Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?  

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

I dont have real life experience with MK4 but our company XL with 5 heads prints really well.

wouldnt be surpreised if someone will put on the market core xy printer with 4 heads for 1500€ definetly it is feature. 

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Late to the thread, but I wanted to give my opinions owning a Mk4 and a A1 Mini/AMS Lite

The MK4's build quality and simple design is top notch and its very tank like (in a good way). If the need arises I can repair/replace any component - dependent on one's handiness and skill level of course. Prusa's support is also been stellar, just 20 minutes away from talking to a support person.  With that said, I do find the MK4 playing catchup with Bambu on a number of fronts.

• Performance.  I'm printing the MK4 rocket engine on the MK4 and Bambu A1m.  I decreased the size so both are printing the engine with a height of 102mm.  Bambu with normal quality is taking  4 hours (1 color) and tree supports.  The MK4 is going to take 6 hours with tree supports. I tried printing the jet engine w/o supports and it failed on the MK4, but worked on the Bambu.  To make it a fair comparison, I reprinted the jet engine on the bambu with supports
• Integration, I can easily look, control and print from my phone on the bambu.  With the MK4, it only just got that ability, and it seems I need to upgrade to the S version to fully receive all of the integration, i.e., setting up the wifi on my MK4 was kludgey, where as I just pointed my phone for the A1m.
• Color printing, The AMS Lite is by far superior to the MMU3 in terms of ease of use, setting up, configuring.  Also unhooking and not using it.  The footprint is much much less then the MMU3 and the associated components.  It is true that the MMU3 offers less filament waste, and I won't argue that, though the difference isn't as much as many people think, with a few settings in bambu studio, the difference is negligible.  I also didn't need to take apart the print head of the bambu to add the ams lite, which I have to do with the MK4

With the introduction of the MK4S, it does infact catch up on a number of these points, but does it surpass bambu? 

Prusa has a number of advantages, including the highly touted support and the zealous desire to continue upgrade paths for existing printer owners. I appreciate the depths they take to stand behind all of their products.  For people who want to mod/tinker/upgrade their printers, Prusa is a great option.  Is it a great option for a consumer looking to dip their toes into 3d printing and wanting color printing?  No, I think they still have work ahead of them

One thing I think they need to do is rethink the mmu3, the reason why I bought the A1 Mini/AMS Lite is because for the same amount of money as the MMU3, I got a printer that takes less space then the MMU3, easier to setup, less finicky to calibrate/tweak.  It just works as the saying goes. I really wanted the MMU3, but I was not really jazzed up about assembling a kit (they now have an assembled unit), and most importantly, I had no where to put it. My work area is constrained and I just couldn't fit the MK4 + MMU3.  Oddly I am able to fit the MK4, A1 Mini and AMS Lite on the desk that could not fit the MK4/MMU3 and 4 or 5 spools of filament.

If this was posted in the prusa reddit sub, I would surely get downvoted to oblivion, but I wanted to give my honest opinion. I really like the MK4 printer, its a great printer, but right now the A1 Mini is out performing it in nearly every metric.  

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

What you said is exactly true, but it gets even worse. When the Bambu  Labs printers came out what you posted would be a great comparison, but since then we have the Creality K1, QIDI Tech printers, Anycubic Kobra 3 & Ace, Phrozen Arco, and several others that are right up there with the Bambu printers, give-or-take. During that time we got the MK4S.  Prusa needs to get working because they are falling more and more behind.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

I´m owner of an MK3S+ (with the MMU2) and MK4 latest build and with both printers I´m not really happy.

Both have their flaws, but they are annoying overall.

The slicer is far too bloated in my opinion, fewer setting options would be better and would mean more transparency and less susceptibility to errors.

The MK3S+ is currently having major problems with the head/extruder. Often the filament is not pulled, the roller spins, regardless of the manufacturer.

