Another New Little Friend - The Kingroon KP3S

[Dave Ward]

After my Monoprice Mini died ( burnt out chip on mainboard ),I looked around for a replacement I just happened to chance on an Ebay auction listing for this

" new " no bids on it at £30 + 3.93 p & p - less than an hour to go! I knew the name Kingroon, but nothing about this printer. I hurriedly looked at all the reviews I could, downloaded the manual, there didn't seem to be any major red flags - so, I put in a bid & got it for the starting price!
It was delivered today - I was prepared to be disappointed, but it looks that the box has been opened for inspection, but nothing else. Never been assembled, all the screws, tools etc in their little ziplocs, the build plate has never been touched - all in all I was well pleased. I'll put it together tomorrow ( all of 6 screws to add & tighten ) and see if it works!
Specs are 180 x 180 x 180 magnetic heated build plate. 0.4mm nozzle, 1.75mm dia filament. Direct drive extruder, linear rails for the X & Y axes, normal wheels for the Z axis.
It has a small footprint ( heavy too! ), but that is really offset by a separate power brick, and an external filament holder - neither of which are critical - I have the SunLu printing a top mounted filament holder at the moment, and there is a base you can print to fit the PSU underneath the printer.
It has a tiny little touch screen, and it's manual levelling, it can't print exotic filaments ( temperature limits ). but I only use PLA, so thats not a problem, doesn't have wi-fi, filament run-out, uses a standard micro sd card. I downloaded a configuation for the KP3S for my PrusaSlicer ( that sets the build plate size, parameters etc in the programme ) , so hopefully this will be up & running tomorrow morning
Dave

 

[Gary MacKenzie]

<< good review

 

[Dave Ward]

<< good review

Boy, these guys really love their mods! I'm interested in what the printer actually produces in terms of quality, not how fast you can make it go, and if you can control it from Australia with your smartphone! - all with mods that probably cost as much as the original printer! At the price I got this for I'll be very happy for it to be a slow workhorse, printing all the small bits ( like the Monoprice RIP ).
Dave

 

[Gary MacKenzie]

I have watched two reviews, both of which state categorically that out of the box it is a cracker, and yes they do then say you could alter some things, they usually do this to allow more materials or for a specific purpose. They are the equivalent of car tuners
I saw a vase made by it straight from the box , no mods , no fine tuning , and it was very very good, many others would love that as an out of the box test print. He used kingroons own white pla.

 

[Dave Ward]

After about 20 minutes assembly - up and running!

Once assembled, setting the Z end stop was a pain, as the adjustment screw is so tight, only a full sized screwdriver would turn it. Once it is set there should be no need to touch it again. Levelling the bed was OK, but because of my big fingers & the small bed, turning the levelling knobs, especially the back left was fiddly. It took longer than it should have done!
One thing that's not good is the tiny touch screen
It has a narrow angle of view, and with my fat fingers it's easy to select the wrong icon!, I may have to print up a stylus to stop pressing the wrong thing. The external PSU fan is rather noisy, the printer very quiet. It's going to take a few print attempts to get the settings right, but looking good so far.
This is a direct drive extruder, which means it's suitable for printing flexible TPU filament. Some anti-vibration mounts could be useful, so I'll get a small spool of it to give it a try. Got a busy few days in front of me, so I might have to leave this for the monent, despite my itchy fingers...................
Dave

 

[stillp]

Could you print a longer handle for the back left levelling knob Dave?
Pete

 

[Dave Ward]

Could you print a longer handle for the back left levelling knob Dave?
Pete

The knob is sandwiched between the underside of the build plate. the top of the printer base & the gantry upright, and it only just fits! One of the downsides of a small printer, where it's all shoehorned together. If you had dainty hands, there wouldn't be a problem. Once you've got it set, though, you shouldn't need to touch it, unless you change the nozzle or the build plate ( not uncommon )
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

After a really uncomfortable few days - the high temperatures really affect me these days - I;ve been able to return to this new toy..............
A fair few false starts & aborted prints, and I think I've got the main settings sorted & just a few tweaks needed here and there. I've decided to stick with the same filament as I use in the SunLu. I know I can get good results with it.
I've started the KP3S on a longish print of this

Vickers Light Tank Mk.II - although my model is an early version. Again, blown up from 1/56 - this would not fit on the Monopice bed, but the KP3S is larger & this fits comfortably. I'll put up some piccies of the results tomorrow, but so far I'm very pleased with the way this has worked. Not quite confident enough yet, to let it run overnight but that will come, I'm sure.
I'm still looking for the more obscure models -- I've found a RAM Mk.II - I know that Bronco made a model of this - but prices are collector high - it seems that Bronco aren't making much these days
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

This is the Vickers Light Tank Mk. II. From Wargaming3D < $7
I thought that the turret was sitting too high, but looking at contemporay photos, that's the way it was. The KP3S has performed way above my expectations - the only clean up was removing the supports, which was an easy job. Alittle fettling needed about the track mounting pins, but nothing drastic. I don't like the magnetic bed on the build plate, it's a lttle flimsy & the magnets aren't very strong. I'll be looking for a replacement when the original begins to deteriorate.
Printed in four pieces left & right tracks ( face upwards ), hull & turret - total printing time about 20hrs. The model was blown up from 1/56, using PrusaSlicer 2.6.1. Nozzle temperature 210/200C, bed temp 55/50C. I used Geeetech Silver PLA, my now standard filament.
I'm now going to revisit my first proper 3D model, the Matilda I, and see how my latest efforts compare to the first steps! ( and how the KP3S performed )
Dave

 

[Tim Marlow]

That’s come out well Dave. Strange beast isn’t it. It would suit an imagiNations “Very British civil war” gaming setting really nicely

 

[Dave Ward]

That’s come out well Dave. Strange beast isn’t it. It would suit an imagiNations “Very British civil war” gaming setting really nicely

66 made, early 30's - superseded by the Mk.III. Vickers were really the only tank maker & developer in the world at this time. Even though their tanks were only made in small batches, they were widely exported & influenced Japanese/Russian/Polish tank designs
Dave

 

[Jim R]

That's good Dave. Looks as if your new "toy" is worth the outlay.

 

[adt70hk]

That's turned out very nicely indeed Dave!

 

[Dave Ward]

This is the 1/35 Matilda I revisited

I've just removed the supports, no clean up done at all. the KP3S doesn't leave as much 'stringing', due it being a direct drive extruder - that is the extruder is on top of the nozzle. The SunLu has the extruder on the frame & the filament is fed to the nozzle by a bowden tube. This introduces an element of lag, causing stringing. The downside of a direct drive is that it increases the weight of the 'X' carriage, thus it's inertia, so speeding it up will cause print problems. The Bowden tube variety has a light 'X' carriage & can be moved faster without a drop in quality. All of this is largely irrelevant, as I print at a slow to medium speed anyway!
This was one of my first attempts at the Matilda
Basic shape there, but I couldn't get the suupports off! Sorting the support interface settings means that they now come away cleanly. One thing that isn't apparent is the weight - originally I was using 25% infill ( in the interior of the model ), now I use 8%! Makes it lighter, prints faster & uses less filament. I only up the infill if the part is goung to be structural
Dave