How 1 Man Took on Prusa Research And... Won ? XL Enclosure Comparison

[@MikeKobb]

I have the Prusa enclosure, and it works great. One thing I like about the design is that if you open the lid and the bellows, it's very open, and well suited for printing something like PLA that doesn't like to be in a hot environment. I agree that having to replace the parts with PCCF was an unpleasant surprise, given that they were showing some version of this enclosure at trade shows long before I bought my printer. I can only assume that they originally thought that the PCCF wasn't needed but they got late into the final testing and discovered issues. For what it's worth, new printers ship today with those parts in PCCF from the beginning.

[@crashkg]

The ergonomics of the Prusa enclosure are great. I was tempted to use an aftermarket enclosure, but I didn't want to spend so many hours printing. I'm glad I went for the Prusa. The lid lifting up gives so much access to the inside. I can see the most important part of the printing, the tool heads, at all times. The bellows, although strange looking, is a great solution, because it is so easy to pop on and off. All in it took me about 2 hrs to assemble.

[@theheadone]

It took me 4 hours to build my sumo, impressive that that guy took 10 hours to do it.. The assembly guide was awesome with the interactive 3d views. One issue I've had is that the left side belt tensioning screw is obstructed as the hole to allow for adjustment isn't in the correct spot. One change I would recommend is to 3d print some washers or just use normal washers under the head of any screw that is in direct contact with the acrylic, since acrylic is extremely prone to cracking. I had recommended that they offer a polycarbonate version, but I doubt that'd ever happen since the cost would go up and they probably wouldn't have as good of a market at a price closer to Prusa's.

[@ygk3d]

@@theheadone It’s easy to waste time trying to make things fit when they really don’t want to. Would have been way quicker had the parts not all been super tight and the shrapnel nuts been pre-bent. Good call on the washers - our acrylic cracked in a few places. The bolt being obstructed was corrected by the designer in a later update, but I didn’t notice until it was too late like you.

[@theheadone]

@@ygk3d Good to know, I would reprint and re-install, but I definitely don't want to rip that front back off, lol. On the one printer I did need to adjust belt tension I crudely hacked into it just enough to get access, hah, the cover does cover it still though.

[@spooknik-z3t]

The Sumo and the Prusa Enclosure are both ugly, but the Sumo just looks bad. I cannot describe it any better than a Fisher Price aesthetic. And then a curved arch 2/3 the way up and then a box of clear acrylic panels for the top, who thought that looked good? Prusa Enclosure is ugly but in an industrial way.

[@krollmond7544]

Lmao

[@hockeygoalie35]

The BluRolls / EncXLosure looks much better than the Sumo.

[@starblazer13]

Found Josef's alt account

[@hockeygoalie35]

@@starblazer13 ? I’m talking about a different 3rd party enclosure.

[@starblazer13]

@@hockeygoalie35 was a joke :)

[@trinodot8112]

I like the bottom of the sumo and the top of the Prusa tbh. If someone could combine the two, it would be perfect

[@hippiemcfake6364]

At that price delta and given that Prusa is a massive company with tons of engineering experience and they made the XL, I find it puzzling how poor their enclosure is. Also why doesn't Sumo offer the printed parts at an extra ~$120 for people that want a turn key solution?

[@SteveInFLALand1]

Thank you for the review. I would have given consideration to the six hours of time saved during assembly in your value rating. This would be a larger time disparity were the exhaust fan assy to have been included. The exhaust fan and filter installation into the Suma looks like probably 45 minutes to an hour. The $400 difference becomes much less of an issue when I'm considering 7 plus hours of frustration filled assembly time. The bellows are a drawback for sure and to a lesser extent the racking the gantry when opening the top door however, that can be mitigated with some stiffeners. I think I'll go with the Prusa cabinet.

[@ygk3d]

@@SteveInFLALand1 good points. Thanks for watching!

[@kurtgluck7252]

You probably should have explained more about why its important to upgrade the parts of the extruder. Sure the new XL’s its not needed, and yep that is a miss by PRUSA, but in both enclosures cases if you dont do that upgrade you are at risk of melting parts of your printer if you dont upgrade those parts.

