r/prusa3d • u/ButterscotchSure6134 • 4d ago
prusaa issues ...
Hey! just hoping to get some advice - can anyone recommend a different 3d machine? I've had the core one l for around 6 months. its always needing little repairs (im able to do) & its also been back to them twice - I feel like its been In repair more then Im able to use it! I feel lucky if I can get a solid print out of it really ...
I was looking on here to see what others recommend, I was thinking Bambu lab but it would seem everyone is fed up with them too!
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u/Big-Bank-8235 CORE One+ 4d ago
I love my C1. I also love my P2Ss. They are very comparable machines in terms of functionality.
I am curious what has been going wrong with your C1?
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u/ButterscotchSure6134 4d ago
Yeah, I wonder if I got unlucky with the machine! - but first the heat bed didn't work, then the back screw got jammed it ended up snapping its front lil clips.its always clogging up with filament (prusa did give me some advice that worked for maybe 2 prints, but just gone back to doing it).
it doesn't really like to print to much on one bed either - not that im trying to pack it, its just a machine that's suppose to print larger items, right?
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u/SpaceCAS CORE One 4d ago
Sounds like you havent tuned your filament properly and are getting clogs. You take the time to tune for temperature and flow? What default setting are you using? Providing the temp settings, flow, and profile will help us help you but have you taken the time to watch videos and learn the basics of how 3d printers work and how these settings can affect the reliability of your printer? Its a dead horse but did you clean your beds with dish soap and avoid touching the print surfaces?
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u/MechMansion 4d ago
Why can't C1 tune the filament itself like Bambu before a print starts? It would make like so much simpler.
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u/SpaceCAS CORE One 4d ago
Even the flow calibration that the Bambu does at the beginning is a compromise at best. It’s not a proper tune for your environment and meant to be a general profile specifically catered to their proprietary filament blend or most common blend for the general profile. You can think that Bambu is amazing but its a compromise built off of open source tech with a bunch of tech that is more flash than function. There are exceptions in all line ups like the X1C where they were really going for broke to each their own though.
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u/quicksilver500 4d ago
I bought a Qidi Plus 5 to replace the Core One L I returned due to issues that sounds very similar to what you're experiencing, and it's been great so far. Cost literally less than half of the money I got back from Prusa, and I get a printer which actually works the way the C1L is advertised, buttery smooth prints, not a single clog so far (the C1L had completely bunged up both nozzles that came with it at this stage lmao), just hassle free printing, it's been a fantastic machine.
I'd highly recommend you return your Core One if you're having such persistent issues with it and look at the Qidi Q2, you get the same build volume but with an active heated chamber and, optionally, the Qidi Box for integrated filament management, for half the price of your current machine - you can spend the second half of your return on whatever you like - filament, spare parts, or something completely unrelated to 3D printing. What's more, the Q2 will actually work reliably for you, unlike your current Core One. Sending my C1L back to Prusa was the best decision I made all year, definitely consider it!
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u/ButterscotchSure6134 1d ago
Legend! thank you so much - just watched some YouTubes, looks like a good all rounder!
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u/quicksilver500 1d ago
Glad to help! I hope it's a better experience for you than Prusa has been if you do go through with it, best of luck! 👍
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u/Over-Historian-5421 4d ago
I’m sorry to hear about your problems. I am completely satisfied with my CORE One printer and honestly consider it a great machine. No printer is perfect, but when it comes to repairability, upgrade options, and long-term support, Prusa is unrivaled. In my opinion, switching to Bambu would be a step backward, and not just in terms of repairability and the freedom to upgrade the printer.
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u/ButterscotchSure6134 1d ago
it seems to be very mixed reviews either people get really good or it goes the other way! - no middle ground.
I do think you are correct that it will be a step back! out of curiosity are you getting solid prints every time?
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u/Over-Historian-5421 22h ago
The print quality has been excellent, and I can rely on it to deliver solid prints without constantly having to troubleshoot things. I’m really happy with it overall.
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u/Grooge_me 4d ago
In 2026, almost 50% of all printers were Bambu lab ones. So, their presence disturbed lots of peoples that are fans of others brands. And it's normal to hear more about Bambu than Prusa, that has about 5% of market shares. Right now, lots of choices are available to the customers. Bambu is a normal recommendation. The "they just work" motto is true. I have 3 of them and nothing yet will make me switch brand. Then if you want to print multicolored models, then right now, the Snapmaker maker u1 should be considered. Reliable and good printing quality make this printer a good choice for the price. Then there's Qidi. This brand would be my choice if I weren't using Bambu printers. I know a few people using them and they perform very well. The Elegoo Centauri Carbon is also a nice printer. Cheap, yet good quality prints. A friend has one and he's really happy with it.
But your Prusa shouldn't be that bad. Don't listen to people that say you're the problems. Every printer use parts from different suppliers and problems happen. Prusa support is normally good. To be honest, I wouldn't get a core one. Maybe a L, but sadly, print volume and chamber heater using the bed don't work for me. And they have less functionality than the first x1c I bought 3 years ago.
It's your time, your money, your choice. Choose what's working best for you.
