Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

Hey folks, I'm new here but have had my eye on the Rostock V4 kit for awhile now. I'm an avid rc"er that has built many kits and have a fairly nice/complete shop and so consider myself qualified to build this kit, well at least on most days lol. I've owned a Monoprice maker v2 for a couple of years that for $200 has been a reliable printer and makes fairly good prints (after upgrades of course), it is out in the shop printing as I type. A couple of questions tho, for you guys that have built the kit.

1, Any issues putting the kit together, such as getting things square and true etc? Any parts shortages? Any parts that you felt were short on quality?
2, Clarity of instructions, any vague spots or places where the instructions did not match what you were seeing?
3, Does the auto level work well and consistently?
4. Did the printer print well after construction or did it require tweaking and or factory assistance?
5, Availability and quality of technical assistance when needed? ( I do realize that there is very good assistance here on the forums but for those times when that does not work how was factory assistance?)

For those owners that have had their printers for awhile and have put many meters of filament through them,

6, Any failures or wear issues?
7, Any " I wish that they would have done that differently " thoughts?
8, For those that have the optional lcd screen, is the user interface intuitive/ easy to use?
9, Any relevant issues or questions that I've missed?
10, What is the prefered slicer to use with this printer?
Thanks,
Mark

I can't address all your points (I don't have a v4), but I can address most of them.

2. Instructions - check 'em out: https://seemecnc.dozuki.com/c/RostockMAX_v4

3. It doesn't have "auto-level". That's what cartesian printers do. The v4 (as well as the v3.2 and Artemis 300) use auto-calibration. It does a 10 point (adjustable - it can do up to 19 points I think - dc42 would have to chime in here) delta calibration followed by a 69 (also adjustable up or down) point bed mapping. The RepRapFirmware calibration in the Duet is basically witchcraft as far as I'm concerned.

4. Based on my experience with my two 3.2s, it will print flawlessly out of the gate. The v4 is essentially the same as a v3.2, but all the Melamine parts have been replaced with steel.

5. Support is excellent. Always has been, always will be. The factory is in Ligonier, IN and the support staff are local.

6. My oldest Rostock MAX dates back to 2013. It has been upgraded to use the injection molded carriages and ball & cup arms, but no real wear has been an issue. YMMV of course, depending on whether or not you print the thing into the ground or not.

7. Not really.

8. It's easy to use, but isn't a "must have", rather it's a "nice to have". The only thing I use the LCD for is seeing what the temps are if I'm not near a computer. The Duet controller has a fantastic browser-based web interface.
I'll attach a screen shot of the web interface to this post. It's from my Artemis, but the firmware and interface (and controller) are the same for the v4.

9. The v4 has an A/C heater for the bed, so it'll heat up really fast.

10. I personally use Cura v4. Others have had great success with Simplify 3D, but that's a spendy option. The SeeMeCNC github repository has a number of pre-configured profiles for Cura.

Here's that screen shot: (you can also set it to "dark" mode) g.

Thanks for the detailed reply, I'll be ordering the first week of next month.

You're quite welcome!

I've got a v4 coming soon and I may be doing a live build of it on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/f15sim) - you might want to subscribe so you get notified if/when the stream starts. It will likely be next Saturday.

g.