MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?  

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

Firmware support moving forward. Eventually, Prusa will stop issuing firmware for the MK3 and all future releases will be for the MK3S.

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

I would suggest to wait with the upgrade. The firmware development is still slightly behind so there is no urgent need to upgrade.
You can do the upgrade anytime.

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

If I'm not mistaken the only real improvements are a redesigned filament sensor and nozzle? Depending on your point of view the new filament sensor may be a step backwards. I've read, but don't really care enough to explore, that the new sensor will only sense runout while the old senses runout and jams. JLTX and a couple others put a redesigned filament sensor up on Thingiverse that works on a similar principle but still uses the old style sensor, and, it mounts to the top of the current extruder there's minimal printing and it's easily undone. I personally switched over to the Bear Extruder a couple of months ago and have to say it seems a little better thought out than the R3 Prusa extruder. For now I have no desire to go back to Prusa's extruder but that's just a matter of preference on my part.

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

If your optical filament sensor is working for you, and you aren't having weird problems like heating pauses midprint, demands for a filament reload at print start (after you just loaded filament), etc., then the S upgrade probably isn't needed.

If you leave your filament sensor disabled because it has done some weird things, buy the upgrade. But I'm not convinced the firmware isn't as much to blame as the sensor itself; some users with the MK3S are reporting the same issues as the MK3 has had.

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

First, I wasn't very clear when I said nozzle in my above post, looking back I should have said new cooling nozzle, not just nozzle.

I mostly agree with Tim.m30 Though I'd argue the 10C dips are definitely firmware related. reverting to 3.1.3 eliminates the temperature dips. If you have the MK3S upgrade and are still getting the temperature dips then your hands are tied as you can't revert to 3.1.3...

If you're not having issues with your filament sensor or don't use it there's no good reason to upgrade, other than the desire to have something new.

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

Mechanical sensor
Accessibility/serviceability
Bondtech gears closer to hot end

"One extruder to rule them all" I think Jakub said.

But if it ain't broke.

I'd do it one shitty cold rainy weekend when you feel like there's nothing else to do. Otherwise don't bother unless you see the need/benefit.

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

The ABS Fan cover is worth it. My PETG shroud is badly warped.

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

Mechanical sensor
Accessibility/serviceability
Bondtech gears closer to hot end

"One extruder to rule them all" I think Jakub said.

Those are pretty bold claims, I guess the proof is in the pudding. There are enough MK3S's in the wild now that it shouldn't be hard to corroborate or refute the claim...

But if it ain't broke.

My dad would have stated that as "if it ain't broke, fix it until it is" but he was a cynical old curmudgeon.

We all have our reasons for wanting to upgrade, or not, but I'm going to opt to sit on the sidelines and see how this performs for everyone else before I decide whether or not to jump into the fray. At this point I just haven't seen anything that makes this a worthwhile upgrade for me. As for the new and improved cooling nozzle, I thought the R3 nozzle was supposed to be the bee's knees, I guess that didn't last. I tried it for a while and found it didn't perform as well as the one I was using previously so I switched back to it. From what I'm reading the Bondtech nozzle is supposed to perform quite well and the files for it can be downloaded.

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

I don't use any filaments (yet) that cause sensors issues

You know that the sensor is disabled by default. Are you sure its actually enabled?
Two parts printed "successfully" on an MK3 and MK3S will look exactly the same. But I recommend to do the upgrade. I promise it wont get worse if not better. The new sensor will not fail to let you know you have ran out of filament mid-print no matter what are you feeding it.

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

What filaments are difficult to print with MK3 and are improved on the MK3S? Haven’t seen any article on that. Is flexfill involved?

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

The only change likely is that filaments that don't work well with the older filament sensor, should work properly with the new sensor. (typically transparent, glossy black, and some other randoms).

Filament path is slightly more constrained on the mk3s, but that will only be a benefit if you had problems with filaments sneaking into the sensor chamber.

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

The only change likely is that filaments that don't work well with the older filament sensor, should work properly with the new sensor. (typically transparent, glossy black, and some other randoms).

Filament path is slightly more constrained on the mk3s, but that will only be a benefit if you had problems with filaments sneaking into the sensor chamber.

The new sensor also won't die if it accidentally does somehow get poked by a piece of stray filament... 🙂

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

i'm not going to upgrade simply because i don't want to tear my printer down

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

I'm interested in the general extruder improvements, but I have never had a filament detect failure in 5 months of mk3 ownership, so difficult to justify the upgrade. Having said that, I'll probably upgrade anyway at some point......
Texy

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

I had a related question after reading this discussion so far--would performing this upgrade help with an eventual MK4 upgrade?

I got in with an MK3 so I'm not familiar with what happened in the past with the MK2->MK3 upgrades. Will there likely be an upgrade path from MK3 directly to MK4 or would you have to step through the MK3S upgrade?

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

I bought this upgrade (option without parts - had to print by myself) because I had issues with filament sensor. As few people mentioned, the problem occures when filament is transparent (no matter PLA, PET, PMMA or "transp. yellow") or has really glossy surface - I have a spool with white filament with really smooth surface and I often observed when printing stopped and filament has been carefully pulled and pushed out when sensor checked if it's there. Another example is my transparent PET-G - every time when I used it with an old filament sensor I had warnings informing to change filament. It's really annoying when you back to home after 9 hours and you think that printing is done but you see only few % progress and false info that filament run out.

New extruder with mechanical filament does its job in my situation. I checked it and didn't have any problems. Now I have this filament sensor always on and I'm sure that printer stops only when the spools will end.

Summary:
+ no problem with transparent or glossy filament
+ proper recognition that filament ends
+ better access to entire hotend
+ slightly smaller than old extruder (height)
+ textile sleeve for cables instead of spiral wrap

- in my case 5 to 6 hours for entire process of replace (disassemble old extruder and applying new one)
- all parts are available only in GCODEs - STL zip doesn't contain "plug-aligner" (isn't necessary but might be helpful)
- manual needs to be updated (sometimes doesn't fit your version, especially electronics case or some steps are unclear but users' comments can be really helpful)

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

- in my case 5 to 6 hours for entire process of replace (disassemble old extruder and applying new one)
- all parts are available only in GCODEs - STL zip doesn't contain "plug-aligner" (isn't necessary but might be helpful)
- manual needs to be updated (sometimes doesn't fit your version, especially electronics case or some steps are unclear but users' comments can be really helpful)

The new extruder came with my MMU2 which arrived recently. Once I finish replacing the extruder does this make my MK3 an MK3S firmware-wise? I see there are separate firmware downloads, and I assume since it has the new filament sensor that I will need the MK3S firmware now?

-Rasmus

Re: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

The new extruder came with my MMU2 which arrived recently. Once I finish replacing the extruder does this make my MK3 an MK3S firmware-wise? I see there are separate firmware downloads, and I assume since it has the new filament sensor that I will need the MK3S firmware now?

-Rasmus

You are correct.

RE: MK3 to MK3S Upgrade Worth it?

I upgraded yesterday. Had ordered back in February. Must admit I was slow to bother as the printer was printing to near perfection.  After the upgrade - well some old issues have returned - I am struggling to get the gears aligned - the grub screw wasn't quite tight enough either and getting that correct was painful and I see severe under extrusion on high speed prints that in the past could be put down to the gears not helping the filament fully. I think that the new extruder is designed to prevent user assembly errors but one error that is difficult to correct still is getting the gears exactly opposite each other.

However, yes, all the various sensor related issues with transparent/shiny filament is solved for sure.  Anyway I'm running a test print now to see if my latest efforts have yielded anything.

There are other improvements with the R4 extruder: cable management on the extruder itself (previously it was difficult to get the extruder wiring snug in the channels, and the replacement cable cover instead of the plastic one which allegedly causes wear to the cables (have printed huge amounts but didn't experience this issue, however the wiring is delicate, especially on the Noctua fan. It is certainly beneficial if you plan on changing nozzles as apparently its easier to access the hot end now.