RE: MK4 Wishlist
Another benefit of a purge bucket is that it doesn't waste space on the plate.
For example I have a print that I did early on my MK3 on that I would love to redo with the MMU. As it has a 220x180 foot print, however, there isn't space for a purge tower.
RE: MK4 Wishlist
Also, with a purge bucket there is no risk of the purge tower coming loose and messing up a print (or bed of prints) that is otherwise fine.
RE: MK4 Wishlist
[...] Regarding small touch screens, obviously going to small makes everything difficult but having a good UI design and layout can make even small touch screens work.
Understood that you want both options, but having a large, easily manipulated physical input is essential for me. Touch inputs tend to be very wasteful of screen space that could be better used actually presenting info IMO. I want to be able to select a setting without squinting at the screen and spin up from 0-285 (for example) in a couple of seconds. I find even the default Prusa knob annoyingly tiny. Any "improvement" should still allow the user to add a custom knob.
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
RE: MK4 Wishlist
Okay. Got to page 12 and kept seeing the same themes and people repeat. It's not about what you want but about what's best for the brand.
What are the Prusa fundamentals like philosophy and culture? I'm getting open source, limited waste, high precision, and innovation as the fundamentals. This means no touch screens, no larger build area, no pretty LEDs or anything that doesn't fit within the design philosophy. Prusa puts a lot of effort into backwards compatibility and the ability to, if you really want to, create the cheapest most Chinese version you heart desires.
What influenced their initial design decisions? I got used to the tiny screen and clumsy dial but think that should stay as basic as possible. We don't need a larger full color OLED touchscreen but we need options. Like the guy from Argentina stated, we need the option to use the peripherals we desire. Stop trying to put everything on the internet so you can live adjust Z from the bathroom. I wouldn't send a baby with a compromised immune system to the big city so keep it off the internet by default. Keep the ability to add the pastry or cephalopod of your choice and improve its ability to harness this technology. What I really want is to use an aging cell phone as the touchscreen/internet connection/etc. and allow the printer to focus on printing.
In addition to the above I want:
* Simplification, specifically in assembly, but also in wire use and management.
*Easier nozzle changes. At the very least include the exact tools needed to do so.
*Faster and more capable hardware, 32 bit board or whatever the industry standard is at the time. And make it easier to access so no one has to experience what I did to replace one.
*More sensors. Will make it difficult to simplify but I at least want an extrusion sensor for the next time the world's tiniest screw goes AWOL.
*Better bearings. I read a lot of complaints about them and want all parts in near continuous motion to be high quality.
*Swappable extruder assembly. Don’t know how you can do this but I would love it. Something breaks, replace it with something that works, and keep printing until you solve the problem.
That’s all I can think of for now as there’s so much more left to discover with what I have.
RE: MK4 Wishlist
* Simplification, specifically in assembly, but also in wire use and management.
*Easier nozzle changes. At the very least include the exact tools needed to do so.
*Swappable extruder assembly. Don’t know how you can do this but I would love it. Something breaks, replace it with something that works, and keep printing until you solve the problem.
I think these things could go together for something like Ultimaker's swapable cores, though I will admit that the cost of additional cores was one of the things that kept me from going with one of their machines.
Being able to pull the extruder for a rebuild or bad jam without having to unwire everything would be really nice though.
*More sensors. Will make it difficult to simplify but I at least want an extrusion sensor for the next time the world's tiniest screw goes AWOL.
Yeah I am disappointed that they threw the baby out with the bathwater over the issues with the old MK3 laser sensor. They should bring that back and fix the issues (e.g. indirect detection) rather than this half useless IR sensor.
*Better bearings. I read a lot of complaints about them and want all parts in near continuous motion to be high quality.
I don't know if the bearings themselves are the issue, but not providing proper grease and depending on the shipping oil for lubrication is definitely an issue that they should correct. All they need to do is include a decent lubricant and instructions for application.
RE: MK4 Wishlist
*Better bearings. I read a lot of complaints about them and want all parts in near continuous motion to be high quality.
