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35
Considering the Prusa CORE One as first printer - any reason to reconsider? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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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?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

I think you'll be happy. Coming from someone that's had a prusa mini for 3 years.

I also use FreeCAD, and I don't think you'll have a problem with that with any modern slicer, you can export in step to let the slicer do the meshing, or you can use the mesh workbench to get more control over the resolution of the mesh.

Don't worry too much about print volume. Can always break stuff up into multiple prints, and that's often a good idea even if the whole thing would fit inside the print volume.

I have killed a couple build plates, one from the TPU print sticking too well to PEI, and pulling chunks off, one from crashing the nozzle into it after I switched from a bare metal build plate to a PEI one without changing the Z offset.

Other than that, I've only really replaced one fan that was getting noisy.

As for filament, I use mostly PLA and ASA, because I don't need to do anything special to keep those dry enough to print. Probably around 60% PLA, 25% ASA, 15% TPU. PETG is fine, but I need to dry it to keep from getting steam bubbles in my prints, and can't really be bothered when I can just use ASA or PLA instead.

As for TPU, it will string like crazy if you don't dry it, but you can mitigate this with some parts by turning on "avoid crossing perimeters". Also try to avoid support material with TPU. I now print TPU on the back side(bare metal) of a third party build plate, using a very thin layer of glue stick.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Get a BambuLab P1S without AMS.

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.

You can use PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, Cura or some other slicer with them. They run perfectly fine in LAN-mode removing the Bamub Lab server stuff/question from the equation.

While not every replacement parts are also made by third party companies things like nozzles, PEI-sheets or fans are available from third parties.

As future-proof as I can possibly hope for.

I would argue money in the bank account is far more future-proof than any 3D printer can be and Bambu Lab costs a fraction of what a Prusa core one costs. So when the future arrives use the saved money to buy a next-gen printer.

Locally produced (I’m EU based).

Bambu Labs are well made so not a safety hazard but I can understand this point.

The Prusa core one looks very promising but at the same time, it isn't for everybody and the general consumer is likely better of by buying the P1S. For the price of 1 Prusa One you could buy 2 Bambu Lab P1S and 10-20kg of good PETG.

regarding Support: Difficult question. Prusa has excellent support but the last experience I had with their printers before dropping them wasn't that great and was riddled by issues/bugs. BambuLab on the other have the it just works magic but the support needs to improve. You send them a bunch of log files as requested. They probably only look at the oldest file (that might be months old) and provide a "wrong" reply based on that as a solution without looking at the text you wrote.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

In my opinion, the only disadvantage is the cost.

But even the cost difference might get recouped later on, if Prusa continues releasing upgrade kits the way they've been doing it for the i3 line. Support is also excellent. I broke a thermistor while upgrading a printer, and they sent me a free replacement because it was unclear if it was my fault or not.

Another disadvantage might be that you'll become a militant Prusa fanboy, and never look at another brand again ;)

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

Yeah, I'm OK with the cost of it. I don't only consider a feature vs. price picture, but also factor in things (like you say) support and longevity/sustainability.

The militant fanboyism surprised me a bit (maybe it shouldn't have?) - looking at some of the comments below YouTube-reviews was.... interesting...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Honestly, militant is probably not the right word. But I work with Prusas at my workplace, and the idea of buying a non-Prusa printer actually irks me.

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

On the enclosure: if you print PLA, PETG or TPU (which will probably be 99,99% of the print's you'll do) it has to be open

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

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Prusa specifically say you don't need to keep the CORE One doesn't need to be open because of its temperature control?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

That is also my understanding. It has some ventilation in the back that helps with this.

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

Can you explain this? Why does it have to be open?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Assuming heat creep. Pla's transition temp is like, in the low 50s +/- a few deg c if I recall, it goes wet noodle and can easily cause jams, absolute pain in my ass doing a bunch of pla prints in the summer on my mk3s inside a prusa enclosure, ended up setting the plate to something like 30c, had issues even with the 140mm exhaust fan on to try dropping the chamber temp. I rarely print pla in my voron, it's basically hot bed set very low and relying on my print surface to keep the print anchored when I do. Not had issues with petg in an enclosure, personally would recommend using an enclosure for all prints anyhow, even pla gives off some nasties as far as I recall.

I personally prefer abs to either petg or pla for general use, I keep all on hand as there's not a filament best for all use cases.

