Well it all depends on the printer. I have done a lot of investigation on the Prusa i3 MK2S which is my second printer. The kit takes about 6 hours to assemble, But it should not take as long to calibrate since it has mesh bed levelling and built in methods to check the if the Y frame is skewed and also has a simple method of checking your X Axis is 90 degrees to the Y Axis. The Tevo Tarantula is built with extruded aluminium so getting it all square is a lot easier, But this is a full kit like the Prusa, The Wanhao Duplicator i3 is a box metal construction and the build time is a lot less 20-30 minutes if you go slow. Calibration of the printer is an on going thing, and depends on a lot of different variables, type of filament, area the printer is working in, and these are things you are going to learn as you get to know your printer. As well as how good the object you are printing is, and if it is designed for FDM printing. Hopefully that helps. Gordon.
On 7 Aug 2017, at 7:40 pm, Brian May <brian@linuxpenguins.xyz> wrote:
Gordon Heydon <gordon@heydon.com.au> writes:
It you want to use it as a tool, then you most likely would buy locally and spend more money. If it is just a hobby then getting one from China will cost you a lot less but will require a lot more work to make it print well.
How much more work is required?
How much work is required to build and callibrate from a kit? -- Brian May <brian@linuxpenguins.xyz> https://linuxpenguins.xyz/brian/