Prusa's answer to the Bambu and Creality models

[ConradH]

As you read the problem reports in the forums, don't forget that Prusa is shipping something like 10k printers per month. A few dozen issues or even a few hundred issues doesn't seem like that many. My Core One just sits there cranking out parts with zero fails so far. I don't doubt there are better printers and cheaper printers, but I find it hard to complain. And no, I don't work for Prusa!

 

[Redbrickman]

It's the same with most forums. The problems posted about are probably far less than 1% of the sold volume and even a large part of that figure is through user created problems or not taking time to learn about printing in general.

The 3D printing scene has gone from nerdy people (like me) who had to build, configure and troubleshoot printers in the past to the new generation of plug and play.

Unfortunately many of the plug and play do not bother to read and learn, and blame the printer because they don't understand the settings and how to adjust the slicer for best results etc.

 

[ConradH]

Popping in a month later to say my opinions haven't changed. My Core One is still printing great parts and I'm learning more things to improve my designs. My usual routine is, load file, push start, walk away. I check the camera on my phone now and then, and pull the part when it's done. There are still issues on the Prusa forum, but the collection of troubleshooting knowledge seems to be improving with time. There are still a few mysteries, but remote troubleshooting is always hit or miss. I'll also add that one of our Bambu's at work has now been down (again) for several weeks due to some board problem. IMO, the Bambu circuitry is certainly no better than Prusa. I'd still recommend either one.

 

[Steve J]

I think ConradH is living in printer heaven. i have both a Prusa MK4 and and an XL, and by far, the MK4 is a better printer than the XL. With the XL, I have to be careful not to use the entire depth of the bed otherwise it will knock off the other extruders (which is really to do). All they did on that printer is use E3D's toolchanger design and made it bigger. They didn't get the bugs out of it.

The filament sensor on the MK4 is unusable (and turned off) because when on, it tells the firmware that the filament has run out (it hasn't) and the printer stops.

All I can say is that they don't know how to debug firmware (the firmware on both the printers is glitchy and sometimes the printer will crash), and forget any useful tech support. Their main goal it to stall until the printer is out of warrenty, then forget it. If I report problems via Github, they fall into a black hole.

I won't even use the Prusa Connect. I use Octoprint on both machines. I have Octoprint set up with a touch screen (for local printer control) and plugins to turn the printer off when the printing is finished (selectable).

No more Prusa printers for me. They have become enshittified.

 

[The Hat]

I, on the other hand, have worked almost entirely with Creality machines, on a scale of 1 to 10 I have no idea where they come in quality or build, nor do I use any of the (Help me) forums that manufactures provide..

My current printers are the Ender-3 V3 Plus SE. and they work to my satisfaction, but don’t get me wrong, they do play up sometimes, and Creality Service sort out any issues I may have quickly, and if necessary provide replacement parts..

Over all, Creality have not let me down or ignored any of my requests for help and I don’t see any reason to change my allegiance to other brands..

If a printer won’t do what I want then I re-evaluate my project and try again, and if that doesn’t work then I don’t blame the printer for ending up with a stupid Feckin idiot..

What I will say is the newer printers have all gone over to software based operations and leave very little input or fiddling from the owners, 90% of my failures have been software issues, but I have to live with that..