this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Looking for emotional support .. (self.3dprinting)
submitted 1 year ago by Gompje to c/3dprinting
21 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Here goes.

After saving up months I was finally able to order the flagship prusa printer, the mk3. And low and behold: the waiting did pay off: I could now actually buy the newest, the MK4 !! 🎉

So I did. End of June. Got a nice rol of filament too. Couldn’t be happier. Yes the lead time was a chore but still. In august I would have a very nice upgrade from the mini.

August came: no printer. Backlog. I already sold the mini to my dad. Guess I’m going without one for a week or so, no biggie.

Shipping schedule appeared. Great! Mine was planned for 4/9. Oof. Ok… The first week of September: nope we had to push back a week! Damn 😓

And then last week:shipped!!

Spend a day building the marvelous thing. dreaming what I will be testing first. Planning. Ah great things!!

And then it came: the magic moment of doing the self test. Tension rose, green check marks appeared.. aaah 😌 victory would be mine! Boy oh boy I cannot wait!

Beeeeeeeeep. Bright red screen “loading cell error” 😱

Ok no panic, maybe the cable got loose.. happens.. sure I will get to printing soon; let’s see..

I started testing cables. Running tests. Resetting everything. Re-flashing. Damn the usb stick broke! Aaargh .. ok… Nope. Nothing works.

Onto chat support it goes. Doing the same tests. Filming them. “Hmm I need to ask our MK4 expert” after we both came to the conclusion the loveboard is probably failing (filament sensor is error too)

“We will contact you soon, next week” given it’s Friday at this point.

And now: we’re waiting again. Staring at a broken MK4. Sitting there. Tempting me to dream of my next printing project.

Support was great and all that. They will make it right I trust them. I just wanted to share my story to people who will probably exactly understand what it’s like. To wait. And wait.

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[–] dojan 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In Swedish we have this saying “those waiting for something nice can never wait too long.” I hate that saying.

Hope it all gets sorted soon. It’ll be really nice once it all works!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

This is basically my dad always waiting found him a good cheap phone no he waited and it shot up in price

[–] Gompje 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Man. I don’t know if we have something like that in Dutch but I agree: I kinda hate it too!

I’m sure it will get fixed. And indeed it will be a really nice setup, and story to tell after.

I think it’s the waiting without having any sense of time or unable to do anything that always gets to me hard. I’m kinda spoiled that way given I and my family are very handy makers.

Thanks for reading and your kind words, helps😊

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In Dutch you have the saying "geduld is een schone zaak" (having patience is a great good). Meaning how waits in peace and calm will be rewarded. But also hate that saying too.

But still hope that your patience will be rewarded with clean and prefect prints!

[–] Gompje 2 points 1 year ago

Oh! Totally forgot about that one. Always hated it too!

Totally got a flashback here, when I read that awful saying - lol For me it always felt like as a “yeah well deal with it, now keep quiet” kinda saying, don’t you agree?

Anyway.. on topic: yeah I hope so too. I think the technical issue is something I can accept. As a tech person and developer that’s my life basically; thinking about this today made me realize it’s the “not being able to do anything while I know I could probably fix it” and the “ok now when exactly are they going to get back to me?” Thing that really bothers me.

The not knowing. Uncertainty. That’s it. Just like I don’t know when a bug will be fixed in my code, this is what my clients feel.

Anyway I’m getting a bit physiological here, sorry about that. 😊

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Try to see it positive: This all builds up your excitement when it finally works.

[–] Gompje 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah it will. Thanks 😊

And I’m sure it will make for a nice experience story to tell afterwards, but man it’s really a test of my “way to deal with extra uncertainty” on top of .. you know life.

Thanks for reading and your kind words.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Make sure you update the firmware after setup I've seen alot of this solved by that Though there are some with bad boards

Also, have your Dad try out the new Mini firmware It's supposed to give a nice speed increase

[–] Gompje 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah I did that. Didn’t help then

.. fun thing though: when I contacted them this morning again… they said “hey we did release a firmware update yesterday can you try that one?” And you guessed it: that f## worked!! I was over the moon!!

Bit sour that they didn’t tell me this Friday to well test with the Beta but still.. I don’t care now! man this printer is so ff amazing. I mean! Woweeeeee! Just amazing!

Thanks for the suggestion on the mini update, I will pass it on or do it myself later this week.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You mean the alpha version? I wouldn't recommend it to the general public.