The MK4 takes forever and 3 days to finally start printing. In that time I shaved and washed myself completely. The print is high quality (twice as fast as the MK3S+) and completed quickly.

I only use filament from overture, Tinmorry and Prusa.

With the MK4 as a new model I would have expected a larger print area (e.g. 300x300x300). The printer was not much more expensive than the MK3S+ WITH MMU2.

The support could be more competent and, above all, FASTER. Prusa usually only responds 4-5 days later, by which time I've long since solved my problem myself. Overall, Prusa should wake up and revise its structures, processes and prices!!!

My next printer will definitely not be a Prusa because of the larger print area. A Bamboo or Creality K1 sounds tempting....

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

I´m owner of an MK3S+ (with the MMU2) and MK4 latest build and with both printers I´m not really happy.

Both have their flaws, but they are annoying overall.

The slicer is far too bloated in my opinion, fewer setting options would be better and would mean more transparency and less susceptibility to errors.

The MK3S+ is currently having major problems with the head/extruder. Often the filament is not pulled, the roller spins, regardless of the manufacturer.

The MK4 takes forever and 3 days to finally start printing. In that time I shaved and washed myself completely. The print is high quality (twice as fast as the MK3S+) and completed quickly.

I only use filament from overture, Tinmorry and Prusa.

With the MK4 as a new model I would have expected a larger print area (e.g. 300x300x300). The printer was not much more expensive than the MK3S+ WITH MMU2.

The support could be more competent and, above all, FASTER. Prusa usually only responds 4-5 days later, by which time I've long since solved my problem myself. Overall, Prusa should wake up and revise its structures, processes and prices!!!

My next printer will definitely not be a Prusa because of the larger print area. A Bamboo or Creality K1 sounds tempting....

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

I'm a Prusaboy. I have the MK3 (with all the updates); a MK4 (ordered the update to the MK4S) and the MMU3.
Overall I'm very satisfied the prusa. Technical build and reliability, upgrades, user - mods and print quality combined with speed. I do not need more. Would have ordered the XL - but just too expensive.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Don´t missunderstood:: I didn't want to badmouth Prusa and their devices, after all I bought two printers with a clear conscience.

-

But regardless of that, as mentioned, Prusa should urgently change a lot of things. Somehow I have the feeling that they're out of touch.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

At least they lost the pole position. And I can hardly imaging what would me drive to buy another FFM printer. What was makeing me to go for the MK4 was the nextruder. Beside some problems (TPU) this is the major step forward in reliable printing. 

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

If Prusa does not offer an improved and with a larger print space area, I will look to another printer.

But actually I have 4 printers and any need to buy a larger one....

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

At least they lost the pole position.

What is Prusa's market, who are they trying to sell too?  What are Prusa's goals?  

I think they were surprised at how fast bambu grabbed market share and while they're not perfect they (bambu) were offering things that prusa was not - They took a page out of apple's playbook and provided a polished, easy to use printer with many ways to print.

My only wish is that the MK4 has color printing capability in a way that is superior to the MMU3, I already mentioned the things I don't like about it, so I won't beat a dead horse, but for the cost of a MMU3, I got a A1 Mini with the AMS Lite. That puppy prints faster then the MK4, its quality is on par with the MK4, and I can have 4 colors.  

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Posted by: @mrpresident

I´m owner of an MK3S+ (with the MMU2) and MK4 latest build and with both printers I´m not really happy.

The MK4 takes forever and 3 days to finally start printing. In that time I shaved and washed myself completely. The print is high quality (twice as fast as the MK3S+) and completed quickly.

The support could be more competent and, above all, FASTER. Prusa usually only responds 4-5 days later, by which time I've long since solved my problem myself. Overall, Prusa should wake up and revise its structures, processes and prices!!!

You should use the chat and not email for support.  My problems are always quickly solved by the chat.  

RE:

However.... cause I´m on business travel there´s less time to construct and print.

