Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
Soon to be former owner of a Bambu A1. I loved this printer, it was great and I suspect Bambu will get it fixed at some point. I was fortunate enough to buy it from a computer store called Microcenter and they're allowing me to return it (even though its well beyond the return period).
I can buy a P1S combo for 1,000 dollars, or I can buy a MK4. While the P1S has the AMS and is a core xy printer, I'm not sold on returning to Bambu. I'm a little spooked at the fact of their support. Obviously no one wants to talk to support but if you have too, you want a fairly quick turn around to your issue.
With the MK4, I feel it has less features then a similar printer at the same price point. The reasoning given is the support (a major plus) and the fact that its built in the EU.
What reasons or advantages does the MK4 have over a Bambu P1S?
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If you're comfortable with troubleshooting and tinkering, the Prusa MK4's open design and strong community support may be beneficial.
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
If you have the time, I recommend considering the Mk4 kit. If the A1 was your first printer and the Mk4 will be your second, you will benefit from everything you will learn during the build. It is well made, easily serviceable, and has been a pleasure for me to use as I've gotten into the hobby. Mine runs only once or twice a week typically, and typically prints my own designed functional parts/jigs for work that require dimensional consistency across the bed. I've been very happy with it for my needs. I have not used the A1 to compare, but I understand that its print quality is exceptional. Coming into the hobby less than a year ago, I was faced with the same decision, and I had my reasons for choosing Prusa. Since then Bambu has released the two competitor bed slingers for far less $, and I paused to reconsider my choice. Each time I've come to the same decision, and have not regretted choosing the humble Mk4. I hope you will be equally happy if you decide to go this route, and I suspect you will.
-Jeremy
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
I commented on this fantastic video [1] why I decided to get a MK4
This video pushed me over the edge and I just ordered the MK4 Kit! Honestly, I really wanted this printer all along but I was looking at the bambu labs A1 as it was cheaper and very hyped. However, I kept delaying the order as I was concerned about their support, build quality, and longevity as a company. Then I saw their potential fire issue with their A1 and how they handled it and that was it for me. I've had the MK4 kit in my cart ever since and then this video came out! Thanks, decision made. Buy once, cry once. I can't wait for it to arrive. Don Eastern WA, USA - last 2 digits of my order is 37! Maybe that's my new lucky number. 🙂
[1]
I've decided to not buy the Bambu P1S for a variety of reasons and I'm leaning towards the MK4
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Early adopters had some teething problems with firmware things. Firmware updates have corrected virtually any issue I experienced. My Mk4 has been very solid and I love it. We're currently not a fire hazard.
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
i'd go for the MK4 in a heartbeat just because of the ever persistent questionable and shady business practices of Bambulabs.
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
Thanks for the replies I put an order in for an assembled MK4. I just couldn't bring myself to order another Bambu given their lack of customer support.
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
Awesome! I ordered on February 1 and got shipping notification today. Keep us posted as you'll be printing before me as I have the kit to put together. 🙂
Thanks for the replies I put an order in for an assembled MK4. I just couldn't bring myself to order another Bambu given their lack of customer support.
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I think Bambulab is a good company but they have overdone the break neck development speed of their printers. This cable issue was obviously a consequence of rushed long use testing and feels also like inexperience with the needs of bed slinger printers. After all that bed cable is a key point of failure and should be one of the things tested the hardest, double so if you insist on the bed being mains powered.
If their sales numbers take a significant hit due to the A1 fiasco that would also be beneficial for Bambulab in the long run I think because it would teach them to take testing their products more seriously even if that means making their launch cycles longer.
Mk3s MMU2s, Voron 0.1, Voron 2.4
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
I too am looking at Bambu Lab P1S-AMS vs the MK4. I currently have the MK3S. My son bought the Bambu on a Black Friday deal and loves it. I'm a Prusa guy, but I've had so many PLA prints that start out great, print several layers and then let go. I check hours later and I have a huge blob of PLA engulfing the printhead. I'll post a separate question about what non-Prusament filament people are using. I'm in Canada, so it's too expensive to buy Prusa filament.
