Alright, you need a few tools for setting up and maintaining a 3D printer.
But what if you could just get everything you need in a single, convenient package and
be ready for all eventualities down the road?
That’s what the AprintaPro Printakit promises, and I’ve got to say, it’s a good start!
Also, stick around for a chance to win one for yourself.
So at its core, this is a toolkit aimed for 3D printer users.
What I’d be looking for here would be sort of a general light-duty assortment plus some
specific tools to handle filament loading, 3D print removal and maybe print cleanup.
Aprintapro also include some of their Printafix Basic bed adhesive that you can use for glass
or aluminum printbeds, or even when you want to protect specialty surfaces like PEI.
But let’s start with the basic tools included: You get a full set of hex keys, some needle-nose
pliers and flush cutters.
For the most part, that covers regular maintenance, they’re also including this two-sided 7mm
L-wrench, which is a perfect tool for removing E3D-sized hotend nozzles.
The hex keys are nice, they are the shorter type, which usually is enough, but can leave
you longing for more if you need to get into particularly tight crevices.
It’s also including the larger sizes up to 10mm, which you’ll practically never
see on a 3D printer since all screws there typically are maybe up to an M5, which have
a 4mm inhex head.
But it does include the 1.5mm type, which you’ll need for grub screws on pulleys and
hobbed gears.
The needle-nose pliers are my personal favorite type of pliers, which I usually use instead
of tweezers, but they’re really versatile.
The ones included in the Printakit are decent, they’re not as smooth as Knipex ones, obviously,
but they’re much better than Harbor freight.
Similar story with the flush cutters, which is a tool that, usually, you don’t know
you’re missing unless you’ve had one before, and in that case, you are going to use it
constantly.
These are great for shaping filament before inserting it into the printer since they don’t
leave that burr behind that regular sidecutters introduce, but they’re also super useful
for snipping off stubborn support material from your prints.
And if you ever get into electronics, you’ll use them constantly for trimming off soldered
component leads etc.
You also get some round-nose tweezers, which to be honest, I’m not using much other than
for picking off hot plastic bits from the nozzle, but hey, it’s nice to have around.
So that should have maintenance and setup mostly covered.
For starting a print, you get that bottle of Printafix Basic, which is a small shake
and pump bottle with that pearlescent adhesive inside.
You do need to give it a really good shake before applying, and thankfully, it’s doesn’t
have that almost perfumed smell to it that the hairspray-like 3DLac has, that stuff gives
me a headache.
It’s still using flammable Isopropyl Alcohol and Ethanol as solvents, which do smell, but
since it’s a manual pump bottle, I’d say the risk of anything actually igniting is
much lower than with spraycans since the spray mist is not as fine and it’s physically
harder to spray out a sufficiently large cloud of Printafix to create a combustible atmosphere.
The coarser and less powerful mist also means you won’t be soiling your 3D printer with
it as easily if you do decide to use it inside the machine, which is still not recommended,
but it just won’t cover everything with that gooey, sticky white layer.
Adhesion is fine, but it’s not as crazy as the aforementioned 3DLac, which, I’ve
actually managed to tear a piece of glass out of a printbed with; even on a regular
PLA print.
For ABS and some of the more strongly warping materials, I would recommend using something
other than Printafix, but for day-to-day use with PLA etc, it works great.
Now, once you finally managed to get that print stuck, there are a few tools included
that help you remove it again.
And those are this razor-blade holder and the sharpened spatula.
The general idea is that you’ll start out by sliding the razor blade under an edge of
the finished print and then follow up with the spatula to completely remove it.
I’ve personally moved on to using a sharp chisel, laying that flat against the bed and
then jamming it under the print, but pulling that off without damaging the print or the
print surface requires a good bit of practice.
The spatula in the Printakit is specifically sharpened with a two-sided grind, so it’s
hard to slide it under a print directly, but it’s also much harder to damage the print
surface should you be using PEI or Buildtak or something else along those lines.
And lastly, for print cleanup, you’re getting a general-purpose hobby knife with a bunch
of extra blades, and while I’ve not found a particularly great tool for removing stuff
like tiny blobs or the ridge at the bottom of a 3D print, this sort of a knife plus the
flush cutters do get you pretty far.
Obviously, I’m using a deburring tool for a lot of my prints now, but that is quite
specialized and only works on bottom inside contours.
To stay safe during cleanup, there’s a pair of universal gloves and some safety glasses.
The glasses are great, they are a simple type that fits very closely.
You do need to be quite rough at 3D print cleanup to need them, but I think any type
of safety glasses or goggles are some of the most underused personal protection measures.
They’re super unintrusive, and if you have a particularly hard-to remove piece of support
material, they definitely do a good job of keeping plastic bits out of your eyes.
The gloves, on the other hand, or hands, in this case, are a standard size, they are too
big for my size 8 hands and aren’t specifically cut-resistant, so I don’t see myself using
them too much.
For cleaning out nozzle clogs, the Printakit also includes a few acupuncture needles, but
let’s be honest, if you use your 3D printer right, you should never need to use them.
To get you on the right track, they are also including a small printed manual with a few
basic tips for the tools and just general 3D printing knowledge, as well a few of these
nozzle adjustment strips, I mean, you could just use a piece of paper instead.
So overall, the Printakit is kind of a very basic toolkit, it includes a bit of everything,
but not the kitchen sink.
I can definitely see myself using it for day-to-day service or even for building a fresh 3D printer,
maybe with one or two tools added, you know, you always need a few specific tools for specific
3D printers, but of course you can augment the kit with whatever extra stuff you need,
the top of the case has plenty of space if you want to store a few extra wrenches - spanners
-, different pliers or a screwdriver.
I’ve seen suggestions of including stuff like a filament oiler, but super-specialized
stuff like that isn’t going to useful for too many folks.
I mean, none of my printers need one, so.. yeah.
Calipers might be nice as they help you getting your CAD designs optimized, but they’re
not as much of a necessity for everyone anymore as they use to be back when 3D printers were
still much more of hacked-together job.
The Printakit currently sells for 85€ including sales tax.
I think that is still a bit on the expensive side, especially if you already have a few
of these tools.
Of course, there’s that convenience factor of getting everything in one package, as in,
literally in a nice hardshell case, and that’s a good idea to keep all the essentials together,
but for all of you hardcore nerds, I don’t think the PrintaKit is a good match in the
first place.
Instead, absolute 3D printing and DIY novices that are maybe just building their first 3D
printer kit or getting their first RepRap going could make good use of a PrintaKit.
Or schools and universities where you have workshops or classes on 3D printing and they
just have, like, 20 of these kits and everyone just gets one of them to use for the machine
they are working on, that, I think, is pretty much a perfect fit.
So if you’re just starting out with 3D printing or are about to get your first machine, here’s
a chance to win a PrintaKit for yourself - enter at toms3d.org/win within the next two weeks
and one of them could be yours!
The giveaway is open to anyone worldwide, and as usual, ignore any scammers that you
see in the video comments who demand shipping charges from you up front, if you win, Aprintapro
is going to ship you one of these babies for free!
So again, toms3d.org/win and it’s open until March 5th 2017.
Well, who knows, maybe you’ll win that Cetus from MakersMuse, a Printakit would go along
with that quite nicely.
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