RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
Things seem to be going well. I have completed the Z-axis assembly.
My only key insight at this point is this: if – for whatever reason – you print all your parts in black, it is sometimes very difficult finding holes and other parts that you need for orientation. I'll admit to being old and having eye-sight that was once better, but I think this might affect others too.
My ideal set-up for this work would be a pedestal about 110 cm high with a plate on the top just big enough to hold the printer so I can get 360° access, and with a good light source immediately overhead. I'll bear that in mind if I ever diversify into Prusa construction. 🤣
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
haha yeah, I had to do it for two machines. it was nice having one working just in case though.
Things seem to be going well. I have completed the Z-axis assembly.
My only key insight at this point is this: if – for whatever reason – you print all your parts in black, it is sometimes very difficult finding holes and other parts that you need for orientation. I'll admit to being old and having eye-sight that was once better, but I think this might affect others too.
My ideal set-up for this work would be a pedestal about 110 cm high with a plate on the top just big enough to hold the printer so I can get 360° access, and with a good light source immediately overhead. I'll bear that in mind if I ever diversify into Prusa construction. 🤣
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
This is what it looks like at the moment. I haven't mounted the PSU because it will be going straight back into the enclosure. I've also got a "PSU Cable Quick-release for Original Prusa Enclosure (MK4)" on order.
I'm now doing the extruder assembly. I am filled with respect for the guys who designed this stuff.
Also, the parts that I had to get done by a third party because I didn't prepare the prints properly (see above) are not as precise as the ones I printed on the Mk3S+, as it was. The third party doesn't use Prusa.
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
I've got to the but where you assemble the xLCD. When I moved the Mk3S+ into the enclosure I had to use modified xLCD supports to move the xLCD (or whatever it was called) onto the front of the enclosure. I tried mounting the xLCD using its current supports onto the enclosure thus:
As you can see there are physical problems with this as the doors of the enclosure no longer close. It may also be that the xLCD cable is too short to reach from outside the enclosure into the xBuddy box. I'll solve this one later. The answers seem to be here.
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
yeah once you have a working printer again you can always print modified parts lol. I have a different enclosures for mine but my xlcd is still attached in the default place on the printer itself.
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
To tidy up my enclosure and make it easier to handle, I’ve ordered a quick release for the enclosure. I find it difficult to understand why it is an extra and not part of the basic enclosure offering.
However, I’m now at the point where I have to start wiring up the PSU, which is attached to the enclosure anyway. Prusa don’t seem to have thought of that in their otherwise superb installation guide. I’m going to have to wing it one way or the other. Not sure how to proceed…
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
I've just had a chat with Prusa customer support: friendly as usual, but unable to help, though they have noted the need to take account of the Prusa enclosure in upgrade documentation. I'm going to try to continue and leave the cables to the PSU dangling and try to connect them when I put the printer back into the enclosure. Perhaps the quick release will have arrived by then...
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
This is how I'm going to try to hack it. I've taken the cables that go to the PSU (2x xBuddy cables, 1x PE cable, 1x power panic cable), identified the ends that go the PSU and sacrificed a zip tie to hold them all together. I'll just get on with the other end!
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
They were not able to help you? Did they not at least point you to their own assembly instructions for this quick release kit here:
https://help.prusa3d.com/guide/10-quick-release-psu-cable-mk4-3-9-black-psu-add-on_628940
The PSU quick release kit contains an entirely separate and different wire kit for connecting the printer to the PSU. You do not need the PSU wires that came with the mk3-to-mk4 upgrade kit.
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
You should also have a look at this part here which makes the connector of the PSU quick release a bit easier to handle and better looking, too:
https://www.printables.com/de/model/315683-quick-release-psu-connector-cover
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
I've compared the new cables from the xBuddy with the old ones from the Einsy to the PSU. They are very similar and – more importantly – of the same length. So if I recycle the cloth wrapping off the old ones I should be OK.
Just the Y-carriage & Heatbed assembly to do tomorrow, and then I should be back in business. 😴
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
Hi Walter
Thanks for tips. I have a quick release on order, but I need to run without until it is delivered. The cover looks good.
You should also have a look at this part here which makes the connector of the PSU quick release a bit easier to handle and better looking, too:
https://www.printables.com/de/model/315683-quick-release-psu-connector-cover
RE:
My solution with bundling the cables to the PSU and dealing with them later worked a treat! All I had to to do was retrieve the fabric covering off the old PSU cables, wrap it round the cables and connect them to the PSU. It was then time for the ceremonial opening. I switched on the PSU, the printer powered up, the lights in the house stayed on, and the self-tests started.
