Anything I need to consider before buying
I am currently a Printrbot user and love it.. But its getting old and I am looking to upgrade to something before it fails on me.
Mine is a little special, as I built it from a kit, but made a lot of modifications as I did so.. And have upgraded it loads since (i.e it uses an E3D Hotend, over the Ubis).
I am 99% sure I am going for a MK2S, but every time I come to buy, my Printrbot kicks out an amazing print and I think I will live with it for just a little bit longer.
But I know I need to upgrade and I can't keep putting it off..
Before I buy, is there anything I need to consider? Any reason to hold on (perhaps for a MK3 (unlikely as the MK2S is fairly new))?
Finally, what parts/spares should I order too?
My Printerbot has a full set of spares. Nozzles, Motors, Belts, Level sensor, Hotend, Thermistor,etc etc.. And annoyingly, I never used a single one (other than changing to an E3D after my Ubis failed...
So what parts to people tend to keep to hand?
Thanks in advance for any advice or re-assurances you can give.
Jon
Re: Anything I need to consider before buying
There are a couple of other threads on here on the subject, but in the end my take is it seems like failures are more random, then consistently one week link. This is good in that it means the design is mature and things just generally work. The one "Consumable" that people tend to grab a couple extra of, is PEI sheets, since it can be gouged up. And the more you print, the greater chance of you doing it (or even more rare, the machine doing it). You already have a spare hot end and nozzle since the MK2S uses an E3D. If you got silicone boots for your old one, I'd use them on the MK2S, but that is more of personal preference thing. Prusa tends to have good to great customer service, so if something does get messed up, they will work with you to get it fixed up.
For me being a novice printer, the few upgrades I've done are to go Hollywood; Lights, Camera, and Octopi Action! And a silicone boot for the hot end. I haven't gouged up the PEI sheet yet (and I didn't order extras, but I probably will at some time), but I've only been printing PLA.
Otherwise sounds like you have a leg up on most of us starting out, so get the kit and enjoy. Sounds like wait times are down to a reasonable level now, compared to 6 months ago, so no may be a good time to grab one.
Re: Anything I need to consider before buying
As mentioned PEI sheets are great to have spares of and I guess the only other thing I would say is handy to have a spare of is the PINDA probe for a "just in case" scenario. Considering the shipping cost to get one, it seems like a good thing to have on hand if you can order a spare with your kit. The PINDA probe they have seems to be unique to them as well as the heated bed. Other than that, I would venture to say you can reasonably replace any other part by outsourcing it somewhere. But the PINDA I would recommend having a spare of, again in those "just in case" scenarios.
Re: Anything I need to consider before buying
Cheers all.. I will get a probe and PEI sheet for sure.. I am in the UK, so atleast am fairly local to Prusa HQ.
I am still a little nervious about changing printers. I know my Printrbot inside out and am confident of what it can do.. I am just not sure I like the idea of starting all over again.
But the support offered here is reassuring and I hope that most problems (if any) will be know.
I did recently recommend a Wanahao to a colleague (based on reviews) as they wanted a cheap starter printer. They got that working in a matter of hours and the good prints with little tweaking.. What they are printing is amazing (as good as, if not better than my Printrbot), so I have high hopes of the Prusa.
Jon
Re: Anything I need to consider before buying
Cheers all.. I will get a probe and PEI sheet for sure.. I am in the UK, so atleast am fairly local to Prusa HQ.
I recently asked the same question and the probe was suggested to me, as well. However, for the probe you have to play some games with Prusa. As it turns out, you can't order a probe until you own a printer, which normally means an extra shipping charge. To me this seems a bit unreasonable but I could not convince Prusa support of that.
However, it has been suggested to me that you can make your printer order and after that has been submitted to the Prusa system, you can go back and alter the order to add a spare probe to the already existing order. I still haven't made my order so I can't confirm whether that is true.