Assembled vs Kit  

Re: Assembled vs Kit

I built mine in about 5 or 6 hours and would buy the kit even if there were no cost savings. The manual is excellent. However, I have built a CNC router from scratch and spent a decade building and repairing aerospace electronic test equipment.
If you are very patient, I'm sure you can build your own and get it working well. You would learn much along the way, but when things don't go right _you_ have to figure out if it was the machine build, or the print technique that caused the problem.
I think most people should buy pre-assembled unless they accept that there will be additional hurdles to overcome by building.

Re: Assembled vs Kit

My mk1 had a faulty rambo. Prusa support rdplaced it quickly.
Upgraded to mk2. No problems
Upgraded to mmuv1. Workedbut quality not brilliant. Support not much use written conplaint resulted in new multiplexer. Now working.

Mk3 worked first time... mine was an early mk3. So there have been several firmware updates
Which you dont have to worry about. At this stage.

I think most folk will benefit from carefully building the printer.

There is no soĺdering and all tools are provided

Regards joan

Re: Assembled vs Kit

I just received my mk3 kit 4 days ago and I enjoyed putting it together. The documentation is put together well, but some of the images are a little small. The documentation on the wiring was tough for my eyes, but the labeling and the description.

The toughest part for me was the first layer calibration. I don’t have any experience with 3d printers, but after several attempts and several views of the YouTube videos on the procedure my second attempted print of the PRUSA logo came out great!

I’m looking forward to learning how to use Slicr and creating my own projects.

I hope that you enjoy the experience as well as the savings!

Re: Assembled vs Kit

Phil, a lot of it depends on you and your capabilities? You say you've built computers so if you look at this printer as a computer and compare everything it's not that much harder.
I've built computers since the early years. Have you built plastic models? Do you like puzzles?

Think of it this way. If you buy a pre-built printer and it breaks are you going to have experience fixing it? Buying a kit is a good way to go and get experience. One it's cheaper and you learn about every piece and how to install it.
The wiring is simple Positive+ and Negative-, The ribbon cable for the front screen is similar to the SATA cables for your harddrives and DVD drive. Remember all of those wire bundles that you had to neatly route throughout the case from the device to the motherboard? What about the power supply in the computer, have you installed those?

Take a look at the Assembly Manual from online. Don't forget to review comments people have added to each of the different steps. After you've reviewed the Nine chapters you can conduct a search on Youtube for PRUSA MK3 build or assembly videos.
If you've been reading the different issues people have had with their printer you'll know that things happen. You'll be more ready for those issues if you've built it.

You can always have it delivered pre-built and worry about problems when they come up. The online manual is there for you to reverse steps and take things apart and put it back together.
Either way become familiar with the 9 How to Guides.

Best wishes and the forum is always here to help.

Re: Assembled vs Kit

[...] I ordered the Assembled version, but am considering the kit as it is cheaper and much faster to get. Assuming you're comfortable with the work required for the kit -- review the assembly manual online if you haven't -- then I'd say it really comes down to where your priorities are. As this was my 1st 3D printer, I was anxious to get printing as quickly as possible, so the time saved getting going was worth the cost difference. I wanted to quickly figure out what I could do with it and have some success. For that I am glad I ordered it pre-built. I've built computers for 30+ years now, but for me, it was a time versus savings question. My time was worth more to me.

Having now worked with it, I'm sure I could build it without issue. My next printer will likely be a kit, assuming one as good as Prusa's fits the bill.

Re: Assembled vs Kit

After reading through this forum, it feels like most people (90%+) fall in either 2 or 3.

That's the way I'd expect it to appear. We rarely hear from those that build their kit without problems. I believe they are the "silent majority".
At least you can put me in category 1. I enjoyed assembling the kit, and I now have a solid knowledge of all the printer parts and what it takes to repair/replace them if the need should arise.
The manual for the kit is excellent. I had a couple of doubts along the way, but when I read the user comments in the online manual, those were already asked and answered.

Re: Assembled vs Kit

I ordered a kit and it worked first time no issues.