Edit: Assuming you have an enclosure filter. I highly recommend something like the nevermore (use a stealthmax on my voron). I do also keep my printers outside of my home, which I know not everyone can do. If I had them inside, I'd set up something to vent the room outside as well as having enclosure filters, some filaments are worse than others, Nevermore includes citations to a bunch of relevant studies regarding air pollution while printing

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

would recommend using an enclosure for all prints anyhow, even pla gives off some nasties as far as I recall.

I just have to clarify that this is only useful if your enclosure also has a filter.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Absolutely! Sorry my bad, first thing I did for my prusa enclosure was create recirc filter and did the same thing with my voron so my brain just assumed it was standard practice

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

I think the Core ONE will be an excellent way to start 3D printing.

I was in the same situation a year ago and got a MK4 kit with enclosure and I'm extremely happy with the purchase.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Good to hear! Based on the replies here, I feel quite comfortable with this choice now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I'm pretty sure everything about Creality is Free Software, including both firmware and their self-branded slicing software (which I think is a fork of Slic3r, just like everybody else's?).

I just bought an Ender 3 V3 SE and have been using it with FreeCAD and PrusaSlicer (on Linux) and sometimes controlling the printer with Octoprint -- I haven't even bothered downloading anything from Creality yet.

I picked the printer because it's supposedly currently the best cheap 3D printer (mine was an open-box from Microcenter for $135). It doesn't tick your last three boxes, but you can't beat the price!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

@cyberwolfie @cyberwolfie you might wanna checkout ratrig too, they're a Portuguese company (tho I don't know where they manufacture the printers, Prusa has factory in Prague) and are kind of open too.

As for Slicer, you can use Prusaslicer for Bambulab or Creality, Bambulab has their own slicer opensourced (actually fork from Prusaslicer) and AFAIK works on linux.

You'll always be able to use freecad, blender whatever modelling tool. You model it and export STL, which can be then fed into any slicer.

As for HW, it's hard to say. Průša core one isn't much more pricey than Bambu, what it can do we shall yet to see.

Bambulab started as closed source, but it seems they've been opening at least some of it (they now allow custom firmware, allegedly offline firmware updates, so you can run them fully offline), whereas Průša has moved from the 100% opensource to someting more restrictive, still being much more open than Bambulab.

N. B. I'm a Prusa owner and have never owned a Bambulab.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I just realized that there are some important questions that none of us are asking (it sounded like you've already done some research, and have an idea of what you want (or at least what you think you need), but just so that everyone's all on that same page):

  1. What are you looking to get out of the hobby?
  2. What is your tolerance for tinkering? Or in other words, are you willing to learn and fiddle with the machine or would you rather it "just work"?
  3. What kinds of things are you looking to print (not necessarily mutually exclusive categories: big things, small details, multi-color, outdoor/ automotive, etc)
  4. What's your budget?
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)
  1. What are you looking to get out of the hobby?

In general, I want to build my skill set to include CAD-modelling and printing things that could help me around my home and for other non-helpful, but fun, things. Some examples below. I am not looking at adding this to my professional skill set.

  1. What is your tolerance for tinkering? Or in other words, are you willing to learn and fiddle with the machine or would you rather it “just work”?

In general, I would like to tinker some. But I don't want it to be prohibitively difficult to get started. I am new to this, and am not looking for an incredibly steep learning curve. For instance, I have understood that the Voron might suit my desire for openness more, but my impression is that it would be too much tinkering at this stage.

  1. What kinds of things are you looking to print (not necessarily mutually exclusive categories: big things, small details, multi-color, outdoor/ automotive, etc)

The immediate projects I have in mind are cases for various Pi/Pi Pico-based projects. Some indoor climate monitors for instance. There are several other smaller projects I have in mind, which could be for instance some custom mounts for my devices. So not too large things to begin with, and these things are what is most important to me now. But I want a multipurpose printer, that could handle both smaller figurines and larger sculptures also (not that exceeds the print volume of the Core One as of now). I know for instance that miniatures would probably be a lot better with a resin printer, but for now I don't have a space that is properly ventilated for this. In the future I will consider getting more specialized printers if I find that I need it and have space for it.

  1. What’s your budget?

The Core One is in the higher end of what I had envisioned spending on this, but I can go a little higher if necessary

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

Tbh it sounds like the core one is a good choice here. Look at tinkering as something you use the printer to do and less as something to do to the printer itself.

I've got 2 prusas and while the XL has required a bit more work than my mk3s+ they both are excellent machines that I've run for thousands of hours with very little effort.

