It has been awhile since I had time to work on this project. Due to illness and time factors its been a couple of months. In addition I broke one of the printed parts which took 2 weeks to replace. That aside, I was able to finish off the Core One build while healing up from an injury. With some decent blocks of time I was able to complete the printer in a week. Total time into it is near 20 hours. This is much longer than the 12-15 hours estimated by Prusa. I did make a mistake early on that I didn’t notice until later in the build. The instructions routinely have different parts that have been upgraded and are not always sent with the package. My mistake came from misunderstanding the install of the Z axis motors in the base. I mistakenly assumed I had the newer version of the motor mounts when I had the older version. I only figured it out when I located a bag in a parts box that had 3 thin clear spacers in it. This meant I had to spend an hour and a half taking apart what had already been built. That was a frustrating mistake, however its a good thing I stumbled upon those pieces before the build got any further.

That mistake aside, the remainder of the build went fairly well. I found taking the time to read the instructions carefully was critical. Taking time to gather all the parts before the step, keeping all the parts in their boxes, and keeping a clean workspace made finding things much easier. I will admit that the organizational rationale for parts was not what I would have chosen, however I am not a manufacturer.

I made one more mistake at the end of the process. While assembling the belt pulley assembly, I did not read the instructions carefully enough and over tightened a screw. This screw cut its own threads into the printed piece that held the belt pulleys. This meant the fastener was not completely tight and never would be. I pulled on the assembled screw with my hands and felt the tightness with an Allen key and I was satisfied that there was still thread engagement and I decided to proceed with the build. I debated dissembling the assembly and adding glue to the threads, but thought better of it. Time will tell if it holds up.

The calibration process after assembly was a procedure I was dreading. I had read in my pre-purchase research this was a difficult and time consuming process. The internet did not lie this time. It took 30-45 minutes to square up the gantry and get the belt tension even. My gantry was quite out of square when it came time to tighten and tension the belts. After 5 or 6 tries, and some anxiety that I would have to disassemble the print head as in the extreme adjustment procedure, i was able to get the proper tension. Many people reported that without proper tension or even seemingly proper tension, their units would fail the Y axis calibration. So after all this it was time to plug it in and get it booted up.

The calibration went well with no issues at all. My door sensor was way out of spec and took many tries to pass this part of the calibration. The other more nerve racking calibrations went without issue. This was a great result.

Then it was time to get a Benchy printing! It was amazing to see a whole thing be created right before your eyes in just a few minutes. It is somehow soothing to just watch the print head move around so quickly and build something. Im sure its just the novelty of it; additive manufacturing is amazing to watch. My very own “How Things Are Made” right in my own home. As of me writing this post I have 2 prints done, one 12 hour print of a child’s gas can for my kid. The printer has worked without issue. I am looking forward to the next part of the journey: dusting off my CAD training and getting into designing and building my own items. Stay tuned for a Prusa Core One+ Tips and Tricks for first time builders post.