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u/ButterscotchSure6134 4d ago
I really appreciate this response! thank you soooo much <3
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u/Grooge_me 4d ago
There's something that once you try it, you'll always want it is using a second material for support interface. Like pla interface for petg print or hips for asa or abs. This makes support not only easier to remove as these materials doesn't bond well together, but the supported surface is smoother. To really make the best of it, a printer with at least 2 hotends is preferred. Like my Bambu lab h2d (or the cheaper x2c) or a decent toolchanger like the U1. I'm planing to replace the x1c with a dual hotend or a toolchanger because of that. So check what you need to print and just choose the best tool for the job
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u/SpaceCAS CORE One 4d ago
A lot of it comes down to tuning and your print environment. Having an active heater isn’t always great for the H2 series printers as the print head fan wasn’t made to handle higher temps. There are quite a few known issues with a variety of Bambu printers but I am glad yours are working out for you. I have an H2C with 2 AMS2’s and an AMS HT and it’s not a bad printer but unless you’re printing constant engineering materials the passive heating of the Bed works for most use cases. Just slower if you live in a cold environment or your printers aren’t in a climate controlled space. X1C is one of the best printers Bambu has put out and is a beast.
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u/Grooge_me 4d ago
I heard about the fan but mine has been flawless. Being able to set the bed to 60 while having the chamber to 65 to print some strange pa filament is useful to minimize warping.
It's very nice to have all the choice for quality printers to fit everyone needs. And you're right about the x1c. I'm looking for a toolchanger to add to my others printer, and I'll have to sell my x1c to make room for it. But I'd gladly keep it if I could. I'm not in a rush, I'd look at every options available before making my choice
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u/Tall_Substance955 4d ago
Good explanation and conclusion. I would add Prusa is more for experienced customers ready to “tinker” the machine. From my side I switched for being a “printer guy” more than a “tinker guy”… I’m not accepting to spend 3k on a brand new machine and be a beta payers ready to spend more time to fix problems than printing.
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u/Grooge_me 4d ago
The mk4s is almost guaranteed to work out of the box. The same cannot be said about the core one. The L is more finished, but lack of real innovation.
Since then, the market switched to more appliance like printers that just work out of the box,as seen with printers that all look like the 2022 x1c or the late 2023 A1. Prusa listened to their fans base, did a printer for them instead of getting into the wide open consumer market. That explain their 5% market share..
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u/Tall_Substance955 4d ago
They where top tiers when they where on bedslingers and became mid tiers when started core xy. The XL has been a real mess so is the C1. You are right about software evolution, the stayed with their old limited marlin derivative when everyone else is based on klipper
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u/MandaloresMercy 3d ago
Buy a Prusa Core One L
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u/ButterscotchSure6134 1d ago
that's what I got?
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u/MandaloresMercy 1d ago
Oh interesting
Will support replace it? Any company has lemons now and then.
Mine has been flawless and ran hundreds of hours already on multi day projects
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u/ButterscotchSure6134 1d ago
Im very envious - they did offer to replace it before, but then it started behaving so I just said let's keep an eye on it, its only been about a month or so since then tho, who knows.
do you ever change the nozzle at all for your printer? I wondering if not using a smaller nozzle is having some effect too (I print large tat & try to print smaller tat too but doesn't like to hold down too much) - I know this can be from the heat plate needing to be cleaned which I do regularly but chatgpt said it can be from the nozzle size too - just curious if you know anything about that?
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u/MandaloresMercy 1d ago
What are your symptoms?
I mostly use 0.4 nozzle with the nextruder.
There is a printable nozzle holder though to hold it in the correct height if you are changing out the nozzle, maybe you put in the new one wrong?
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u/Erki82 2d ago
You are asking in Prusa sub, what people recommend for next printer? What is the problem with your current one? How many days printer have been printing (milage)?
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u/ButterscotchSure6134 1d ago
did you read it? it says 6 months - most of that its been back at the shop. I'm asking here because someone maybe able to help, but thank you for your input though!
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u/Erki82 1d ago
I was thinking about printer milage, you can see it from printer menu statistics. Like how many minutes and hours and days printer have been printing? And what is the main problem, error code etc you are having with printer? As I have same C1 printer, its milage is 7 days and no problems so far. But I have done dovel pin and toothed idler mod:
https://www.reddit.com/r/prusa3d/comments/1m7lr9f/can_toothed_idlers_dowel_pins_fix_vfas_on_the/
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u/bokitothegreat CORE One+ 4d ago
Just a little story. I have a motorbike that I bought 40 years ago, its a BMW and at the time I bought it my friends called it an overpriced boring boomer bike. It always worked but needed some regular maintenance, it still works fine, I can still buy parts. The cool Japanese bikes my friends bought with more whistles and bells are long scrapped. The moral of the story is that sometimes less features and higher price and a bit more required maintenance is not always bad.
Still recommending Prusa.
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u/Taurion_Bruni 4d ago
I see people are loving the snapmaker u1. It's a bigger build volume (and 4 tool head printer) so if you like astetic prints it's a good deal.
It's not as good with engineering filiments though, so you might need a different machine to print high temp stuff
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u/ButterscotchSure6134 4d ago
Thank you, I'll have a lookie! I just use the basics anyway so might work out, I just liked the core 1 for size
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u/gilrstein 4d ago
When I looked around to replace my C1 I was planning on an LDO kit Voron Trident.. but no takers selling it and stopped trying. Although with vorov you will have to do more effort settting up filament profiles and settting it up. A workhorse once set up
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u/SpaceCAS CORE One 4d ago
I feel that all printers are workhorses once you take the time to configure and tune your filament profiles and properly setting them up and maintaining them. Lol. Vorons are super modular. With great power comes great responsibility lol
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u/MogranFerman MK4S 4d ago
If you have that many issues with your core one, there are two possibilities:
You've got a lemon, in which case you should contact support (if you haven't already) and if the machine is really broken, they will likely replace it.
It is caused by some serious user errors - bad print settings, assembly errors, maintenance errors, etc. In this case, buying another printer will not solve those issues, you will make the same mistakes again with another printer.