Printing and product quality issues

K8200 3D Printer K8200 - Issues while printing
21

Hello artcominio,

the USA is to be considered as a civilised country where parts should be no issue indeed.

Stock problems can happen at any time and indeed: this can take long. When we see this at the Velleman back order list, we sigh but other companies are not better. There are connectors we have in back order at Velleman that will be here around X-mas … But at another supplier we have a few 1000 special leds in backorder of which we should be happy when we have them mid january. Some other supplier had to deliver us 100 cables since beginning of august. This took 3 deliveries of which the last one (12 pcs) arrived here last week. And still we should be calm and keep breathing slowly in and slowly out … Stock is a major problem I also have problems with. So I understand your frustration completely. With all the technical possibilities we have, a lot of these problems should be avoidable.

I don’t know how many deliveries go from Velleman Belgium to Velleman USA per month but within a few weeks you should be able to have your board. If someone of Velleman staff is reading this, please check internally?

It is possible that your distributor does not have heard of it because it is not on the Velleman website. However: if he contacts his account manager at Velleman, he should be able to order this for you. Of course, this takes some extra manual work for your distributor … and not every shop/distributor is willing to do that.

Indeed: that plastic set is large and contains parts that are very unlikely to fail while others are sensitive to wear, like the big gear you mention. My personal opinion is also that a set of these gears should be seperately available at a lower price of course. You can print them also yourself but I’ve never seen results of it so I don’t know if this is good hint to give. However, I’m printing already more than 1 year very regularly and the wear of the big gear is very minimal (I use teflon oil, I must admit and also making the link between the small and big gear a bit looser caused much less wear).

If you have specific parts your distributor can’t/won’t order for you, just check at Velleman directly if they are available.

Keep us informed of your progress.

22

I have read this thread and can agree with some but not all posts.

I was lucky to get the Velleman K8200 off eBay for £300, it was my first foray into 3D Printing.
When I got home, I downloaded the manual. First impression of the manual, if your unable too follow it. Give up. The manual was totally comprehensive, Step by step to the extreme. Top Job who ever wrote it.
The heated bed was as described by many others. Totally beyond level/flat. I agree some of the nuts where more than difficult too adjust. The wiring was very simple to do (join A to B, solder)

After 12 hours I had an industrial looking 3D printer.

Now for my observations

Had I paid the market value for this printer, I would have been less than impressed. It as simply been produced for the lowest possible outlay. There are far better printers on the market, at far less price, but with way more features out of the box. If you like tinkering and can get this machine at a low enough price, then this could be the one for you.

To date I have modified the following.

Exchanged the hot end for an E3Dv6. (wanted to print more filaments than just PLA)
The heated bed as been changed for a RepRap MkIII (again for more flexibility and it’s flat)
Second power supply added to get the heated bed up to about 100oC (not a chance with the original PSU)
Upgraded many parts to give a more precise and capable performance.
An auto bed leveller installed.
Added a light ring around the Extruder
Constructed an Acrylic case, to maintain temperatures more consistently
Added a RepRap power extender so the original board can powered the new heated bed.

Finally

After managing to rip the original USB socket off the board (common occurrence) soldered a 3m USB cable to the board and so, I hope that the weakness in the PCB is a thing of the past. Velleman should take note. It’s not impressive that the most minor stress on the USB socket, easily results in the USB socket parting company.

Remember the PCB boards cost in excess of £140, OUCH! Other boards are availiable for about €50.

So in summary, an easy build, strong construction, fiddly in places, takes some setting up and IMHO not worth the money if you pay full price. Even at today’s prices, there are far better printers on the market.

However, the Velleman K8200 is a tinkerers delight.

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