[@mattmeyer6471]

I like the other encloure that is on the market before the sumo. It cost me about 380 and had little to no printed parts can see everything and works great!.

[@Heiserton]

The fact that the XL doesn’t come enclosed as standard, makes it a non-serious option for me. It’s such a complete oversight, and the added cost for the enclosure accessory is just a slap in the face. My first Prusa was an MK3S+, and it still is running more than 5000hrs later. But it will be my last Prusa I ever buy.

[@jamess9420]

The Prusa enclosure for me, way more heavy duty. The Sumo is atrocious. This seems sponsored to me.

[@FireDragon3D]

The sumo is impressive considering the size of the team that created it. Lol. At $800 the Prusa enclosure is very expensive, then again the XL is quite expensive in its own right. Great video!

[@langph]

The Prusa enclosure should not be so wobbly. Something is loose in printer or enclosure. Furthermore, I would conclude that a self made enclosure is always cheaper, but has issues with assembling and misses in functionality and/or aesthetics. I am glad I waited for the Prusa enclosure despite its higher price.

[@blockhead3654]

The printer might have been designed before the patents ran out for enclosures.

[@ygk3d]

@@blockhead3654 mhhh… maybe. Interesting thought 🤔

[@v1mja]

I say Prusa blew it with the XL enclosure. Not because the Sumo is better, I can't speak to that, but because it's such a hassle either way. Prusa know that their customers want the option for an enclosure. They have been offering ones for their bed slingers for like forever. And even when the XL first went to preorder, the promotional materials teased the bellows. So why is this so bad then? Why does the enclosure not seal propperly? Why is it such a hassle to install? Why does it feel like a total afterthought. Four hours of install time might be OK for a hobbyist, but in a commercial environment, that is not viable. And it's not an impossible task, either. Want to know how it's done propperly? Check out the UM5 air manager. Yes the UM5 plays in a different league on price, but the fact still remains: installation of the air manager is super easy and completed within minutes. Not because the UM5 is a much more expensive printer, but because it has been designed with this in mind from the beginning.

[@JohnOlson]

I think the pricing and value sections of the video (0:30) about Prusa costing $650 compared to Sumo should include the $300 + 65 hours (your cost per hour of any labor, plus lost revenue on the printer?) + 3kg of filament ($20/each minimum). Btw - I have a Delack enclosure (one of the first) and really enjoy it. It was a lot cheaper.

[@JohnOlson]

Joseph should team up with Voxel or similar to provide pre-printed parts like you can get for Bentobox, Hydra kits.

[@ygk3d]

@@JohnOlson good point. If you price in the time for printing that definitely changes the value equation. And good suggestion on offering pre-printed parts, especially if print quality is good with proper tolerances. I’ve seen that as an option for the EnXLosure but not the SUMO.

[@PutTheKettleOnGromit]

Can you print in PC CF with the Sumo Enclosure? Would the PETG parts soften with the higher temperatures?

[@ygk3d]

@@PutTheKettleOnGromit should be fine, yes. I haven’t done a max temp test but I don’t imagine the chamber would ever get over 60 degrees with the bed at its max temp.

[@hedleypepper1838]

The xl is awesome and the right way to do multi material. The price is ridiculous same for the enclosure tht costs as much as a bambu p1s 😮 I'm hearing prusia referred to as blackberry . Having sen an interview with Joseph Prusia about the mk4 I'm inclined to agree. Their business model is unsustainable now.

[@cbpuzzle]

This is exactly why the Qidi Max exists. Huge platform and already enclosed for under 1000. The max4 in 2025 will make all other large printers obsolete

[@NoMorePlz]

I like the overall build of the sumo, but the thought of printing all of the parts is a bit daunting.

[@thenextlayer]

Duuuuude you have two XLs? Jelly

[@ygk3d]

One of the XLs shown here belongs to Marco. But I have 4 of my own that I use for production printing :)

[@MakerShed3D]

You really should mention that for a couple months now the Prusa XL are shipping with upgraded parts. Given the timing of this video seems like a major oversight on your part not to mention that

[@ygk3d]

@@MakerShed3D I actually wasn’t aware. Did they publicize that somewhere?

