3D Printing Prusa MK3 or MK3S to MK4

[cwbullet]

I am looking for thoughts on this topic. I own 3 Prusa Mk3S printers of various flavors. I had 5 and sold 2 of them for more than I paid for them. I am contimplating upgrades. I bought one MK4 and love it.

MK3S
MK3S with Mosquito and Bondtech extruder
MK3S with V6 and Bontech extruder

I am really town on upgrades.

MK3S to MK4: $579 - Includes almost everything - keep old bed and frame
MK3S to MK3.9: $499 - Nextruder and new first layer system but you keep the XYZ motors, bed, and frame
MK3S to MK3.5: $248 - keep nearly everything but get new 32bit control board and screen

All will do input shaping, but only 3.9 and 4 get the new leveling system that is fire and forget.

 

[Michael L]

I didn't know they had a new leveling system. I knew about the MK4 but didn't look into it's specs. Gee thanks... you may have just cost me $579.00

 

[Huxter]

If upgrading, I would not stop till I got that automatic first layer (w load cell). Not sure what the new motors do - I know they went from 1.9 something to 0.8 (I believe). I'm unsure what that means tho?

 

[cwbullet]

If upgrading, I would not stop till I got that automatic first layer (w load cell). Not sure what the new motors do - I know they went from 1.9 something to 0.8 (I believe). I'm unsure what that means tho?

I kind if agree. I am tempted to leave my Mk3s as is and just buy new MK4s.

 

[cwbullet]

I didn't know they had a new leveling system. I knew about the MK4 but didn't look into it's specs. Gee thanks... you may have just cost me $579.00

The question is why not pay 799 and just get the new printer?

 

[Michael L]

The question is why not pay 799 and just get the new printer?

I have no argument against that logic. I can think of many times that I've wished that I had another printer.

 

[cwbullet]

I have no argument against that logic. I can think of many times that I've wished that I had another printer.

The advantage to the kit: You do not have print out the parts and you get a new bed.

Avantage to the upgrade, save space if you do not need or will not use the old printer.

 

[Michael L]

Advantage #2 - I can give the old printer to my oldest grandson, once I've shown him how to use it. He's 13. This might be a good way to introduce him to 3D modeling (not that I'm any good at it but I do have and use Fusion 360 and Eagle (sad they are eliminating Eagle soon).

 

[WoShuGui]

The advantage to the kit: You do not have print out the parts and you get a new bed.

Avantage to the upgrade, save space if you do not need or will not use the old printer.

I did one of each. One of my MK3s has a Revo for easy nozzle swaps. It prints great, but the unstable hotend temperature is annoying enough to make upgrading worthwhile. I am also suspicious that Prusa will lose interest in solving this now that the MK4 is available. The upgrade also saves having to build another enclosure. I am just hoping the upgraded unit will perform as well as the kit.

 

[cwbullet]

I did one of each. One of my MK3s has a Revo for easy nozzle swaps. It prints great, but the unstable hotend temperature is annoying enough to make upgrading worthwhile. I am also suspicious that Prusa will lose interest in solving this now that the MK4 is available. The upgrade also saves having to build another enclosure. I am just hoping the upgraded unit will perform as well as the kit.

I do like the REVO. I bought 4 of various types and I am only using one on a Mini.

 

[curtisheisey]

WoShuGui> I did one of each. One of my MK3s has a Revo for easy nozzle swaps. It prints great, but the unstable hotend temperature is annoying enough to make upgrading worthwhile. I am also suspicious that Prusa will lose interest in solving this now that the MK4 is available. The upgrade also saves having to build another enclosure. I am just hoping the upgraded unit will perform as well as the kit.​

I upgraded my MK3S to Hermeia Revo. Yes, it seems like the E3D temperature probe doesn't last very long. I had temperature drifts. Replaced the temp probe and it is stable as a rock. I've been through two of them in 14 months. First one lasted about a month, and E3D replaced under warranty.

 

[cwbullet]

WoShuGui> I did one of each. One of my MK3s has a Revo for easy nozzle swaps. It prints great, but the unstable hotend temperature is annoying enough to make upgrading worthwhile. I am also suspicious that Prusa will lose interest in solving this now that the MK4 is available. The upgrade also saves having to build another enclosure. I am just hoping the upgraded unit will perform as well as the kit.​

I upgraded my MK3S to Hermeia Revo. Yes, it seems like the E3D temperature probe doesn't last very long. I had temperature drifts. Replaced the temp probe and it is stable as a rock. I've been through two of them in 14 months. First one lasted about a month, and E3D replaced under warranty.

I wonder if that is an issue with the Himera? I do not have the same issue with my Revo on my Mini.

 

[curtisheisey]

I wonder if that is an issue with the Himera? I do not have the same issue with my Revo on my Mini.

Yeah, could be. Maybe the cables aren't protected enough in the "cable tray" that runs across the bottom.

 

[WoShuGui]

I wonder if that is an issue with the Himera? I do not have the same issue with my Revo on my Mini.

Yeah, I have a Revo on my Mini as well and there are no issues with it. The Revo on my MK3+ has a stock extruder and the nozzle temperature oscillates above and below the set point when running higher temperature filaments (PC, ASA and sometimes even PETG). The oscillations can hit the max temp error limit and abort the print. The oscillations seem worse when the nozzle is more exposed to air while printing long and narrow perimeters (sadly features that are usually at the end of the print). Tuning PID at a higher temperature helps, but does not eliminate the problem. I don’t think the sensor is bad, it is the lower thermal mass of the Revo and location of the sensor between the heating element and nozzle instead of the nozzle being in between the sensor and heating element like the V6 hotend that messes up the control dynamics. I am running pre-thermal model calibration 3.11.0 firmware (3.12.1 is not compatible) but see now that E3D is recommending firmware 3.13.0 for Revo. I will give 3.13.0 a try before throwing in the towel and doing an MK4 upgrade.

 

[cwbullet]

Finally done with my first upgrade. It took about 10 hours or so.