Looking to purchase an original prusa i3 mk3s+ and i have a couple questions  

RE: Looking to purchase an original prusa i3 mk3s+ and i have a couple questions

Personally I purchased the kit like most people not only to save money but it gave me an insight into how it works, build wise it was a matter of being patient and aware of not overtightening bolts but the online manual gives you helpful tips while enjoying some bears

I just worked on it a few hours a night as it does take a while. If I was to purchase another and money wasn't a concern I would go for the pre assembled even though it would probably be easier to build a 2nd one.

On a side note I often wonder how the built up ones come package wise as the box is well packaged and fairly large when its just the kit so would maybe concerned on it getting knocked about but I cant comment as I don't know.

I mainly use PLA also but when I have used PTEG in a open environment I haven't had any issues but I tried to place the printer in a area being aware of drafts and so on.

RE: Looking to purchase an original prusa i3 mk3s+ and i have a couple questions

First, kit or build? The money isn’t a problem, its more the time. Also, I am fearful of breaking something during construction.

Kit.  You will understand the printer better, you will be better able to maintain it and you will diagnose problems faster.  Take your time, follow the online guides and read all the comments before you take each step.

Prusament. A lot of PLA is out of stock right now but they have PETG of the colors I want. I have only ever printed in PLA and I wont have an enclosure. Will PETG print fine without an enclosure?

You don't have to use Prusament.  I often use cheap, generic, PLA for prototyping and reserve better quality filament, including Prusament, for the final version.

As for colours; you will rarely get the *exact* colour you want so buy in a stock of neutral colour and finish with good old fashioned paint.

PETG is fine without an enclosure but it is hygroscopic and it can aborb enough water to cause problems in only a day or so if left exposed so be prepared to dry it.

Cheerio,

RE: Looking to purchase an original prusa i3 mk3s+ and i have a couple questions

As posted above you don't have to use Prusament and indeed I use Prusament but do not have a Prusa printer. I use it because it's a quality product, they have a nice range of materials and they don't gouge you on delivery. delivery prices to Ireland seem to go up in 2 reel steps.

With the new regulations (which I frankly admit I don't understand) anything from the UK is out plus most filament suppliers really take the piss.

RE: Looking to purchase an original prusa i3 mk3s+ and i have a couple questions

Kit vs pre-assembled is very much a matter of personal preference. I for one buy pre-assembled because I value my time more than the markup for the pre-assembled version. Come well packaged, ready to print out of the box. But if you're new to 3D printers, assembling it yourself is going to teach you a boatload about how these machines actually work and may help debug the inevitable problems. On the other hand, of course you're also somewhat likely to introduce homemade problems you might not have with a pre-assembled unit... So in the end it's a matter of weighing time required to build and debug it, your mechanical skills, and your curiosity about the inner workings of a 3D printer. There's no right or wrong answer.

Filament: No reason to print Prusament even though I have a stash of Prusament Orange and Jet Black PETG in order to print matching parts for the Prusa color scheme, plus some Galaxy Black and Silver because they're gorgous. Prusament is a great filament, just seeing how tightly it's wound is a picture to behold. But I've printed Overture, Hatchbox, Sunlu, eSun, 3D Solutech, AmazonBasic, TTYT3D, Protopasta, Monoprice, etc etc, no issues. I mostly print PETG, and you definitely don't need an enclosure. I do have my printers in enclosures, mostly though as dust protection, and to print ABS and PC.

Quality/Reliability/Maintenance: Of course you're going to have issues at some point. But the Mk3S+ is high quality and a lot more reliable than other printers I had before. In my hands, both Mk3S and Mini have been real workhorses. In my eyes, one great aspect of the Prusa brand is its 24 hour chat support and maybe more so the amazing user-to-user support community in these very forums here.

When you order it, get the satin sheets, if you can. They're leaps and bounds better than the smooth or textured sheets.

And once your ready for your first prints, make sure you get the first layer calibration right. It feels like every other post here about problems can be answered with "clean your plate with soap and hot water and use https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/original-prusa-i3-mk3s-mk3-assembly-and-first-prints-troubleshooting/life-adjust-z-my-way/ for first layer calibration rather than the built-in method"...

Why do I need a title for a reply?

Disclosure: I'm still in the honeymoon phase!

I got my Prusa printer kit about a month ago. I spent about an hour the day I got it starting to build it and about 8 hours the next day to complete it. If I were to get another Prusa, I'd get another kit and build it again. This is my second printer, my first was a PrintrBot Simple Metal. I also used an Ultimaker 2 at my last place of employment, and that Ultimaker put my PrintrBot to absolute shame. The Prusa? The Prusa beats the Ultimaker 2 by about the same margin as the U2 beat my old PB. It really is a great, solid printer.

I've pretty much decided that I will print PETG 90% of the time on this printer. It is just so, damned easy to print with it. I can't get over how well this works. But to be fair, I want to point out that I'm comparing it to a 7 year old printer. I printed the V2 enclosure for the printer and had zero failures during that time. Well, I did kind of fail one print, but that's my fault. I ran out of filament. But, I just printed the top two inches and super glued it to the bottom. You can barely tell.

I have the textured sheet and have had a small number of failures. This is usually after handling the sheet (or after my kids start messing with it) but 99% IPA has fixed it every time. 

Now, PETG does have a drawback. It is very sticky, so if the hot end is too low on the first layer or two, you'll end up with burned boogers getting stuck to your print head which can then get stuck to your print. I think PLA is a bit more forgiving in that regard. Just something that you'll need to account for.

So my suggestion is to get the kit and build it yourself, if you're handy. BUY AN M3 SCREWDRIVER!!!! It'll come with the allen wrench you need, but the M3 screw is so danged common in this kit you'll be wishing you had a screwdriver instead of the stupid allen wrench.

Side note 1: To print the ENTIRE V2 enclosure, you'll need just over two spools of filament. If you want to print the V2 enclosure, but not the parts that are required for the MMU upgrade, you'll need under two spools of filament.

Side note 2: While preparing to receive the printer kit, I decided to use my old printer to print out a bearing greaser fitting. Printing the fitting reminded me of when I used to actually use my old printer. I'd print everything a handful of times because 80% of my attempts were failures. Then, I got the Prusa and was astounded at how well it worked. Here was my attempt at printing the fitting (the far left attempt was me intentionally making a bad print, ignore it):

The sad thing is that, aside from the silver one, I felt like the two to the right were actually successful right after printing them. I was happy with that quality. And before anyone blames it on the 7 year old filament, I printed a good one with the old filament on the prusa.

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Thank you for your feedback -is always a pleasure seeing happy owner of new printer.