Is the Enclosure worth the Money  

RE: Is the Enclosure worth the Money

I have a MK3S+ in an enclosure and I recently bought a MK4. After a little more printing on my MK4 I'm going to move it into the enclosure.

There are lots of good things about the enclosure

1)You can control the fumes. Even without the filter, it contains them pretty well

2) Much easier to print warp-y materials. My printer is in the basement, so it's not so warm in the winter. I let the pre-heat run for a bit and then I can print PC with good success

3) Quieter. The printers aren't that loud, but the enclosure reduces it even more

4) You an install the fire suppression system. I don't worry too much about burning my house down, but with the fire suppression system I don't worry at all about long un-attended prints. 

There are some drawbacks though

1) It's difficult to service the printer. Impossible for most tasks, merely annoying for others (like un-tangling TPU). Nozzle changes are fine, but anything that requires side access is out (unless you pull off the side panels) -- a good Printables entry would be making some sort of thumb-screw way to easily remove the side panels

2) Takes up more table space

With regard to a MK4 vs an enclosure, that's up to you. The MK3 is now super well developed for what it is and the issues are well understood. Mostly it just works.

I am still learning about the MK4, but the ability to stick any sheet on and go is great. There are some hiccups (filament stuck on the nozzle can fool the load cell), but it's faster and the first layers are better. I don't miss the pinda probe one bit.

I use octoprint/obico, so the current shortcomings with Prusa link and Prusa connect don't bother me. I didn't think Prusa link worked that well (weird authentication workflow), but I'm sure Prusa will fix it over time.

Hope this helps.

RE: Is the Enclosure worth the Money

Thanks for the feedback.

I was also looking at the deals they have of bundling the MK4 and enclosure, so this also seems appealing to get, I like the fact that my MK3 just prints , but new tech is always fun to get 🙂

I would like the fire suppression kit as well but obviously due to shipping constraints one cannot get this outside of the EU.

Your points on the maintenance was one of the things that I also thought off and the ease of access.
On the "Quieter" part I see that some people still puts the paver inside the enclosure and use foam mats due to the resonance on the enclosure, have you had to do anything in this regards.

RE: Is the Enclosure worth the Money

I am very happy with my Prusa Enclosure.  I was a naysayer on the price prior to buying one.  

Prior to buying the Prusa Enclosure, I built 12 lack table enclosures.  They are cheaper but nowhere near as sturdy.  I will replace them all with Prusa Enclosures over time.  

RE: Is the Enclosure worth the Money

The most important question regarding enclosures is, if you plan to print mostly or even only PLA or rather mostly PETG or other non-PLA filaments. The good news is that enclosures do not prevent you from printing PLA but in most cases, they don't add much benefit for PLA, other than being a dust cover during downtimes (don't underestimate the usefulness of that though). 

PLA is very temperamentful when enclosure temps rise even merley a little over room temp. At elevated temperatures the risk of hotend cloggs is rising. So the usual solution to that is opening the enclosure doors during PLA prints. 

Enclosures help against air movement, motor etc noises, they don't really help against vibration noises. To the contrary, they can act as resonance body. A concrete plate with dampening layer is always a good idea, also with an enclosure. They help tremendously. Also, those really cheap additions to your setup improve the print quality of your printer.

RE: Is the Enclosure worth the Money

I have the enclosure and most prints are PLA and PETG.   With PLA I have a shim/lock attached by the door that will keep the door open a crack so it doesn't heat up much.  I had an MK3s+, but now using the MK4 in the enclosure.    

The Prusa enclosure is strong.   I added a filter, light and the top door.   For the top door I added some extra holes on the side with my drill and made the door open sideways.  Much easier to open that way for me.    I can pull the printer out through the top if needed.     

There is no PSU quick-disconnect for the MK4, only the MK3 series.  If you want a quick disconnect for the MK4, you will have to make your own currently. 

I like the enclosure to keep air drafts off of the printer.   A more constant environment.   Keeps dust off.  Also prevents children and some adults from trying to touch the printer in action.  A safety measure.  

There are some mods in printables that will close or cover the extra holes for working with higher temp materials. 

Each metal rail has multiple places inside to attach quick-ties for cable management.   

If using an MMU, I like the Handle mod that allows the tubing to go through the handle.  This helps keep the tubing out of the possible print/part area.  Also putting the MMU horizontal is easier to work with from the top as needed.   MMU3 mods should make it much more reliable with less need for working on it in the enclosure.

With the MK4 there is much less maintenance of the hotend and a quick filament release. Working in the enclosure is not much of a problem.  The MK3s+ often was removed for any extensive hotend work.  

With the light and filter kits, there is a plug splitter.  You only need 1 outlet to run the printer and enclosure accessories.  

