Buying advice for MK3??  

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

As for waiting on the powder sheet, I probably would not. As for once you have it, just worry about printing. Print all the things. Play with settings and features of the slicer. Once you are familiar with how your machine works and acts you will know if and or what you want to upgrade.

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

If doing it all over again I would buy an extra Pinda probe, heater cartridge, heat bed thermistor, and hot end thermistor to have on hand. Yes, if these fail Prusa will send you replacements, but they are cheap and your down while waiting for them. Shipping time is brutal when your new toy is broken down.

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

If doing it all over again I would buy an extra Pinda probe, heater cartridge, heat bed thermistor, and hot end thermistor to have on hand. Yes, if these fail Prusa will send you replacements, but they are cheap and your down while waiting for them. Shipping time is brutal when your new toy is broken down.

Couldn't agree more with what you said. Order extras. It is BRUTAL waiting so long while your toy is broken down.

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

I didn't wait for the powder coated sheet,

I wouldn't get the MMU until you have a bit of experience under your belt
check what your maximum import value before tax, is
if you have spare value
I would order spares as mentioned above, plus some additional PEI sheets, and ask support for help to integrate this with your initial order(they normally give you a discount code to save you shipping costs)

if you don't have spare value in the initial order, consider bulking your spares order up with some filament to get best value out of your second shipping fee

regards Joan

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

For spares of things like heater cartridge and hot end thermistor in the UK order them from E3D and in other countries consult the E3D reseller list for a speedy response. Ordering those items direct from E3D and their resellers is a lot faster than going through Prusa.

Regards,
Martin

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

I would order an extra of both fans...I have had the worst luck with the wires finally breaking after a few months of pretty much non-stop running. Those fan wires were never really designed for constant flexing. Plus, I've put the nose of a set of forceps into one when clearing some fuzz around the nozzle (old man/shaky hands). Nothing like the sound of a 7 blade fan running with only 6. The Mk3 extruder fan is so quiet, I don't even hear it when it's running. Those are parts I now always have on hand for both the Mk2 and Mk3.

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

For Context: I received my kit 2 months ago. I didn’t have time to assemble until this past weekend, so at this point, it only has about 30 hours of printing. This is my first i3 but is not my first 3d printer.

Is it worth the wait to get the powder coated plate?
Nope. For me this was a big reason to get the MK3 but the spring steel sheet is stil fantastic to use. When supply becomes available I plan to get the powder coated because I prefer the finish, but I’m super glad I didn’t wait.

As a newbie, what accessories/materials should I buy from Prusa (I'm in US)
As other said, consider spare parts. Along this line, it really isn’t unreasonable to print a set of replacement parts for your printer as one of it’s first major jobs.

As a newbie, I'm thinking the multi-material is for down the road -- am I correct?
I’ve taught 3d printing at makerspaces and almost every new user asks about multi-material or dual-extrusion. Until you have a need, you really won’t use it. One of my printers is a dual extruder and I’ve done dual extrusion prints twice in the 5 years I’ve own it. Now, it is nice to have multiple materials loaded and ready to go, but in general you’re adding minutes to something that takes hours.

There ARE prints where multi-material makes sense. But you’d be surprised how far you can get without it. Again, a lot of new users get excited about water soluble supports. My comment for that situation is that if you're doing highly detailed models, reconsider if a FDM printer even makes sense.

What questions am I too new to know to ask?
Should I buy a kit or assembled?
There are three cases where people want the kit: 1) it is cheaper. 2) to learn how 3d printers work. 3) “so I know it was put together right!”

Regarding #1: I’ve put together printers and other CNCs before. It took me about 8 working hours to assemble this kit. I had a less experienced person helping me, but he was good at spotting potential errors and causing double checks. So I would imagine if this is the first kit someone ever put together you’re looking at 10-12 hours.

Is the price difference really worth 8-12 hours of your time? Consider that. Also, in almost every situation I had a decent idea of where the step was going. So it wasn’t as frustrating for me to get lost or start bolting something before realizing it was backwards. I’m not sure how a first-time builder would handle that.

That said, I sort of wish there was an option where you assemble only the extruder. That was the only part of the build I found really fun.

Having put the kit together, the only reason I’d do it again, is if I wanted to print custom colors for the pieces. It’s the last 3d printer I plan to assemble ever.

