In keen anticipation of my BigBox to arrive, I'm wondering what lessons have been learned by existing BigBox builders so far that might help the rest of us. I know that there are many fantastic threads and blog-posts that people have made, but I feel there's a danger of (me missing) some absolute gems amongst the swathes of comments. If you can single out just one pearl of wisdom - something that you wish you had known about before the build; something that you wish you'd have started sooner, or the single best thing that you did that helped the build go smoothly - what would it be? I have all of the recommended tools, and some additional things like superglue (although I'm still not sure if that's to glue nuts into the nut-traps or nut-traps to the frame...); a magnetic project board ( ), digital calipers, cable braid and wire ferrules (not sure how useful they will be yet: ). I have other things that may or may not be useful, but basically I'm asking what is the best thing one can do to prepare for the build. One thing I lack that is perhaps considered essential (aside from common-sense) is lots of space, so I'll have to be very shrewd with the use of the space I have. Thanks in advance - this community has been outstanding. So many intelligent and genuinely nice people. Note: It appears that Amazon links don't work with AdBlock installed and large gaps appear in this post. Disable it on this page to see the Amazon links (and I presume E3D may get some revenue via the affliate advertising).
Read the whole section before you start building off the plans, sometimes you look at the exploded diagram and you think great got it. Then scroll down and realise there was a specific order! I lack some space and I ordered an a1 cutting/hobby mat. Could just throw that on a surface and then work away without the worry of oil or scratches appearing on a desk(I stole this idea from a richrap video). The one I got was £15 on Amazon so not too bad. For super glue you are glueing the nut into the trap, don't glue it to the frame! I also found out you have more traps than you need so I didn't do them all. I like the magnetic mat, saved me trying to find a few lost screws and bolts!
> For super glue you are glueing the nut into the trap, don't glue it to the frame! Thanks for that! I suspect that 90% of my time building will be in the preparation, rather than "screwing things in", so the silly little details can make all the difference. Hmm A1 cutting mat... yeah, something like that could definitely be useful I think.
The mat was useful for me as it's my other half's desk and I didn't want to scratch or scuff it, you do get some large pieces of foam in the box you could use on a temp basis as well. The forum seems very happy to help, and you can always spin up or join a Google hangout and people will join and help out in real time. Also it's going to take over 15 hours, make sure you stop to stretch and snack I did about 8 hours straight first day and my leg and back hurt for being still so long... That might be my age tho
In one of the videos of Greg building, I spotted him using something like this: http://tiny.cc/obqr9x So I ordered a set. It's the single most used set of tools in the entire build and, thinking about it, it's hard to image struggling through with a standard set of right angled keys. Would be a good tool for E3D to stock as I suspect I paid 3 times the price I could have.
Thanks Spoon, just went and ordered it too I'd already got a set of allen keys, but anything that can potentially make the process easier!
I would definitely recommend to pre drill the holes that the screws go through, a lot of them are tight and thread in.
I did mine on my living room floor. My back doesn't thank me. Also if you have some sort of turn table or something that would make it easy to spin that would be amazing. I ended up just crawling around and around and around.
Normal allen keys work, but I would also recommend the screwdrivers. They WILL make your build easier/faster. There is also a decent amount of stuff that can be built in a different order than currently shown in the manual, saving you some time/frustration. I also found some items can/should be drilled before assembly to make your life easier. I'll try to make a list tomorrow.
I'd recommend locking your credit card away before build starts, otherwise as the excitement builds, so does the size of your shopping cart on E3D's filament sale.
Made an exception to that when I glued prepared nut-traps into the Frame for the struts in the base. Unfortunately it only occurred to me when the base was already on. Pure hell! Ordered the screwdriver-allens, thanks: look perfect for motor and pulley grub screws.
