£900 and very very disappointed.  

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

Well,

as far as I can tell, the Mk3 is much quiter than the Mk2/s. However, it is not miraculously silent (ok, if you use stealth-chop, it definately is). To some extend, it depends on the personal attitude.

What I could hear in your video are some unnormal vibrations. The reason can be a screw not fully thightened or something similar. Also, the bearings can be really noisy - which may be the reason for your noise at the Y-axis (was not in the video). I switched to sintered bronze on Y and Misumi on X / Z because of that.

I suppose in stealth chop everything is quiet?

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

- check if something is loose, especially with the pre-assembled, during shipping movements and temperature changes....sounds like something is rattling or vibration to resonance. Probably the PSU ? Also check the environment.

- Grease the lead screws...eventually the smooth rods as well.

- i guess that's something you should be able to get rid of.

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

More and more threads lately with repeated issues among users, I really hope the devs speak up soon, because I had to send my MK3 back, and I'm afraid my new one is going to have these same issues.

And to all those that constantly state "this is open source!, you are expected to tinker and CONSTANTLY fix/adjust it!", that wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that Prusa advertises this printer as being "ready out of box" and with low maintenance required, which is not true at all according to many.

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

So I tightened all the screws I could get access to without taking everything apart, that solved nothing,

I then moved the z axis up and down and at the same time, the screw rod on the right side, I used my thumb to push the top of the screw rod into the side of the bracket and the noise reduced by around 90%, seems that having the screw rod just surrounded by air is the cause, I will look at modifying the z rod holding brackets in 3d software and giving the screw rod something to snug against.

I'll update once I've found a solution that doesn't involve a refund!
is there anywhere to get different bearings for the Y moment?

@beau.m
I had a anycubic i3 before, and the only noise issue i had was the cheapo fans, saying that i printed a new side and stuck a noctua on, that fixed that, I even sent them the stl file, great they rewarded my ingenuity with a free spool of pla, but in the end the constant not getting the prints to stick, and having to adjust the bed to get it level just got fed up and returned it, and that was a knock off of the "original prusa" that's when i found this, you'd think that the original stuff would be higher quality, dont get me wrong im impressed with the features, and if this had been a kit i would of not of been as annoyed as i am, because it could of been down to my error on assembly, but this was an assembled printer, do they click print and walk away during testing??

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

Expecting mine assembled MK3 to be delivered next week. Will let you know what it is like

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

So I tightened all the screws I could get access to without taking everything apart, that solved nothing,

I then moved the z axis up and down and at the same time, the screw rod on the right side, I used my thumb to push the top of the screw rod into the side of the bracket and the noise reduced by around 90%, seems that having the screw rod just surrounded by air is the cause, I will look at modifying the z rod holding brackets in 3d software and giving the screw rod something to snug against.

I'll update once I've found a solution that doesn't involve a refund!
is there anywhere to get different bearings for the Y moment?

@beau.m
I had a anycubic i3 before, and the only noise issue i had was the cheapo fans, saying that i printed a new side and stuck a noctua on, that fixed that, I even sent them the stl file, great they rewarded my ingenuity with a free spool of pla, but in the end the constant not getting the prints to stick, and having to adjust the bed to get it level just got fed up and returned it, and that was a knock off of the "original prusa" that's when i found this, you'd think that the original stuff would be higher quality, dont get me wrong im impressed with the features, and if this had been a kit i would of not of been as annoyed as i am, because it could of been down to my error on assembly, but this was an assembled printer, do they click print and walk away during testing??

With how many units they're making, i wouldn't be surprised if that was indeed the case, because with the variance in reviews i can only imagine that they either miss very important details, or are simply hoping you'll figure it out upon arrival.

I love the Prusa team, they inspired me to start printing, but i expected more of a "workhorse", not a baby to babysit; especially for a $1000 printer.

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

You need to tighten the screen bracket to the frame. Push the screen bracket to the frame while it's homing and that noise will completely go away. Sometimes the screws come a little loose and all you need to do is give a little snug.

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

You need to tighten the screen bracket to the frame. Push the screen bracket to the frame while it's homing and that noise will completely go away. Sometimes the screws come a little loose and all you need to do is give a little snug.


"Screen bracket" ?

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

Ideally Prusa should supply a torque setting for each bolt on the printer, this would take the guesswork out of whether any of the bolts have been incorrectly installed (with the kit) or have become loose during shipping (for assembled printers) . . . you'd just need to grab a torque wrench (very cheap these days) and go over each both setting it to the correct Nm.

Seeing as 3D printers need to be set up fairly precisely this would remove at least one factor when it comes to trouble shooting.

In fact Prusa could include a cheap torque key with each printer sold, I bought an electric bicycle and had a cheap little torque key included (5Nm) which covered 95% of the bike's bolts.

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

"Screen bracket" ?

Well, since I wasn't clear enough to be understood, I will be more clear. The part that I was talking about is found on section 6 step 1 (lcd assembly) of the build manual. The part I was quickly trying to describe is technically called "LCD-support".

Please refer to step 8, in section 6 LCD assembly, and tighten the 4 screws.

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

I really don't see how you can ship a 3D printer. I know when I drove 300 miles to MRRF2018, with the 3D printer sitting SQUARELY on the carpet in the back of my car, I noticed a quality loss, and spent another 15 minutes getting it back to perfect. (simply changed with settings)

I personally think there are 2 issues with ALL 3D printers.