[@MakerShed3D]

@@ygk3d used to be on the xl page but I don’t see it anymore since now it just ships that way - when they were making the transition it used to something to the affect of as of x date all Prusa XL ship with upgraded petg parts xyz to petg-gf (or whatever they upgraded them to.

[@EngineerKim]

My 2-tool XL was shipping with upgrade parts. :) It arrived about end of May.

[@fw4809]

Feels like you're giving the sumo points for potential addons like the fan when the prusa one comes with one already. I also don't think the gaps are as big a deal after Robert Cowan's video where he mentions a simple shower curtain was sufficient to drop the drafts. But that aside, I appreciate the effort you're putting into making the video and showing the strugles as well as how to overcome them. It might be good to see the boys team up to build an enXlosure together for comparison. Better yet, a Siccobox. Enclosures are nice but not always needed. Everyone can benefit from filament dryers.

[@madmatrac]

so u should pay 300$ and print tons of parts afterwards to make 300$ cost bunch of nothing work? very impressive

[@hovedskou]

Even if the Prusa was 7 times the price of the Sumo I would still prefer it.! The Sumo looks like a toy made by a 15 year old scoolkid.

[@zackj997]

All prusa's already look like toys. At least the sumo is more functional.

[@TylerKrick]

lmao yea agree with @zackj997 every prusa looks like a toy. The orange printed parts and lack of stiffness due to the missing front section of the frame makes the XL look like a joke to anyone with two brain cells to rub together

[@hovedskou]

@@TylerKrick So for you it don't..?

[@TylerKrick]

@@hovedskou what?

[@swapnilmankame]

@@hovedskou Are you stupid or soemthing?

[@ferdinandhenkel4567]

I am kinda shocked at how bad XL dev went They could have made this Upgrade much cheaper and plug & play if they just thought ahead a bit when designing the xl Enclosing a Voron is like ~100-150 bucks and the enclosure is actually properly sealed I kinda think there is still a place for a company between Bambu and Prusa, with opensource hardware/software right to repair and upgradability but also more user friendly and higher performance than Bambu

[@ferdinandhenkel4567]

*than Prusa

[@ScytheNoire]

Not a fan of the Prusa designed enclosure, especially the bellows. You would have thought a company like Prusa would have looked at other printer enclosures on how to do it right. They don't include an air circulation system, as you want to keep the hot air inside, not vent it. They didn't include any kind of frame reinforcement to prevent flex. They didn't even include a second LED light. I look at how well Voron or RatRig enclosures are done, and just wonder how they didn't look at those on how to do it. Prusa really doesn't design printers for high temps. Not a Prusa hater, I own two of them. Just pointing out when things can be done better.

[@RyanMercer]

10 hours...

[@theheadone]

I have no clue how it took him 10 hours to build the sumo, I did mine in 4.

[@RyanMercer]

@@theheadone haribo and trash talking I guess

[@ygk3d]

Shrapnel nuts and poor tolerances on printed parts. Those two things were a big time sink.

[@ygk3d]

@RyanMercer 😂

[@theheadone]

@@ygk3d Interesting, I had no issues with the shrapnel nuts both of the enclosure kits I bought. I did have minor tolerance issues, but it didn't take up too much time to remedy.

[@TNX255]

I prefer the quirky, 1980's scifi droid look of the Prusa enclosure. However it really doesn't seem good enough, costing as much as a couple of cheaper printers and being flimsy and low tech like that. Such an odd product from Prusa.

[@Chad.The.Flornadian]

Very objective head-to-head comparison. Well done! The trash talking had me laughing out loud...love it! For me, the bellows blocking the printer is a deal breaker. If I wanted to check on the print I'd have to lower it, thus letting all the ambient heat in the enclosure out and more humid air in. So if I had a Prusa XL I would definitely go for the Sumo.

[@ygk3d]

@@Chad.The.Flornadian thank you! Glad you had a chuckle 😄

[@alanb76]

the important things to look at are on the top, not behind the bellows. a camera would be a better way to look anyway.

[@Chad.The.Flornadian]

@@alanb76 I agree...assuming you had a good enough camera with adequate lighting. otherwise you'll have too many shadows or a grainy picture to contend with.

[@krollmond7544]

Even if I could buy 6 Bambu mini's (blah blah blah who cares) I'm gonna have to go with the Prusa enclosure, thanks for this.