Just remember to reserve about 8 hours + brakes. I attempted to do it all in one go without brakes starting at 18:00 but gave up after about 6 hours because I started making mistakes like dropping the keys too often. People who try to rush will make mistakes. I've seen much more incorrectly assembled extrudes on Reddit and forums that I would expect and I suspect that 99% of them are caused by misreading instructions in a rush to finish the build.

Re: Assembled vs Kit

Personally, I'd recommend that everyone assemble the kit. Think of it this way: At some point you're going to have to disassemble your printer to fix something anyway. Isn't it better to start with the experience of putting it together in the first place?

The kit is not hard to assemble, even for someone who hasn't ever put together something before. As long as you don't rush and follow the instructions carefully, you should be fine.

Re: Assembled vs Kit

It is worth to mention that Prusa assembled printers come calibrated and tested. I do not know any other printer manufactures who offer the printer ready to print 15 minutes after you take it out of box.

Re: Assembled vs Kit

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all the input. Based on the advice of people who know me (my wife and kids) I'm going to stick with the assembled for my first printer and my next one will likely be a kit. I very much want to pull it out and start printing just like when I got my first computer back in 1980. I now feel confident enough to rip a computer apart and build another from spares, so hopefully I will hit that point with these printers soon.

😀

Re: Assembled vs Kit

I went with that same logic. It's actually a very similar experience to buying a computer back then. I can remember having to rip the lid off my Apple II+ to insert the drive controller. Scary on an expensive new toy, but it gets your feet wet.

Do be prepared to learn the beast pretty quickly. Have the parts needed to swap nozzles (heater block wrench and nozzle socket, +1.5mm probes and cleaning needles/bits) and work on the extruder handy. I've purchased spares of key components that are likely to break. The last thing you want is to be offline for a week or two awaiting parts.

You'll want to get familiar with the extruder mechanism ASAP. If you get a jam or snarl, you'll want to open it up. Two captive screws, so not a big deal at all. Do remember that even with a prebuilt, you can download the assembly manual.

Have fun with it!

Re: Assembled vs Kit

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all the input. Based on the advice of people who know me (my wife and kids) I'm going to stick with the assembled for my first printer and my next one will likely be a kit. I very much want to pull it out and start printing just like when I got my first computer back in 1980. I now feel confident enough to rip a computer apart and build another from spares, so hopefully I will hit that point with these printers soon.

😀

Good choice. One thing you could do is read the daily posts by everyone and then go through the online manual to see how those parts were put together. Imagine how you would reverse the instructions to take it apart then move forward again to put it back together.

Good Luck!

Re: Assembled vs Kit

I built my MK3, carefully read the manual, and took my time.

I found some of the tolerances on the captive nuts slightly out, getting them sorted was fiddly, and getting some of the longer cap screws to 'bite', in places was frustrating, but overall it went pretty much perfectly.

I've built lots of 'stuff' before, so I'm not sure what advice I'd give to a first time builder, except take your time, and really pay attention to the manual, and it's well within the capabilities of everybody, IMHO. Oh, and having a Dremel (or similar) *did* come in handy for recessing the fan screwholes, where the screws simply were not long enough.

The manual is totally excellent, by the way, and so is the labelling and size references on the individual parts bags.

My filament sensor has never worked, so I calibrated the machine without the wizard, which would just stop when it got to the filament sensor error.

Support were great in getting me a replacement, which also didn't work, but are now being really helpful with the issues I came across after a few weeks, and which I've posted elsewhere about, and aren't relevant here. I mention this to give support a big thumbs up.

Anyway, after a couple of first layer adjustment prints, to sort out the Z level, I was very happy to have excellent prints straightaway, never having had any experience whatsoever with 3D printing before, so I'd managed to setup everything perfectly (belt tension, alignments, extruder build, wiring, etc.) by paying complete attention to the manual.

As an aside: I *did* go on YouTube to double check a couple of things, and was amazed to see more than one person with the self-aggrandising ego to film themselves building the kit from beginning to end, then dropping in disclaimers, such as "Don't make the mistake I did, by assembling the [n] axis with the wrong steel rods" or, "I placed these on upside down, don't make the same mistake"... Duh...

