@3dprinting Revised nameplate. The new one is on the top.

This should be like one of those "Spot the five differences" puzzles in the newspaper. There are actually seven or eight changes, none dramatic.

17/N

@3dprinting Today I decided to print a nameplate for my not-really-new printer.

I have impostor syndrome when it comes to graphic design -- I have no confidence in my work. Anyway, this is what I made. I might change it in large or small ways later. The font is Typo Angular Rounded Bold.

(Printed on the other printer that has the MMU, of course.)

16/N

@3dprinting The printer failed its very first selftest; I had put the X carriage bearings in wrong. I fixed that and printed a sample object.

15/N

@3dprinting What did slow me down was yet another textile sleeve for the heatbed wires. I decided to print a tool to help. I downloaded and printed one, but it didn't work very well. So I designed a new one. The second iteration worked pretty well, so I'll upload it to Printables later.

The sleeve looks noticeably less lumpy than the two I hand-stuffed.

14/N

@3dprinting

The kit did not include fasteners to affix the bearings to the Y carriage. Prusa changed the carriage design between the MK3S and MK3S+, and they only included fasteners for the newer printer. They updated the kit in January 2025, but I got my kit in December...

Fortunately, I have half a hardware store in the closet, so it didn't slow me down much.

13/N

@3dprinting It is reborn! I think I'll name this printer Phoenix (or Maricopa).

The Y carriage and heatbed are installed, and the electronics are all buttoned up. It's time to power it up and see whether it works.

12/N

@3dprinting To clarify, the plastic parts of the LCD housing and knob are now injection molded. The rest of the printer is full of printed parts.

11/N

@3dprinting xLCD assembly complete. This section should have been called Wiring Harness, because the LCD panel was only about 10% of the task.

Since I built my MK4 of November 2023, Prusa have upgraded all the plastic parts to injection molded. The new parts fit together better.

Power wiring is sloppy because I may undo it soon. The printer is going into an enclosure, and I may move the PSU outside.

10/N

@3dprinting The new fan housing is printed in a different material and/or process than the MK4 carryover parts. It has a matte finish, and the layer lines are more subtle. I wonder what it is.

9/N

@3dprinting The Nextruder is assembled, gihugeous fan and everything. This one took a while (47 steps). I made a couple of minor mistakes that I had to rework. But it's all very familiar since I built an MK4 last year, upgraded its extruder for an MMU3 last October, and rebuilt the extruder in December.

8/N

@3dprinting The Z axes are assembled. The Z axes procedure includes installing the extruder signal distribution PCB and routing the cables from the extruder and X motor to the controller box.

I really dislike cable wraps. They are hard to install, and they always look lumpy afterwards.

7/N

@3dprinting The X axis and X carriage are assembled. No surprises.

6/N

@3dprinting Darn it, I should have tagged this thread #BuildThread. BuildThread hashtag followers, the thread starts four posts back and uses the #MK4SUpgrade hashtag.

5/N

Section 2, Frame assembly, is complete.

In MK3 incarnation, I had the power supply mounted under the table to keep it cool. I am going to assemble the MK4S as far as I can with the PSU separated; if it becomes necessary I will remount it on the frame.

@3dprinting

4/N

@3dprinting What was once a 2018 state-of-the-art printer is now a collection of parts and scrap. What was once a sunny morning is now twilight. (This pic is about 6 hours old; I've been busy elsewhere.)

3/N

@3dprinting Printer builds/upgrades are among the few times when I swing my second monitor over to the workbench.

Admin note: I am dropping the #3DPrinting and #Prusa hashtags from the rest of the thread. Follow #MK4SUpgrade (or me) if you want to see the rest.

2/N