How long to get going?

Explaining what kind of problems are you having would help.  What was the reason for the 17 failed prints?

I suspect you will have success with the glass + hairspray method.

Glass bed:
http://www.soliforum.com/topic/160/glass-bed/

As far as the slicing issue goes. I have found that not all slicers are the same and not all files work with certain slicers (your missing layer issue).

You might look into Kisslicer as an alternate to Slic3r:
http://www.soliforum.com/topic/348/kisslicer/

Thanks, I really do want to love this and want to love Solidoodle!
  I actually looked into Kisslicer while awaiting delivery but couldn't for the life of me find the required settings for an SD3. Perhaps in the future if this glass method doesn't pan out. Regardless, I probably won't be able to get to a hardware store for a few days.

There is a chance that the aluminum is warped.  No matter well you level and get the Z tab set, there may be parts of the bed  that are too low.  The glass will help with flatness, and also distribute the heat more evenly.  Also how much fill are you using?  The denser the fill, the more stress you will get from shrinking plastic.  Unless something really needs to be strong, I rarely go over 20% for .3mm layers.

I'm exactly 1 week into SD3 usage. 

Awesome machine but I'm also still overcoming the beginner problems (almost there!).  I'm almost done with the enclosure pieces.  I'm getting much better results with a glass plate and ABS/acetone "bed wipe/adhesive".  Nothing yet has detached mid-print like they used to with the kapton or glass and hairspray.  I've still got some calibration and tuning to do but my prints are now good enough to actually work with.

Mine isn't much of a slurry - its pretty thin.  I just got a small jar, put in about 1 inch of broken up bad prints, filled with acetone to about 2 inches depth, shook it occasionally over the next few hours, let sit and dissolve completely overnight, shook thoroughly again, swished some onto a folded paper towel and wiped in 1 layer all over the glass plate.  Edit: there will be a very slight, almost invisible graininess to the mix.

It hasn't been too difficult to remove the pieces but I keep a razor blade handy just in case.  I haven't perfected it yet.  I think I could get by with a slightly thinner mix.

So far my pieces have printed well (way better than before) but there is a very slight roughness on the bottom of the print from where it it was removed from the glass - very quickly resolved with some fine sandpaper (and/or maybe later on I'll try vapor finishing).

Edit:  I just finished printing paeltz's top brackets for the enclosure (relatively long pieces) and there are "popping/cracking" noises as the bed is cooling down and the plastic is detaching itself - sticks well during the print and then (almost) frees itself from the glass on cooldown.

I'll post a pic or two in a moment.

Just did a check with a straight edge. My print bed is warped and dips about a third of a millimeter along the y axis. I've got a 1/8th inch borosilicate plate ordered, fingers crossed.

I'm just using a plain old sheet from Home Depot that I cut down to 8x8 squares (about $15-20 - nothing special).

As basic thermal precautions, I'm letting it heat up and cool down with the bed - no thermal shock.

I'll update you if/when it explodes!

I'm using plain old window glass from the hardware store with hairspray. The parts don't want to come off the glass when hot. I take the the glass off the bed and put it on a aluminium block that I had laying around. In about 30 seconds you can hear the parts breaking loose from the glass. Smaller parts have actually jumped off the glass. No problems with thermal shock yet....

TiM

This is my experience also except that I leave the glass on the bed.

Its never too early to get going with the glass plate and either hairspray or abs "glue".  I think it'll help you work past these issues like it has for me.  I should note that the hairspray was helpful but didn't completely resolve the issue of parts getting unstuck.  The abs glue solved that problem entirely for me.

Edit: Level the bed as best you can before clipping the glass on.  Remember that you won't be able to level the bed afterwards (unless you've printed and attached thumbscrews).  I'm not putting thumbscrews on mine because I'm planning on putting gears on the ends of the leveling screws for an auto-bed-leveling system.  After you put the glass on, remember to adjust the z-stop screw for two reasons: avoid crashing the extruder into the glass (broken glass = bad), and to reset your first layer thickness.

Once you have the base layer sticking to the bed you're probably still going to observe on parts which have free-hanging edges (overhanging edges), that those edges will still curl up some and possibly catch the extruder.  This will sometimes detach the part from the bed.  This can be difficult to work around without normally unnecessary supports added or an extruder fan.  So... plan on printing out one of the extruder fans around here.  I still haven't made one but I haven't been making many parts with overhangs.  It's something I'll probably get to in the next week or so (already bought fans and wiring, still need to pick up the mosfet).

Zhayton,

I wouldn't use the abs glue directly on the kapton.  The only way to clean or refresh the plates are to wipe clean with plain acetone.  Refreshing the kapton surface inside the printer would not only be cumbersome, but also there is a chance that the acetone could penetrate the tape and mess up the tape adhesive (lose adherence to the aluminum) to the point of you needing to replace the kapton.

I'd suggest patience and just get the glass at your next opportunity.  In the mean time, you can go ahead and make up the "glue" in an old jam jar around the house or buy an empty one at the grocery store.

When you're refreshing the glass, don't worry about making it perfectly spotless, just wipe with acetone until the surface is mostly clean (may still look hazy) and uniform and flat (no rough bits).  However, I would suggest trying to get them as clean as possible on occasion.

Once the glass is "clean", reapply a fresh coat of the abs glue.

I like to keep multiple plates around so that I can clean and refresh in batches.  I have 4 plates right now but I'm probably going to get more - maybe 8 or 12 in total (I can get 4 per $10 sheet of 16x20" glass).  Then I'll print out and assemble a holder that'll look like a CD holder.