Couple of questions from a new user

AstroBox Questions
#1

Hi, I just signed up on this site. I’m currently waiting for delivery of a Prusa MK3 printer kit, which is supposed to arrive around the third week of January. It will be the first printer I’ve ever owned, though I’ve briefly used a MakerBot in the past.

A friend who has a Prusa MK2 recommended Fusion 360 for CAD, and AstroPrint as a printer manager. I’ve been learning Fusion 360, designed a few things, and while I have a lot more to learn am ok with that for now.

So currently I’m trying to get up to speed on AstroPrint – exactly how it works, what I’ll need to know, various options etc. My friend recommended running Astrobox Gateway on a Raspberry Pi. I have a Pi, have looked at the tutorial here, and am waiting to get the recommended wifi dongle and microSD card.

Here are some things I’m wondering about:

  1. Is there a good overview (written, video or both) on how all AstroPrint works, including the various optional components?

  2. Since I won’t have a functioning printer for about a month (depending on how quickly I can put the Prusa together), is there any point in assembling and setting up the Astrobox Gateway now? Or do I really need to wait until I have a printer to test or learn anything about it?

  3. Is there something to look at to learn more about slicers, their settings, etc? My friend recommended using Prusa’s slicer; I’d like to understand more about how it compares to AstroPrint’s.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions –

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#2

Yo @Franklin!

Welcome back! :slight_smile:

Yeah, there are some good videos to get your brain warmed up to the upcoming extravaganza that is 3D Printing :wink:

Try this one and this one :wink:

Also, feel free to ask about anything you didn’t understand etc…

There’s a bunch of blog posts on our blog as well that covers specific feature releases, but I’d be more than happy to direct you to the relevant resource.

Well, you don’t HAVE to wait till you get the printer to assemble it.

The only factor is time.

If you assemble it before you get the printer, you have more time to start printing – and if you don’t, you have less time as you’ll need to assemble the AstroBox Gateway IN ADDITION to the printer.

Up to you.

Those videos will certainly speed up your learning process though.

In addition, you can also download and get familiar with AstroPrint Desktop and AstroPrint Mobile[quote=“Franklin, post:1, topic:2765”]
3) Is there something to look at to learn more about slicers, their settings, etc? My friend recommended using Prusa’s slicer; I’d like to understand more about how it compares to AstroPrint’s.
[/quote]

Hmm. Good question :thinking:

I wrote this reference guide with plenty of slicer options – perhaps it’s a good starting point for experimenting?

I haven’t tried Prusa’s slicer, so I cannot comment on the quality etc…

Our slicer uses CURA engine.

…and as far as I know, Simplify3D has the best slicer in the industry and it costs money in comparison to the other two mentioned.

Does this mean you cannot get great results from our slicer or Prusa’s slicer? Of course not – but it might require a lot more tweaking/experimenting/calibrating on your part than using something like Simplify3D.

Let me know if that helps :slight_smile:

By the way, you might want to double check that the Prusa MK3 works well with AstroPrint. I know we have users that use AstroPrint with the MK2, but since the MK3 is a bit newer, I haven’t heard of many people using AstroPrint (yet).

So, while you are waiting for the printer, perhaps research to see who else might be using AstroPrint with the MK3 and what settings they are using.

Again, welcome to the forums!

P.S: If you need ideas on what to print, try What Should I 3D Print?

#3

Thanks! Lots of good stuff there, I’ll start making my way through it.

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#4

Thanks @dilanka for your suggest its really great guide about it hope it helps. :slight_smile:

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