Prusa MINI+ has been around for years — upgrade it or buy something new?

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Sisyphuslovestolearn@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨3dprinting@lemmy.world⁩

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/9e0ba0e9-2f40-44f6-a021-69306e99f5c9.webp

I enjoy tinkering and doing hands-on projects, so I’ve been looking more into upgrade options recently. While browsing around, I came across a Prusa MINI+ Dual Z-axis upgrade kit on Printables, with a full parts list and an assembly video. It caught my attention mostly because I’ve been enjoying DIY projects lately.

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Comments

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ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Personally I’d rather build a second printer from scratch instead of making that mod. It sucks having a nonfunctional partly disassembled printer, and then needing to print a part for it that you did not expect.

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sandwichsaregood@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
What would dual Z axes on the mini achieve? The existing cantilever design is plenty stiff in my experience, I’m skeptical you’ll get any significant increase in print quality or speed, and I suspct at the cost of having to fiddle around a lot tuning settings to get it back to where it started as the existing firmware has a lot of tuning for the mechanical behavior of the exisiting design. So, if you’re not happy with the mini as is, I would be looking at a different printer rather than a dual Z mod.

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the16bitgamer@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
While cantilever printers can be an annoying honestly converting your Mini to direct drive will improve print quality more than dual Z motors.

That said have fun it’s your machine.

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- Sisyphuslovestolearn@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Totally fair point 👍Direct drive was actually the first thing I looked into, especially for TPU and cleaner extrusion. The dual Z idea is more about experimenting with stability on taller parts than expecting a night-and-day upgrade. For me it’s more of a “learn-by-doing” project than chasing the single best mod.
  
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nesc@lemmy.cafe ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Try building yourself a magpie instead of breaking your working machine.😺

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- squaresinger@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Tbh, by now I would recommend against DIYing a printer.
  
  I spent so much time on my fully-modified Ender 5 and it still doesn’t print nearly as well or fast as a cheapo A1 Mini.
  
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  - nesc@lemmy.cafe ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    When modifing your printer is the end goal, it’s a good way to spend your time. Also Ender is just bad and a1 is an insanely good machine.
    
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- Sisyphuslovestolearn@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Honestly, part of why I’m even considering this is because I like tinkering a bit too much. Worst case, I learn something the hard way. Best case, I get a slightly more stable Mini for tall prints.
  
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mechanismatic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
The same amount of fiddling, accompanied with the uncertainty of the success or practicality of the mod, could be spent assembling a new printer and then printing and assembling new mods for the new printer that aren’t as essential or structural. The appeal just depends on how much focus and patience you have.

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