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
from the last blog entry, link below:
“I can get the same quality printer for half the price”
We manufacture our printers, filaments and resins directly in our HQ in Prague, Czech Republic, in the heart of the European Union – meaning that there are components that need to be imported from other countries. After the COVID-19 pandemic, we fully realized that being so dependent on faraway suppliers is too risky, so we decided to change things up.
We started finding ways to get components locally and even produce them in-house (printed circuit boards, for example). We’re also looking for more suppliers in the EU and USA – they usually provide higher quality parts. However, they are usually also more expensive and they often have lower manufacturing capacity, which may cause situations like a sudden shortage of important components. Some can be sourced from other suppliers (which takes time), other parts may be so specific that we have no other option but to wait until the supply returns back to normal. Very often, the problem isn’t in the quantity, but in the quality.
It is quite common for a supplier to change some seemingly insignificant manufacturing process and even parts with the same specs suddenly show different results in our tests. This can negatively affect the printer’s performance.
To give you an example: some MK4 printers from the initial batches had stepper motors causing unexpected noise, contradicting our claim about the extremely quiet operation, something our printers are well known for. It was hard to find these noisy motors because they were mixed randomly in different batches. It took our team two weeks to create a special device that could quickly identify them. We used this device to check motors in our factory and also built another one and sent it to our motor supplier. Once we fixed the quality issue, we had to return many motors we already had in our warehouse. This situation has made our production a bit slower and more complicated.
Similar problems happen when a supplier suddenly changes any of the used materials or a step in the manufacturing process. This one case was unusually complex, but similar (although less severe) issues are something that our purchasing and quality departments need to deal with several times a month. Dealing with such problems in the supply chain happens often and can cause unexpected delays, which is why we sometimes inform you of these issues at the last moment.
A dedicated department focuses on the development and upkeep of custom testing machines
From time to time, I see a simple suggestion: “Well, forget the local suppliers, I want my 3D printer and I don’t care where you source your parts.” In light of the problems described above, it’s not a universal solution. You will find parts sourced from China in our printers because some components are manufactured in sufficient quantities only there. And things are more complicated than just finding the supplier. Government subsidies, tax breaks and strategic efforts to dominate the 3D printing industry (similar to what happened in the market of drones, pharmaceuticals, or currently, electric cars) have resulted in such situations as diverting ordered and already paid-for components to Chinese companies.
I’m trying to state the facts with as little emotion as possible. Simply to give you a bit of background on what it means to produce something in the EU. It’s obvious that when you’re choosing between various brands, the questions of “morality” or “fate of the industry” are definitely not anywhere near the top of the priority list. And that’s ok. But as perhaps the last western manufacturer of desktop 3D printers, we have to fight back. Because we believe that in the long run, our approach will pay off for both us and you.
source: https://blog.prusa3d.com/what-it-takes-to-manufacture-3d-printers-in-europe_91532/
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
I too am looking at Bambu Lab P1S-AMS vs the MK4. I currently have the MK3S. My son bought the Bambu on a Black Friday deal and loves it. I'm a Prusa guy, but I've had so many PLA prints that start out great, print several layers and then let go. I check hours later and I have a huge blob of PLA engulfing the printhead. I'll post a separate question about what non-Prusament filament people are using. I'm in Canada, so it's too expensive to buy Prusa filament.
Here's my $.02, my research is that printing PLA on the P1S, you'll need to keep the door and top open, otherwise it gets too warm, also the printer is very loud.
I won't like, I did love my A1, but I am shocked at how much poop gets created - this isn't a bambu problem, its a design issue, with using a single nozzle with multiple spools.
What drove me away from Bambu and into the loving arms of Josef Prusa, LOL, is support. Just as I was debating this internally, I saw a mess of threads in the Bambu reddit. Not even A1 related, just others complaining about bambu's slow to nonexistent support. During my research, I asked folks how long it took bambu to answer their tickets, and they said about 10 days.
I do think they grew too big too fast and that impacted the quality of support and evidently it impacted their ability to fully vet out the design of the A1.
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
On paper I think the P1S has more bang for its buck. On paper. Reality might be different. If I were in your shoes, the three biggest reasons for me choosing Prusa would be:
- I trust the company - I've gotten support several times within 20 minutes, and one chat lasting up to 30 mins to help me solve a very minor issue that wasn't even really a problem. 9 PM on a Saturday.
