A word of warning. I did quite a bit of research and ended up with what turned out to be a craptastic printer. Getting the bed level so the first layer printed OK and without elephant foot was a pain. There were many failed prints. After some more research I decided the best printer is the Prusa. I bought the kit and assembled it myself. Why the Prusa?
- I upgraded the first printer from a MK3 to MK3S to MK4 to MK4S to Coreone. You can’t upgrade other printers, just throw them away and buy a new one. This is a cheaper path in the long run. They put out a new upgrade about every 6 months.
- The printer starts by sensing the bed at multiple points and adjusts so there is no 1st layer issue, no elephant foot issues.
- The help desk support is great. In all but one case they mailed me a new replacement part at no cost to me. Other companies have no support or very little support.
- They are constantly innovating and have the best slicer software on the market that others use for their printers.
- They are open source and publish the CAD files for their printer parts. As a result many people are adding parts to their web site to improve the printers. Yes, quite a few of their parts are 3D printed with fancy plastics. For the most part I use PLA. I even created an upgrade myself to the back fan that routes the air to the side and includes an extra fan for higher performance and a HEPA/charcoal filter to filter any plastic fumes. Prusa sells one but I wanted to push the printer flush against the back wall.
- The Prusa site for parts, Printables, has a huge number of free parts, including parts related to printing and upgrading your printer. This is where I publish my parts because they also give you points towards free spools of filament which they also make. Their spools of filament now come with an open source standard called OpenPrintTag which is a smart tag. You can code it with the type and color of filament plus track the amount of remaining filament.
- If you slice the part correctly (appropriate supports if required) there is a very high success rate, almost 100%, no spaghetti monsters.
- There is a company, BondTech, that has just created a new and exciting multi-color print head setup that has up to 8 heads, no wiping tower waste, uses induction heating to heat the plastic that they patented. I may have to upgrade one of my printers.
- This printer is the closest to what I would call a professional level printer for the hobbyist.
- They constantly improve print speed either via hardware upgrades or software upgrades.
- Their computer electronics are open source and upgradeable. There are companies and hackers that have done various upgrades. I have not tried any of those products but I did add the Prusa camera and connected them to the internet so I can use my phone to check on print status.
You should seriously take a look at their Coreone printer or the older MK4S. I had two MK4S printers and upgraded both to Coreone. Printer technology is moving so fast it is crazy. Most printer manufacturers are releasing a new printer every 6 months to a year. Prusa does not leave you stuck in the past and they are pushing the boundaries of what is possible. The founder, Jo Prusa, came out of college and has built this company that is now one of the largest companies in Prague employing 1,200 people and ships over 10,000 printers a month.
