Hi,
I just have some questions regarding 3D printing. Despite doing this for 2 years I still feel like a beginner.
Questions:
I’m looking at the Ender 5 Plus and Prusa MK3S, I’ve seen plenty of people say the Prusa is better because the Ender 5 Plus requires more “tinkering”. I just feel that the Prusa is overpriced and don’t know if I should just bite the bullet and get it or something else? I want to get back into the printing game.
I live in a trailer and my room is pretty small about 30ft x 30ft, would it be safe to use my printer in my room if all I print is PLA (I’m not talking about using it overnight either since I don’t trust it). Or should I leave it in my living room?
I’m going to go against the grain here and say you should get a Prusa. I had an Ender 3 V2 as my first printer and it was an endless series of headaches with all of the little adjustments and tweaks I needed to make every other print. I nearly gave up the hobby and took a break for about a year because I was so sick of it. Furthermore, an Ender absolutely did not teach me everything there is to know about how 3D printers work, even with all the fiddling.
Eventually I got an i3 MK3S+ kit. The kit helped me to actually learn everything about what goes on inside a 3D printer. I would recommend staying away from preassembled printers, at least at first. Ever since building it, it’s basically been a fire and forget type of machine, barring routine maintenance and a shorted thermistor that was my own fault. It’s my main workhorse and I now use it to run a small 3D printing business.
On top of all that, Prusa’s designs are all open-source, their printer profiles are extremely well-tuned using PrusaSlicer, and getting official replacement parts is a breeze. It’s definitely something I would get if you want or need something that can’t have a lot of downtime.
As for your question regarding PLA, it should be okay, but if you’re really concerned about it, you can get an enclosure to help contain the fumes. I have the official Prusa enclosure with all the add-ons. I think you can get it bundled with a printer for a discount.
Yup, I’ve only had it for several days, but my MK4 kit I got “just worked” after I assembled it.
I did have to take a look at it yesterday as it was making a clicking/knocking noise. Turns out the applicator took they supply to pack the bearings with grease doesn’t work the best, had to repack the y-axis bearings, no more noise.
Hell, we use two MK3’s at the lab I work at, and they have about 2000 hours of print time between the two of them and they’re just now showing signs of wear (one of the printers had a hotend fail).
Between the fact that they’re open source, they’re damn near bulletproof, and that I worked with them already, getting my MK4 was a no-brainer.
Even a hotbed replacement isn’t that bad. I ended up swapping out the entire hotend when I shorted the thermistor because I thought I also broke the heater cartridge as well. You can partially disassemble the MK3S’s tool head and it’s basically remove-> insert the new part and close it up again - > rewire.