By the way to all of you.... what you´re printing? My intention was Gravitrax marble track and needed parts for them to save money. But now I print only special parts for my girl friend, friends, lithpohane and have orders. All of them are individual pieces.... kitchen, bathroom and so on. Using Catia....

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

I find myself printing stuff for my hobby, such as small miniatures. I want to learn Fusion 360, and create functional parts, which is why the MK4 looked like a good option and I'm still happy with the purchase - I've had this now for around 9 months, give or take.

I'm printing Halloween specific chachkies, many of them are single color. I did one such halloween pumpkin on the MK4, 8 hours, on the A1 Mini, same exact model, single color and its 4 hours and 21 minutes.  Both are using the .20mm quality mode. The timing difference is astounding, 

I don't know if the MK4S upgrade kit would help me in these scenarios, i.e., using standard .20mm quality modes. From what little I know the fan, and high flow nozzle is for profiles using settings higher the .20mm.  The question is, would I benefit while printing using the .20mm Quality profile?   From my research, there is no benefit using the 0.2 nozzle, something that I want to use, for small detailed prints.

RE:

Usually I use 15 oder lower for higher quality.

Additionally a few month ago I´ve ordered a special black nozzle cause the filament should not stick on...

A real benefit seems to be the double sided sheet, that´s great.  Once a year I turn the sheet....

If you are able, please visit youtube and search for "mrpresident" and "gravitrax". You should find 3 videos of about I design and print....

I do not use finished objects from the cloud. Everything I need, I create myself.

I was in trouble with Fusion 360 and a friend lead me to Catia and trained me

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

On my wish list: 3d-scanenr and 3d engraving machine....

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Posted by: @michael-36

I did one such halloween pumpkin on the MK4, 8 hours, on the A1 Mini, same exact model, single color and its 4 hours and 21 minutes.  Both are using the .20mm quality mode. The timing difference is astounding, 

To be honest, something is wrong. I am sure that an MK4 is not significantly slower.Prusa puts more emphasis on quality than on speed. At Bambulab it's the other way round.So the profiles are not directly comparable.With Prusa you would have to go for the 0.20 speed profile.

In my opinion, the MK4S is only good for speed at higher layer heights.Up to 0.2 the flow is also enough from the normal nozzle and the MK4S profiles are not significantly faster.There is a point somewhere where the layer adhesion gets worse.But the speed profiles in the Prusa Slicer are still really on the safe side.Only when I print parts where stability is very important do I print in Structural.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

I have a MK2, MK3S+, and MK4. They are OK printers but certainly not state-of-the-art by any measure. The Nextruder works fine, as do the extruders in all my Bambu Lab printers. I find the quality difference between printers minimal. Bambu Lab printers are always faster and easier to use. Currently, from my chair in another room, I can go to Bambu Studio, load a 3D model, and print in one (or four) ABS colors on one X1C, or one (or four) pla colors on another X1C. Until them, my filaments are in a dry box (AMS) with no fuss.  I can print without even being in the same room (or city) as the printer, and I know when I eventually get to the printer, my print will be there. The only negative I have for the Bambu printers, is I wish they had a sensor to tell be when a print was on the printbed so I don't start a print with another print there. Although this never happened.  

Apparently PRUSA wasn't "surprised" enough by the Bambu printer to create a competitor to it, as Creality, and most every other company has.  Of course, matching the Bambu will no longer do, as I'm sure all these companies are working on even better printers for the future. 

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

@michael-36

After reading this I checked out the A1 Mini/AMS Lite. It is on sale now for $100 off so I bought it as I have been wanting to do multi-color prints for a long time but the options were either too expensive or had a history of being a pain the the you know what. I still have the first MMU and the upgrades for the Prusa stuff so I will likely just sell them on ebay. And the quick change nozzle rules! The A1 full version doesn't look to bad a deal either and for both the only issue is material types you can print. But they print PLA, PETG, TPU, and PVA so that's enough for colored prints.

