A few days ago, Prusa released their first enclosure for their Prusa Mk3s printer!
In the article below we will look at the Prusa enclosure features and we will compare it to the Prusabox.

A few words as disclaimer… Since their enclosure won’t be available before a couple months, we will only base our comparision on infos and pictures found on their website.

As we are the designer of the Prusabox enclosure you could say we are biased (and we obviously are, you should always make up your own mind) but we’ll try to remain as factual as possible to give the fairest comparision possible!

Modularity:

Display screen and control is outside of the enclosure. There is no additional slot for Raspberry screen nor temperature control, but they provide a small temperature censor which is a nice touch. To be honest it looks like a cheap one.

On the Prusabox we designed a first control panel with Prusa panel that’s can also hold a Raspberry PI or a control panel.
And we designed also a large modular control system that allows users to make it as customizable as you need it to be. Prusabox evolves with your needs 🙂

Filtration system:

Prusa enclosure has a single filtration system with HEPA filter.

Prusabox offers a double filter with a professional grade HEPA + a carbon filter.
Prusabox HEPA and Carbon filters are made by Zortrax 3d printer company.

Frame:

Both Prusa enclosure and the Prusabox have a strong metal frame.
Prusabox has two colors though : stainless steel and black.

Cooling:

Prusa enclosure has PSU outside to get outside air inside PSU. Prusabox has similar feature with PSU cooling by outside air.

Prusabox go over with additional cooling point for Einsy board.

Kit:

Prusa enclosure and Prusabox are both delivered as a kit.

The Prusa enclosure seems to have a fair bit of screws in their design but they provide all printed parts except for optional handles, while the Prusabox has mored printed part (you can order them or print them yourself)

LED:

Prusa enclosure have similar LED strip option as Prusabox.

Printer access:

Prusa enclosure has a double front door.

We know from experience you can’t always access everything from one side only, so for easy and total access of your printer, Prusabox has a 5 doors design!

Spool holder:

Prusa enclosure has an inside spool holder. Prusabox also has an inside spool holder and offers a top spool holder and also fits perfectly with our brand new Spool Tank.

Community & support:

Prusa is the obvious leader in retail 3dprinting and has created a movement and the biggest community for makers worldwide, there’s not even a shred of comparison.
Yet our small community is thriving with very active members that support each others and invent new mods almost every weeks!
Plus we try to provide the best support we can so feel free to shoot us an email or a message on facebook we’ll be in touch asap 🙂

Over 1000 members
in our Facebook community

Additional mod:

Prusa 3d announced a few mods to come like RFID readers and smart controls.

As of today they provide optional mods for a fee – some might say a pricey one: advance filtration system, mechanical locks, fire suppression system, PSU quick release cable and LED light.

With our always evolving mod catalog from our lead designer Julien as well as our incredible community that have embrace the enclosure, inspiring us more mods and creating their own!

Discover all aditional mods by Printerbox on the dedicated page:

Prusabox mod

And all the mods made by our Community:

Prusabox mod community

Price:

The official Prusa enclosure kit starts at 369€ with no options and up to 731€ for the full thing with all mods.
Prusabox stars at only 239,50€ (+66€ for printed parts) and 377,40€ for a full kit including printed parts, LED strips, filters, fans and damper feets.

* we have not included shipping because it’s always different from one country to another

Let’s Sum Up!

Why choose original Prusa enclosure:

Prusa enclosure is a nice product with nice features.
Most of them are included in the Prusabox and with our never ending design, we have a lot more mods that you can print and adapt to your own use cases.
Because of the cost, original Prusa enclosures seems to be mainly targeted at companies or people who don’t need a high level of modularity, and just want to enjoy a nice 3d printing experience.

In fact Original Prusa enclosure with all option cost double of Prusabox but it requires less printing (if you don’t order parts from Printer-box).

Why choose the Prusabox:

Prusabox is on the market since 2 years and has already a lot of mod and a great community.
Total price should be the half of the Original Prusa enclosure.

One last word from the Printerbox team:

We love everything about Prusa they are one of the most inspiring company out there for us. We own quite an extensive collection of prusa printers and well… they even inspired our first ever product, the Prusabox that launched our company so we have much respect for those guys and we know there enough room for everyone. We can’t wait to see the Prusa enclosure in the flesh!

We hope this article will help you make the best choice for your enclosure kit, feel free to add any comments or suggestions and in the meantime if you want to know more about our on enclosure, click below: