Are you happy with your MK3?  

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Sure thing. My point was (the preface first), you are using a mid range consumer device in an (engineering?) work environment. You are relying on it to do stuff in a work environment. It isn't perfect, we all agree on that. You get annoyed when it doesn't work as expected, fair enough. Nobody wants to buy a product and find it isn't working properly or not meeting your expectations.

You should have ended your post right at this point.

You buy a 3d printer, you expect it to print, period. End of argument.

But (here comes my point), why on earth would you buy a sub $1000 consumer machine for work, and expect plain sailing, when there are printers out there (designed to be used in a work environment) costing 10 or even 100 times more, with support contracts etc?

Because when you buy a 3d printer, you expect it to print, period.

The answer to that of course is because it is very cheap in comparison, and more often than not does a great job. But then, knowing it is what it is, why did you not buy a second, or even a third machine as backups, or at the very least buy a whole heap of spare parts?

That is my point. If you rely on a product in a work environment, you have more than one or have spare parts or have a service contract.

It sounds like this machine is the second or third machine. It is the backup.

For example, maybe they already have a Stratasys, but running those machines is really expensive.

Furthermore, they have some simple barely-3d objects that they want to print. Maybe they're going to print some logo keychains or whatever.

And the Stratasys is already busy doing other jobs.

Well, enter the cheaper third machine.

This third machine should be just fine for the job... as long as it just prints.

Which, as you opened with (and should have stopped at), is a reasonable expectation regardless of environment that the printer is placed in.

Even without a degree I would've thought that was pretty obvious.

Man, I would never have guessed you don't have a degree.

Let me guess... you are also not employed in a position where you are allowed to make meaningful decisions either?

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

He gave more detail than you. Since he missed the point, please tell us what your point was.

Sure thing. My point was (the preface first), you are using a mid range consumer device in an (engineering?) work environment. You are relying on it to do stuff in a work environment. It isn't perfect, we all agree on that. You get annoyed when it doesn't work as expected, fair enough. Nobody wants to buy a product and find it isn't working properly or not meeting your expectations.

But (here comes my point), why on earth would you buy a sub $1000 consumer machine for work, and expect plain sailing, when there are printers out there (designed to be used in a work environment) costing 10 or even 100 times more, with support contracts etc? The answer to that of course is because it is very cheap in comparison, and more often than not does a great job. But then, knowing it is what it is, why did you not buy a second, or even a third machine as backups, or at the very least buy a whole heap of spare parts?

That is my point. If you rely on a product in a work environment, you have more than one or have spare parts or have a service contract. Even without a degree I would've thought that was pretty obvious.

And here's my point- this machine may very well be "sub $1000 consumer machine", however it's advertised as a "workhorse" on all (if not, many) popular 3D printing websites that first timers and pros alike use to this day, and it's because of this that so many feel like they got cat-fished, because they got exactly the opposite of what they expected.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

You buy a 3d printer, you expect it to print, period. End of argument.

I'm an engineer and we have service contracts for a ton of laboratory equipment. Most in the range of $25k to $90k. I'm currently having a major jamming issue on the $90k machine. It happens, that's why service contracts exist. We don't spend that much and just expect it to not need tuning, maintenance, and tweaking. It's a precision instrument.

Your expectations are frankly ridiculous. This is a hobby machine that requires tweaking of literally hundreds of parameters. If you don't want to do that, you have to spend a lot more money on a printer ecosystem where those parameters are taken care of for you, like Ultimaker. That's literally the entire point of their existence as a business, but instead you buy a printer that's on the cutting edge of technology, is open source, relies on forum support, and obviously has supply issues, but yet you complain.

Just go look at the hundreds of reviews of all sorts of 3d printers. Most of them have issues on setup, yet still get glowing reviews, because they are consumer machines that don't have an entire ecosystem developed around them. If you bought an Ultimaker and it didn't print perfectly out of the box, you'd have a point, but you didn't, you bought a machine that requires work, then you complain about the work.

Welcome to the internet, I guess.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

... however it's advertised as a "workhorse" on all (if not, many) popular 3D printing websites ...

I blame exactly this websites and "reviewers" for that, not PR. If you look at their videos, you get the feeling it's super quiet and it's just working out of the box forever without any maintenance required. You could even sleep right beside the machine. Every print is a successes!
Sometimes they mention like "I had to adjust some things"... means they were printing at least one week with many iterations and wasting a lot of filament and time even if they have experience with this technology and other printers. You don't see this effort in the reviews. Then you buy a printer and realize it's like a car where you need a driver license and a good car repair shop near you. Sometimes even garage.

