very useful in the future.

I have heard several folks say the "partially assembled" XL may be a bit tedious to assemble, which is why I ordered the "fully-assembled/almost fully assembled" unit.

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[GreenTwin]

There is no first-layer-calibration required.

The machine senses where the bed is, and self-adjusts the first layer.

This is a nice feature.

The bed gets quite hot during printing.

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[GreenTwin]

Here are the first layers of the test print that is running now.

Looks pretty solid so far.

The acid test will be if it experiences any bed lifting in a drafty room like mine.

The machine is smooth and quiet.

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[GreenTwin]

I think this is the sample "Buddy" that I am printing now.

(Not my photo or print)

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