I don't know if the bearings themselves are the issue, but not providing proper grease and depending on the shipping oil for lubrication is definitely an issue that they should correct. All they need to do is include a decent lubricant and instructions for application.
It's not like there aren't enough grease packing nozzles on Thingiverse for the bearings. On my first teardown (I was using the MK3S upgrade as an excuse), I used this nozzle to pack my bearings. I think I over did it a bit as I was cleaning excess grease globs off my rods for a few days afterwards, but it worked well. I capped my lube tube and it is waiting for the next PM cycle. Before the lube, I was getting dark residue on the bottom X-axis rail. I wasn't sure if it was the bearings or dust falling off the belt. But after the lube job the residue has yet to make an appearance again. I've looked at that rod and I don't see any damage, so I think I was lucky and got to it before any damage happened.
See my (limited) designs on:
Printables - https://www.printables.com/@Sembazuru
Thingiverse - https://www.thingiverse.com/Sembazuru/designs
RE: MK4 Wishlist
*Better bearings. I read a lot of complaints about them and want all parts in near continuous motion to be high quality.
I don't know if the bearings themselves are the issue, but not providing proper grease and depending on the shipping oil for lubrication is definitely an issue that they should correct. All they need to do is include a decent lubricant and instructions for application.
It's not like there aren't enough grease packing nozzles on Thingiverse for the bearings.
This assumes that A) you have access to a printer before assembling yours and B) you either are already familiar with bearings or happened to already read about the issue (first time I saw such a topic come up was after I had already put 1k hours on the printer). Worse (in my view) is that they do not lubricate the bearings installed on pre-built printers so that (if you know and are concerned) you have to tear apart your new printer that you specifically bought assembled so you could just get right to printing.
RE: MK4 Wishlist
*Better bearings. I read a lot of complaints about them and want all parts in near continuous motion to be high quality.
I don't know if the bearings themselves are the issue, but not providing proper grease and depending on the shipping oil for lubrication is definitely an issue that they should correct. All they need to do is include a decent lubricant and instructions for application.
It's not like there aren't enough grease packing nozzles on Thingiverse for the bearings.
This assumes that A) you have access to a printer before assembling yours and B) you either are already familiar with bearings or happened to already read about the issue (first time I saw such a topic come up was after I had already put 1k hours on the printer). Worse (in my view) is that they do not lubricate the bearings installed on pre-built printers so that (if you know and are concerned) you have to tear apart your new printer that you specifically bought assembled so you could just get right to printing.
My point is (I guess I was too obtuse), Prusa could print off nozzles (along side all the other plastic being printed for the printers) for inclusion in the kits. Provide a small tube of grease that fits the nozzle, and have instructions for packing the bearings as part of the assembly instructions. So, I was agreeing with you. 😎
See my (limited) designs on:
Printables - https://www.printables.com/@Sembazuru
Thingiverse - https://www.thingiverse.com/Sembazuru/designs
RE: MK4 Wishlist
*Better bearings. I read a lot of complaints about them and want all parts in near continuous motion to be high quality.
I don't know if the bearings themselves are the issue, but not providing proper grease and depending on the shipping oil for lubrication is definitely an issue that they should correct. All they need to do is include a decent lubricant and instructions for application.
It's not like there aren't enough grease packing nozzles on Thingiverse for the bearings.
This assumes that A) you have access to a printer before assembling yours and B) you either are already familiar with bearings or happened to already read about the issue (first time I saw such a topic come up was after I had already put 1k hours on the printer). Worse (in my view) is that they do not lubricate the bearings installed on pre-built printers so that (if you know and are concerned) you have to tear apart your new printer that you specifically bought assembled so you could just get right to printing.