[–] Gompje 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The 5.0 official was released yesterday.

This version did solve my issues. I wish they suggested to try the beta Friday. Somehow I had no idea there even was a 5.0. I had to wait in the queue again this morning to ask for a status update when they told me. I felt such a n00b!

And then I waited in the queue again to tell them it solved my issues. They really should implement a basic ticketing system imho.

But anyway: What channels are you following to stay in the loop? Any good Rss feeds per chance? No Twitter or Facebook. Federated is oké but I do prefer rss. That’s almost the only one I don’t forget to check. 🤷‍♀️

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

As far as I know, this is the newest version for MINI: https://github.com/prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy/releases/tag/v5.1.0-alpha1

Version 5.0 is not for MINI: https://github.com/prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy/releases/tag/v5.0.0

I'm not following any sources in particular, I just check their GitHub from time to time.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I just received a nice Sprite Pro direct drive extruder and all metal hotend for my Ender 3V2. Spend a night ripping the thing apart and transplanting the new stuff in. Change some settings, tram the bed in, pid tune; all the things.

About to load some filament and do a test print when I hear twang.... "Wtf".

Look over at the printer...... and the x axis belt had snapped.

Now I get to stare at it for a week.

Feeling the pain my guy.

[–] Gompje 1 points 1 year ago

I’m a women but I feel you my guy! 😉

Stay strong, I know from first hand with an Ender you need a loooooot of patience and then some.

My first printer was the Ender3v1. Pre Corona. Hell even printed things to help people make mouth guards during Corona… aaah the memories… (bit /s) What happened you ask? Well I upgraded almost everything on that one. The board. The fans. The plate. Automatic leveling,.. but not the extruder that was my limit. At that point the upgraded were the same price as the printer

And boy it was magic! The silence. The automatic leveling, man great times! Until it wasn’t. You see this printer was fine for a while and then suddenly it said: f you! And I would spend hours tinkering with it. Time I did not have.

So at one point I had enough. Bought a mini on announce day, waited almost a year till they delivered and never looked back. Gave the Ender to my dad, and now he got the upgrade to the mini.

The Ender? Sits in a box. We gave up after yet another under extrusion problem, and gave the monies to another model instead.

So … if anyone lives in Eu/Belgium and is in need of spare parts for an Ender3? Shoot. I have lots. 😜

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm totally with you , I m actually 6 month in the building of a ratrig and the wiring is just horrible. good luck and stay strong

[–] Gompje 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thx! And u2!

And now I really want to know what a ratrig is 😁 do tell!

Scratch that: I googled it.. and I should have known I guess 😏

And now I really want to learn a bit more about what you are building! Looks awesome

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yup that is I have the base version with a plate of 500x500 and a beacon to level it . actually my build is almost finishI just have a problem of wiring with the extruder. Awesome machine and building guide UNTIL the wiring section . This machine really need a better base cable management. I will do model to Mont cable chain on it .

[–] Gompje 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

500x500 that’s huge! I don’t think I even have the space to put that in my house.. well without it being in the way that is.

Well for me it turned out the firmware they released yesterday solved my issues. Guess they shipped my kit with some new chips or something idk 🤷‍♀️ just wish they told me a beta was available Friday or even on the page itself.. oh well. At least I got to share my story with you guys 😄

What will be the first thing you print? Mine is the t-rex skull. It’s printing now. Amazing quality and speed. Really perfect first layer as wel I was literally drooling! Lol.

It was one of the prints I was very impressed of with my first printer, the Ender3v1. Never got around in doing him again on the mini. Life got in the way.. kinda regret that now but anyway it will be amazing to see the difference between both. So far I’m over the moon. The mk4 is a fantastic printer.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This printer is mostly here to print organization part , or any part that son t fit my v400 (best machine for the value) also to batch print this is amazing

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That sucks, sorry for you to have to go through that. Do you already know modeling/sculpting? If not, that's the perfect time to get into it, and really be able to do anything with your printer when you get it. :)

[–] Gompje 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks. I do actually. But thanks for giving me ideas, improvements can always be made! 😃

It’s more of a “unfinished project that is out of my hands now and I don’t know when it will be done even though I could probably fix it if..” type of situation actually. I’m not good with that kind of anxiety and uncertainty.

That said: they say you’re never to old to learn ….. but ….. hmm 😊