Has Prusa ever made a 3mm filament printer?
A while back I bought a used printer from a local gentleman who said he built it from a "Prusa" kit. It uses 3mm diameter filament and looks like it has been extensively modified and has been subjected to abusive use. I find no "Prusa" branding on it, although it has obvious similarities. The most informative marking is on the heatbed which reads "MK2B". I looked around on this site and the only reference I found to a 3mm machine (which I cannot find again) termed it the "MK0" model. Is/was this a thing? In my (vanishing) spare time I would like to restore it, as it came with a lot of 3mm filament that I have no other use for and may be good for test projects. Is there any documentation or support available for this machine, either here or elsewhere? It is a literal basket case as much of what I received is disassembled and of unknown operability. At least it was cheap. Should I consider donating to the Antique 3D Printer Museum (wherever that is)?
(Aside: It appears I can only attach one photo per posting. Is there a way around this limitation?)
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RE: Has Prusa ever made a 3mm filament printer?
Photo #2
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RE: Has Prusa ever made a 3mm filament printer?
Photo #3
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RE: Has Prusa ever made a 3mm filament printer?
Photo #4
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RE: Has Prusa ever made a 3mm filament printer?
There are open-source Prusa designs that predate Prusa's "original" 3D printer sales. Since these are open source, it's not illegal to describe them as a "Prusa" even if manufactured by questionable 3rd parties. Yours looks like one of the many reprap builds based on an old Prusa open-source design.
A genuine Prusa will typically have the "Original Prusa" label. Touch base with Joan here on the forums as she has an entire stable of Prusas of various vintage. I think she has one of the early 3mm builds.
I hope you didn't pay a lot for it!
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RE: Has Prusa ever made a 3mm filament printer?
The extruder looks something like the one on one of the Taz machines at our local 'makerspace', with the large exposed gears. That machine uses the larger 3mm filament as well.
RE: Has Prusa ever made a 3mm filament printer?
@jsw
I also noticed the resemblance to TAZ machines. So, can anybody (re)find the reference to "MK0" I stumbled upon on this site but cannot now find? It was combined with the 3mm specification.
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RE: Has Prusa ever made a 3mm filament printer?
There's a (mildly painful) YouTube video showing a genuine Prusa i3 Mk0 (I think). It doesn't look much like yours. The Wikipedia page gives a bit more detail about the variations, and the reprap wiki has more detailed information. The original Prusa "Mk0" (pre-Mk2) iterations didn't use an E3D hotend. There is a YouTube video series that shows a reprap Prusa i3 assembly that looks very similar to yours. I think this is the Mendel generation before the "Mk0". (I'm sure Jo Prusa would be laughing at my attempts to get all this straight.)
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He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan