And this thing cracked.
It had an issue a few months ago where a hole developed around the extruder, leading to filament oozing out.
We sent the extruder back to Lulzbot and they sent us a new one (I think we just barely slid in while it was still under warranty). It was a model we had it in-branch less than a year, too.😞 This time, IT decided it would be too expensive to send back to Lulzbot for evaluation and repairs. So, RIP, RGP.
My first choice would have been to buy an exact replacement and send it back out to the downtown branch to replace the broken printer. But... Lulzbot has retired the version 1 and now offers a new (and slightly more expensive) version 2.
Yep, it's still called the Mini. Yep, it still looks the same. Yep, it is just enough different to be troublesome for our newly implemented Certification procedures.
The death of our Mini 1 also sparked a conversation on how we should move forward with our 3D printing programming. Who should troubleshoot? Who should manage supplies? Who should bear the financial responsibility?
For now, we decided to send OG3D, the district's traveling Lulzbot Mini 1, to take the place of the dead Mini at our downtown branch. In its place, we're trying out the Mini 2 as our roving district printer. I figure this will give me some time to get to know the new model, write updated documentation, and spend some quality time thinking through the long-range plan of our 3D printers.
I have been working with the Mini 2 for just over a month. It's headed to a branch for the next few weeks. We'll see how it goes. I quickly threw together an unboxing and quick start training video for staff to refer to when they get stuck:
The main differences between Version 1 and Version 2 (that I've noticed): 1). a slightly larger printable area (you can actually print 6" pieces on this model. Our Version Ones only makes it to about 5:75," 2). an LCD screen with SD card slot, 3). an E3D Titan Aero, .50mm nozzle tool head, and 4). it is ssssooooo quiet!
The E3D Titan Aero tool head includes a different idler than the Mini1 hexagonal heads. It's a bit finicky to push forward and get the filament loaded correctly. In the first month of using it, I got filament jammed into the printer more than once. The quickstart instructions from Lulzbot indicate to preheat the hot end, then hit the retract button (which was new to me). In the Mini1, you can heat the filament up to temp, loosen the idler and just kind of pull the filament out. I tried the retraction method on the Mini2, but the filament was stuck.
I panicked...but only a little bit...
I looked up more resources and found a suggestion to preheat the hot end, extrude a little bit (as the filament in the hot end tends to pool around the edge of the extruder once cooled and then retract the filament up and out. That worked pretty well. I ended up making a Filament Load video for staff as well:
Then I got filament stuck again! ^ didn't work this time. I ended up calling Lulzbot Support. They suggested all the above steps and then told me to stop the fan on the left-hand side of the tool head so that the hot end heat will travel further up into the tool head and heat up more of the filament. I did this and it worked!
I used to just snip the filament and leave a bit in the tool head when packing it up to send to a branch. I don't think I'll let filament sit in it anymore.
Fingers crossed it all goes well at the branch!
