Mk3s+, MMU3, enclosure. New owner, should I use everything from the start?  

RE: Mk3s+, MMU3, enclosure. New owner, should I use everything from the start?

Most people would build the mk3S+ and get that working, then add the MMU Later.

enclosures Often complicate PLA Printing, if the enclosure increases the ambient temperature for the printer, it can led to HEAT CREEP.many enclosure owners leave the door open when printing PLA. 

regards Joan

Agreed.  Mk3 first, make your first few useful obects and your newbie mistakes ... save the MMU until you have 500 hours printing under your belt.  Depending on where in the world you are wait until warm weather when you invite cooling breezes into your home and then build the enclosure - but as @joantabb says, leave it open for PLA.

Cheerio,

RE:

I agree with the others. I would recommend getting the Mk3s+ up and running, getting some experience with actually printing first. This shouldn't be too hard, it is a very reliable plug and print machine in general. 

I wouldn't go as far to say you need 500 hours of printing before touching the MMU3 though. You should have a well working machine however, in case you have any issues with the Mk3s+, resolve those first. 

You can already use that Mk3s+ only time though to print already some of the MMU3 filament buffer alternatives out there. For that I would recommend PETG (in general PLA and PETG are good filament choice to begin with. The latter is recommended for printer stuff and functional parts and can be printed without enclosure, even though it benefits from one. PLA like was said above can clog very easily in an enlcosure unless the doors are left open (in which case it should work fine though). 

I am using this one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3338467/files (for PETG use the stiff spring design, and the spring needs extremely slow bridging movement to print nicely)

Regarding getting an enclosure, this was the first thing I was actually doing after getting my Mk3s, building an enclosure. I think it is a good investment if you are interested in any material other than PLA and it is essential in case you are interested in  printing ABS or ASA. The latter two I wouldn't recommend to beginners though.  

RE: Mk3s+, MMU3, enclosure. New owner, should I use everything from the start?

Hi all

Thank you for the replies. Start with the basics it is. 

My printer kit turned up yesterday, but unfortunately there's a damaged connector so I can't use it yet. Fully built and ready now, just needs a new heatbed thermistor.  😣  Fingers crossed Support can sort a replacement quickly. (I may look to sort a replacement locally in the meantime, I'm in the UK so it'll be at least a week from Prusa.)

I'll definitely check out those auto reels, there's a few I've already looked at, they look quite compact. Thanks for the link.

RE: Mk3s+, MMU3, enclosure. New owner, should I use everything from the start?

I believe you are looking for a semitec 100K ohm negative temperature co-efficient, Bead thermistor. 

E3D online, may be able to help... (UK Company)

the prusa option comes with a self adhesive aluminium patch and a self adhesive Kapton patch, to aid installation

RE: Mk3s+, MMU3, enclosure. New owner, should I use everything from the start?

That's great, thank you. If tomorrow's plan fails, I'll give them a shout. 

In the meantime I've found some on Amazon for delivery tomorrow. I'm hoping the plug is correct so I can chop it off and solder it to the existing thermistor. Should at least be a good temporary solution. 

Having an array of other issues, hoping tomorrow is a better day. Fan test fails, but both fans are running, so guessing there's a faulty rpm feed somewhere. Plus I can't get into the LCD menu. It just locks on the home screen, even though the rotary switch alters speed, pressing it just makes the display flicker. 

Going well overall so far. 🤣 

RE: Mk3s+, MMU3, enclosure. New owner, should I use everything from the start?

Almost same path.  Got my printer in March of this year as a kit.  MMU2 kit is still in its box.  As other suggested, get comfortable with your printer and some of the finer details of 3d printing before adding the MMU.  I also have the enclosure and finding that with PETG, I have to do some fine tuning to get decent prints and that is where much of my time is being spent.  Learning and adjusting my setup.  For basic prints, I can print PETG well, not perfect.  PLA is easy.  I find ASA easier to print that PETG.  Of course, I had a printer issue that melted my print head, even some ASA parts.

I have enough printing projects to keep me busy and about to finish my first full spool of PETG.  🙂

I won't be using the MMU until I get a dry box built, hopefully in a few weeks.  I have found, even in my dry environment (35%RH) , I still have issues with humidity, with PETG.  All my filament is now stored with desiccant to keep it dry.  Numbers I have seen is under 30% at 22 degrees.

My process was, build the printer and do some test prints.  All with PLA.  Lots of reading and more testing.  Found some projects that I wanted to print and some of my own designs I drew up in FreeCAD for more experience.  Finally tried PETG.  Built the enclosure.  Put printer in it and started to test again.  It was summer so heat was a big issue to learn with .  As stated, PLA in an enclosure is a problem, especially when the ambient temperature is in the high 30s.

Added an Octoprint server, using an Orange Pi Zero 2 recently and that has helped with by ability to print since I can monitor the printer from a different location.

It is a learning experience and there were times I wanted to give up and thought I had made a mistakes.  I think most of that came from a bad thermistor that made printing more of an issue.  Take your time and accept the problems and mistakes.  Read these forums and take the time to ask questions.  The people on this forum have helped me before I purchased and with their comments to others.  I have no regrets for getting my Prusa printer.

RE: Mk3s+, MMU3, enclosure. New owner, should I use everything from the start?

I'm to on the same path. I've been using the MK3S upgraded to MK3S+ for a couple of years now on it's own. I'm now building the original Prusa enclosure, I'll get used to that for a while, then add the MMU. I have everything, but it pays to climb the learning curve gradually, rather than face too many simultaneous issues!