MK4 and Enclosure Impressions  

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

Good to hear!

We should not expect anything less given the price point of prusa in the current market. 

I’m planning to build the enclosure later when the quick connection cable is available. 

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

I wish I had waited for the kit instead of buying the assembled printer!

My MK4 has been printing fine, but there has been an odd vibration noise when moving Z axis.  Trying to trace that down yesterday, I found a serious problem with the motor end of the X-axis assembly.  Whoever assembled the bearing clip cross-threaded one of the four screws into the recessed nut on the back side of that x-end-motor part.  Not only that, after cross-threading it to the point where the threads were completely locked, they apparently kept trying to turn it -- resulting in the Nut spinning inside the x-end-motor printed part, turning the "hex" recess into a "round" recess that won't hold a nut.  Makes me wonder what else wasn't done right.

So, one corner of that bearing clip is loose. The screw is fully engaged in the nut, but not protruding like the others.  AND it cannot be tightened or loosened because the threads are crossed AND the nut is just spinning in the recess.   Still trying to find some way to fix it without disassembling the entire X-axis but it looks like that might be the only solution.

That would never have happened on a self-assembly!  I would have noticed the resistance and stopped before the threads were locked, and before damage occurred to the nut recess.  

So, you patient folks who waited for the kit --- your reward is not just a cost savings.  It is a more carefully assembled printer that doesn't need a big repair to fix a bad assembly job.  <sigh>

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

In general, the kit building has been relaxing and easy.  I don’t think I will buy another assembled printer.  

RE:

Some photos of progress would have been nice.

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

I will post some when I get closer to being done.  I am trying to speed build this one so I can get it done for some projects next weekend end.  

Posted by: @rene-3

Some photos of progress would have been nice.

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

One more tidbit:  I like the all-metal heatbreak and the mechanism to insert.  Slick design that seems well thought out.  The thermistors and heat cartridges may be more durable.   

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

I had a lovely build experience too, for those building, I had a ton of trouble trying to square the frame, I think either my frame or one of the extrusions had a slight bend, however, the build manual said under 2mm of a corner lifting is okay. Sure enough, when putting the power supply on the thing straightened right out! So far I have had nothing but good experiences, I did switch back to stable firmware from alpha, the alpha firmware introduces random layer shifts even without using the input shaping profile in prusa slicer

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

I always love to do kit building... I almost got tempted to buy MK4 kits, but I have too many printers and no room for it. 🙁 🤣 

Posted by: @cwbullet

In general, the kit building has been relaxing and easy.  I don’t think I will buy another assembled printer.  

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

I will post more photos, but I am almost complete.  The process has almost been without a hitch.  I have repeated some steps because I missed a word or sentence.  

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

I finished over the weekend and now have four completed prints.  This thing is really quiet.  I printed a Prusa keychain, a Benchie, a funnel, and a rocket motor.  The quality of very good.  No stringing and a perfect first layer every time.  

I built two enclosures.  This is the one for my MK3s.  

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

Im really tempted with the enclosure, but considering I only really print PLA and the odd bit of PETG, I don't really need it!! I wanted it more for dust protection and noise reduction then anything else! lol

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

It does cut the noise significantly.  60% of what I print is PETG.  I would rather not limit myself to just PLA, PETG, and TPU.  The heat resitance anch mechanical strength of PC, ASA, and ABS are much better than PETG.  

Posted by: @iftibashir

Im really tempted with the enclosure, but considering I only really print PLA and the odd bit of PETG, I don't really need it!! I wanted it more for dust protection and noise reduction then anything else! lol

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

Yes for PLA the enclosure doesn't really add much other than being a dust cover when the printer is not at work. You probably need the doors open when printing PLA and then the noise is also not reduced by much either. However, even if you just print PETG an enclosure is already quite valuable. 

I think PETG is actually a surprisingly good alrounder. It is outdoors compatible and fairly tough. Its major downside are the moderate thermostability and relatively high flexibility/ low stiffness. That and the ultrashiny look which some consider not that nice (me included). If non of those is an issue for you, PETG has you covered. 

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

The thermistors and heat cartridges may be more durable.   

They're not. On my XL—which I believe has the same hotend as the Mk4—the thermistor cable broke after about 8 nozzle swaps. Maybe it's different on the Mk4 but on the XL I have to push the cables up behind the heatsink fan, and I suspect doing that repeatedly affected the cable where it enters the heater block. I just checked the nozzle swap procedure on the Mk4, and it looks very similar, so as a Public Service Announcment, be very careful when you reinsert the cables. While I love the load cell mechanism and the single piece nozzle, I'm not a friend of the way the nozzle needs to be swapped. With my Mk3 and Mini Dragon hotends, I never had to worry about cables.

What about the nozzle adaptor? Well, the instructions still suggest removing the adaptor is recommended for swapping the nozzle. Plus, this being an aluminum hotend, in my experience it didn't work well with tungsten carbide nozzles due to thermal expansion differences, leading to leaks. 

RE:

I don't know about using them with the nozzle adaptor, but the thermistors of the MK4, when used with the standard Mk4 Nozzles, are much less likely to be damaged.  You do not have to use a wrench to remove them; thus, you will not likely damage them.  It may be a process, not true durability, but I will live with it.  

Posted by: @fuchsr

The thermistors and heat cartridges may be more durable.   

They're not. On my XL—which I believe has the same hotend as the Mk4—the thermistor cable broke after about 8 nozzle swaps. Maybe it's different on the Mk4 but on the XL I have to push the cables up behind the heatsink fan, and I suspect doing that repeatedly affected the cable where it enters the heater block. I just checked the nozzle swap procedure on the Mk4, and it looks very similar, so as a Public Service Announcment, be very careful when you reinsert the cables. While I love the load cell mechanism and the single piece nozzle, I'm not a friend of the way the nozzle needs to be swapped. With my Mk3 and Mini Dragon hotends, I never had to worry about cables.

What about the nozzle adaptor? Well, the instructions still suggest removing the adaptor is recommended for swapping the nozzle. Plus, this being an aluminum hotend, in my experience it didn't work well with tungsten carbide nozzles due to thermal expansion differences, leading to leaks. 

RE:

I did not get a chance to take many photos.  

The weekend was spent upgrading firmware and testing the Alpha 3.  The P1P printed a funnel in 1hr38 minutes, including the start-up sequence.  The same standard on the Mk4 with the Alpha 3 was in 1hr33 minutes.  It was estimated to be 1hr8minutes in PrusaSlicer.  The quality is equivalent, with only a minor amount of stringing on the MK4.  

RE: MK4 and Enclosure Impressions

Just weird.  Some models print faster on Bambus, and some print faster on the alpha input shaper.  I printed a small square.  It was a few minutes faster on the Bambu.  Then I printed a small funnel that was essentially a single layer with the o.4mm nozzle, and it printed faster on the Mk4 with input shaping.  I am not sure why I am getting these results.