Why Prusa is floundering.....
https://drewdevault.com/2023/12/26/2023-12-26-Prusa-is-floundering.html
Some good points in the article.
Some dopey points too.. The Best Buy / Home Depot availability comment - that's not a thing with the Chinese printers either so obviously that wasn't THAT critical to their success... Probably should have left that out, as an example.
But I think, while subjective, most would agree that the "best" printers are no longer Prusa - which was their niche. They are still very good printers, but arguably not worth the premium they charge any more.
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Yes, and people were willing to pay a premium for the "best". But, when you've lost that edge, and still try to charge a significant premium, people are going to move elsewhere.
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I think the point the writer was trying to make wasn't that they were missing out because their competition was doing it, but that they're missing out on having a slice of the market that no one else does.
In my opinion it diluted his message on why they lost their position by adding in something that wasn't actually a reason for that.
In fact, when best buy had MakerBot in store it was a dismal flop... So it isn't even a given that model would work for prusa either...
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I'm not arguing for or against it. Just offering an opinion on what I thought the author was trying to get at.
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Interesting article. IMO Prusa made the mistake of not moving to injection moulding for their production printers. Sticking with 3D printing is no longer cost competitive.
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No worries, I really wasn't trying to argue necessarily either. 
Wow, someone has created custom firmware for the Bambu X1 series! 
if someone was going to just get started what would you suggest printer wise
i know loaded questions but was hoping something solid under 1k
My Bambu P1P has been the most hands-off, maintenance free printer I've ever owned, $599 right now.
That said, there are many other good options depending on price point, materials you want to print with, if you want multiple colors/filaments, and features you want.
I'm a big fan of CoreXY printers vs bed slingers/cartesian, but that is a preference and not an absolute. I still get good results from my Creality Ender S1 Pro too, and that's a bed slinger.
Also a fan of direct extruders vs bowden tubes. Again though, that is a preference not an absolute better/worse.
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I was a total noob when my printer arrived in January from Kickstarter. I now have 2 Ankermake M5s and may pick up a 3rd. I like it and it is known to be easy on beginners.
I'd recommend either the M5 or Bambu --or perhaps the Sovol 06. Note that the M5 and Bambu's are high speed printers and -in the end- it's all about speed. Last I checked, the M5 was around $500 on Amazon.
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And for a little bit more you can get the fully enclosed P1S. It’s the same basic printer, but being enclosed and having some extra features / hardware means you aren’t limited to PLA and PETG if you decide down the track that you’d like to print functional high quality ABS or ASA items.
If you want to save a few dollars up front to put towards a nice collection of coloured Filament, You can upgrade the P1P to P1S spec via a very affordable kit later on.
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Question: I have an Elegoo Neptune X printer. It is a full-frame printer like the Crealty Ender 5. I see conversion kits to convert the Ender to a direct-drive extruder, but no such kit exists for the Neptune X. How likely is it that one of the Ender 5 kits would work for the Neptune X?
I wrote Elegoo and was given a number of excuses as to why it not an option from them. The lamest one was that the filament holder would need to be relocated (well, Duh!). As if I have not already done that to put it in a better location for me already. I realize that a direct drive would mean added mass on the X/Y axis, possibly leading to more ringing. The plus side is that I would be able to work with filaments that are not practical for Bowden tube printers.
Has anyone done such a conversion? What did you find as the benefits and what as the pitfalls of such a conversion attempt?
When I purchased my X1C, the P1S was not available at the time. If it were available when I was looking, it would have been a much harder decision for me to make. Personally, I like having an enclosed printer mostly for smells and noise, but it also helps with print consistency. If a cheaper fully enclosed option were available at the time, I might have gone that route and saved a decent amount of money.
There were some other deciding factors to choose the X1C over the P1P. This was also at a time where the extra P1P addons were not included (camera, cooling fan, whatever else was included in the kit), so having those already in the X1C was a little more enticing.
Still 100% super happy with my purchase! I have 750 hours on the machine, without a single failure. I look at it as an investment, and honestly expect it to run for a long time. Luckily, Bambu has been good about offering replacement parts, so I plan to keep it running for a long while.
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I’m planning to buy a P1S with AMS around May next year. It’ll replace my Frankenstein Adventurer 3 which I might give to my daughter.
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Will she say "Oh thanks, Dad, that's great!" or "Oh, ah, thanks?" 
I have two sons - one would be very happy to have his own 3D printer to play with, the other would say "Can't you just keep printing stuff for me?"
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Im fairly sure she’d love it. It runs Klipper with an Revo 6 hot end - I threw all the proprietary FlashForge electronics in the bin and released my upgrades open source.
https://www.printables.com/model/437968-flashforge-adventurer-3-klipper-revo-6-abl-btt-skr
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In all the internet, the only Neptune X conversion attempt mentioned was using a Revo 6 hot end ...which @dJOS just posted. Working out the wiring was apparently a problem.
I've been looking at a couple of Micro-Swiss models that say they are drop-in replacements for the Ender 5/Ender 5 Pro. Since the Neptune X looks to be pretty much a clone of the Ender 5, I am thinking that one of them will work. The key is whether the hole pattern for them is the same for the Ender 5 and the Neptune X. I'm waiting for an answer from Micro-Swiss about that.
