I worry that this review came out too soon. I worry about that with all my reviews. I haven’t really lived with this printer long enough. I haven’t had it break down and had to fix it, and popped and discovered it doesn’t have the parts that other printers do. So I regret that I don’t get to have the full experience before making a review, and these reviews end up being more of a first impression. However, sometimes the hardware I’m reviewing doesn’t deserve that chance. Some printers, at this point, it would be clear that they won’t be around even that long. This printer gets the right to stick around.
So the LK4 Pro has some snazzy features, but are those features worthy of the title “pro”? After all, where do we go after we go “Pro”? And there’s a lot of features I think this printer still lacks when compared to what I would consider a “professional” level 3D printer. Things like:
- Wifi control and connectivity
- A webcam for remote viewing
- Environment controlled enclosure
- Multi-material for dissolvable supports
- Intelligent print fail detection
- Filament measuring and feed rate adjustment
- Automatic print removal
- A robot arm to assemble parts after the print is done
- Voice controlled assistant that can run your whole makerspace
- Banana dispenser
- Built in air filter
Admittedly even some pro printers don’t have all those features, but a guy can dream.
I am full swing into working on the PrintABlok project. It’s so bad I’m literally dreaming about interconnected bloks. But I’ve put the models in the hands of some excited beta testers and the results have been stunning. In particular @Joshgotbored’s paint job is so remarkable that it makes do a double take every time. And if you zoom in on the pictures, there’s a bunch of little 3DPProfessor Easter eggs hidden in the background.
I think PrintABlok has some real potential. While I’m starting with Mechs, I doubt I’ll be able to contain it to that for very long. But Mechs are good because they’re going to force me to solve some problems up front. Things like articulation need to be addressed before too long here, so I’m going to have to step up. We’ll see what happens. I’m excited, and I hope you are too.
