Starting a thread for the Prusa MK4...lets try keep it MK4 related, so anyone interested in the MK4 can get the most out of this discussion
My 3D printing journey started in 2017/2018 when the wife gifted me a MK3S kit for my birthday. As I learned the in's and out's of 3D printing, I slowly upgraded it to a MMU2S (had great success with it, going to get the MMU3 for sure), MK3S+, and then experimented with mods and third party extruders over time. When the XL was announced officially, the tech on it intrigued me with the Nextruder, perfect first layer, etc...nothing critical...just "that would be nice to have" thoughts. MK4 gets announced and got a order placed almost immediately and it arrived a few days ago.
Had a few days to use it and here are my thoughts and impressions.
Probably going to stay happy with this purchase. As fun as it was to learn 3D printing, tinker with calibration, mods, etc...I mostly just been finding myself wanting to print projects (RC and robotics, models, functional parts for around the house, etc) and less on the tinkering side (when I get the time to 3D print these days, I really dont want to be doing any of that anymore). Being able to just take this out of the box and start printing almost immediately, not having to worry about Live Z with changing Nozzles or Sheets, etc is just going to go a long way with me. When the MMU3 goes on sale, I will be getting one of those as well. Here is my hot take on it...hope it helps make up peoples mind who is on the fence, etc.
Finally, a pic of it in action:
My 3D printing journey started in 2017/2018 when the wife gifted me a MK3S kit for my birthday. As I learned the in's and out's of 3D printing, I slowly upgraded it to a MMU2S (had great success with it, going to get the MMU3 for sure), MK3S+, and then experimented with mods and third party extruders over time. When the XL was announced officially, the tech on it intrigued me with the Nextruder, perfect first layer, etc...nothing critical...just "that would be nice to have" thoughts. MK4 gets announced and got a order placed almost immediately and it arrived a few days ago.
Had a few days to use it and here are my thoughts and impressions.
- Being an assembled printer, it was a great "out of box experience" to simply take the MK4 out of the box, plug in, do a 3 minute self check, upload a print, and immediately start printing. No other calibration needed...no 20 minute put a piece of paper under it, no first layer calibration, no sheet profiles, nothing.
- The "perfect first layer" works as advertised. I have all the sheets: Smooth, Textured, and Satin and you simply just swap the sheets and hit print. It only probes the area the print takes up and not the whole sheet anymore as well.
- Almost everything on this printer is replaced (Prusa says its 90%). When I was considering the upgrade kit, I came to the determination I would just have a bunch of parts sitting around that I can't use (even to have for maintenance and replacement parts) or less I built a new MK3. Of all the replaced parts, they are improved in the smallest of ways, such as cable clips for the LCD cable going along the 3030 extrusion, M3 screws for tension in the X Axis parts to better keep the bearings in place, bigger anti vibration feet, stronger and thicker printed parts, etc etc. I have seen a lot of variants of these improvements in mods over the years, so glad to see them default now.
- The motors run quieter sure, but with the fans and Y axis/bed movement, honestly its mostly as loud as a MK3. Not terrible by any means...it sits next to me and I can work/zoom with it running and no one knows...but don't expect anything quieter.
- The LCD is pretty much the same as Mini and options in it...nothing really to report there.
- The firmware for the Input Shaping and speed improvements is not out yet, so print times are pretty much the same as a MK3 right now. With the 0.9 stepper motors, it does run smoother, etc.
Probably going to stay happy with this purchase. As fun as it was to learn 3D printing, tinker with calibration, mods, etc...I mostly just been finding myself wanting to print projects (RC and robotics, models, functional parts for around the house, etc) and less on the tinkering side (when I get the time to 3D print these days, I really dont want to be doing any of that anymore). Being able to just take this out of the box and start printing almost immediately, not having to worry about Live Z with changing Nozzles or Sheets, etc is just going to go a long way with me. When the MMU3 goes on sale, I will be getting one of those as well. Here is my hot take on it...hope it helps make up peoples mind who is on the fence, etc.
Finally, a pic of it in action: