MK3S+ Pre-Purchase Questions
Hello All,
New member here who is investigating the potential purchase of a MK3S+ and I am quite impressed by Prusa and the community presence/support associated with the Prusa products. I have the following questions pertaining to the MK3S+:
1. Are the higher quality Misumi bearings only provided for the Y axis? If so, is it recommended to purchase the higher quality bearings for the X axis on a new machine?
2. Does the XYZ skew calibration work well to eliminate skew in all three axes thereby allowing accurate parts to be printed without having to use custom firmware?
3. Is the heat brake provided with the E3D nozzle a standard E3D component or is it a Prusa modified item? If modified, for what purpose?
4. Is it straight forward and easy to integrate a Raspberry Pi and OctoPrint to the MK3S+?
5. I was originally going to purchase a Mini+ but in doing more research into the Mini+ I was put off by the number of people still having issues with the extruder, hot end and the inability to fully correct for skew in all three axes on this printer. Seems these issues can be solved but required further investment into third party components and/or having to void the machine warranty to enable firmware that will accurately correct for skew within the firmware.
Are there any unresolved issues like this on the MK3S+ that require routine tinkering and/or further investment to ensure a robust and highly reliable printer? I'm looking for a printer that just works 24/7 with minimal effort which also provides best-in-class print quality, from my research it appears the MK3S+ is that machine but I would like to obtain some assurances for satisfied users.
6. If you could name one favorite upgrade for the MK3S+ what would that be?
7. Lastly, any regret in purchasing the MK3S+ and if so, what would you purchase instead?
Thank you for the opportunity to ask these pre-purchase questions and thank you in advance for your reply!
Best regards,
Keith
Best Answer by Gnometosser:
1. I received my kit at the end of April and it had all the same Misumi bearings. There is quite the discussion about cleaning and lubricating the bearings so I decided to clean mine and lube them with superlube with PTFE during the kit build. So far I have 300+ hours of print time with no issues outside of needing to adjust my Y-axis gear early on because it because the belt was rubbing.
2. Honestly I'm not sure how well the xyz calibration works but when I built mine I tried to remove as much wobble as possible and I haven't noticed any xyz accuracy issues. You do need to dial in live z adjustment occasionally but it's a pretty easy adjustment if you follow the prusa guides and the post on here called " life adjust z my way " is the go to guide
3. not sure
4. Yes it is very easy to install the octoprint software on a raspberry pi and install plugins
5. I decided on the MK3s due to the 2 gear extruder and the stiffer frame.
6. Coming from a makerfarm kit I built 6 years ago with manual bed leveling I'm stunned at how reliable the MK3s is, I have 5 or 6 30+ hour prints. It's so reliable I'm to the point of rarely checking on it while it's printing.
7. No regrets, I do see people complaining about noise but i installed mine on a concrete paver on top of a mouse mat and I barely hear it at all except for when it's making really long diagonal movements
When you are building your kit I would strongly suggest using the online manual, the comments are really helpful and it really feels like you are part of the community during the build.
If you spend any time at all in this forum or reddit you will quickly learn
- make sure your steel sheet is clean
- make sure your live z is dialed in
- make sure your filament is dry
- if you use multiple steel sheets be sure to calibrate live z for each one and be sure to switch them on the screen when you swap them
Hello All,
New member here who is investigating the potential purchase of a MK3S+ and I am quite impressed by Prusa and the community presence/support associated with the Prusa products. I have the following questions pertaining to the MK3S+:
1. Are the higher quality Misumi bearings only provided for the Y axis? If so, is it recommended to purchase the higher quality bearings for the X axis on a new machine?
2. Does the XYZ skew calibration work well to eliminate skew in all three axes thereby allowing accurate parts to be printed without having to use custom firmware?
3. Is the heat brake provided with the E3D nozzle a standard E3D component or is it a Prusa modified item? If modified, for what purpose?
4. Is it straight forward and easy to integrate a Raspberry Pi and OctoPrint to the MK3S+?
5. I was originally going to purchase a Mini+ but in doing more research into the Mini+ I was put off by the number of people still having issues with the extruder, hot end and the inability to fully correct for skew in all three axes on this printer. Seems these issues can be solved but required further investment into third party components and/or having to void the machine warranty to enable firmware that will accurately correct for skew within the firmware.
Are there any unresolved issues like this on the MK3S+ that require routine tinkering and/or further investment to ensure a robust and highly reliable printer? I'm looking for a printer that just works 24/7 with minimal effort which also provides best-in-class print quality, from my research it appears the MK3S+ is that machine but I would like to obtain some assurances for satisfied users.
6. If you could name one favorite upgrade for the MK3S+ what would that be?
7. Lastly, any regret in purchasing the MK3S+ and if so, what would you purchase instead?
Thank you for the opportunity to ask these pre-purchase questions and thank you in advance for your reply!
Best regards,
Keith
RE:
Hi Keith. I’ll try to answer to the best of my knowledge but take my opinions with a grain of salt. I’m not a very experienced user. My first and only Prusa (MK3S+ ) dates only from February 2021
1- I expect that all MK3S+ printers (assembled or in kit) come already with Misumi bearings for all axes. At least it was so when I got my kit one year and half ago
2- I’d say yes, but better keep the skew to a minimum, mounting the chassis as carefully as possible. That’s for kits. We must assume that factory assembled machines will be within specifications.