The manual clearly shows you, with un-ambiguous instructions and pictures, what to do, so these jokers are simply not RTFM. I know I'm labouring the point here, but it seems that errors are caused 99% by arrogance and assumption. DON'T go on youTube for build advice... 😯

If you ended up buying the assembled version, that's cool. Buy the kit for your second one. You'll want one when you start off an [n] hour print and cannot wait to get the next one started. Then you'll want a third, and so on... 😀

Re: Assembled vs Kit

My experience is exactly the same as giulio.z above. To a tee. Don't be afraid of the kit unless you're a klutz... in which case you shouldn't be getting a 3D printers at all. 😉

I agree with the others that building the kit really sets you up for being able to effect repairs with confidence... and you WILL be maintaining and repairing it, like it or not. I don't know how much more support the assembled one really gets you, and I've seen enough people that get the assembled one having pretty much all the same (non-assembly related) problems we kit people do. You might as well save the money and learn the printer from the ground up by building it.

I think I would have completely flipped my S if I had the same problems with a more expensive, assembled printer as I did with mine, and I would very likely have had all the same issues.

Re: Assembled vs Kit

The instructions are exceptional and it was a joy for me to put it together. I'd always buy the kit because there's going to be a time where you have to tear it down for maintenance and there's nothing like knowing how everything goes together when it comes to disassembly. I have roughly 1500 hours of print time on it and had tear it down for maintenance twice so far.

Re: Assembled vs Kit

If building a computer is a bit of a challenge, I would select the pre-built unit. Not that you couldn't build this, but it may be frustrating. Building a computer is connecting a few electrical connectors and bolting everything in. Most can build a computer in an hour or two, this takes 8 or 10. There many moving parts here, and if you get frustrating by that, this isn't for you. The manual is really good, but having built two, I will tell you, there is always room for improvement. Items like "belt tension" are hard to describe in words, and its only after MANY things around it are completed do you learn if you did it right. If not, take them apart and try again.

Re: Assembled vs Kit

I recently built the MK3 kit as my first 3D printer, with the assistance of someone who already owns one and is familiar. I am now the proud owner of an $800 paperweight. Your mileage may vary. Extruder problems 1 hour after first print that haven't let up since then. I've rebuilt the extruder portion, adjusted tension on the Bondtech gears, shifted the axle position for the tensioner gear, cleaned the nozzle five times and none of it has worked to stop the extruder motor from clicking. Motor replaced- same issue. Interestingly, after the last rebuild, it was the first time the filament fed smoothly through the PTFE tube; extrusion was happening normally for a while. I printed several first layer tests to dial in the Z value then decided to try to print something from the SD card. Immediately back to the same problem. I'm not even sure what else I can do. Best of luck, but I would never build this kit again.

Re: Assembled vs Kit

I bought the kit because my 12 year old son wanted to help build it. We had a great time together. It took us about 10-12 hours over the span of 3 days. He has a lot of experience building LEGO models and I am fairly mechanically adept.

Putting it together was really easy. I had my son do most of the assembly, but I did go back and tighten nearly every screw, since he left them loosely finger tightened. The manuals are awesome and it worked flawlessly since the first print. We have around 300 hours of print time so far.

I would say that it is a lot more work than building a PC. I have built several PC in about an hour each without needing a manual. You do need to read every step of the Prusa assembly manual. It was still a simple process and I highly recommend building the kit if you have reasonable mechanical skills.

Steve

Re: Assembled vs Kit

Building the kit is the best way to get to know the printer inside and out. You learn all of the terminology and what the parts are while you build

Learning the machine's components while building the machine really helps when something goes wrong, and it will.. Even with a prebuilt kit. They can get damaged or knocked out of alignment in shipping.

The assembly manual is amazing, probably the best for any product I have ever bought. It is full of great user input and comments at every step, and they constantly update the main instructions as input comes in. Read every part of the Assembly manual online before the printer shows up.. It will be of great value to you.

Don't be afraid of the kit.