Welcome to the hobby! CAD modeling is the absolute best way to make your printer useful. A good pair of calipers are all you need to solve myriad issues around the house.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Thanks! Yes, a good pair of calipers are long overdue in my household. Now I will finally have a reason to measure everything!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Depending on how much you value open source vs domestic production, part of me thinks that you may want to consider the Sovol SV08. Sovol is based out of China, but that printer is basically a Voron 2.4 modified for mass production (ie much of the printer comes preassembled), and because of it the printer is very open source, as in here's the GitHub repo. My only major concern would be that the machine ships with a non-standard hot end, however I recently learned (Here) that the community already has a mod to fix that. You also gain a much bigger build volume, for a fraction of the upfront investment. (Edit: That said, it may not be the most beginner friendly machine in existence (see replies))

I'm also somewhat hesitant to recommend a machine that isn't out and doesn't really have any reviews yet. With any new product launch like this, I'd almost guarantee that there will be a teething period as the bugs, glitches, and hiccups all get worked out (as goes the early adopter tax). Which means that you may face a slightly steeper leaning curve as someone new to the hobby (Prusa has been around for a hot minute, so I don't expect it to be too bad, but it's still worth mentioning). That said, if none of that scares you and if you're already prepared for the pricetag, Prusa's are known to be absolute workhorses, there's no reason they can't be entry level machines.

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

The SV08 has been out since at least summer. I've had mine since September and I'm super satisfied with it. It is not a beginners machine however, there are a couple of mandatory tweaks and upgrades to make it usable. Nothing unsurmountable but having modded the shit out of my Ender 3 helped a lot.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I have had a SV08 for a few weeks. Had a K1 Max for the same time period. I had 2 or two failed prints on the SV08 and about 3 dozen failed prints.

I returned the K1 Max (with huge struggles with support)

Previously I had a Labist ET4 that only worked for a out 5 prints total before giving up on it.

I will agree with your statement. If you are willing to put in a bit of research on YouTube and GITHUB and swap a few parts and spend a few hours you'll have a hilarious large printer that just spits out almost anything you throw at it, besides ABS and ASA... For now...

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

I don't personally own one, so that's really good to know! I mostly thought of it since it checked most of what OP was looking for, without being a full on Voron. That's said, I'm not sure how much of a beginner machine the Core One will be either. Regardless, I'll add a proceed with caution on my recommendation.

Out of curiosity, what upgrades did you have to make to sv08?

(I also graduated from the Thessian Ender 3 program and went to a v2.4)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I had to swap the stock fan for a Noctua since it was unbearably loud, adjust the volumetric flow and spend some time adjusting the Z-offset. I should also tension the belts a bit but it looks super non-trivial.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I advise against getting the brand new thing. My experience has been that frequently the reliability and feature set of yet-to-be-released things tend to be highly overstated. The CORE looks cool but I would give it six months after release before you consider buying one so you can see some real reviews.

Prusa has a pretty decent track record but they are really branching out of their comfort zone now and I would be cautious.

If you don’t want to wait, the Bambu P1S is a phenomenal printer. I wish they were more open along with everyone else but I have many, many, many hours on mine and has been an excellent purchase. It was a massive upgrade from my Prusa Mk3S.

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

Yeah, ideally it would already be out and I could look at some reviews. The timing is such that I want to get one now, and I would hesitate to get a MK4S instead where the Core One seems to better fit my wants. If it was either a brand new company or a printer that somehow revolutionized 3D-printing, I would be more hesitant to order before launch. But seeing as Prusa is an established company, and they are not reinventing the wheel here, I feel more comfortable (even as you say, they are stretching out of their comfort-zone - but isn't one of their commercial grade printers already core xy?).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

The XL is indeed corexy but it’s also marketed to professionals who would be able to navigate any issues. I’ve seen some mixed reviews on if it’s good.

FWIW, Prusa has definitely had some major failures. The MMU2 was fundamentally broken on release with sensors that were unreliable at best and the community had to step in with replacement models to get it even somewhat reliable.

Just be wary of trusting the brand. I like Prusa too but they aren’t immune to misses.

For me, pre-purchasing a Phrozen resin printer that every single YouTube influencer assured me was the absolute best printer ever made only for it to be an absolute mess that just sits on my shelf unused because it is complete garbage, was my lesson to wait for the reviews.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago

The core 1 is a pretty iterative, not so huge leap from the mk4s which was a little hop from the Mk4. I don't think there's too much drastic new tech to worry about and Prusa has a solid reputation for both testing and support. I'd argue safe to pull trigger now. I think Bambu is a stain on the 3d printing world personally but that's a philosophical argument not a performance review.

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