3- According to many opinions it’s a slightly modified heatbreak, tuned for the use of the MMU2 accessory. Some say, it’s best to replace the Prusa heatbreak for a standard E3D unit to avoid problems with jamming. It seems that the jury is still out on this matter.
4- I know nothing about Raspberrys, so no help here.
5- No important unresolved questions, but IMHO there’s room for improvement on the way the different parts are assembled. More to the point, I find annoying that any time you have to replace or fix a part connected by cable in the extruder, you have to remove all the zipties and the textile sleeve, open the Einsy board, unplug the cable, pass it through the back of the extruder and redo backwards this process once you’ve replaced the component. A modular design on which motors, fans and sensors are fitted with detachable cables would ease considerably the maintenance of the machine.
6- Bondtech LGX extruder coupled with Slice Engineering Mosquito hotend.
7- No regrets at all. If, by any unthinkable reason, I had to move away from Prusa, probably I’d look a Voron.
Regards.
Artur.
RE: MK3S+ Pre-Purchase Questions
I agree with most of Artur's comments.
For the bearings, Prusa is using the supplied bearings in hundreds of machines that operate 24x7 in a production environment. If they ran into any issues, they would certainly correct them.
There's some confusion and disagreement WRT the lube supplied on the kit bearings, but I have yet to hear of anyone whose machine self-destructed due to inadequate lubrication.
RE:
4: Yes
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
Find out why this is pinned in the general section!
RE: MK3S+ Pre-Purchase Questions
I would say a qualified ‘yes’ depending on your familiarity with the raspberry pi and octoprint.
This was all new territory for me and I found it less than intuitive. Fortunately there are plenty of resources to help get this setup and working and once done it works quite well.
4: Yes
RE: MK3S+ Pre-Purchase Questions
1. I received my kit at the end of April and it had all the same Misumi bearings. There is quite the discussion about cleaning and lubricating the bearings so I decided to clean mine and lube them with superlube with PTFE during the kit build. So far I have 300+ hours of print time with no issues outside of needing to adjust my Y-axis gear early on because it because the belt was rubbing.
2. Honestly I'm not sure how well the xyz calibration works but when I built mine I tried to remove as much wobble as possible and I haven't noticed any xyz accuracy issues. You do need to dial in live z adjustment occasionally but it's a pretty easy adjustment if you follow the prusa guides and the post on here called " life adjust z my way " is the go to guide
3. not sure
4. Yes it is very easy to install the octoprint software on a raspberry pi and install plugins
5. I decided on the MK3s due to the 2 gear extruder and the stiffer frame.
6. Coming from a makerfarm kit I built 6 years ago with manual bed leveling I'm stunned at how reliable the MK3s is, I have 5 or 6 30+ hour prints. It's so reliable I'm to the point of rarely checking on it while it's printing.
7. No regrets, I do see people complaining about noise but i installed mine on a concrete paver on top of a mouse mat and I barely hear it at all except for when it's making really long diagonal movements
When you are building your kit I would strongly suggest using the online manual, the comments are really helpful and it really feels like you are part of the community during the build.
If you spend any time at all in this forum or reddit you will quickly learn
- make sure your steel sheet is clean
- make sure your live z is dialed in
- make sure your filament is dry
- if you use multiple steel sheets be sure to calibrate live z for each one and be sure to switch them on the screen when you swap them
Hello All,
New member here who is investigating the potential purchase of a MK3S+ and I am quite impressed by Prusa and the community presence/support associated with the Prusa products. I have the following questions pertaining to the MK3S+:
1. Are the higher quality Misumi bearings only provided for the Y axis? If so, is it recommended to purchase the higher quality bearings for the X axis on a new machine?
2. Does the XYZ skew calibration work well to eliminate skew in all three axes thereby allowing accurate parts to be printed without having to use custom firmware?
3. Is the heat brake provided with the E3D nozzle a standard E3D component or is it a Prusa modified item? If modified, for what purpose?
4. Is it straight forward and easy to integrate a Raspberry Pi and OctoPrint to the MK3S+?
5. I was originally going to purchase a Mini+ but in doing more research into the Mini+ I was put off by the number of people still having issues with the extruder, hot end and the inability to fully correct for skew in all three axes on this printer. Seems these issues can be solved but required further investment into third party components and/or having to void the machine warranty to enable firmware that will accurately correct for skew within the firmware.
Are there any unresolved issues like this on the MK3S+ that require routine tinkering and/or further investment to ensure a robust and highly reliable printer? I'm looking for a printer that just works 24/7 with minimal effort which also provides best-in-class print quality, from my research it appears the MK3S+ is that machine but I would like to obtain some assurances for satisfied users.
6. If you could name one favorite upgrade for the MK3S+ what would that be?
7. Lastly, any regret in purchasing the MK3S+ and if so, what would you purchase instead?
Thank you for the opportunity to ask these pre-purchase questions and thank you in advance for your reply!
Best regards,
Keith