[@urjnlegend]

Both take way too long for a box

[@ffoeg]

Your original lid seems to be installed incorrectly. I have no skew action when opening my lid. I'd say both enclosures are equally ugly.

[@RobertLeeMonterroso]

1o hours wow

[@antallaczko8793]

730 Euros for a shite enclosure? Nope, I'll get a decent printer with enclosure for that money.

[@ozzytheartist4780]

I find this review to be grossly biased. I have a Prusa enclosure that replaced my EnXLosure. The only feature I wish my enclosure had is a dedicated thermister controller for the fan. A lot of the extra cost is the actual materials The Prusa enclosure is made of - rugged steel Vs all plastic. You don't mention that you have to print all the printed parts of the Sumo, adding cost and time to make and assemble. A fair few people have mentioned 'visibility', Really?, talk about nit picking. Your comparison of a flat top on the Sumo Vs not on the Prusa; what the actual??? And, finally, your comment about the Prusa enclosure being an "afterthought". Really? This is a highly engineered, well thought out augment to an amazing printer. I agree that if one can't afford a Prusa enclosure, the Sumo looks to be an excellent alternative. But this review is so one sided and a joke. Which is too bad because I've enjoyed some of your more well thought out reviews in the past.

[@sandmann7777]

I also couldn’t take the video serious but it was entertaining. I liked it, especially the trash talk. :D I built my original enclosure last week. It took me 4 or 5h and it was really fun. I enjoyed it and I love it. I stacked my XL with it‘s enclosure on top of my MK4 original enclosure. I would love to do it vice versa. So I am getting the point with the missing flat surface. But anyway that sumo flat surface cannot carry much. So both setups are bad in terms of flat enclosure top surface.

[@ygk3d]

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it, but I think you missed a few key points in the video. I did explicitly mention the fact that you have to do 65 hours of printing for the sumo. I accounted for the filament cost in the final comparison towards the end of the video. I don't think comparing visibility is "nitpicking". There is an inherent advantage to being able to see your prints. If you missed watching the first layer go down and come back later you'd have to open the bellows on the original enclosure if you wanted to inspect for any warping, which could itself cause warping. The flat top for me makes a big difference because my printer room is small and space is limited. I like the idea of using the top of the printer for storage. And on the point of it seeming like an afterthought, I don't think that's unreasonable to say. Don't you think it would have been easier for them to put an extra port on the mainboard for the enclosure connections rather than needing to design a completely seperate PCB that bolts on in kind of a janky way? As for the PC-CF parts, it's possible that they just didn't do enough life cycle testing and realized at a later date that PETG wouldn't hold up inside the enclosure. But if they knew this beforehand, it would have been nice for them to make all of the parts from PC-CF to begin with. I saw somewhere that they're shipping the new printers with PC-CF. I can see how the review might have seem biased but that wasn't intentional. I have a personal preference for the cost, features and aesthetics of the SUMO and that probably showed. I hope you can still agree that the information presented was valuable. The viewer is free to draw their own conclusions. At any rate, thanks for watching and providing your feedback.

[@ozzytheartist4780]

@@ygk3d you are also entitled to your opinion. My issue is that mixed in with some salient points you make dumb, uninformed opinions*; even the video title is click bait. Prusa has proven time and again their dedication to high engineering standards. The exception might be with them recently rushing the first XLs and MK4s to market a bit undercooked. And then they were right there working their cans off to right those ships. * an example is your ridiculous comparison of airtight Vs gaps. Do you really think Prusa didn’t test the heck out of the enclosure to make sure it performs as necessary as is? Transparent panels on the bottom Vs the accordion bottom section is a design choice that has no importance to what enclosures are meant to be used for - potato, potāto. And after using Prusa machines for years, “ganky” has never been a term I’ve ever thought the need to associate with them. You did make some fair points but the ones I have issue with you just repeated what others have already bitched about.

[@CBrick]

I feel like both aren't that great, you can build something better for sub 100$

[@lukaszbusko]

The entire XL looks like after thought... They just could pay for voron design I had nice looking compact up to 6 toolhead machine...

[@TheCraen]

the prusa one is ugly