One of the first services on my server was nextcloud in docker container from lsio. Never had problems so there was no need to try AIO, but so many people recommend that, it will be my next setup if this one fails me

Correct and sounds like the best of both worlds

I’ll grab a kitchen sponge

You can just cut 30x30 mm peace and zip-tie it over filament 😉

Enclosure will protect printer from dust and it will also keep the ambient temperature more stable. Dont make it hermetic sealed, better add few holes on the front and few on the back for example. I have a low rpm fan with dust filter because I mostly print PLA and in long prints (12h+) temperature can go a bit too high if there is no airflow at all. Keep in mind that enclosure should be removed sometimes for mintainance, removable sides is what you should look for.

You can leave filament on the printer, but if you dont use it for a long time it could get wet and then you have to dry it. Keep the rest of the spools in plastic sealed box or bag and put some silica gel inside.

Full calibration should be done once, but fine tuning when you face some issues or when you change to different brand or filament type. It depends how well the printer is assembled and how experienced you are, it can take only 5 min every few months, but begginers can spend days sometimes.

Extra tips: clean your rails and wheels whenever you can (once a month at least) for dusty garage. Get a kitchen sponge, drill a hole in it and guide filament trough the hole to remove any dust before extruder.

Welcome to the most fun hoby and happy printing!

If OP cant use more than one disk at once, how can they benefit from mergerfs?

In my country pi4 8GB ram with PSU 130€ and then you need SD card and/or SSD

Adding my data as well:

My server is diy desktop pc - mbo MSI Z270-A PRO with celeron G3930 and 16GB RAM, 3x SSD on 550W PSU, idles at 23W. After adding another 3.5" HDD consuption went up to 34W. 34W in Ctoatia is around 34€ a year.

Some SFF PCs are at 10-15W. SBCs like rpi should be below 10 W, but dont think you can get anything new for 80€

Your cpu supports quick sync so I bet you are good without gpu. Try it yourself before buying one, you also drain less power

-4c is extreemly cold, get thermometer inside of enclosure and leave your heatbed on until it reaches 10-15C before you start printing. Even better get enclosure heater. Id also bump nozzle temp to the highest marked on your spool.

Why lower if you print everything at the same layer height?

Interesting. This is new to me and it looks like it could work. It could be usefull if you print with 0.6 nozzle at 0.6 mm width and then in a corner narrow it down to 0.4 mm