The first couple of self-tests succeeded, but then the heater test (nozzle and heatbed) failed. I fixed that by thoroughly reviewing the cables and connections of the heatbed and the xBuddy. But still the self-test failed. Weirdly. So I got in touch with the online chat again. Unfortunately this coincided with Prusa having Internet connection problems, but we eventually got a stable connection and I was expertly guided through a diagnosis. The heatbed test on its own succeeded, which was strange, because the prior nozzle test (which we had switched off) had also claimed to succeed. They just didn't succeed together. An obscure (but known) bug, it would appear, caused by the thermistor in the nozzle. So they are sending me a new thermistor on Monday. It should arrive by Thursday, so I ought to be able start super-fast 3D printing then. More anon.
Mind you, I've got so many things due to arrive from Prusa (thermistor, PSU quick release, MMU3) that I'm not really sure what happens next.
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
oh man, slowly but surely!
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
At least I've worked out how to mount my camera and my Raspberry Pi, so I can stick with Octoprint rather than migrating to Prusalink.
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
Aut OctoPrint, aut nihil.
- Cesare Borgia
🙂
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
The replacement thermistor arrived today. I now have a working Mk4! It's now printing its first parts. It doesn't seem massively faster, but I now have no way of comparing 🤗
I'm using Prusalink at the moment. The next week will be consumed with printer incest as I print out the parts I need to restore the functionality I lost during the upgrade (mainly OctoPrint and the camera, which both run on a Raspberry Pi 4B).
Perhaps I ought to summarise my experience. Despite the setbacks, it was fun, more than I expected. And I now know how to make a 3D printer. The upgrade is worth it just for the improved xLED! I'm still not sure if I shouldn't have gone for an XL instead, though.
The Mk4 strikes me as being tidier. Does it have fewer cables? Why doesn't the xBuddy communicate with the print head wirelessly? That would give even fewer cables.
Prusalink works, but is unexciting. If I had to I could probably get used to it, but I'm still planning on going back to OctoPrint. It will be interesting to see what Prusalink thinks when OctoPrint is printing something and vice versa.
Prusa support were really helpful at the kill. I don't know how long it would have taken me to zero in on the hotend thermistor, but he did it in seconds.
I'm still waiting for the MMU3: I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it or dreading it. I'm sure the building process will be fun, but the time they are taking to actually ship it makes me worry that it's fundamentally flawed, as the MMU2 was, I suppose. But if they manage to integrate it more completely with the xBuddy It might just be cool.
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
the best thing is that you dont' have to remember which sheet you're using! Unless your printer at the Input Shaper profiles for MK4, you probably won't notice a ton faster print speed. I don't use the IS profiles myself. speed is nice, but I like reliable better. I do also love not having shuffle SD cards too. I do wish you could overwrite a gcode file though. I find it annoying having to add 001, 002 etc to the name when I'm tuning settings and uploading the same model over and over again. But I have found it a a nice upgrade from the MK3 I like the prusaconnect thing. I never did anything with octoprint so I have no basis for comparison. the MMU by definition is a big kludge... i.e. is fundamentally flawed. I spent a lot of time with the MMU2 so I feel like I can say that some credibility. using a single extruder and expecting everything to work for a variety of vastly different filament types is not only wasteful(due to the amount of purge, for solubles in particular) but is problematic when you rely on the shape of the types and filaments of different rigidity to work reliably. Prusa saw this with the ambient environmental temps in their farms. The answer is the XL, i.e. multiple extruders. I never saw the MMU as more than a curiosity that was fun when it worked, but rage-inducing when it wasn't... which was more often than not. Good on the bambu folks for sort of refining it a bit with the filament poop thing, but it's STILL not the same has having separate extruders. Since I have both an XL and two MK4s, I can say I'd never go back to an MMU.
I don't know how the MMU3 fares with TPU, but that was absolutely not something that would work reliably on the MMU2s, no would I expect it to given how the MMU works.
If you're serious about multi material, go XL. Is the XL perfect? no? but it's getting better all the time and it has a learning curve just like anything else.
I've been able to get multi material, both TPU and rigid filaments working.
here's some examples. The first you could do with the MMU but your purge tower would be huge! or you'd have to use wipe to infill, I haven't tried this actually since I got the XL.
PLA 5 colors
Ninjaflex and Sainsmart TPU 4 color
Sainsmart TPU using PLA as support material
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
I love this. “Sorry, I left it on too long…”
RE: Upgrading an MK3S+ to an MK4
haha yeah, I leave it sitting on top of the enclosure lol
I love this. “Sorry, I left it on too long…”