Pros
Produces (especially for the price) high quality prints.
Rarely causes any problems (currently on a +100 h print streak without any problems) , nice with automatic load/unloading of filament.
Very good manual.
Good looking printer.
Possible Improvements for k8600
Simpler nozzle removing
Include some simple plastic tools for aligning during setup. Example: thingiverse.com/thing:606083
Include 3-5 test stl files with the manual, which would test essential functions of the printer and recommend solutions/tweaks. “If your print looks like this or this, change bla bla”.
The limitations of the printable area are not clear in Repetier. Currently I use a custom made stl file which marks the absolute limits of the printer (based on trial and error).
On board memory to hold the g-code/use sd card as storage and send g-code to it via usb.
Overall I’m very happy with my printer, high quality and great support from Velleman!
If u don’t got the improved pulleys with 2 grub screws open up a ticket and they will send you those. With those I hadn’t had any issues. But one thing I can say about those stock pulleys is that the pulley is to narrow to have 2 belts running frictionless next to each-other. They get squeezed against each-other and cause more friction than is needed which causes some minimal but noticeable jerkiness and drag. Currently I’m using the following custom set-up with 2 single belt pulleys and have the grub screw holes drilled inside the belt surface which so far runs allot smoother imho.
Yeah tbh this is just shit and not existing… Burned a couple of drivers because of this. Now I’ve attached heat-sinks to all of them, cleaned up the wiring, expecially the ribbon cable causes a problem regarding airflow. And added a fan so it creates a nice cooling breeze for those.
Yes totally agree, the stock heads are okay to start with… But looking back now, I think they are complete rubbish in comparison with a all-metal head.
That’s just a great idea it would make starting with this thing SOOO much easier. In stead of fucking around and wasting loads of filament trying just different settings. This would improve the first users experience so much imho!
Other than that velleman just kicks ass, most of the stuff mentioned above is probably all due costs saving. But I’m very glad they don’t try to save money on costumer service and warranty related stuff, just the best in this business bearing in mind its a below 1000€ printer.
im glad you had a good experience, my k8400 has been scuttled until velleman decide they choose to respond, machines main board is written off apparently this was caused by a static build up, just like the last 5 problems i had,
as soon as i mentioned the dread “return” word ESR.co.uk go silent and surprisingly, so has velleman! ill be going straight through to vellemans HQ if i don’t hear anything come end of this week as i don’t want the machine, it put me off 3d printing massively until i gave in and custom built my own machine and then realised how bad this machine was
I’d say I was moderately happy with the K8400, but it is looking a bit old and it gives you pretty much constant hassle after a year or two. Once the quality of the prints starts to drop, it’s really hard to go about tracing where the issues are - there are so many places it can go wrong.
Pros - cheap, good quality PLA prints, open source, hackable.
Cons - no heated bed, very limited filament choice due to heads, dual heads badly designed for levelling (and printing!), head carriage is weak and tends to shake itself loose, no bed autolevelling, Bowden set up on 1.75 means flexible filaments are difficult to print, no wireless set up / monitoring.
Unfortunately, I think there are better printers for the price now. The new iPrusa Mk2 is great value in kit form. Only one head, but it hasn’t most of the cons above. It comes with a great E3 head and auto bed levelling (and the bed has excellent even heating), and it can even do flexible filaments. Guess you can add your OctoPi in the same way.
Times move on. K8400 is sadly starting to show its age now…
