Thinking of a purchase  

RE: Thinking of a purchase

Hi,

As you're asking in Prusa forum, you most likely made already your decision and just looking for reasons to justify it.  😉 

Delta vs i3 Style is already a decision on your own. I can't help you there because I never went Delta route. From what I can tell my MK2.5 and MK3s are work horses. With the flex sheet, direct drive extruder, filament sensor and bed leveling sensor, there is not much I'm doing to keep this printers printing.

That's why I always recommend right now MK3s kit for everybody. And if you're on a budget, Prusa Mini. There is not much you can do wrong with this printers.

RE: Thinking of a purchase

The thing that bothers me about Getting the kit is the warranty. I just saw this..,,, 

RE: Thinking of a purchase

I don't think the difference is going to be based on technical specs. Unless you have a specific desire for a delta versus a cartesian, they are close on paper. The intangibles of support and reliability are likely to be the biggest difference. I have no firsthand experience with Monoprice, but I spent a lot of time considering a Select Mini and Select Delta Mini. From several months of lurking in various Reddit groups, it seems to me that Monoprice support consists of email contacts and frequent twiddling. Upgrading or replacing parts on day one seems common. This may or may not be a concern for you depending on what aspect of the hobby appeals to you.

The justification between paying roughly $450 for my Artillery Sidewinder and $850 for my Prusa i3 Mk3 is an easy case to make. I'd been using my Prusa Mk3 to print PPE for a week or two before the lockdown and getting good results. In the past, I'd had a couple of issues with the Mk3 and Prusa shipped the parts. Most arrived within 7-10 days IIRC. I never had an issue getting ahold of Prusa support via online chat. Spares for consumables are easy to locate. Other than a gripe about the textured sheet, I've had no complaints.

I ordered an Artillery Sidewinder X1 to increase production at the start of March when everything was shut down locally, and pressed it into service. I was initially satisfied, but that didn't last long:

• After 15 days, the bed thermistor cabling broke. The cabling is subject to extreme bending in the current design. Fortunately, it was not the AC bed wiring which could have created a safety and fire hazard. After several 24-72 hour email cycles, Artillery agreed to ship a replacement bed heater with thermistor. It arrived after 60 days. A kid who'd ordered his at the same time for PPE production still doesn't have a fully functional printer after 120 days. He's ordered a Mk3.
• I had to configure and install Marlin 2 to be able to use manual mesh bed leveling to get consistent adhesion across the entire bed. I've had experience with Arduino and hardware in general, so this wasn't a problem, but it did cause more downtime.
• Most of the screws have been cranked down so far that I will need specialized tools to be able to do basic adjustments as the belts loosen.
• Controller board connections have been hot glued into place and several connectors have fallen apart on removal.
• Many parts are proprietary and I've ordered a full set of spare boards in anticipation of Artillery shifting production to newer models. Long term support is not likely. Depending on the version received, older variations are already hard to get and not open source designs. A lot of people gripe about Prusa's 3D printed parts and zip ties, but those sure beat having to order a one-off custom part.

As the weeks progressed, people in our local group started dropping out due to printer downtime. Machines costing $2-3,000 were failing regularly. In the meantime, my Mk3 kept cranking out frames 24 hours a day. I was able to help a local teacher push 5 school Mk3s into service and keep them running reliably. I fell asleep most nights watching prints via Octoprint. I had very few failures and was pushing the limits of the hardware. I lubricated the smooth rods every couple of days and pulled it offline once to verify cabling was still secure. After several months of abuse, it has continued operating as my main hobby printer while I continued to wait for Artillery parts. My modest contribution of a few hundred shield frames (they only accepted the large, non-stackable visored DtM designs locally) let me at least do something during those dark months. My Mk3 was rock solid and dependable throughout, even when I threw crappy PETG at it with unreasonable feed rates.

The Sidewinder is fundamentally a good printer. It has some very nice features. However, the company is miles behind Prusa, and that mattered when it counted. Monoprice may be just as good. I won't hesitate to buy a printer from another company. For now though, I won't do so unless I have a Prusa as a backup.

RE: Thinking of a purchase

@2001as

He is saying "printer is crashed" but that's not true. During a crash the printer just stops printing. No damage happens. This guy had a blob. This happens if filament does not stick to the bed and instead building up on the extruder while still printing. It can happen on every printer and to everybody. Such a thing is not covered by warranty in any case. Doesn't matter if you buy a kit or not.

RE: Thinking of a purchase

@2001as

Hi 2001as

I feel for the guy in the video, however the Prusa was never designed to encapsulate it's working part in plastic, 
so whatever caused the  blob of doom, was not normal printing.  he claims that the model stayed stuck to the build plate, and the filament blobbed for no reason... 
the only times I have suffered a Blob of doom, have been when I haven't cleaned the heatbed well enough and the model (Or part of the model) has come adrift. causing the blob. 

I had a tree frog front foot come adrift and this blocked the nozzle apperture in the e3Dv6 PRO heatblock sock. causing the filament to be redirected inside the silicone sock, and encapsulate the hot end...  but the root cause was negligence on my part. 
the only time I have had thermistor wires come loose is then I have been rough  trying to remove the blob... 
Nowadays I use a temperature controlled soldering iron, and the hot end heater, to heat up the blob and carve it off carefully in small pieces. 

the gentleman also criticises the prusa for damage to the build plate from printing ABS, but shows no evidence of an enclosure. 