I remember once I got my first printer MK2, I was surprised about the sound. Rattling, humming,... there are many things I haven't seen in the reviews on youtube or websites. I knew what I was going for with Open Source/Hardware, so I'm still a happy PR customer. And I'm also happy with MK3 which is a work horse for me. But I understand why we have so many complains in the forum.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

... however it's advertised as a "workhorse" on all (if not, many) popular 3D printing websites ...

I blame exactly this websites and "reviewers" for that, not PR. If you look at their videos, you get the feeling it's super quiet and it's just working out of the box forever without any maintenance required. You could even sleep right beside the machine. Every print is a successes!
Sometimes they mention like "I had to adjust some things"... means they were printing at least one week with many iterations and wasting a lot of filament and time even if they have experience with this technology and other printers. You don't see this effort in the reviews. Then you buy a printer and realize it's like a car where you need a driver license and a good car repair shop near you. Sometimes even garage.

I remember once I got my first printer MK2, I was surprised about the sound. Rattling, humming,... there are many things I haven't seen in the reviews on youtube or websites. I knew what I was going for with Open Source/Hardware, so I'm still a happy PR customer. And I'm also happy with MK3 which is a work horse for me. But I understand why we have so many complains in the forum.

While i agree that the specific websites are half to blame- Prusa themselves totes this on their own website and even their own manual, so it's on PR too.

You buy a 3d printer, you expect it to print, period. End of argument.
This is a hobby machine that requires tweaking of literally hundreds of parameters.

Too bad Prusa themselves completely contradicts everything you just said, because they don't view this machine as a "hobbyist", they review and advertise it as a "workhorse".

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Too bad Prusa themselves completely contradicts everything you just said, because they don't view this machine as a "hobbyist", they review and advertise it as a "workhorse".

It feels dishonest if all those review sites and youtubers are extolling the awesomeness that is this printer and the features that they are reviewing are either unavailable or just not working right.

I can't comment much because I don't even have my printer yet, but their unreliable order fulfillment is really darkening my attitude towards the product and the company right now.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Prusa control was made to remove almost all parameters from the UI making it simple. that's PR's goal. if it was a hobbiest tweaking machine then there would be no reason to buy it for the price... you could just buy the CR10 or other Mono price machines.... there's a reason MK2/s made the top 3D printer lists.... there was a bunch of hype though.

also the fact no one mentioned the thing was 2x as loud as other printers was odd. i should be a youtube reviewer, i would roast the shit out of printers. no one would want me to review it. lol.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

... however it's advertised as a "workhorse" on all (if not, many) popular 3D printing websites ...

I blame exactly this websites and "reviewers" for that, not PR. If you look at their videos, you get the feeling it's super quiet and it's just working out of the box forever without any maintenance required. You could even sleep right beside the machine. Every print is a successes!
Sometimes they mention like "I had to adjust some things"... means they were printing at least one week with many iterations and wasting a lot of filament and time even if they have experience with this technology and other printers. You don't see this effort in the reviews. Then you buy a printer and realize it's like a car where you need a driver license and a good car repair shop near you. Sometimes even garage.

I remember once I got my first printer MK2, I was surprised about the sound. Rattling, humming,... there are many things I haven't seen in the reviews on youtube or websites. I knew what I was going for with Open Source/Hardware, so I'm still a happy PR customer. And I'm also happy with MK3 which is a work horse for me. But I understand why we have so many complains in the forum.

I think this is really accurate. The mk3 is a workhorse in the sense that once you have it completely dialed in and understand the machine, it will be a workhorse. There are several channels that have more than a few of these, one guy has a print farm of them and only a few failed prints due to his own errors, but he owns a lot of printers and can build a mk3 in under 3 hours. That's the kind of experience it takes to make any printer at this price range into a workhorse, otherwise you have to spend a ton of money for someone to do it for you.

Creality is certainly doing an amazing job and I see a lot of people printing with it right out of the box without problems, but it lacks features I need, like being quiet and having the ability to switch filament colors in mid print with very little waste. Having the flexible build plate stock instead of having to order a BuildTAk one is also nice.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

I'm happy with it. The printer is very reliable and when something goes wrong it was my mistake.

However, I made two changes to the printer. I switch to Misumi bearings and changed the PTFE tube to a longer one for printing flexibles.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Very happy so far. Kit arrived on 3/14 spent two 3 hour sessions after work putting it together and was printing on the 16th. Have only made three prints so far and can see that I need to do some more tuning refinement. But for someone who has never used a 3D printer, I am completely happy at this point.

