Assembled vs. kit
For those who have built their kit already, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on print quality (VFA's etc), as well as print noise.
In particular, are the kits generally running quieter and 'better'? Have any components been changed or refined from anything Prusa have learnt from the assembled units?.....
RE:
I did not encounter any resonances which would cause excessive acoustic noise. But my printer does have VFAs. (And I have not seen any report from a kit builder which stated "no VFAs!" and included pictures or descriptions of the test print to support that.)
It seems to me that kit builders can do a better job than the production technicians in several respects, if they build diligently. At least the build instructions do not include steps to ensure the following, so I assume the Prusa technicians don't do these either:
- Make sure the smooth rods and lead screws in Z are in agreement about lateral positions.
- Lubricate the Z lead screws.
- Make sure the Y rods are parallel and at the rights distance for smooth travel of the X gantry.
- Square the X gantry (ensure that it reaches both front stops at the same time).
That should help to avoid blocked Z travel and (in most cases) XY homing problems. But it does not help with VFAs. Waiting for firmware 6.3.2, which will hopefully include calibration for the phase stepping control, which will hopefully help with VFAs...