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I’m looking at saving up my money to buy my first personal 3D printer, and I’m looking at the i3 mk2.

But, I have a couple questions:

1.) is it worth spending the extra money to buy a prebuilt model? I live in Cincinnati Ohio (just a little north of kentucky) so shipping distance across the atlantic, over the east coast, and through the Appalachian mountains is crazy, so I was thinking a prebuilt would be more likely to get beat up and broken during that shipping, and I’m not that inexperienced with electronics so I’d probably be able to build it. But, I would like a little bit of a plug and play aspect. Would the extra $200 dollars be worth it? If so, why?

2.) What filament should I use? I don’t want to spend a crazy amount, but I am REALLY excited about printing with things like taulman alloy 910 and nylon 645. The problem is that those can be a bit on the pricey side, though they are exactly what I am looking for. I have experience printing pla and abs so catching on won’t be too hard, but we’ll see. But, is there a better an/or cheaper alternative out there? If so, could you tell me where to find it?

3.) how long does it last, and what repairs/maintenance should I do to keep it running? I know the obvious cleaning filament through the extruder, and stuff like that, but is there rust I would have to take care of, lubrication to apply over time, or rust prevention I should do? If so, could you describe it in some detail?

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Hi @Jshel2000 I have one of these on backorder (full model) and it looks like a great printer. I can’t answer #3, but I can give some thoughts on #1 and #2…

1) Prusa claim that their packaging is very sturdy so I’d not be too worried about damage. The more important difference is in terms of support. The pre-builds come with full Prusa support while the kits are only “supported” by the message board (effectively user-to-user, although Prusa guys do chime in every now and again). That said, building from the kit will give you experience of how the whole thing fits together, which could be useful (and fun). I found it a tough choice but went for the pre-built primarily because I know I’ll want to be using it asap (it’ll be my second “working” machine).

2) If this is your first printer I’d really advise going for PLA first and getting to know how the whole thing works. You’ll get a reel free with the machine so you can start with that. The “exotic” filaments are very exciting, but they can be difficult to work with and it’s best that you get a good handle on the basics before jumping straight to things like alloys and nylon. Whatever you do, don’t buy cheap filament, get it from a good recognised supplier. Cheap filament is cheap for a reason and it’ll only result in poor prints, quickly outweighing any saving.

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I have one ordered also. I went with the kit after a lot of thought. Some reviews I saw indicated they had minor damage and out of adjustment issues with the pre-built. Maybe just bad luck! That wasn’t a real factor though. I have 4 printers so I really wanted to “build” one. Plus, the $200 almost covered the 4 color upgrade!!! One of my reasons for going with the original Prusa - aside from reputation.

I wasn’t to worried on support. I have already been all over the forums asking a bunch of questions and getting great responses. On line chat said they will always try to help out so I figured what the heck.

I also found a good facebook group that are building and have experience so that helps. Personally I say go for the kit if you have experience and ability. I think the things that you can learn about the bigger picture of the printers will help in the long run.

But if turn and burn is what you want - get er going! Then go for the pre built but the wait seems much longer for the pre built right now.

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@wirlybird I must have flipped between the pre-built and kit pages on the site a hundred times trying to make up my mind!

Part of my decision to go with the pre-built was to avoid rushing. I could imagine the kit arriving when I had a few orders queued up and staying up all night trying to get it built; that’s just a recipe for making mistakes. If I get a second Prusa, I might well go for the kit, but knowing myself the pre-built seemed a safer option.

I’m interested in the multi-colour pack, but will probably wait until it’s been out in the field for a while before buying.

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This isn’t the first printer I’ve used, but it’s the first I’ve owned. My school has a bunch of crappy makerbot replicators, so I’ve gained LOTS of experience simply from fixing those every couple minutes. I’ve been able to run lots of prints in both abs and pla on those though, so I am only new to having my own printer. But, I see what you’re getting at since this may be different in many ways.

Thanks for your advice though!

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Thanks! With that advice, I think that 200 dollars cheaper and building it myself is the better option.

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@cobnut

We ordered an MK2 a few days ago; are you currently running one or waiting for it to be delivered?

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@Jshel2000

Regarding the exotics, we print with a lot of them and they each definitely have their quirks (clogging, cracking, etc.). As @cobnut mentioned, you are much better off buying quality filament than finding something cheaper, and this is painfully true with any of the exotics. Coming from personal experiences, using knockoff versions of BrozeFill or TimberFill was a disaster and I will never again use anything other than the quality manufacturers (ProtoPasta, ColorFabb, Filamentum, etc.).

Also make sure you have hardened steel nozzles once you are ready to start experimenting. Exotics, like Stainless Steel PLA and carbon fiber are very abrasive and will happily rip through brass/aluminum nozzles.

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@Enza3D waiting :frowning:

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@cobnut

Ah, yeah :frowning: last I spoke to them they said the backorder is pretty heavy right now, but they’re working round the clock to try and get them out as soon as possible. Hopefully you get yours soon! I know we’re in for quite a bit of a wait

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I am hoping any day now! Another guy who ordered the kit about a week before me is already printing!

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How long was his wait @wirlybird ? I too am hoping the 4-5 weeks they show on the website is overly long to avoid disappointment…

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I think 2-3 weeks for the kit, his wait was about right. It showed about 2-3 weeks when I ordered. The pre-builts are going 2-3 times as long. When I ordered they showed 5 + on the pre-built.

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In my opinion, homemade printers are the best. I built my 3d printer with my father and a few friends and that was by far one of the greatest ideas that we hade. Right now we are working on a 3d printer to launch to the market hopefully in the beginning of next year. So my advice to you is if you have the ability, design a printer from scratch, but if you do not want to do that, then buying a kit is a great idea. You will get a good experience as long as you get a good kit that does not use the cheapest parts. Also, for the extruder, e3d extruders are the best in the reprap market so if you want to, you can invest into a better extruder. Hope this helped.