This is my first personal 3D printer, though 25 years ago I was building industrial NC fabric cutters that employed the same concepts and technology. That made the whole exercise more approachable. And I will say, things are whole lot better now in 2018! The build instructions were excellent. By carefully following those and by taking the time to read and understand the concepts on how to get a good print and what to look for it has worked well for me.

When I first ordered and learned of the two month delay I then started reading all the forum threads and learning about the issues, did not take long to have that hint of buyers remorse. At this point, albeit early in the game, I have zero remorse. All good. Thanks Prusa!

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Funny, 25 years ago I too was working on industrial NC fabric cutting machines. I also have a Mk3 on order that I am hoping is going to ship any day now. It is not often that I have been willing to wait so long for a product to arrive after ordering!

The negative reviews concern me, but the majority opinion seems to be that the Mk3 is worth the squeeze. Mostly I am depending on the precedent that PRusa has set by continuing to support and refine their printers while maintaining compatibility with their older designs. I think this is a great way to do business.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Mostly I am depending on the precedent that PRusa has set by continuing to support and refine their printers while maintaining compatibility with their older designs.

Humm. Mk2 -> Mk3 costs 60% of a new Mk3. I guess if I threw enough money at a Mini, I could transform it into a Bentley...

Peter

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Mostly I am depending on the precedent that PRusa has set by continuing to support and refine their printers while maintaining compatibility with their older designs.

Humm. Mk2 -> Mk3 costs 60% of a new Mk3. I guess if I threw enough money at a Mini, I could transform it into a Bentley...

Peter

Don't be a negative Nancy 🙁

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Overall I am happy with my MK3, there is some print quality issues that after going through many emails with support over the past couple months still has yet to be solved with out any real solution in sight. But overall the printer has been extremely reliable where its been mostly start a print and forget and outside of a random model or support structure coming off mid print its done its job like it should I just wish the surface quality could be a little better.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Yes, I'm completely happy. I've used several printers in the past all the way from a cheap Monoprice to an Ultimaker 3 and my Mk3 has been the easiest, most consistent printer that I've ever used. The build process was a dream and I've had very little problems (i.e., replaced one scratched rod, a faulty bearing, and a broken printed part). I know other people have had different experiences, but I love my Mk3.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Hi,

It was really nice to build the printer and everything is really well-made. I didn't have any calibration issue and after one month, not even one fail.
But I first was really disapointed with the printing quality, also my filament sensor was defective (Prusa send me a new one):
-Ghosting: I could solve it with a rock bottom and I also moved the spool holder out of the printer.
-General quality : I print with Slic3r at 0,1mm. I always reduce the speed at 50%, it is really better.
-Moire: the last firmware with Linear Advance solved it.
-Inconsistent extrusion : I couldn't solve it as many people. I hope the future firmware updates will fix it.
-Slic3r support settings : it was a bit tricky (and still is) to tune it properly to not have tons of supports.

Now I am happy with my MK3 but to get the best results, you have to tune it a bit... I really love the steel bed sheet and, damned, this machine is so quiet!!

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

My Mk3 is awesome. No complaints so far.

Great build using great instruction. Prints are some of the best quality i have seen. I am looking forward to trying some new materials now.

I hope everyone is able to get their Mk3 to the same place mine is at. It is a joy so far.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

I'm thrilled with it. Have been building and using 'cheap' 3d printers for years. The MK3 is a joy to use. Haven't had any problems with the printer itself. Dialing in non-Prusa filaments has been a pain but it is printing Inland PETG now, using S3D, like a dream. No stringing, easily removable supports and nice looking prints. Am working on speeding it back up now as I had to lower the speed and raise temps to get this stuff to stick to the bed.

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Not really happy with mine. Unfortunately I haven't had time in the last month to fix my printer so it sits unused.

Some of the problems I've had....

I had high hopes for this printer, right now I'm disappointed with what I got. 🙁

Re: Are you happy with your MK3?

Prints fail because the Extruder motor gets too hot and makes the plastic too soft before it gets to the lower PTFE tube. Think pushing a rope up a hill.

Have you updated to the 3.2.x firmware? That drastically reduced the e-axis motor temperature for me.

ABS parts I printed with my FlashForge that fit perfect together are WAY off on this printer.

This may sound odd, but try using a different slicer like Cura (after you unclog your printer, that is!). The profiles included with it work very well with the MK3.

I'm currently doing a printing project with both my MK3 and TAZ 6. When I sliced models with Slic3r-PE on the MK3, the parts produced on the MK3 ended up being a bit too small. When I started using Cura they fit together snugly (it probably helps that I'm using Cura:LE with the TAZ 6, but I would think that 1.5mm would always be 1.5mm!).