I’m about to pull the trigger on a Printrbot Jr. Which accessories and helpful tools should I also be purchasing? Thanks!
Vernier Calipers are a must. A set of allen wrenches.
I second what @ThantiK said.
Also, if you’re planning to print with ABS you’ll want some acetone. It’s useful for making ABS glue (dissolve leftover ABS bits in it), and I find that wiping down freshly applied kapton tape with acetone helps things stick even on fresh tape. And, on the same subject, if you’re doing ABS printing you’ll probably want some kapton tape for the heated bed.
A dial indicator can be a useful aid in leveling the print bed, too. But you’ll have to print a suitable mount for it first, and leveling can be done with a reasonable degree of accuracy using the sheet of paper method, so the dial indicator isn’t vital.
Thanks guys! Are there any Printrbot Jr.-specific things I should be getting from their website? http://printrbot.com/product-category/accessories/
I don’t actually have a Printrbot, so I’m not sure what it comes with, but if you want to print in ABS you’ll need a heated bed and a suitable printing surface on top of that (either kapton tape directly on the bed, or glass with kapton tape/hairspray/ABS glue/any number of other solutions people have come up with on top of the bed).
But I wouldn’t buy the kapton squares they have, for $2-ish more than the price of one you can get an entire 100’ roll of the stuff off amazon (although it won’t be the perfect size for the bed, you’ll have to lay down side by side strips).
If you don’t have a heated bed you can print just fine in PLA, but you’ll want blue painters tape to put on the print bed so the plastic will stick.
I don’t see anything else that you’d want right away though… Some of their upgrades may be nice eventually, depending on what does or doesn’t come with your kit, but most of that stuff can be printed and made by you for much less.
I would pick up a .4 or .35 nozzle for the hotend. Once you get the machine dialed in, moving to a smaller nozzle will give you better prints. After that when you get a little more experience you might want to pick up some metal GT2 pulleys and GT2 timing belts, change out the imperial z-axis leadscrew to something like 6mm rod, and look for a way to heat the printbed. In the meantime you might pop down to the hardware store to pick up some 4.5x5.5" squares of glass because the wood printbed is a horrible idea and not very flat. Good luck!
@Stephen_Baird , if @John_Schneider wanted to print ABS, he’d be buying the wrong printer. Printrbot Jr does only PLA.
@John_Schneider I just bought a jr, it really comes with everything you need, I have already looked at different nozzles, just to try, like @Brian_Evans suggested, but got pretty good results with standard nozzle and just thinner layers.
I wouldn’t go with a heated printer-bed on the Jr. The whole idea of the Jr is to have a compact portable machine. If you want ABS and heated printerbed, just go with a model up rather than going for accessories.