Regarding #2: I get this mindset, but I think it can just lead to frustration. Without a frame of reference for why you need to zip tie this part or what those two gears should look like together, I’m not sure how much “learning” is happening. That said, again, the extruder is an exception. 🙂

Regarding #3: Nope. This concept is the same as people who won’t hire movers. The mindset for this class of person should be “... at least I’ll know what was messed up.”

What does a first print look like
Assembling the MK3 and running it through its self-test calibration is about as good as it gets. What is almost impossible to judge for a new user is what a good first layer looks like. So, for me, this is another kit vs assembled argument. If you have never 3d-printed something before, you’re going to struggle knowing what that first layer should look like. And while the Prusa guides do a decent job with pictures and explanations, you just have to develop a feel for it with real plastic.

Is this a good printer for a first time user?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Look, there are 2 build issues I had with mine and 1 design issue. I would *still* recommend this printer, especially for a first time user. After years of using a “dumb” printer model, this one is just so easy. By no means is the Mk3 perfect. Even if you buy assembled, don’t be fooled into thinking it’s as simple as “plug it in and walk away.” However, the learning curve to get to “print and walk away” is SOOO low on this one.

Long story short, spend less time wondering what else you should buy and click buy. 😉

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

You might not use MMU for multi-material or even color much BUT soluble supports are highly useful, especially for things where support needs to be inside an object and you could never remove it unless it was dissolved. opens up more options for designing single-part parts. but support material is still expensive.

i would prefer Independent dual extruder like BNC3d has for that sort of thing, and it would print way faster.

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

Is it worth the wait to get the powder coated plate?

I wouldn't let that hold you back. There have been so many manufacturing setbacks that you're probably best off just ordering it after the fact.

The PEI sheet works quite well. The main drawback is that you won't get that nice, subtle texture.

As a newbie, what accessories/materials should I buy from Prusa (I'm in US) and which make more sense to buy stateside?

Ordering a few spare parts from Prusa along with the printer wouldn't hurt. I'd use Allen's list as a good baseline. Consider getting a spare set of linear rails and bearings as well. Many of the ones I've seen on Amazon and similar sites have been of somewhat dubious quality. Nozzles are considered consumables, so it wouldn't hurt to throw in an extra brass nozzle or two (the stock MK3 uses a 0.4mm orifice). If you plan to print abrasive materials down the road (glow in the dark filament, some metal filled materials, carbon fiber, etc), grab a hardened steel nozzle.

As far as things to keep by the printer (all of which can be sourced locally), I keep a set of side cutters, a pair of needle-nose pliers, and a utility knife handy at all times. The needle-nose pliers are good for grabbing freshly-extruded filament from the nozzle, as well as pulling little bits of residue off of the hot nozzle. The side cutters are handy for removing support material from the model, snipping off a brim (if you need to print with one to increase bed adhesion), and stuff like that. The utility knife is handy for getting rid of burrs left over from support material and other little imperfections, not to mention for opening up packages of filament. 🙂

You'll also want to keep a set of decent hex keys nearby, just in case. Hopefully you won't need them much, but you'll need them if you need to swap any parts out or clear a filament jam.

Isopropyl alcohol (at least 91%, preferably 99%) is another necessity. A quick wipe is a decent way to prepare the surface between prints and between proper cleanings. Glue stick (apparently Windex works as well)) is essential if you plan to print copolyesters (PETG, colorFabb nGen/XT/HT, etc), as it acts as a separation layer and reduces the likelihood that you'll rip off chunks of your build surface when removing the part. For PLA (which I recommend printing with until you get used to your printer) it's generally not necessary.

For bed maintenance, using dish soap and water occasionally will help bring back lost adhesion. If that fails you can refresh the print surface with acetone. I've had my printer since the end of January and haven't needed to use acetone yet, but your mileage may vary.

As a newbie, I'm thinking the multi-material is for down the road -- am I correct?

If you mostly plan to use it to make use of soluble support material and plan to print a lot of organic parts that require said supports then I'd tentatively lean towards getting it sooner, as that's going to be handled by the slicer. If you plan to use it for multi-color or true multi-material prints I'd wait. Most models you find on Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory, etc, are single-material prints, so you'll have to put some time into learning how to split up the model into separate STLs for each material.

