Our printers are not working!!!
Hey there, my name is Anshul Bajaj, I am from robotics Team 4414 | HighTide. We own both a prusa mini as well as an mk3. Recently we have been experiencing many issues with our machines. Our mini has almost never worked and our mk3 works every now and then. I have used maybe 10 other prusa machines and I do not have any of these problems.
mk3s
does not stick to bed, first layer messy, screws up mid print (over extrusion or messy extrusion)
what I did to try and fix: firmware upgrade/downgrade, reset, first layer cal (10-15 times), new bed.
Mini
Does not probe properly, first layer too high on purge line, too low on print first layer, occasionally after 3rd probe position printer thinks the print is over.
what I did to try and fix: New bed, first layer cal (maybe 15 times), moved probe (fixed probing issue). upgrade and downgraded firmware, 3 different filaments (including prusament), 3 factory resets.
I have tried to look up solutions, but I have found nothing, I have spent way more time trying to fix these machines than I care to admit.
We very much rely on 3d printing for our competition robot. All of our spacers and casings are made on our prusas. We are currently 3 weeks into the 2020 competition season, and we need to fix these issues asap.
Who better than other prusa users could help us solve these issues. Thank you to anyone with some insight.
Thanks
Anshul
RE: Our printers are not working!!!
Well, you did pay a premium for printers with after-sales support - you would get a far faster turnaround (i.e. live) help if you used the live chat feature in the store, and they would send you any warranty replacement parts in short order.
RE: Our printers are not working!!!
@vintagepc
I definitely went ahead and shot them a message, but I have not received any response yet.
RE: Our printers are not working!!!
You must have used email. Use live chat instead, you will get an instant response. Email is notorious for being slow.
Bottom right corner of the shop, hit 'Chat now'. Give it a few seconds to load.
RE: Our printers are not working!!!
Having used a Ender, a Tevo, a Anet, a mk3 and now a Mini. ALL of them suffer if the smallest gap exists inside the hotend that will cause inconsistent extrusion, blockages and poor adhesion to the bed.
Stripping down the hotend is the only answer to getting the probelms resolved. And I've had to do it on every printer. The mk3 we ended up buying a already made hotend replacement. The Mini required a strip down and following this guide: here
The Mini is the easiest hotend to maintain so far.
And most times this gap is impossible to find, and the filament you remove seems so small that it couldn't be a problem - but it has always solved my problems.