My point is (I guess I was too obtuse), Prusa could print off nozzles (along side all the other plastic being printed for the printers) for inclusion in the kits. Provide a small tube of grease that fits the nozzle, and have instructions for packing the bearings as part of the assembly instructions. So, I was agreeing with you. 😎
Ah. Yeah. I completely misread that. I'm not exactly known as a warm and fuzzy person so it could have been my obtuseness in play too 😉 😆
RE: MK4 Wishlist
Please don't do a touchscreen. It is gimmicky and will only add unnecessary cost to the printer.
Please do consider some of these common mods or their variants:
- OctoPi with x-axis mounted pi camera by default (i.e. give us timelapses and ability to control/monitor the printer from our phones)
- LED lighting for printbed (there are many examples)
- Auto-rewind spool holders for MMUv3 (ability to drybox them a bonus), ex: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3268855
- Power switch for printer and LED on LCD Cover, ex: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3213892
- Although it would be also adequate to simply ship a tplink plug and have the LED lights controlable from OctoPi such that they turn on before print and turn off x seconds after print for good timelapsing
- Filament dust filter (many examples)
- Silicon socks for the E3D hotend
- Enclosure mod available for purchase as a separate upgrade (which would include moving the power supply out 😀)
While I agree with and have done some of these, these are more user preference that needed or (to some people) even desirable. I, for example, have no interest in an OctoPi or lights on the printer. I'd rather them keep the cost and complexity down by not including such things.
Now keeping abreast of how users are using/moding the printers to make that process easier/better (e.g. that it has built in support for plugging in the PiZero) is a good goal I think. Maybe simply having some related options at purchase would be helpful too (e.g. I know the power supply is a bit under powered for some upgrades so people have to toss a perfectly good power supply for a new bigger one, so maybe offering a bigger power supply as an option would be good).
I look at the MK3 and it doesn't have the bells and whistles of many other printers out there, but at the end of the day when you read the various forums it is much more reliable and even easier to use. That's what I'd like to see Prusa continue to focus on.
I get your points here. It is certainly true that octopi/lights/etc are not something that everybody would want. I'm actually not bound to the tech choices at all. Your comments made me rethink what I was actually wanting to communicate here. Reduced to a scenario, it is simply this:
Remote Viewing -- When printing, it is satisfying to be able to just check a video feed to make sure things are going well on a long print than to have to always physically go to the printer to check on it. I want to be able to just pop on my phone when the dog wakes me up at night (or say while on a quick trip to the grocery store) and visually verify the printer is still running fine on its 16 hour print.
When I think of 'why is this important to me?', it is really because as you said--the reliability is not there. That is not necessarily something Prusa can fix with engineering though. For example, everything can be perfect with the machine itself but due to me as a user not drying out and storing my filament properly I may be destined for a long series of print failures. I didn't even think about such things when I was printing on my MK2. Everyone is at a different place on their 3D printing journey.
RE: MK4 Wishlist
Bearing shipping oil. Thats how we start. Now people say use Lithium based grease. Hmmm. I guess the oil will not react with the Lithium grease ?
I use oil sparingly.
Nigel
Life is keeping interested and excited by knowledge and new things.
RE: MK4 Wishlist
I get your points here. It is certainly true that octopi/lights/etc are not something that everybody would want. I'm actually not bound to the tech choices at all. Your comments made me rethink what I was actually wanting to communicate here. Reduced to a scenario, it is simply this:
Remote Viewing -- When printing, it is satisfying to be able to just check a video feed to make sure things are going well on a long print than to have to always physically go to the printer to check on it. I want to be able to just pop on my phone when the dog wakes me up at night (or say while on a quick trip to the grocery store) and visually verify the printer is still running fine on its 16 hour print.
When I think of 'why is this important to me?', it is really because as you said--the reliability is not there. That is not necessarily something Prusa can fix with engineering though. For example, everything can be perfect with the machine itself but due to me as a user not drying out and storing my filament properly I may be destined for a long series of print failures. I didn't even think about such things when I was printing on my MK2. Everyone is at a different place on their 3D printing journey.
Then, the focus should be on reliability, correct? You only feel the need to look at the progress because you don't fully trust it yet. I feel the same way, but this won't help you get what you want. There are filament storage containers with desiccant storage that can be added to the printer.