Regardless, I'd recommend coming to grips with the basics of printing before jumping on this. At the very least, the MMU is one more thing that could potentially go wrong.

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

7mm socket / box spanner for the extruder nozzles, and something to hold the heat block while hot, helps no end

reagrds Joan

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

Get a few of the PTFE Tubing https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printer-parts/104-ptfe-tubing.html# they are $0.65, I had to replace mine when I got a filament jam ( my fault, not the printers).

Buy your filament from Amazon unless you want the Prusa Orange color filament. Shipping for filament is crazy to USA.

I mostly buy Paramount 3d & Hatchbox from Amazon, about $23 with free shipping. I also used eSun filament as well.

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

I would buy MK3 only. Nothing in addition. I know it's very tempting to have for everything a replacement part on hand. But don't forget you have warranty on many parts. And if you're printing PLA only from time to time, you should be ok for the first year.

Once you will start printing TPU/ABS/PC/PETG/ASA, you will see which parts will suffer most.
After more then 200 printing days (4800 hours) on my MK2 with PLA/PETG/ABS/TPU, the PINDA died and PEI sheet was replaced. Everything else is still original.
After more then 30 days printing on my MK3 with PLA/TPU, no issues so far. Still original.

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

As a complete newbie building my first kit, I'd recommend that (only if you get the kit) you consider buying a $1.69 heatbed spacer or two. Not because of wear or potential malfunction, but because (at least in mid June) there were none included in the otherwise-wonderful "spares" bag, and there's a step in the instructions where you need to rest the little un-threaded metal things under the holes with the screws barely in so you can (using pliers) place the rest. Under the interfering magnetic bed. My workspace is refusing to give one of the spacers back, no matter hard I look.

Unless they sell spacers in metric sizes in your area, in which case disregard the suggestion 😀

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

My workspace is refusing to give one of the spacers back, no matter hard I look.

Is it stuck to one of the magnets? 🙄 😀

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

If doing it all over again I would buy an extra Pinda probe, heater cartridge, heat bed thermistor, and hot end thermistor to have on hand. Yes, if these fail Prusa will send you replacements, but they are cheap and your down while waiting for them. Shipping time is brutal when your new toy is broken down.

Are these common failure parts or wear items?

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

Good morning Michael,

the heater cartridge and extruder thermistor frequently break if you get a blob of doom...

basically a print fails to adhere to the build plate and becomes stuck to the tip of the nozzle. if you are not watching... the printer continues to extrude filament into this particle of filament, whilst skating over the surface of the build plate and the blob begins to grow like a cancer...if it gets big enough to envelope the hot end, it can be very difficult to remove without damaging the thermistor wires... often removal of the blob, also damages the heater wires too.

the pinda can suffer mechanical damage if a print curls badly, or the probe is set too low, requiring a large negative live Z value...
and the pinda wire can be damaged by agressive zip tie tightening, poor cable management and repeated flexing...

i haven't replaced a heatbed thermistor yet!

regards Joan

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

My workspace is refusing to give one of the spacers back, no matter hard I look.

Is it stuck to one of the magnets? 🙄 😀

It started that way but so were the pliers holding it, and when I pulled the pliers tip loose I knocked off the spacer. That one I found back, but, um, I may have lifted the build plate to look for it, having forgotten spacers don't attach to screws and so "slightly tighten the screws" meant "far enough that they grab onto the build plate. 😳 Away all the spacers ran.
There's a reason I was so pleased when I opened the box and saw Prusa included a bag with spare screws and such.

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

There's a reason I was so pleased when I opened the box and saw Prusa included a bag with spare screws and such.

On the flip side, I was left with a few extra nuts & screws out of the non-extra inventory. That's not uncommon in kits, but it still leaves one with that sinking feeling/question, "Did I forget/miss something?" 😕

Re: Buying advice for MK3??

Are these common failure parts or wear items?

I don’t know about common, but I have had to replace two pinda probes and a hot end thermistor due to the wire failing. I’m “guessing” these failed due to repetitive movement but cannot know for sure since I didn’t tear them all down to see exactly where the wire failed. One of the pinda probes I did locate the break and it was not near a zip tie or pinch point. The heater cartridge and heat bed thermistor are just cheap parts and I would throw them in to an order just to have them on hand.