Geeetech Acrylic Prusa I3 X Self-assembly 3D printer DIY Kit Support 6 types of filament, Desktop 3D printer

I'm an engineer and love tinkering with stuff, so having looked at various other 3D printers I opted for this one primarily due to price, but additionally for the fun and sense of achievement of having built it myself. I took my time with the build as I didn't want to have to take stuff apart if I missed something. Build took a week of working an hour or so each day after work. The instructions are good, and the videos are very informative. One thing that I wish I'd taken more note of in other reviews is with the washers. Every 3mm screw needs a washer under the head to spread the load, and there are plenty of washers in the pack. I did go back part-way through the build and add washers - it's not mentioned in the pdf build instructions, nor on the videos. I also bought a leather punch (from Wilko) to punch the 2mm holes in the toothed belts. Wiring was very straightforward, and I used the board diagram via the online link in the build manual. There are a couple of key things to do before starting.Firstly, make sure that the Z axis is perfectly level. Measure each side from the base with a digital calliper and get each side identical before you power on.Secondly, spend a lot of time getting the bed level. Mine is very slightly bowed up in the middle relative to the corners, and I was getting problems with a squashed first few layers. I solved this by adding a small Z offset. I initially had problems with bed adhesion and got quite frustrated. Tech Support, which I must say is extremely good, fast, and helpful, suggested blue painter's tape, but [impatiently] I opted for a weak PVA/water solution. Applied before each print, and left to dry with the bed set to 70 deg C for a while beforehand gives me perfect adhesion.I started with a spare PC hooked up to the printer, but keen to tinker, I've now got it attached to Repetier-Server running on a Raspberry Pi. This worked straight away after following the instructions online, and was very simple to set up; so now I've got the printer in my workshop with a camera pointing at it, and controlling both with a PC from the comfort of the house.I've played around a lot with the settings to get good prints. Still not entirely happy with overhangs, but that might be due to the cheap PLA I bought (the sample 3m PLA that came with the printer was fine with overhangs). I've tweaked Slic3r (using the Prusa Edition that comes with Repetier Host version 2.0.1) - the INI file that the instructions suggest you load set mine up with a nozzle size of 0.4 (Tech support confirmed it should be 0.3).I have dramatically improved the print quality by cooling the print after the second layer and then dropping the extruder temperature from 200 to 180. I've got a portable fan heater set to cool now, but have ordered a PWM fan from Geeetech which I'll attach to the extruder assembly with a printed bracket I've designed..I've also designed and printed a filament support that takes the filament from behind and over the top of the printer via a pulley which works well, with the filament being kept neatly on its spool.Overall, I'm extremely happy with the printer and would recommend it. The technical support should you need it is excellent, and delivery was really fast.

The kit is fine to get started, but that's about it. It will be impossible to get the quality that some of these reviews are showing, I actually cannot figure out how some of these prints happened without any modifications!My first prints had terrible banding on Z axis, they were shifting 3-4mm due to the bents rods and flimsy X carriage1. Linear rods bent, replaced.2. Threaded rods bent, replaced with lead screws, make sure not to secure them at the top as this can cause binding with the carriage3. X axis is a wobbly mess, had to shim it so didn't bind or wobble4. Replaced hotend with original E3D lite6 (not really necessary but was getting lots of jams on the MK8)5. PSU is terribly underpowered and must have been running at it's limits, PSU died after a months use (even if at limits it shouldn't die!). I have a 30A PSU on the way.6. Axis motors are underpowered for the job especially the Y axis, replaced with higher torque motorsAdditions:- Print a parts fan immediately, to print decent quality PLA parts it needs to be cooled quickly- Replaced X/Y drivers with TMC2130 in SpreadCycle, these along with new motors allow for much higher jerk/acceleration settings- Titan extruder in bowden setup, this thing has awesome torque for driving the filament- External mosfets as a safety precaution- Eventually replaced X axis with printed parts, not flimsy at all now and no more shims/hacks.Also the descriptions says it comes with a glass bed but I received an aluminium bed.The GT2560 board is compact but leaves little room for expansion with Z probe or TMC2130 jumper connections. Although I have read you can plug into the SD card SPI interface.If you don't want to tinker or spends hours fixing issues or not comfortable with firmware changes, do not buy this. It is not very beginner friendly and will take many hours to get decent prints. If you want something you can build then start printing decently buy something more expensive like the origin al Prusa. I have spent about £450 on this printer (incl printer) to get it printing almost ideal for me, I still have a few tweaks to complete before like stiffening the frame from wobbling during high acceleration

I mean Really patient. It will drive you nuts. I love building things - the more complicated the better. This even tried my patience.The quality control is not brilliant. Some of the plastic parts (laser cut, by the looks of things) are not exactly straight, which needs a lot of very careful filing to get things pointing in the right direction. The z-axis threaded bolts were anything but true (hats off to B&Q for having nice straight replacements).And then you have finished! And it's brilliant. The prints are excellent. There are a zillion things that you can print to improve the prints to make it even better. There are a quintilian more designs that you can pick from on Thingiverse and billions more roaming around in your head!Would I recommend it? Not to anyone who would struggle to put a plug on a piece of wire. To anyone who had a sad and useless life trying to keep a rusty old mini on the road in his youth (me) - every time. I enjoyed the whole process thoroughly.5 stars for the finished product. 1 star off because I feel I ought to.