- I've seen the reliability first-hand - We had old MK3 printers at my old office that had been inactive and sit in a dusty room for years. I started them up and saw in the settings that they had run for many, many, many hours. I asked the previous responsible person and she said they had never been maintained or even cleaned at all. After some minor tweaking (screwing the nozzle on tight and adjusting the z-offset) the printers worked... flawlessly?
- They're made in Europe. One might regard this as a "it's not my problem, I just want what's cheapest for me" issue, but if I take a step and think of the big picture it is in my best interest and it is most certainly my problem.
The biggest reason for me choosing Bambu over Prusa would be:
- If I had no interest what-so-ever in tinkering or adjusting at all, I would go with Bambu. I'm not quite sure if the Bambu Labs require less tinkering, but their marketing and image makes it seem like it. And just hope there will never be an issue that requires me tinkering.
There are other features as well, for example a built-in camera, but in the grand scheme of things the Prusa reliability and ease-of-repair are far more important than the quality-of-life features that Bambu provides.
// Regards, a Prusa MK4 kit owner since late 2023.
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
But the self assembly is the fun part!!!!!
--> MK4 - MK4S - MINI+ - MMU3 - Accelerometer Guide - BambuLab A1 Combo <--
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
I went through the same soul searching journey for a couple of months. I finally placed an order for the MK4 kit, only to cancel the order a few weeks later. More going back and forth, and I ordered it again. I might even have cancelled it again, but they finally shipped it to me. I enjoyed building it. It was much easier to build than the MK3S I built a few years ago. And I'm so happy with my MK4. It's a big improvement over the MK3S (which I was able to sell). Not that the MK3S wasn't a good printer. It was. But I really appreciate all of the improvements they made with the MK4. At this point I have zero second thoughts that I made the right decision.
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
I use both a P1S (and P1P) at my Makerspace and a MK4 (kit) at home. The P1S definitely is more noisy, but also more speedy. I love the speed of the P1S/P1P. Quality on the other hand, the MK4 beats it. Not by much, but I definitely get cleaner prints on the MK4.
My main reason for staying with Prusa over the years is definitely their company philosophy and customer support though. Open source means I can always replace any part if/when it breaks and upgrades can easily be installed. Even if the P1S is about equal to a Mk4 right now (decide between speed and quality), in two years time the P1S will be behind. Simply because I will have made upgrades to my MK4, which won't be possible (or won't be as easy) on a P1S.
Ps. The P1S does have one major advantage though, its heatbed is 25x25cm, rather than 20x25cm. Those extra 5cm are really nice to have.
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I was in this dilemma one month ago. Leading up to now, I spent about a year trying to decide on the Bambu.
Then I realized I didn't like the origin.
I looked into MK4 and started learning about Prusa. Main reason for going with MK4 instead of its predecessor for me was the wifi connectivity and planetary gear.
I am a first time buyer and I just went through 12 hours to build the kit. It started working as soon as it was built.
Super straight forward and robust system. No tinkering needed. Just started printing tons of stuff and it's my first printer.
RE: Why buy a MK4 in 2024? A1 Owner looking for a replacement
I went through the same soul searching journey for a couple of months. I finally placed an order for the MK4 kit, only to cancel the order a few weeks later. More going back and forth, and I ordered it again. I might even have cancelled it again, but they finally shipped it to me. I enjoyed building it. It was much easier to build than the MK3S I built a few years ago. And I'm so happy with my MK4. It's a big improvement over the MK3S (which I was able to sell). Not that the MK3S wasn't a good printer. It was. But I really appreciate all of the improvements they made with the MK4. At this point I have zero second thoughts that I made the right decision.
Yeah, I've had the MK4 now for a few weeks, and I'm incredibly pleased. I'll be honest, I do miss the ability to do colors, but once the MMU3 for the MK4 is released I'll jump on that. I don't do a lot of colored prints, but its nice to have when the need arises.
there are differences in how the machine behaves compared to the A1 that I had previously. Its quicker to start the actual printing, but obviously a bit slower. The quality is fine, I have no complaints. While the A1 looks more polished because everything is under plastic, I think for long term maintenance this could be a hindrance. I seem to have easy access to everything that is needs to be maintaned. I also feel the printer is solid as a tank