A Brand-New Original Prusa 3D Printer

The biggest thing to be gleaned from Prusa’s blog outside of the AFS itself was a new Original Prusa product reveal. Or maybe a teaser is a better way to put it? Prusa referred to the CoreXY printers running in the AFS as “new Original Prusa 3D printers” and showed them operating but avoided revealing any specifications or other details since they “share certain features and technologies” with the XL. Not even the courtesy to reveal their build volume.

That seems to indicate these smaller CoreXY printers are one of the “two more printers” (in addition to the Prusa XL and SL1S Speed) the company teased in their 2020 recap blog article. That said, Prusa pulled back a little towards the end of the article, saying the printers “share certain parts with our yet-to-be-announced devices.”

Here’s the biggie, though: linear rails.

We mused that the Prusa XL might feature linear rails in our previous article, , but images of these CoreXY systems confirm the theory, showing linear rails in action. Those smooth motion devices should minimize vibration on this new architecture. Given these smaller CoreXY’s share features with the bigger XL, we’d wager it has linear rails too.

We can’t be certain the printers featured at Dubai Expo 2020 are a product Prusa intends to release independent of the AFS, it was intentionally cryptic, but either way, there are a couple more clear details: it’s smaller than the Prusa XL and omits tool changing.

Were this an independent product that would seem to indicate these are more affordable CoreXY systems, but the planned AFS price is $3000 “per printer,” specifically, while Prusa has previously stated it’s targeting $1,200 to $1,500 for the Prusa XL. Since Prusa confirmed the AFS is scalable, that price is somewhat confusing. Why would we pay double the price of the tool-changing XL per printer? Prusa did say it “plan[s] to have multiple sizes and variations,” which suggests its existing systems won’t work with the AFS and that, maybe, these are AFS-only systems. It would explain the lack of UI but not the premium.

Prusa Connect

Prusa Connect, the company’s networked 3D printer management software, has been in a closed beta for some time, but Prusa’s explanation of the AFS did reveal a few of the program’s capabilities. At least in the AFS version, but we expect most relevant systems are shared.

For one, Prusa Connect sounds very smart. It’s able to select the optimal system for new jobs – like one that’s still hot – and send new orders there before fully cooling. That’s not likely important for non-AFS users who lack automated part removal, but it bodes well for the online commissioning highlighted by Prusa. It seems possible online orders could queue automatically with whatever printer will be free next and just take minimal operator intervention to remove the last part and start it off. On top of that non-AFS users will probably have the print job tracking and statistics mentioned.

We can see Prusa Connect’s automation in action, too. The AFS is running with Prusa Connect for the six-month ordeal that is Expo 2020 and actively taking jobs from whoever designs and queues a unique snowflake on Prusa’s website. The final result of these orders and Prusa’s demonstration will be a statue made from the unique prints ordered from around the world and produced automatically. Without the need for human intervention aside from spool changes and maybe some typical printer maintenance.

That showcases the software operating under high stress, which suggests that it’s in near-final development stages.

More?

What we learned about anything else, including the highly anticipated Prusa XL, was sparse, but with the simultaneously exciting reveals at TCT 3Sitxy, we did learn some interesting news.

For one, we learned from a Josef Prusa tweet that the Prusa XL’s tool changing won’t be E3D’s new RapidChange Revo system. That doesn’t necessarily rule out the “tool-changing” being a quick-swap manual system, but we still expect it will be something automated. Prusa isn’t known for being careless with words, and the connotations of tool-changing are automation — with any luck, it will be akin to E3D’s impressive ToolChanger.

That tweet does suggest that Prusa is working with E3D on something similar to the Revo, though. Presumably, a variation of the new quick-swap nozzles for systems that don’t have automated tool changing, but the Revo hot ends themselves will not appear on Original Prusa systems.

That’s about all the guesswork we can do from Prusa’s blog article and recent surrounding news. Somehow a lot of new information and yet absolutely nothing. We’re excited to hear more news about the Prusa XL and these other CoreXY printers, like whether us regular users can get our hands on one or how similar those unannounced products will be, but for now, we wait.

(Lead image source: Prusa Research)