Review Prusa MK4 Review: Return of the King

[Admin]

Prusa’s long awaited sequel to the MK3 is here and it was worth the wait.

Prusa MK4 Review: Return of the King : Read more

 

[bigdragon]

The MK4 is an impressive printer. I understand the price given Prusa's reputation and robust community. Having access to a lot of other makers sharing lessons learned, mods, and replacement parts is critical to making 3D printing work.

However, I think Bambu has the edge. Not only have they provided some very reliable and quick printers, but they're also making material changes easy. Material and tool changers are the future. The new hotend design for the MK4 appears to indicate Prusa knows this is coming too. I think the 3D printing world is going to make a major jump forward in the next 12 months assuming patent trolls don't get in the way.

 

[Gam3r01]

The MK4 is an impressive printer. I understand the price given Prusa's reputation and robust community. Having access to a lot of other makers sharing lessons learned, mods, and replacement parts is critical to making 3D printing work.

However, I think Bambu has the edge. Not only have they provided some very reliable and quick printers, but they're also making material changes easy. Material and tool changers are the future. The new hotend design for the MK4 appears to indicate Prusa knows this is coming too. I think the 3D printing world is going to make a major jump forward in the next 12 months assuming patent trolls don't get in the way.

The biggest criticism I have heard out of Bambu printers is concerns over the lack of future support.
Its a reasonable concern for a newer company on the market, if their printers are using any proprietary hardware replacement parts could be hard to come by in the future if something did happen causing the company to go belly up.

Unrelated, why the gummy bears?

 

[PlaidMan]

About the gummy bears: assembling a Prusa is a major project; as the review says, the MK4 takes 8 hours. Each chapter of the instruction manual includes a certain number of gummies to reward yourself based on the time & complexity. Presumably they don't want the people who buy it pre-assembled to feel left out.

My coworker absolutely loves his new Bambu. I have a really tough decision to make, going Bambu or upgrading/replacing my Prusa MK3S+.

 

[peachpuff]

"Prusa Research has been testing the new printers around its office and factory for about a year."

Testing for a year and no input shaping on release? Sounds a bit suspect.
I think a con of this printer is its dated design, core xy is where it's at now, even creality is coming out with one soon. That will most likely be my next printer.

 

[jackt]

You at Toms should stop to use the shiny plastic, it makes it harder to see the quality of the print!

 

[jp7189]

About the gummy bears: assembling a Prusa is a major project; as the review says, the MK4 takes 8 hours. Each chapter of the instruction manual includes a certain number of gummies to reward yourself based on the time & complexity. Presumably they don't want the people who buy it pre-assembled to feel left out.

My coworker absolutely loves his new Bambu. I have a really tough decision to make, going Bambu or upgrading/replacing my Prusa MK3S+.

I recently got a bambu x1 carbon with the AMS package, and I love it. I've had 4 printers dating back to 2014 and have had my fair share of tinkering and upgrading and fruatration and sense of accomplishment. For better or worse, Bambu does away either all that. It just prints. No fuss. And it does it extremely well and extremely fast. They have their own slicer, and I haven't even messed with any settings there either. I don't have any expectation of being able to tinker, upgrade,etc. Which I would have said to be a huge negative, but now that I have the Bambu I can't imagine why I would want to anymore.

 

[USAFRet]

I recently got a bambu x1 carbon with the AMS package, and I love it. I've had 4 printers dating back to 2014 and have had my fair share of tinkering and upgrading and fruatration and sense of accomplishment. For better or worse, Bambu does away either all that. It just prints. No fuss. And it does it extremely well and extremely fast. They have their own slicer, and I haven't even messed with any settings there either. I don't have any expectation of being able to tinker, upgrade,etc. Which I would have said to be a huge negative, but now that I have the Bambu I can't imagine why I would want to anymore.

How long have you had your bambu?

I'm seriously thinking of that same package.

Currently:
Ender 3 S1 Pro
Ender 3 MAX

Previous:
CraneQuad
Bibo
Micro3D

Nothing currently wrong with the 2x Enders, just looking to level up.

The CraneQuad has me a bit gunshy about multi-filament feeders.
Have you had any issues with that?

 

[jp7189]

How long have you had your bambu?

I'm seriously thinking of that same package.

Currently:
Ender 3 S1 Pro
Ender 3 MAX

Previous:
CraneQuad
Bibo
Micro3D

Nothing currently wrong with the 2x Enders, just looking to level up.

The CraneQuad has me a bit gunshy about multi-filament feeders.
Have you had any issues with that?

About 3 months. I print mostly
ABS, but have done a little PC and PETG too. The thing that puts the Bambu X1 over the top is the full enclosure. I don't do a lot of multimaterial printing, but I love the fact that I can leave 4 spools of different colors or materials loaded and they stay in a dessicated environment. The few multi prints I have done turned put great. Just be prepared to waste a lot of filament down the purge shoot if the object changes colors frequently.

I had an original Taz that I messed with a lot. It felt like I had as many successes as failures with that one, but mostly do to me always messing with stuff.

Then I got the 1st Gen Sigma from bcn3d. It was a good printer, but it had a bunch of quirks that I need to engineer solutions to.

Then I got a seemecnc boss delta 300. Mostly just because I wanted a delta. Generally a good printer but their single hotend, double extruder setup doesn't work with Cura >4.51, and I felt stuck in a dead-end. Also with the very long bowden tube I was never able to dial out stringing problems, and overall quality was meh.

The Bambu is the first printer I haven't touched a thing on. I haven't tweaked any settings. I didn't need to run countless iterations of print tests trying to dial in this or that.

When I watch it sling "slow" materials around at lightning speeds, I still think..no way is that going to come good at that speed. And then it does, and looks better than anything I've ever been able to achieve on the other machines.

 

[USAFRet]

Thanx