Thanks for posting this. 😀 

Posted by: @michael-36

Late to the thread, but I wanted to give my opinions owning a Mk4 and a A1 Mini/AMS Lite

The MK4's build quality and simple design is top notch and its very tank like (in a good way). If the need arises I can repair/replace any component - dependent on one's handiness and skill level of course. Prusa's support is also been stellar, just 20 minutes away from talking to a support person.  With that said, I do find the MK4 playing catchup with Bambu on a number of fronts.

• Performance.  I'm printing the MK4 rocket engine on the MK4 and Bambu A1m.  I decreased the size so both are printing the engine with a height of 102mm.  Bambu with normal quality is taking  4 hours (1 color) and tree supports.  The MK4 is going to take 6 hours with tree supports. I tried printing the jet engine w/o supports and it failed on the MK4, but worked on the Bambu.  To make it a fair comparison, I reprinted the jet engine on the bambu with supports
• Integration, I can easily look, control and print from my phone on the bambu.  With the MK4, it only just got that ability, and it seems I need to upgrade to the S version to fully receive all of the integration, i.e., setting up the wifi on my MK4 was kludgey, where as I just pointed my phone for the A1m.
• Color printing, The AMS Lite is by far superior to the MMU3 in terms of ease of use, setting up, configuring.  Also unhooking and not using it.  The footprint is much much less then the MMU3 and the associated components.  It is true that the MMU3 offers less filament waste, and I won't argue that, though the difference isn't as much as many people think, with a few settings in bambu studio, the difference is negligible.  I also didn't need to take apart the print head of the bambu to add the ams lite, which I have to do with the MK4

With the introduction of the MK4S, it does infact catch up on a number of these points, but does it surpass bambu? 

Prusa has a number of advantages, including the highly touted support and the zealous desire to continue upgrade paths for existing printer owners. I appreciate the depths they take to stand behind all of their products.  For people who want to mod/tinker/upgrade their printers, Prusa is a great option.  Is it a great option for a consumer looking to dip their toes into 3d printing and wanting color printing?  No, I think they still have work ahead of them

One thing I think they need to do is rethink the mmu3, the reason why I bought the A1 Mini/AMS Lite is because for the same amount of money as the MMU3, I got a printer that takes less space then the MMU3, easier to setup, less finicky to calibrate/tweak.  It just works as the saying goes. I really wanted the MMU3, but I was not really jazzed up about assembling a kit (they now have an assembled unit), and most importantly, I had no where to put it. My work area is constrained and I just couldn't fit the MK4 + MMU3.  Oddly I am able to fit the MK4, A1 Mini and AMS Lite on the desk that could not fit the MK4/MMU3 and 4 or 5 spools of filament.

If this was posted in the prusa reddit sub, I would surely get downvoted to oblivion, but I wanted to give my honest opinion. I really like the MK4 printer, its a great printer, but right now the A1 Mini is out performing it in nearly every metric.  

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RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

I'm also highly tempted - just to print stuff like multicolor coasters etc...... The AMS systems seems to look REALLY good!

Posted by: @davebert

@michael-36

After reading this I checked out the A1 Mini/AMS Lite. It is on sale now for $100 off so I bought it as I have been wanting to do multi-color prints for a long time but the options were either too expensive or had a history of being a pain the the you know what. I still have the first MMU and the upgrades for the Prusa stuff so I will likely just sell them on ebay. And the quick change nozzle rules! The A1 full version doesn't look to bad a deal either and for both the only issue is material types you can print. But they print PLA, PETG, TPU, and PVA so that's enough for colored prints.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

All this discussion about the two printers is interesting.  I have one question that was raised early in the Bambu discussions and that is about how they work when NOT connected to the internet?  In the past I have read that you lose functionality when you cannot allow the printer to connect to the internet.   What is the latest status on LAN usage.

In my searches, I came across this statement from Bambu Lab which may help answer some questions.

Answering network security concerns for our printers