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.
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. 😜