1. They are CNC machines. And just like a 5D mill, the Prusa machines have 5 stepper motors. The main difference is, people think a 3D printer is "easy" to use, and a 5D lathe is something you need a bachelors degree to use, and a masters degree to work on. I used to work on CNC machines. (the big heavy, expensive type) and I find my mk3 harder to work on, than the 200,000$ lathes I used to work on. I'm not saying you need a masters degree, but it's not something to give to your tech-illiterate *INSERT RELATIVE* and they can just use. They are COMPLEX CNC machines. Regardless of if you buy a 160$ monoprice delta mini, or a 100,000$ industiral 3D printer with service contract.

2. People seem to think "Ahh, it's super simple, you pick any filament you want, pick a default profile, and hit print." <-- NO IT IS NOT. DO NOT THINK THIS. YOU ARE WRONG. Getting your printer dialed into your filament is a CHORE. It takes HOURS if you are LUCKY. DAYS if you are not. There is no shortcut! To print with top tier quality, you need a top-tier printing profile... and that must be PERFECTLY paired to *YOUR* printer. (not all printers are identical), and EVERY spool of filament you own. (THEY ARE ALL PAINFULLY different!!!) I have 3 spools, of the SAME BRAND. (cheap chinese crap) that I have to change my temp by 10%, speed by 5%, and MANY other settings... This is just a different COLOR of the SAME BRAND!!! Why do you think a "generic" profile will yeild good results!!! A "generic" profile, is a STARTING POINT. If you can't wrap your brain around fixing the printing profiles, to your filament, *NO* 3D printer on the market today, will work for you. (unless you get one of the really expensive ones, that uses their own in-house filament... they are quite impressive printers with minimal need to tuning... that's why they lock their filament to their own brand... to get people who can't make their own profiles, which is MOST people... better quality)

I'm not gonna say Prusa is a Shining star in being honest about "who should be buying 3D printers". But I have talked to the man, and his "future outlook" of printers, is spot on what needs to be done. I think he said something like, There needs to be a standard test object, a macro-camera, and software analysis to automatically fix your profiles. Personally I think an AI would be great at this, but this is not today, or even tomorrow. This is Mk4 or maybe even MK5, I think.

PS: My Z axis was NOISY when I first got my printer. It made some TERRIBLE sounds. I put a touch of OIL on the screws. (which didn't help right off) Just keep printing, it will get quieter as it wears in. I can still hear the Z axis quite loud though. I *DID* notice in the recent code, they are working on "stealth mode" for Z... I'm super curious about this.

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

They are COMPLEX CNC machines. Regardless of if you buy a 160$ monoprice delta mini, or a 100,000$ industiral 3D printer with service contract.

It's just the "Star Trek" mentality. Some people expect to push a button, get perfect results every time, without any issues, big or small, because ... it should just work. Some people don't always live in reality either.

In 100 years when we do have real replicators, people will still have the same expectations from the current generation of bleeding edge.

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

If tightening the screws doesn't work then the motor's magnetic field is vibrating any loose parts and or a defective motor. Be sure that all of the fasteners are tite and if that fails, see if the plates that make up the motor housing are not loose

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

If tightening the screws doesn't work then the motor's magnetic field is vibrating any loose parts and or a defective motor. Be sure that all of the fasteners are tite and if that fails, see if the plates that make up the motor housing are not loose

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

that noise when the z is homing may be the lcd screen buzzing around. i printed a black lcd cover and my noise went away.

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

that noise when the z is homing may be the lcd screen buzzing around. i printed a black lcd cover and my noise went away.

Definitely isn't the screen, I took the screen away from the frame, as well as the power supply, and the noise is still there, seems to be the x bracket on the right that moves up and down on the z rods..

Maybe dodgy bearings?

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

I have the same noise, though not quite as bad as yours. It seems to disappear for a short while if I've adjusted things around doing maintenance/trying to fix other problems.

Prusa suggested tightening loosening the trapezoid nuts, it didn't help me.

I just put new bearings in, that didn't help either.

I'll play around with it tonight but at the moment I'm thinking that the Bed Level Correction settings I'm using are causing the X to be too far up on one side of the Z and too far down on the other side of the Z, they were -50 and +50. I reduced to -40 and +40 this didn't help I'll try further reducing the difference later and update then.

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

In my opinion the Z axis noise is due to the inbuilt lead screws stepper motors, all vibrations are directly transmitted to the long screw, you can feel it when you touch the upper end of the lead screw.

After my MK3 upgrade to R2/B6 x-axis parts I notice more Z noise and vibrations than before, to solve it I loose slightly the stepper motor fixing screw and go several times up and down with the Z axis assembly, then thighten again the steppers screws.

But why the Z axis noise should be a big problem, during printing you don't hear this noise.

Re: £900 and very very disappointed.

think Prusa MK3 mechanical quality is bad. I got my pre assemble printer 3 days ago. First I saw that printer display cover was broken. Small plastick pieces in bottom of packet. At first print I noticed that heatbed is swaying side to side and causing annoying sound. X- axis belt was rubbing to extruder block and causing annoyind sound. MK3 should be very silent but not 🙁 Benchy and Marvin from SD card were some issues. I discussed with Prusa technical support and they said that U-bolt are loosen. So I tighten them but too tight. I loose them but after that Y-axis was crashing whole time Y-axis positive end block. After discussion of Technical support they said me to do Factory reset! After that I was realising that all calibration data etc was gone. Thats what I was paying preassembled and tested printer 🙁 Now I should calibrate first layer by my self. But I was discussing all the problems with Prusa customer service and suggest that I receive new printer after I send my old one back. Maybe reason for Issues is almost 2 weeks UPS delivery. But If I get new workingb printer I will be happy. I thought that 3D printers work like laserprinters or similar but not. This is my first printer, maybe there is better quality printers works fine from first prints to last one. Is it too much to beg...