See: https://github.com/prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy/issues/4254

I spent 3 months working with support, they replaced just about everything related, eventually sent me a whole new printer, and the new one had the exact same issue out of the box.

It starts too low consistently, so filament builds up constantly till it drops and ruins the print.

I can’t print anything bigger than 20cm² without it dropping a giant blob somewhere in the print and ruining it…

Always perfect first layer is not real, and my experience is that they are distancing themselves from the promise they made when the mk4 was announced.

FWIW, I’ve been a long time Prusa user, but I’m returning my Prusa mk4s and wouldn’t buy one ever again.

Of what, a metric shit-ton?

🤣

I’ve used airtable for these sorts of “personal use” use cases (eg: home built rocketry flight log) and I was even able to use their iPhone / Android app to enter data.

I haven’t paid a cent for it yet as I’m well under their data caps.

Mk4s owner here and I’m super unhappy with the output of my factory assembled mk4s, due to a consistent first layer problem. The mk4s is related to the core 1 as far as I know as the “next gen”.

Prusa seems to be aware of the issue, but I feel they are still messing around greatly with any kind of actual solution to the problem, that actually led me to pulling the pin on any work purchases from Prusa at all.

I actually got sent a second factory assembled mk4s as a “make good”, and the new unit had the exact same problem, right out of the box…

If I had my time again, I wish I’d have gone the Voron in some kind of pre-packed kit form…

Nah… It’s easy… My previous mk3s+ had hundreds of awwsome PETG hours.

🙏🏻

Can I assume from your response that you have a mk4 or mk4s with this issue then?

Thanks…It’s a good point. I’ve updated the post photo, and I’ll add the worse failure mode elsewhere.

If you wanted to customise the starting gcode, I’m sure you could.

A typical output with PLA.with Zoffset = 0

I can get adequate results with Zoffset or LiveZ +0.04 with smooth sheet and PLA.

PETG is still variable results for same settings, z+0.01 is ok some of the time, others it is still terrible, and still sees filament build up, so if printing real things, it eventually blobs, and has a (bedArea - printArea) chance of then causing a collision.

+0.02 means no bed adhesion, and I can’t actually get a finished first layer.

This is one of the worse failure modes I have experienced for this issue. In this instance, the extreme amount of “squish” leads to extreme filament buildup on the nozzle, eventually causing colisions and removing chunks of the FL test.

Yes, but it occurs with both PLA and PETG.

My mk4s has just been replaced by Prusa. I’ve been chasing down first layer problems that manifested as load cell bed scan calibrations being haywire and filament blockage false positives.

After replacing just about every part of the nextruder 2 parts at a time, it started leading to the loveboard being the culprit, but after 6 weeks of troubleshooting, I asked for this to just be solved already, so they’ve JUST delivered the replacement.

So for me, it will be starting from scratch sith my mk4s, and figuring out what’s needed.

Given I print mostly PETG structural parts, I’m imagining that I’ll likely end up with 0.8mm as my default, and 0.6mm Obxidian as my abrasives nozzle. (I have been waiting to print PCCF for a while…)

I’ve noticed partial internal blockages when switching between PETG and PLA; ie’ when purging, the new filament curves as it’s coming out and I’ll get inconsistent extrusion till it shakes a small fragment of the old filament out in the next print.

While cleaning filament helps, I think that’s mostly as I can run it at 290°C to flush the remaining anything out… Plus it’s a much longer filament swap process to do cleaning filament in between…

While regular nozzles are super cheap, the nextruder nozzles from Prusa aren’t, especially the High Flow ones, and double especially the high flow Obxidian ones… The high flow nozzles also don’t let you cold pull them the same way, which sucks…

When I started with my first printer, the flashforge A3, someone suggested having separate nozzles for PLA from PETG… I used to do this and it prevented many problems I’d been having from ever starting. I’m beginning to think about doing the same with my Mk4S, and having a separate hotend/nozzle combo for PETG, PLA, and PCCF that I can just swap…

So then I’ll just need two new mk4 silicon socks in colours other than black so I can tell them apart…

Don’t stress. Chat with Prusa support online.

They are amazing, and will help you identity what part needs replacing.

As these are all available in kit form, you have possibly the best documented and most repairable printer in the world…

If you want to push them for Obsidian support, take 5 mins and put that into their user survey…

https://ux.myscript.com/

I just put it into all the “what apps do you use for” sections that were appropriate, and I think there was also a free text section where I put “better MD export support” into, from memory…

I hear you on the obsidian vault costs, but for what it saves me in hassle I ended up going the full license, with 10 vaults… I have one for home, one for work, one for testing obsidian plugins/new tricks, and my also kid uses one for school…

So far, bulletproof, and individual crypto keys for vaults means separation between church/state/school is maintained…

The sync handles simultaneous editing on phone/laptop so that’s golden.

I alsu use nebo for handwritten notes on my android tablet, and export text to my daily note. (Just wish it exported MD properly! 🫤)

Oh, I totally get it… I’ve been in the same place many times (and I’m sure I will be again…)

I just have a policy of trying to support these things whenever I’m able to, otherwise I feel I’m not able to grumble when privacy respecting apps disappear from existence through lack of financial support…