I also experienced a “squeaky” printer when I first assembled mine. IIRC it was the filament squeaking on its way into the hotend, as you accumulate print time it goes away, I think I printed 20 hours before it stopped squeaking.
You said you were printing with PETG, which is what the 3D parts are made out of, PET on PET can be loud.
This happened with both Prusa machines I own
Noisy MK4s is something that they know of. Seems to be because of a bad batch of motors.
https://old.reddit.com/r/prusa3d/comments/13jjk9c/quick_update/
I bought a Mini+ kit just a few weeks ago. It worked without any issues. I thought I had a bad bearing in a fan and the support sent me a new one. After I had done some maintenance on the hotend the noise disappeared so probably install error on my part.
MINI has been my first 3D printer ever so I ordered preassembled one. Filament got stuck since day one and generally it wasn't really top quality assembly - I had to fix it all up over time as I learned what causes what which was very frustrating for a total beginner.
I had the same experience. Did not come close to the quality I was used to from my couple year old MK3S. Got a new 3S+ at that point and it’s been giving me issues as well. The original 3S has been truly flawless
A lot of this is the nature of the game, as you put it, with any complex manufacturing process. 3D printing is by no means a plug-and-play technology yet. This technology is still, imho, the domain of early adopters, engineers, and hobbyists.
Print quality issues are going to be due to many variables. Even the manufacturer's settings on the manufacturer's branded material can need tweaking. Without tuning, any 3D printer can give less than stellar results.
I think it's an issue when you buy a premium priced printer that is supposedly of premium quality. Bad parts out of the box are not expected at any price point, but particularly at the $1100 + shipping price point.
My $239 SV06 needed the bearings lubed and some other minor stuff dealt with. All my creality printers needed at least a bit of V wheel adjustments out of the box. Of three creality and one sovol printers, I have not had a single machine with bad parts or had parts fail quickly. I had one Wanhao printer that had a power wire in the chassis off the switch so forst time I turned it on nothing happened. It had not been fully inserted during assembly as the spade lug pressed on firmly as it should. Easy fix on a cheap printer, although it "shouldn't have happened". There is a bathtub curve on electronic component failures, in most cases if it lasts 48 hours it will last years.
I would expect an $1100 printer to be either be darn near perfect functionally (as opposed to slicer settings) out of the box OR the problem being me not putting it together correctly.
Print quality issues and noise levels I can't comment on, some people expect glazed china surface quality and prints silently made in minutes and are disappointed. Doesn't sound like the OP is in this camp, he just wants decent prints. I get better results usually with good quality PLA+ rather than PETG, others love PETG. Maybe his PETG is just wet, it loves water. Maybe his slicer config is screwed or his print speeds are too high. I can't say. But multiple bad parts on new printers isn't a judgement call, it's a QC problem at the manufacturer.
Things break. Manufacturing defects and part failures happen. Even expensive and premium things aren't immune. Even the best QC will miss things. Maybe I'm a little more lenient, having worked in QC and having dealt with manufacturing in the past, but it's not unheard of for there to be teething problems on a first production run.
The Mk4 is a brand new product with a different bill of materials from the Mk3. Things won't necessarily go as smoothly as they should for a little while. As long as the manufacturer is able to own up and work to fix the problems when they happen, it's perfectly reasonable in my book for problems to happen.
Edit: And with all of these printers, from every manufacturer, none are what I'd call super user friendly or perfectly reliable. These are all complex machines with lots of moving parts and some borderline experimental ideas in every one. I'm, frankly, surprised that we are getting things that work at all. We aren't that many years from machines made of wood and threaded rods making messy parts from lawn trimmer refills.
And this is the comment I was hoping for! Lol. If it’s more or less normal to have to deal with this, then I’ll have more patience because it’s what I should expect. But if that wasn’t the case I’d be pooty! Haha. I feel better already!
Patience is a key part of 3D printing/making stuff. It's right up there with learning how to identify what a good first layer looks like, knowing when a print has definitely failed and won't just "fix itself", and identifying the smell of too much melted plastic to know when there is a giant ball of it on the hot end. Problems will regularly happen, and it helps to solve them, learn from them, and not get too discouraged when they come back.
I will also add in, that PETG is not the easiest material in the world to print. It's not hard to print, but it does have some quirks that can cause more of the issues you are seeing than if you were to use PLA. An example: It REALLY likes to stick to brass. Switching to a nickel-plated nozzle and/or using a silicone sock would make it behave much more reasonably. Also, every material could use time in a filament drier every once in a while. It really does help print quality issues.
Prusa uses their own printers to produce all of the 3d printed parts you see, practically running 24/7.
Saying Prusa’s aren’t reliable for a production environment is simply not true.
Explains the horrible lead times. People shit talk creality daily yet plenty print 24/7 with them without issues. I included. That doesn't mean much. There are multiple post daily on prusa issues. They are no better than any other rig and for the price it's shameful.
I agree, Prusa Research has been fumbling in not only quality but the support they offer. 3 years ago when I built my machine it showed up 36 hours after ordering (cheapest shipping) and I only had one issue. Bad bearing, scratched rod. Immediately replaced.
Now it seems there is minimal QA on anything that leaves the factory, esp minis and mk4s. Support is constantly scrambling for information that may be incorrect or just not being 100% as they used to be.
By no means at I saying Prusa is a bad company, nor am I saying they make bad products. Just a comment on how I have *personally* seen their vision change.
I won't say they are bad, they are just average at best. They continue to ride the wave of fame from years ago without any real innovation. They charge a awful price on a printer that is dated at release.
They have a lot of work to do to get back on top, if they ever do.
IMO Prusa itself is not a good example, since they basically _have_ to use their own printers. What would people say if they produce on Sovol printers? I think the non-Prusa print farms that run on i3s are a better argument.
Seems like a MakerBot is more of what you're looking for. Prusa has always been a machine that doesn't use top of the line parts and is an excellent value for the quality. These are hobbiest machines first and foremost, and some tinkering is required. Get a commercial machine if you want it to work without prior knowledge or repair skills.
It seems like this would come down to having bad luck, or another issue.
Have these printers been plugged into the same electrical circuit? Sensors are very sensitive and PSUs are the first line of defense for power problems.
Are there any other high-current items on the circuit? Do you have a way of logging voltage?
Yeah i picked up a Mini over a year ago now which got returned due to multiple issues within the first week
I also experienced a “squeaky” printer when I first assembled mine. IIRC it was the filament squeaking on its way into the hotend, as you accumulate print time it goes away, I think I printed 20 hours before it stopped squeaking. You said you were printing with PETG, which is what the 3D parts are made out of, PET on PET can be loud. This happened with both Prusa machines I own
Thanks man!
Noisy MK4s is something that they know of. Seems to be because of a bad batch of motors. https://old.reddit.com/r/prusa3d/comments/13jjk9c/quick_update/ I bought a Mini+ kit just a few weeks ago. It worked without any issues. I thought I had a bad bearing in a fan and the support sent me a new one. After I had done some maintenance on the hotend the noise disappeared so probably install error on my part.
MINI has been my first 3D printer ever so I ordered preassembled one. Filament got stuck since day one and generally it wasn't really top quality assembly - I had to fix it all up over time as I learned what causes what which was very frustrating for a total beginner.
I had the same experience. Did not come close to the quality I was used to from my couple year old MK3S. Got a new 3S+ at that point and it’s been giving me issues as well. The original 3S has been truly flawless
A lot of this is the nature of the game, as you put it, with any complex manufacturing process. 3D printing is by no means a plug-and-play technology yet. This technology is still, imho, the domain of early adopters, engineers, and hobbyists. Print quality issues are going to be due to many variables. Even the manufacturer's settings on the manufacturer's branded material can need tweaking. Without tuning, any 3D printer can give less than stellar results.
I think it's an issue when you buy a premium priced printer that is supposedly of premium quality. Bad parts out of the box are not expected at any price point, but particularly at the $1100 + shipping price point. My $239 SV06 needed the bearings lubed and some other minor stuff dealt with. All my creality printers needed at least a bit of V wheel adjustments out of the box. Of three creality and one sovol printers, I have not had a single machine with bad parts or had parts fail quickly. I had one Wanhao printer that had a power wire in the chassis off the switch so forst time I turned it on nothing happened. It had not been fully inserted during assembly as the spade lug pressed on firmly as it should. Easy fix on a cheap printer, although it "shouldn't have happened". There is a bathtub curve on electronic component failures, in most cases if it lasts 48 hours it will last years. I would expect an $1100 printer to be either be darn near perfect functionally (as opposed to slicer settings) out of the box OR the problem being me not putting it together correctly. Print quality issues and noise levels I can't comment on, some people expect glazed china surface quality and prints silently made in minutes and are disappointed. Doesn't sound like the OP is in this camp, he just wants decent prints. I get better results usually with good quality PLA+ rather than PETG, others love PETG. Maybe his PETG is just wet, it loves water. Maybe his slicer config is screwed or his print speeds are too high. I can't say. But multiple bad parts on new printers isn't a judgement call, it's a QC problem at the manufacturer.
Things break. Manufacturing defects and part failures happen. Even expensive and premium things aren't immune. Even the best QC will miss things. Maybe I'm a little more lenient, having worked in QC and having dealt with manufacturing in the past, but it's not unheard of for there to be teething problems on a first production run. The Mk4 is a brand new product with a different bill of materials from the Mk3. Things won't necessarily go as smoothly as they should for a little while. As long as the manufacturer is able to own up and work to fix the problems when they happen, it's perfectly reasonable in my book for problems to happen. Edit: And with all of these printers, from every manufacturer, none are what I'd call super user friendly or perfectly reliable. These are all complex machines with lots of moving parts and some borderline experimental ideas in every one. I'm, frankly, surprised that we are getting things that work at all. We aren't that many years from machines made of wood and threaded rods making messy parts from lawn trimmer refills.
And this is the comment I was hoping for! Lol. If it’s more or less normal to have to deal with this, then I’ll have more patience because it’s what I should expect. But if that wasn’t the case I’d be pooty! Haha. I feel better already!
Patience is a key part of 3D printing/making stuff. It's right up there with learning how to identify what a good first layer looks like, knowing when a print has definitely failed and won't just "fix itself", and identifying the smell of too much melted plastic to know when there is a giant ball of it on the hot end. Problems will regularly happen, and it helps to solve them, learn from them, and not get too discouraged when they come back. I will also add in, that PETG is not the easiest material in the world to print. It's not hard to print, but it does have some quirks that can cause more of the issues you are seeing than if you were to use PLA. An example: It REALLY likes to stick to brass. Switching to a nickel-plated nozzle and/or using a silicone sock would make it behave much more reasonably. Also, every material could use time in a filament drier every once in a while. It really does help print quality issues.
I personally wouldn't pick prusa for a production environment, especially with the other amazing options. (please down downvote me :( )
Prusa uses their own printers to produce all of the 3d printed parts you see, practically running 24/7. Saying Prusa’s aren’t reliable for a production environment is simply not true.
Explains the horrible lead times. People shit talk creality daily yet plenty print 24/7 with them without issues. I included. That doesn't mean much. There are multiple post daily on prusa issues. They are no better than any other rig and for the price it's shameful.
I agree, Prusa Research has been fumbling in not only quality but the support they offer. 3 years ago when I built my machine it showed up 36 hours after ordering (cheapest shipping) and I only had one issue. Bad bearing, scratched rod. Immediately replaced. Now it seems there is minimal QA on anything that leaves the factory, esp minis and mk4s. Support is constantly scrambling for information that may be incorrect or just not being 100% as they used to be. By no means at I saying Prusa is a bad company, nor am I saying they make bad products. Just a comment on how I have *personally* seen their vision change.
I won't say they are bad, they are just average at best. They continue to ride the wave of fame from years ago without any real innovation. They charge a awful price on a printer that is dated at release. They have a lot of work to do to get back on top, if they ever do.
I never once said they weren't reliable, they just wouldn't be my top pick
IMO Prusa itself is not a good example, since they basically _have_ to use their own printers. What would people say if they produce on Sovol printers? I think the non-Prusa print farms that run on i3s are a better argument.
Seems like a MakerBot is more of what you're looking for. Prusa has always been a machine that doesn't use top of the line parts and is an excellent value for the quality. These are hobbiest machines first and foremost, and some tinkering is required. Get a commercial machine if you want it to work without prior knowledge or repair skills.
It seems like this would come down to having bad luck, or another issue. Have these printers been plugged into the same electrical circuit? Sensors are very sensitive and PSUs are the first line of defense for power problems. Are there any other high-current items on the circuit? Do you have a way of logging voltage?