RE: MK4 Wishlist
I vote for printing anything without supports. Is it a dream too good to be true? Maybe. Perhaps a vacuum that sucks the filament up on overhangs? Perhaps a super powerful and concentrated air blast that freezes the filament as it comes out of the nozzle? Perhaps a slight z axis move upwards during bridging to counteract sagging? Crazy ideas, but wouldn't no supports be a dream come true?
RE: MK4 Wishlist
I vote for printing anything without supports. Is it a dream too good to be true? Maybe. Perhaps a vacuum that sucks the filament up on overhangs? Perhaps a super powerful and concentrated air blast that freezes the filament as it comes out of the nozzle? Perhaps a slight z axis move upwards during bridging to counteract sagging? Crazy ideas, but wouldn't no supports be a dream come true?
Yea, why not? When printing overhangs, slow the travel speed down while maintaining extrusion and increasing the fan speed. Maybe a slight shift up would help. Maybe this already happens as I don't have much problem with overhangs.
RE: MK4 Wishlist
I vote for printing anything without supports. Is it a dream too good to be true? Maybe. Perhaps a vacuum that sucks the filament up on overhangs? Perhaps a super powerful and concentrated air blast that freezes the filament as it comes out of the nozzle? Perhaps a slight z axis move upwards during bridging to counteract sagging? Crazy ideas, but wouldn't no supports be a dream come true?
Yea, why not? When printing overhangs, slow the travel speed down while maintaining extrusion and increasing the fan speed. Maybe a slight shift up would help. Maybe this already happens as I don't have much problem with overhangs.
The problem is Z would need to go down as well as up (e.g. print an arch with something dangling from the middle that doesn't reach the build plate). You'd need a build plate that can modify it's geometry to provide support (like those old Pin Art toys) to actually achieve this on an FDM style printer, or a way to hold the object and manipulate it (e.g. turn it over and reume printing on the "bottom").
RE: MK4 Wishlist
I would suggest a sensor capable to detect if the filament is flowing trough the noozle.
This is two times where my prusa I3 mk3s is printing nothing and after one hour of printing, i realised this !
RE: MK4 Wishlist
I vote for printing anything without supports. Is it a dream too good to be true? Maybe. Perhaps a vacuum that sucks the filament up on overhangs? Perhaps a super powerful and concentrated air blast that freezes the filament as it comes out of the nozzle? Perhaps a slight z axis move upwards during bridging to counteract sagging? Crazy ideas, but wouldn't no supports be a dream come true?
Sure- I also want a printer that does everything I want, including full size automobile models of my choice (GT-R, A8, GT-S,etc) with running engines; and while we are at it the printer must be free to own and operate, and store easily in a desk drawer.
RE: MK4 Wishlist
I vote for printing anything without supports. Is it a dream too good to be true? Maybe. Perhaps a vacuum that sucks the filament up on overhangs? Perhaps a super powerful and concentrated air blast that freezes the filament as it comes out of the nozzle? Perhaps a slight z axis move upwards during bridging to counteract sagging? Crazy ideas, but wouldn't no supports be a dream come true?
Yea, why not? When printing overhangs, slow the travel speed down while maintaining extrusion and increasing the fan speed. Maybe a slight shift up would help. Maybe this already happens as I don't have much problem with overhangs.
The problem is Z would need to go down as well as up (e.g. print an arch with something dangling from the middle that doesn't reach the build plate). You'd need a build plate that can modify it's geometry to provide support (like those old Pin Art toys) to actually achieve this on an FDM style printer, or a way to hold the object and manipulate it (e.g. turn it over and reume printing on the "bottom").
There are multi-axis (more than three) 3d printers but they cost a lot more. As long as you have good first layer adhesion it should be all you need.
RE: MK4 Wishlist
Extruder with ability to mix the colors (3 inputs, one noozle).
RE: MK4 Wishlist
see the M3D Crane Quad printer / extruder... the quad extruder is available as a mod the MK3