Prusa Mini+ Upgrades – So Far

The actual goal of 3D printing is to make your 3D printer unrecognizable from its stock form is less than one week.

Seriously, who hasn’t owned a 3D printer and “upgraded” it instantly?

It’s not like a Prusa Mini+ or i3 Mk3S+ isn’t good enough right out of the box.

I’ve had my Mini a week now and I have built the perfect beast.   Nothing I have done has actually made the printer print better though.  At least I realize that, huh?

 

First of all I love me some Wyze Cameras and smart outlets.  I can VPN into my network and watch my cameras.  In the event something horrible went wrong with a print I can go into my Home Automation and just chop power to the outlet.  Not real elegant but better than letting a print run for 12 hours with nothing actually stuck to the bed.  And, yeah, I know about Octoprint.  Again, not elegant but it gets the job done.

Wyze Cameras

So I made me a Wyze camera mount.

Wyze Camera Mount

Then I added some adjustable support legs because I am not a fan of the foam pads that come with the kit.   They are a cool addition.

Adjustable stabilizing feet

Also added a USB extension that fits into the LCD panel.  Let’s face it.  The USB jack on the actual Mini+ is in a HORRIBLE location.  Tough to see, and tough to reach.   This is a MUST DO upgrade in my opinion.   And of course you can see that I added an LCD cover.  Wrong color but what the heck?

USB adapter on LCD panel

This next one is on par with the USB mod.  LED Light bars.

LED Light Bars and Tool Holder

While you print all the files yourself (or buy them) the designer sells a kit with all the parts and instructions for $25.  That’s a bargain because if you source all the parts not only will you have to buy them in quantity and excessive length, it will cost you WAY MORE than $25 to get what you need.  Case in point, you need a couple of LED strips that are just a few inches long.  To get them you’d have to buy a whole roll to the tune of about $35 or $40.  Yeah, buy the kit.   If you look at the LED pic you’ll see a tool holder as well.

I modified the kit a little by adding a barrel adapter to the outside of the printer.  The developer offers one but I already had these laying around so I decided to just use them.

Barrel adapter

I secured the barrel adapter holder on the side of the extrusion with T nuts.  I just happened to have a 24v, 1 amp power brick with a 5.5mm plug laying around that I don’t use anymore.  Well, I use it now!

Barrel Adapter Hooked Up

So far, that’s it……I think. And again, my printer is unrecognizable from the stock form now.  And again, none of these actually make the printer print better.  They let me see better, hook up the USB better, and monitor the print.  But the printer itself is SOLID right out of the box from Prusa.  You can’t really improve on that.

 

Happy Printing!

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