Hi there,
I’m considering upgrading my old ender 3 and it looks like the prusa MK4 or bambu labs p1s are the current best options out there.
I like the bambu labs for the fast print speed and x/y print bed. I also love the idea of the AMS - it would be awesome to print in colour! But being closed source puts me off a bit as I currently use octopeint and obico to monitor my ender 3 which, as far as I can tell, Is not possible to use with bambu labs. Also having to upload gcode to the cloud is not ideal.
The prusa however is great because of the open source nature. However the slinger bed and slower prints are putting me off. I have also read that the mmu can be temperamental at best, so printing colour may not be an option?
Any thoughts/recommendations?
Thanks
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I was in the same position, doubting between a mk4 and a p1s. Decided to build a Voron instead, no regrets.
Which one in their range is comparable to the printers OP mentioned?
Edit: Never mind I get it now
If you’re feeling adventurous, there’s always Vorons as an option. Note that even if you’re building a BOM in a box you’re still going to be in for a long build. I’m pretty happy with mine.
+1 for Voron. I just finished up mine and am pleased with the results. Totally open source, modifiable, and unlike Prusa machines not based on a 5-year old design. (This is coming from somebody who loves the MK3S+ but was very disappointed with the MK4’s marginal improvement and botch-job of a lunch)
I cancelled my mk4 order after a long wait that didn’t seem likely to end soon and got a P1S instead.
I was upgrading from a MK3S that I’d had for a couple of years, and I was all in on Prusa.
After using the P1S for a while now, it’s clear to me that Prusa sat on its hands for too long. The P1S is fantastic, involves virtually no setup, and gives me out-of-the-box prints better than my MK3S ever gave me even after months of fine tuning. I can’t imagine a world where Bambu doesn’t significantly erode Prusa’s market share.
Core-XY is the way to go, and I think to really compete Prusa is going to have to finally retire the i3 bed-slinger design and step into the future.
I want to support Prusa in principle, but they’re going to have to really step it up to get me away from my Bambu.
Doesn’t it need to be online to print or something? What firmware is it using?
Edit: Yes it has to be online to print. There go any fosscad ideas you might have. Personaly if your sending people your gcode you already lost. Good luck claiming you’re the creator of files against a company.
Firmware is proprietary. IMO not worth at all. I’ll probably be picking up a Voron kit here soon.
https://3dprinting.com/news/bambu-labs-3d-printer-glitch-results-in-unwanted-nocturnal-creations/
A bunch of them started printing spontaneously not that long ago.
Yep, looks like more capitolist exerting their control over their users.
A software error that was quickly fixed, and that Bambu was transparent about and took accountability for, isn’t exactly “exerting control”.
Nobody is compelling you to like BambuLabs, but the hyperbolic argument here just seems silly.
About as silly as jock riding a company? I’m sorry I insulted your purchase boohoo.
There is lan only mode to avoid the cloud, or you can move gcode via sdcard.
You can print offline from an SD card, online is only required if you want to start prints from the slicer or monitor the print via the phone app.
Firmware is still proprietary, hard pass from me.
I want to add a second to everything this person said, I have both a Mk3s that has some upgrades and an X1C and the difference in speed and quality is astounding. They are not kidding either, the quality out of the box is excellent. I basically only change strength related parameters anymore, the automatic flow calibration is incredible. The recent addition of the ability to skip failed parts mid print from my phone is awesome as well. I have also printed the same part with the same layer height and filament and the X1 is almost 3x as fast in “standard” preset.
Also for what it’s worth, I am probably going to replace my Mk3 with the A1 in the next few months as well.
The thing that gets me is that the P1s is SIGNIFICANTLY louder than the MK4 according to everyone who has a prusa and got a p1s.
That is definitely a big concern for me personally. I don’t know if a voron can be built to be very quiet, but it is always something that prusa did very well.
My 2.4 voron’s motors and drivers are pretty quiet. The electronics bay fans I initially built it with not so much. Those fans are now noctuas, which move more than enough air for this type of application and are very quiet. I recently added bed fans (well, really an under bed filter) and they’re a little louder but still not that bad. I work from home 3-4 days a week with the printer about 12 feet behind me. I spend most of my days on meetings and no one has ever mentioned printer noise, but someone will occasionally comment on the print head moving around.
