Quote Originally Posted by Boyan Silyavski View Post
The advantage of a dedicated printer is that the thing runs 24h non stop for months and the router soon you will need for sth else. Print jobs are ridiculously long if you want a quality piece as a result
Yes, a dedicated higher quality printer is of course better for longer jobs or if the main activity of a machine is printing. If in the end I decide that I like the results out of my conversion I will build a dedicated printer, but for occasional printing and for testing the concept, the software, finding out pitfalls and so on, at least for now, I will go on with the conversion. Converting is a pretty simple and cheap task and most of the parts are needed even for building one, and in fact, even if I bought one, most parts can be used as spares.

Though, if you can stand the higher noise of a router converted printer, I don't see why that can't run as long as necessary. Generally it isn't a good idea to let a printer work unattended for too long, so non-stop running is at least for me, out of the question unless I install special fire guards and a sprinkler system above or inside the printer.