I upgraded / added 24V power supply for bed to get to temps that held the prints down
I always use glass with glue stick - works great!
I upgraded the z-axis rod - not required immediately
I upgraded from the 3mm extruder to the Direct Drive 1.75mm extruder from Velleman. It came with a burnt out driver for the controller. Their support was awesome and they sent me a new one sight unseen!
Shortly after, I upgraded to the E3D V6 for the 1.75 which I was running for the 3mm prior and highly recommend.
There is alot to learn! You will definitely know the basics and troubleshooting after using this printer. The forums are also great and some great helpful people on their genuinely willing to help!
When I bought my printer it was the best balance between price, simplicity in building it and upgradability.
I’m not implying it is easy to build though. I study engineering and it took me 25 hours spread over a week (yes I timed it^^) to build. It requires mechanical prowess and soldering skills, as well as a sceptical eye for the not always perfect manual (600 pages!). But compared to trying to get all the parts yourself and building your printer from scratch it’s simple. All the parts are there, you just need the tools and the time, and if there’s a problem or you break something the Vellemann support is quite good (I broke the hotend when mounting it first time, no problem they sent me a new one).
But its by no means perfect. The first 5 things I printed were upgrades for the printer (Electronics case, Z-Motor holder, Y-Axis cable bridge, X-axis belt tightener, Fan nozzle), and 2 years later I’m still improving bits of it. A printer like this is always a work in progress. If you’re OK with that then go for it!
As you can see from the other posts this printer will need to be upgraded for you to get any good prints from it.
I would not recommend this printer to anyone. I have had mine for almost a year now and have only just started to get good results after using most of the upgrades mentioned. Velleman support is terrible, it is all web forum and the technical support never reply to your posts. There are faulty and cheap parts in the kit and although velleman will replace them it takes a long time and a lot of effort to get them.
By the time that you have applied all of the upgrades and replaced the cheap parts fro better quality parts the printer is not cheap. I would choose a slightly more expensive printer which has better reviews.
For information: I also timed the K8400 montage and it took me between 15 and 20 hours. I really think the K8400 is easier to mount (solderless, good frame, … )
Not saying that K8400 is a must buy comparing to other brands… just saying that I think the K8400 is better comparing to the K8200 (ease of mount, speed of mount, reliability, quality of prints, … )
My comments are based on personal experience. I was told that all support was through the velleman forum and was not given a tech support e mail address. I have posted on the forum several times and have never had a reply from velleman, it has always been other users that have helped me out.
As for repairs, I had to return the main circuit board as it was supplied damged and it took 6 weeks to get it back. This is not great service and I will not recommend velleman to anyone and will actively tell people to buy other printers.
Hi The K8200 is a very easy printer to start with. The printer is very easy to build. The build manual is very detailed with over 500 pages. The good thing with the velleman K8200 is that there are alot of easy upgrades at Thingiverse.com that will make the more reliable and making better print. I have upgrades mine with a aluminium heatbed for faster heating. E3D extruder which make it able print alot of different filament and also different nozzles. 0,25mm and up. I am very satisfied with the K8200 and I am sure this printer is a good printer to start with, if you like DIY kits.
Im not that technicaly experienced, i do put togethr the odd diy kit from velleman or adafruit and i have fooled around with the raspberry pi a bit. (Also built a custom watercooled computer last summer)
Then you will really like the K8200. Y ou will find a lot of upgradding possibilities on Thingiverse. Just be aware that upgrading this printer can cost a lot of money depending of which solution you choose. My blog (http://www.3d-couverte.fr/ 2) lists some upgrading solution only with printed parts, but this kind of upgrading is less effective than buying hight quality parts.