I’ve never owned a Prusa, but my old i3 clone was way louder.
Trinamic silent stepper drivers make a world of difference. On my printer I swapped the main board for one with silent drivers. Identical hardware as before, 1/10th the noise.
I never believed people before when I read how much of a difference it made. But I’m so glad I did it now.
Noctua fans are also a world of difference.
I’m not completely sure what to do with my i3 clone. It’s fairly reliable and has served me well, but my Voron is so much more reliable. Maybe I’ll swap the board for quieter drivers and turn it into a PLA only printer for my kids…
They’ve said they’ll upgrade X1 and P series with active noise cancellation they have on the A1, will be interested to see how much that reduces overall noise.
I was in the same position two months ago and decided to go with the Prusa MK4 kit with the enclosure. So far I’m happy with my purchase. The deciding factor for me was lastly the loudness of the device because I wanted to use the printer in my apartment. Reviews said that the printer is relatively quiet and I can confirm that. If the door to my “printer room” is closed I’m not able to hear it.
Some points about the MK4:
Positives:
- It prints very fast with the new Input Shaper firmware
- I can control the printer via LAN and WiFi (or print directly from a USB drive)
- Excellent print quality
- Open Source and spare parts are avaiable for a long time
Negatives:
- Maintenance is complicated after installing the printer in the enclosure. You can only access the printer through the front door which makes reaching the sides of the printer difficult and removing the printer from the enclosure is not easy as well because you first have to disassemble the display unit.
I dont’ have access to a Bambulab printer so I’m not able to compare both the Prusa MK4 and the Bambulab P1S. Nevertheless, I’m happy with my printer and can recommend it.
I believe there are official files to print an openable lid.
Thanks. I will look into that.
Sorry, I was in a rush earlier and would have forgotten to post at all.
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Thank you very much. I think I have a project for the weekend :)
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Take a look at the WUXN printer Comes fully assembled and ready to go I prefer Open platforms They are far easier to get parts or get fixed when needed There is also the massive amount of waste that Bambu Lab printers make out of their poop shoot to print color
Gonna “both sides” this one…
I’ve never used a prusa printer, but know two people that swear by them. I know 2 with P1P’s (including me)and one with an X1C. I can attest that it’s a great printer.
Now, the open source nature of the Prusia is the clear winner in the privacy arena, but ask yourself if the rest of your network/hardware is as locked down as you want your printer to be? I’d be willing to bet a surprising number of people who tout this as their number one concern about BambuLabs printers are using Windows.
Also, you can print just fine using other slicers and dropping your files on an SD card, never having to connect your printer to the internet at all with the Bambu printers. But they do sort of lead you down the networked path without expressly telling you that it will work offline.
Not going to get into specs, price or any of that shit, just saying both printers are great and more than capable of what the majority of FDM users want from their machines. I’d love to go Voron all the way, bit I do not have the time to commit to the building/calibration or testing.
Tl;dr… this doesn’t need to turn into a bloods vs crips argument about which printer is better
I means … There is no official release of the bambulab slicer available for linux so yeah ! People using a bambulab are probably using windows.
I use Manjaro and the unofficial Bambulabs slicer works fine, only things not working for me is the live view and remote access of the SD card. Neither bugs me since the printer sits right next to my desktop, but I could see those as negatives for some people
Edit: for clarity
I think it depends how much you care about the FOSS credentials of Prusa - in terms of printer ease of use, quality, features, I think you’d have to go PS2. AMS by itself is real deal winner, even if you don’t do mmu printing.
ile now, it’s clear to me that Prusa sat on its hands for too long. The P1S is fantastic, involves virtually no setup, and gives me out-of-the-box prints better than my MK3S ever gave me even after months of fine tuning. I can’t imagine a world where Bambu doesn’t significantly erode Prusa’s market share.
Came here to second this, I run a print farm of primarily MK3’s and MK4’s and have recently added a P1S due to my MMU’s all dying at the same time (not that they were worth much of a damn before then), the P1S “Just works” and beautifully I might add. I switched over all my multicolor prints to the P1S and have been impressed with better results than with those in the MK3+MMU2S environment. I’m also really starting to like the app and connectivity of the machine. Considering the price of the P1S with the AMS being <= than a MK4 Let alone with the MMU add on, I’d say go for it.
