I've been waiting to finish up with some major life stuff before diving into the world of 3D printers. Now that is finally behind me, and I am currently trying to find out which printer I want so that I can place an order.
So far I've set my eyes on the new Prusa CORE One. It ticks a lot of the boxes that I think I am after, including:
- As open as I can get (before going into that Voron-stuff, which I think I'm not ready for). I don't want to be bogged down with having to run proprietary slicers through Wine and things like that. I am not sure how big of an issue that is with e.g. Bambu or Creality (if at all), but I've seen enough rug-pulls and enshittification processes that I don't really want to risk that. I want to be sure that I can use FOSS tools such as Blender and FreeCAD for design, and similarly open slicers, and the whole workflow will work just fine.
- As future-proof as I can possibly hope for. I think the upgrade path from the MK4 to CORE One shows that they are serious about sustainability and longevity of their devices, and as far as I can tell, I should have no troubles sourcing replacement parts. I also want to support companies with this philosophy.
- Has a decent print volume (I know there are bigger, maybe I will be constrained by this at some point?)
- Enclosed - a major reason I did not want the MK4S was that it was not enclosed (but maybe you can get an enclosure?). It will be placed in my study where I spend most of my computer time (which often times is a lot, so I imagine I will be in the room while it is printing). I imagine, with the additional filter, that it will be better with an enclosure. Also, it will be easier to keep good temperature control during prints, as it can get cold here during winter.
- Locally produced (I'm EU based).
I understand that other manufacturers provide more "bang for the buck" and that I in that sense will be overpaying feature-wise. I am fine with that given my emphasis on the above criteria.
However, I am a complete newbie to 3D-printing. I am sure there are some limitations I have not thought about, and I was wondering if there are any major things I have not thought about that would actually affect me negatively and should make me reconsider this model?
@cyberwolfie I am happy MK4S owner and would recommend the CORE, but some considerations:
- Print volume IS small. Not having at least 250x250 x/y has been a step back from my previous printer.
- The platform is less open than I wished (or, better said, than they make us believe).
- I'd recommend getting the kit so you will get to know the printer better. However, CORE's build process difficulty is yet to be seen. I built my own MK4S and it was a fun weekend project.
Hm, I don't think I can quite grasp how much of a difference it would make to have a couple of cm extra in each direction. For my actual planned projects, I know it will be sufficient (except for one, where none of the consumer grade printers would be, and I would need to splice multiple parts somehow). But I also know that the list of planned projects will expand much faster than I am able to plan, design and print...
Hm, in what way have you experienced any problems with this? I understand that it is not fully open source, but as far as I could tell, you can't go much more open without going with a Voron?
I would love to get the kit, both as a learning experience and a fun project. However, they are not shipping the kits until April/May or something like that, while the assembled printers start shipping in January. I don't think I want to wait that long.
@cyberwolfie
RE: Open-Source
> in what way have you experienced any problems with this?
For example, and I know is very niche, but I wanted to fix an issue with their app (I am an app dev), to discover that it isn't FOSS like the slicer.
Also as a CAD aficionado, I would love to get the actual step files and not just STLs.
But don't get me wrong, none of these was a blocker for me to get a MK4S.
I am also not sure if I will upgrade to CORE, but that's another story.
Prusa has other software than their slicer? What does it do?
Mobile app, web app, firmware, bootloader…
Ah, yeah, I would also have expected their app to be open source.
Are the step files not generated by the slicer?
@cyberwolfie so what I mean is files that I can open on FreeCAD and can be modified to create my custom parts (step files), rather than importing an STL, which leads to worse results / more difficult to modify.
This doesn't affect me directly much, but it does affect the community as a whole, and it's a step (heh) back from previous printers that do have the step files available.
Ah, I see! I have much to learn, but looking forward to getting started :)
No, .step file is an exchange format, (think .pdf files), that can be used across different CAD programs to import geometry so you can work on them.
Unlike the common .stl format, a .step file contains a majority of the internal information that was created by original CAD model. While an .stl file is just meshes and nothing else.
PrusaSlicer can use .step files directly to slice. But I'm not sure that other forks/slicers can. I like models in .step file because it's far easier to open them in whatever 3D CAD software I'm using to make changes to a model to suit my needs. I can do .st' files, but it's a pain to work with them.