Could you consider a prusa mk 4? It’s set and forget, not as fast as Bambu but no slouch. Support is excellent, open source and parts readily available.
Not OP but recently I was in the market for a printer. I was looking at the Bambu P1S and Prusa MK4.
I’m all for open source and really wanted to support Prusa but the MK4 costs an extra $100 (more if you don’t build it yourself), doesn’t have an enclosure, and the MK4 has a 7-8 week lead time while the P1S ships next day
Yeahhhh, I ordered a MK4 kit back on May 2nd, it JUST shipped out on Wednesday.
I’m excited. I got the prusa as we have two MK3’s at the lab I work at, so they’re what I’m familiar with. I’ve got all of the parts for the Ikea Lack enclosure on order, I’ll be making it as soon as I print up the parts.
Another vote for the Mk4. I’m very happy with mine, and I think that some people who lash out against it need to consider that not everybody wants a speed demon. Some people want good support and high uptime.
I really liked the enclosed case and everything that came with the p1s. I saw some flashforge units on Amazon but haven’t put much research into it. The ams looks great to be able to do multicolor prints that, afaik, other systems can’t touch.
This is sorta where I’m at. It’s not an apples to apples thing I get that, and while I don’t have a Prusa their standing in the 3d printing community is straight up legendary I know.
Wish it were a hair cheaper, because $1,300 assembled with enclosure kit (to make it as close to, say, X1C as possible) is still a bitter pill when only $200 more gets you abrasive printing ability, larger build volume, faster still, 4 color MMU, etc.
There is the quality angle, and the angle that a Prusa is conceivably infinitely repairable…which is a big deal. Just wish it were a few hundred cheaper to sort of compensate or allow for some of those upgrades.
I upgraded my prusa for years to every new model released for much less than the cost of a new printer. They provided upgrade kits for sale.
I made my own enclosure, works great. Downloaded the parts and followed a guide. Prusa one looks nice though.
My PSU had some potential issues 6 years after I bought it and they still sent me a replacement free of charge.
The prusa slicer software has filament profiles built in that work perfectly on the printer with no testing. They are adding them constantly. There’s something nice about not having to do test etc.
I will say that the mk3s I’m using honestly just works, I’ve done some tweaks to improve cooling, swapped to a dragon hotend and all abs parts (and some enclosure upgrades I’ve put together), it’s stupid reliable and when things go wrong it’s often my fault. I swapped to a dragon literally because my hamfisted nozzle changes have ended up with a few wrecked thermistors and I’m done with 2 handed nozzle changes. They’re pricey but it comes with amazing support, great knowledge base (which is open to all) and a well vetted machine. I also like my voron but I bought the prusa originally to have something I can fall back to if need be.
Could you consider a prusa mk 4? It’s set and forget, not as fast as Bambu but no slouch. Support is excellent, open source and parts readily available.
Not OP but recently I was in the market for a printer. I was looking at the Bambu P1S and Prusa MK4.
I’m all for open source and really wanted to support Prusa but the MK4 costs an extra $100 (more if you don’t build it yourself), doesn’t have an enclosure, and the MK4 has a 7-8 week lead time while the P1S ships next day
I’m not proud of it but I got the P1S
Yeah but the Prusa is made in Europe and the Bambulabs is made in China.
I’d happily spend an extra $100 to support a European country over china. Fuck china.
Yeahhhh, I ordered a MK4 kit back on May 2nd, it JUST shipped out on Wednesday.
I’m excited. I got the prusa as we have two MK3’s at the lab I work at, so they’re what I’m familiar with. I’ve got all of the parts for the Ikea Lack enclosure on order, I’ll be making it as soon as I print up the parts.
Another vote for the Mk4. I’m very happy with mine, and I think that some people who lash out against it need to consider that not everybody wants a speed demon. Some people want good support and high uptime.
From what I read the Bambu’s have excellent support and uptime as well
I really liked the enclosed case and everything that came with the p1s. I saw some flashforge units on Amazon but haven’t put much research into it. The ams looks great to be able to do multicolor prints that, afaik, other systems can’t touch.
This is sorta where I’m at. It’s not an apples to apples thing I get that, and while I don’t have a Prusa their standing in the 3d printing community is straight up legendary I know.
Wish it were a hair cheaper, because $1,300 assembled with enclosure kit (to make it as close to, say, X1C as possible) is still a bitter pill when only $200 more gets you abrasive printing ability, larger build volume, faster still, 4 color MMU, etc.
There is the quality angle, and the angle that a Prusa is conceivably infinitely repairable…which is a big deal. Just wish it were a few hundred cheaper to sort of compensate or allow for some of those upgrades.
The other way to look at it is that
I upgraded my prusa for years to every new model released for much less than the cost of a new printer. They provided upgrade kits for sale.
I made my own enclosure, works great. Downloaded the parts and followed a guide. Prusa one looks nice though.
My PSU had some potential issues 6 years after I bought it and they still sent me a replacement free of charge.
The prusa slicer software has filament profiles built in that work perfectly on the printer with no testing. They are adding them constantly. There’s something nice about not having to do test etc.
Those are definitely good points too for sure!
I will say that the mk3s I’m using honestly just works, I’ve done some tweaks to improve cooling, swapped to a dragon hotend and all abs parts (and some enclosure upgrades I’ve put together), it’s stupid reliable and when things go wrong it’s often my fault. I swapped to a dragon literally because my hamfisted nozzle changes have ended up with a few wrecked thermistors and I’m done with 2 handed nozzle changes. They’re pricey but it comes with amazing support, great knowledge base (which is open to all) and a well vetted machine. I also like my voron but I bought the prusa originally to have something I can fall back to if need be.