Various printing issues / do I have a bad printer? (Help please)
I've owned my Prusa MK3 for a few months now, it's my third printer (I have 2 Creality printers as well). My Prusa is by far the worst printer out of the ones I own. Please help me before I throw it in the bin.
I purchased it thinking it'd be more reliable, easier to use and provide better quality prints than my Ender 3 Pro, but it's been the complete opposite.
Assembling the Prusa, it passed all its checks, and printed a Benchy nicely. However after this I ran into numerous issues:
1) Prints not sticking
2) Filament leaking all over the place from the extruder (may have been like this at the start but didn't notice it immediately)
3) Horrendous stringing
4) Generally bad print quality
After adjusting the Z height, and reseating the nozzle, I've resolved the prints coming off the bed and reduced the nozzle to just mild oozing (which I was told by Prusa support is normal)
Anyway, I'll let the following pictures speak for themselves:
Initial prints were like this:
After reducing the print temps to 200c:
Top surfaces uneven, rough spots above overhangs
Ender 3 v2 Prints, default settings, same filament, same models:
Just to clarify, I'd genuinely like to resolve the issues I'm having because at the moment my Prusa just sits there reserved for prints that I don't care about as I know they'll turn out rubbish.
What am I doing wrong?
Failing that, I'm just going to flick it off for cheap and put it down to buying an overhyped printer... 🙁
Couple extra notes:
I've tried 4 different filaments
It was assembled on an engineers surface plate, it's square and level etc
I've tried various print temps
RE: Various printing issues / do I have a bad printer? (Help please)
I've owned my Prusa MK3 for a few months now, it's my third printer (I have 2 Creality printers as well). My Prusa is by far the worst printer out of the ones I own. Please help me before I throw it in the bin.
It sounds like you've got the adhesion issues worked out.
You should not have large amounts of filament oozing out mid-print. If so, inspect the top of the heater block and make sure you don't have filament leaking out between the block and heatsink. If so, your nozzle is probably not properly tightened. That will be a little messy to clean up, but not a big deal if so.
Keep in mind, the Prusa with direct drive is going to be very different than an Bowden-style printer like the Ender. Everything you've learned about retraction and related settings is going to be a bit different. I ran into a stringing nightmare about a year into printing with the Mk3 and went way down the rabbit hole looking into issues. Lessons learned:
Make sure your filament is dry. This applies to PLA as well as any other filament. If you've tried the same spool on the other printer and not had issues, this is probably not the case. I mention it because I've had it pop up suddenly, wasted time on settings, only to have the problem fixed with a few hours in a dehydrator.
Calibrate your extrusion multiplier. This was my big breakthrough with stringing. I wasted a lot of time chasing retraction, wiping, z-hop, coasting and other settings, only to finally realize these are all workarounds for stringing. By ensuring my slicer settings matched my physical printer and filament, I immediately got better results. Get your basic settings right first, then start "fixing" stringing. Measure and average your filament diameter and enter that into your slicer settings. Do a calibration print and adjust your extrusion multiplier. Do this for each brand and type of filament for best results as you want the slicer settings to best match your physical printer and filament.
Print at the low end of temps to fight stringing. Avoid raising temps while using max cooling!
I've put together a bunch of notes on my process here that might be useful. I'm now able to get by with 0.2-0.4mm retraction, 0.4mm z-lift, no wiping, coasting or other anti-stringing measures. I get the occasional gossamer wisp that clears with a pass of the heat gun, but that's about it.
I went the other way, adding a Sidewinder X1 to my Mk3. A lot of things are the same, but a few are just different enough to drive me nuts sometimes. Keep on it with the Prusa. I think you'll be happy with the results once you get it figured out. Mine's proven to be a workhorse.