The power switch is in back of the enclosure. It is not easily accessible for me.   I bought a 5 pack of remote control outlets.  The remote lets me power on/off the printer easily. 

If you add Squash ball feet, everything still fits inside.   If you add the Pavement stone, it fits.  I don't know if pavement brick, squash ball feet and MMU will all work together.   The pavement stone is just a mass to minimize the shaking when the printer goes in high speed, or many short, fast small moves.   

My enclosure is on a 30" x 24"/760mm x 610mm  pole/wire mesh shelf type table.  It is a little wobbly and shakes some during printing, but I see no effect on the print.     

I would like the option to mount the processor outside the unit, but that may be a patent limitation for Prusa currently.   For PLA/PETG/ASA, ambient temperature should not be a problem.  For ABS material printing with ambient temps at 60-70C, Printables has an external fan attachemt for the MK4 processor in an enclosure.   I am not sure it is absolutely needed.  My MK4 buddy board runs around 65C normally. 

I think this covers what I have learned about the enclosure.

RE: Is the Enclosure worth the Money

That allot of useful insights, thanks for the this 🙂 I was also wondering about the processor board , since the psu and the display screen needs to be outside rather than inside the enclosure. I currently print mostly with PETG for more functional parts, but would like to do ASA / ABS and some Nylon so the enclosure will defnitly help with this and filter out the toxic fumes. I only print in PLA when I need a bit of detail and this is mostly for toys for the kids.

RE:

Yes, that sounds like you would really benefit from an enclosure.

PETG doesn't require an enclosure but benefits from it. 

ASA/ABS like it really hot. Professional machines print it at 80-90°C enclosure temp, that is of course out of reach. On my Voron2.4 I manage 65°C  enclosure temp and that works already very well too. Still way too high for a PETG printer. However, even an enclosure with let's say 45°C does help already to print without massive warping and with better layer adhesion. At lower enclosure temps it becomes absolutely critical to set the part cooling fan to the minimum speed possible (while getting acceptable quality), optimally at zero, if you have only very mild overhangs. 

If you are not happy with your ABS results, give either 3djake NiceABS or Formfutura TitanX a try. They are heavily modified ABS (less suitable for acetone smoothing) with almost zero warping (but layer adhesion is still sensitive to drafts) and print beautifully. There is also an ASA equivalent (ApolloX) but I have yet to try it out. 

Regarding Nylon. Keep it dry! The Nylon I tried was very challenging to print even remotely warp free and needed special treatment as to not clogg the nozzle after each print (never pulling out in reverse but flushing it out with other filament in extrusion direction). Also keep in mind that so called creep is a big issue with Nylon parts. Under permanent stress it permanently deforms over time. More so than other materials, unless you venture into CF reinforced Nylon. Other than that, Nylon has a lot going for it if you master printing it. 

RE: Is the Enclosure worth the Money

If you want to cool the Buddy board, this is an option.        And the remix for the Original Prusa Enclosure

RE: Is the Enclosure worth the Money

I have the enclosure and most prints are PLA and PETG. 

I am looking to buy the MK4 mostly for PLA CD and PETG. I want to try materials like ASA in the future. Thanks for all of your insight. I am running a Mini+ in a LACK enclosure with these printed feet at this moment. With inputshaper speeds it gets wobbly and  I want some more sturdiness for my new printer. These anti vibration feet keep the printer reasonably silent in the LACK enclosure. 

Will the Prusa enclosure fulfill my needs?
You mentioned the squash feet and pavement stone. How does this match the enclosure? The pavement stone on rubber blocks and the enclosure on top of that? Squash feet with printer in the enclosure?  

RE: Is the Enclosure worth the Money

I just spent a few days printing some fairly large (~100 mm OD) electromagnet bobbins for a friend of mine in ASA.  They warped badly on the Mk4 without an  enclosure and printed with rough top surfaces on an Mk3s in a Hall Precision enclosure.  I finally finished the Prusa Enclosure for the Mk4 and printed a bobbin in it today and it came out almost perfect.  So far, I'd say that the Prusa enclosure works really well.

RE: Is the Enclosure worth the Money

Posted by: @mikeh

I just spent a few days printing some fairly large (~100 mm OD) electromagnet bobbins for a friend of mine in ASA.  They warped badly on the Mk4 without an  enclosure and printed with rough top surfaces on an Mk3s in a Hall Precision enclosure.  I finally finished the Prusa Enclosure for the Mk4 and printed a bobbin in it today and it came out almost perfect.  So far, I'd say that the Prusa enclosure works really well.

Thanks, I'm hoping they have their Black Friday deals again on free shipping so I'll pull the trigger on the enclosure at the end of this month 🙂

RE: Is the Enclosure worth the Money

4 months with the enclosure.  It is with it.