The Prusa MK4 may have been recently released, but its predecessor, the MK3S+, remains a formidable 3D printer. It was even named our top pick for 2022. For a full breakdown of why we love these Prusa printers, you can refer to our thorough reviews: Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ Review: Best 3D Printer Under $1000 and Original Prusa MK4 Review: Good Changes, but Too Late. Otherwise, just know that they’re incredibly popular, and for good reason.
But how good is the MK3S+ for printing big? According to the official product page, the MK3S+ has a build volume of 11,025 cm³ (250 x 210 x 210 mm or 9.84 x 8.3 x 8.3 in).
However, these numbers probably aren’t very helpful unless you already know the dimensions of what you plan on printing. So, what kind of things can you expect to print with the MK3S+? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at this printer’s build volume and see how it stacks up.
What Can You Print?
It might be difficult to intuitively know what this build volume measurement means and what exactly you can print with it. To offer a clear comparison, the build volume on the MK3S+ can fit the average human head. Something like a large helmet would likely be a hair too large and have to be split up into smaller pieces.
A similar comparison would be a regulation size 5 football (soccer ball), which is roughly a centimeter wider than the MK3S+’s maximum print width. For most 3D printing enthusiasts, this build volume should be sufficient.
For perspective, consider the Raspberry Pi case. The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer roughly the same size as a credit card. You can fit five of them on the MK3S+’s build plate with plenty of room to spare.
Of course, everyone has different use cases and thus different demands for print volume. If you know that you’ll need to churn out bigger prints, you may want to consider a large-format 3D printer, such as one from our buyer’s guide.
How Does it Compare?
At its price point, how appealing is the Prusa i3 MK3S+’s build volume? The short answer is, it’s about average. The longer answer would be that the MK3S+ is comparable to many other 3D printers that made it onto our list of the best printers. Prusa’s newer MK4 machines have build volumes quite similar to the MK3S+, at 250 x 210 x 220 mm.
If you need something even bigger, you’ve got the Anycubic Kobra Max, which includes 400 x 400 x 450 mm of printing potential. This is one of the largest 3D printers you’ll find for home use.
On the other side of the spectrum, there’s the affordable Creality Ender 2 Pro, which has a tighter print volume of 165 x 165 x 180 mm. This build volume is ideal for printing smaller parts.
As you can see, the Prusa i3 MK3S+ is in a comfortable, but not exactly spacious, category. If build volume is a priority for you, there might be better printers for the job. However, note that the MK3S+ is fairly unmatched in terms of reliability.
What About Multi-Extrusion?
A common concern with multi-material 3D printing, or multi-extrusion, is that print volume is sacrificed. This is due to the addition of extra nozzles, which reduces the area covered by all nozzles, but also because when multi-material 3D printing, the machine has to build a wipe tower to keep the nozzle(s) clean.
You won’t lose build volume if you upgrade to the official Prusa Multi-Material Upgrade 3 (MMU3). This upgrade’s unique multi-extruder, single-nozzle design doesn’t add any nozzles to the print head. The space-saving innovation of this design is that it uses the same hot end for each material, rather than having a dedicated hot end and nozzle for each.
However, the machine will print wipe towers, and depending on how large they are based on the print, this will eat up some of your build volume.
Where to Buy
Does the Prusa i3 MKS3+ meet your 3D printing demands? If so, you can get it yourself from the sources below. Note that, following the release of the MK4, the price of the MKS3+ has decreased. You can purchase the fully assembled printer for around $900 and the kit for about $650.
Happy printing!
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