They have a mode called stealth mode that should reduce the quantity of noise produced by the steppers: https://help.prusa3d.com/article/power-modes_2213

Evidently the mk3 was significantly quieter than the mk2 with this mode enabled.

You’ll be fine on a balcony. Prusas are fairly quiet. I have an enclosed printer (a Voron) and it’s fairly quiet. I WFH 2 days a week and am able to have it printing 10 feet from me while working and on calls without issues. I wouldn’t call my old unenclosed printer loud, but it wasn’t quiet either.

Or doomcube, those should probably be in detached buildings. Or you like to print filaments that are high on fumes and don’t have a great way to vent.

Drinking age is set by each state but that hasn’t stopped the feds from tring to influence things.

Straight off the printer! I’ve never tried annealing and the minimal amount of poking around has been somewhat inconclusive. I tend to change materials when I want different physical properties. The vast majority of my prints are functional, and don’t need to be super pretty, so I buy mostly ASA and PETG these days.

IME, PLA prints nicer than PETG, which in turn prints nicer than ASA. Also IME, ASA supports are super nice to remove. PETG is a massive PITA.

Thankfully, I haven’t had a print that demanded very nice surface finished and also strength/ruggedness.

They’re under an intermittent load, but it’s probably not very high. Interestingly, the parts don’t seem very brittle. I suspect the exact materials in PLA+ probably vary wildly between blends/companies, so their material properties likely have some variation.

I wonder what the various companies blend into their pla+. This stuff is from a company that’s since gone out of business, but it seems to shrug off UI, rain, and ice/snow. It wasn’t matter hackers, but they had a similar name from what I recall. USA made and cheap, but their QC wasn’t great.

As for ASA, I’ve only printed Polymaker. I buy the 3kg spools when they go on sale and it’s hard to beat 3kg for $70 or so. I am tempted to try another brand to see if it prints differently though.

Agree on ASA. I have some PLA+ prints that have been outdoors 24/7/365 for going on 5 years now and they’re holding up really well, so that’s another good option.

I’ve been printing ASA for about a year and a half and haven’t dried a spool yet. I guess it all hinges on a mix of relative humidity in your area and how much you care about a flawless finish.