I have five prusa's and have always found them helpful when problems have occurred. 

Maybe it's the way I talk to them? I don't know... 

Trial by internet is a common activity these days. there are hundreds of thousands of Prusa printers in the wild, and this one video is causing you concern. 
If there were a lot of this sort of video I would be concerned, but I don't see that at the moment. 

At the end of the day, it's your money, so it's your choice. 

People don't tend to celebrate their successes with video's   but they do tend to vent frustration with them. 

Best wishes, Happy Printing, what ever choice you make. 

regards Joan

RE: Thinking of a purchase

Joan, Thanks for the reply. That isn’t the only video I’ve seen of real problems with the MK3S. Most though were 2 years old, so I assume a lot of those issues have been addressed. I can tell the Prusa is a top quality product, and I appreciate that.

I am probably going to buy the fully assembled product. not that I couldn’t successfully build the kit. I was a CNC Machinist for Walt Disney World for many years, plus I’m an electronics hobbyist. At 66 I just don’t want the hassle LOL. The other reason I’ll probably buy it is because of support.

I owned a CR10 for 3 years, and the community was huge. That’s important. The only other printer I’m seriously looking at right now is the Monoprice Delta Pro. the community is very small. 

The hard part is going to be waiting 9 weeks to get it. One question I have is how long does it take to get parts?

RE: Thinking of a purchase

@2001as

do not worry I am very similar to your age and it was a great challange to build it. The manual is detailed and when you follow it, you get an idea how the machine works, and you get extra bunch of sweet gummi bears. 😉 

You can order spare parts directly from PRUSA e-shop. After you receive your first delivery, you will get registration and access to the spare parts pages of e-shop. The delivery time for parts depends on their availability and work load on logistic department. As this does not depend on assembling resources should be faster.

RE: Thinking of a purchase

Posted by: @2001as

[...] One question I have is how long does it take to get parts?

That will depend on the parts. The Mk3 uses a lot of common parts, so things like fans, hotend components and nozzles can be sourced from local resellers quickly. Most of the larger printer parts are 3D printed, so you can print them yourself (ideally before something happens - a good precaution). No specialized tools are required, so you don't need to worry about a big toolkit.

I've had Prusa send me parts on 2 occasions. IIRC, it was 7-10 days to get them.

RE: Thinking of a purchase

the only tricky parts i could think of would be things like control boards, pinda/finda probes, etc but those don't break that often. Most other parts are pretty standard parts that can be sourced from a variety of places and shops.

RE: Thinking of a purchase

I ordered the MK3S printer kit last January, after printing at our local 'makerspace' for a number of years.

I can assure you that the printer has been reliable and robust.  That video (I admit I did not watch to completion) is not a good example of what you can expect.  It's an exception to the rule known as the Blob Of Doom, usually caused by poor technique or, at least, lack of monitoring the print process.  That can damage any printer if allowed to happen.  Needless to say, that kind of damage is not covered by the warranty of any machine.

When I was deciding on what printer to buy, my impression was that Creality emphasized 'bang for the buck' and Prusa emphasized quality and reliability.  Since last February, I've been working on model railroad projects and using the printer almost every day.  The issues I've had can be counted on one hand with fingers left over and none of them involve actual machine failure.

The main reason I went with Prusa over my second choice is the feedback I read here in this forum regarding such things as support and the availability of parts.  At the time I ordered, all three of the 'good' printers in the lab were down due to parts issues, and the feedback here indicated that shipment of parts and supplies for the Prusa printers was usually prompt, even from the Czech Republic to the States.  Even in the height of the pandemic, I found this to be true, as I did order a few of the high-failure parts (belts, nozzles etc.) to keep on hand.

Since you've printed before, you will not have most of the learning-curve issues, only those getting used to the new machine.  If you read the forum here, most of the issues are due to very common things such as bed adhesion, Z axis calibration misunderstanding, prep and slicing issues, technique, etc.

I'm a satisfied customer, and if you keep reading here, you will hear from quite a few others.

RE: Thinking of a purchase

I own over 10 printers now and Prusa is night and day better than any Creality I have used.  Anycubic Predator and Chiron are the closest to the quality but it is not close in my book.  The support from Chat and Forum are what makes them better.  To me, it is just plain idiot proof.  

RE: Pensando en una compra

Posted by: @2001as

Hi All,

I have been printing for about 3 years now on a Creality CR10. I sold it last week because I’m looking for something a bit more reliable. 

I’m looking at two different printers right now the Monoprice Delta Pro which is 50% off right now selling for $599.95, and the Prusa MK3S. I have to say the Delta Pro seems to make beautiful prints. It seems to have a rather small community though, which makes me lean towards the Prusa. 

I know all the strengths of the Prusa, and it’s following, but I have to say my CR10 performed very well, and made some excellent prints. I’m trying to justify to myself the rather high cost. For me it will simply be one of my 5 hobbies. 

Can you please shed some light on this. What makes the Prusa worth roughly $450.00 more? Thanks.

Greetings brother, I have seen that you want to change you have decided to change your printer for a perusa mk3s and it seems to me a great idea I was investigating because the prusa mk3s also seems good to me and I saw a review that personally I think it is good I share the link in case you're still interested
https://impresora3d.site/prusa-i3-mk3s-review/

I hope I have helped.