Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!  

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

And very interesting it looks too! 🙂

I'm already looking for info on the plug in wifi module and when the powder coated sheets will be available as spares.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

What a brilliant wee machine!

If it has the same quality and support as an Mk3 then frankly it is a serious piece of competition to some chinesium piece of garbage

The one and only thing stopping me from ordering one is the Mk3 i already have.

It’s seems like a excellent price point and size as a first printer

So well done to Josef and the team. 

And YES i know you want a 400x400 or bigger machine and you are massively disappointed by this announcement. But you ain’t be forced to buy this machine. Though you probably haven’t read this far as you are outside just now pouring a gallon of petrol over your Mk3 and setting fire to it in protest

However

If you think that the brains of this machine won’t end up in the Mk4 then you’re a loony

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

I was wishing for a small desktop printer but really was not expecting anything from Prusa. This one's just enough bigger than the small competition to be compelling while still fitting a small physical space which is my main criteria for a 2nd printer. The only thing I'm disappointed in is the use of a Bowden setup. I notice they don't list it as being suitable for flexible materials. Not the end of the world, but a bummer. V6 nozzle compatibility is a plus. Not sure how it'll integrate with Octoprint (if at all) given no USB port.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

Bobstro, from the Mini shop page -

Supported materials - PLA, PETG, ASA, ABS, Flex

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

And somewhere I read it is designed for USB printing, unlike the MK3.

From their page:

Insert a USB drive and confirm the selection, the printer will do the rest for you!

Print medium

MINI: USB, LAN

vs MK3: MicroSD Card

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

Prusa's Wordpress settings fiasco strikes again .. I think I am going to stop inserting images.  A total waste of time and effort, and just too frustrating to deal with.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

On a different front: anyone wagering on release date to first shipment and then to actual stock?

My initial estimate is first non-beta unit will go out at least 60 days after release, and stock will be 1.4 years.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

Ah, so it looks like there is a microUSB port. Hopeful for Octoprint then.

Will be curious to see what they've done with part cooling. The fan layout looks more efficient if I'm interpreting it correctly. Hotend looks tiny, will be curious what speeds are like. It does look light, which bodes well for the cantilever design. Bowdens are supposed to be capable of faster speeds, though most of the low-end brands just use it to save costs. Will the mini realize the speed potential of a lighter extruder and hotend?

Props for keeping the heater block and nozzle out and visible! This arrangement should be much easier to maintain. Shame such a design won't work on the Mk3.

They kept the wheel on the front (yay!) while putting on a fancy color screen for those who want it. I like that the display stays within the perimeter to minimize desk space. Good compromise. I wonder if my big steam valve knob will still fit.

Interesting that they're saying it'll do flex with a Bowden. I supposed the geared extruder will help, as well as not using crap PTFE tubing. This thing will definitely need different settings than the Mk3.

Is Prusa going the route of the Raspberry Pi Foundation? Rather than adding in a bunch of features then determining a price, it almost sounds like they're picking a price point and packing as much into it as possible. Will $350, $700 and $1050 be the new targets? (Just speculating.)

The biggest disadvantage I'm seeing to the mini compared to the lower-cost printers is lack of a suitable face on the extruder assembly to fit googly eyes.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

Lifted from the video. Full size USB port for sticks, a micro USB for connectivity (rPi?) and a reset button

Wish I could find some hi-res images of the extruder.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

Nice printer. I like it, since it is a total different machine from MK3S.

It is a bowden machine, and this means that has been designed with precision in mind, to have a light X axe, with as less vibration as possible.
Smaller, lighter, with different mechanic, adapt to mount a small nozzle, as example 0.2, to be used to print small miniature or small precise objects. It would be a perfect companion of my MK3S+MMU2S.
They put on a new more powerful board than MK3S, with LAN support and Wireless capability (even if WiFi is still not full supported) and a new big graphics colour LCD screen type. I will probably buy it, but after the initial period of "debug" of the product. I want to see more user's impressions and troubleshooting of the product.

At this point I would expect soon an MK3SL (where L stands for LAN) update kit to replace the MK3S 8 bit board with this new LAN + Trinamic 2209 + 32 Bit processor board. Probably it will have also the LCD colour display included.

Of course this means the end of 8bit boards, and the next PRUSA  (e.g. MK4 ?) will have for sure a 32 Bit + LAN +WiFi.
- But what will happen to Marlin ?

They have not mentioned if the Firmware core of the 32bit Buddy motherboard is still Marlin. MK3S may be the last Marlin printer.

Regards

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

Posted by: @olef

[...] Wish I could find some hi-res images of the extruder.

This one on the product page gallery is the best I've found:

The heater block definitely looks smaller, so I'm expecting much reduced volumetric throughput. Fine for detail parts. Heatsink looks interesting but can't really see it. Part cooling should be excellent.

Looks like there's still a reset button on the front panel. That recessed button on the back might be for wifi or other functionality.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

Posted by: @antimix

Nice printer. I like it, since it is a total different machine from MK3S.

It is a bowden machine, and this means that has been designed with precision in mind, to have a light X axe, with as less vibration as possible.
Smaller, lighter, with different mechanic, adapt to mount a small nozzle, as example 0.2, to be used to print small miniature or small precise objects. It would be a perfect companion of my MK3S+MMU2S.
They put on a new more powerful board than MK3S, with LAN support and Wireless capability (even if WiFi is still not full supported) and a new big graphics colour LCD screen type. I will probably buy it, but after the initial period of "debug" of the product. I want to see more user's impressions and troubleshooting of the product.

At this point I would expect soon an MK3SL (where L stands for LAN) update kit to replace the MK3S 8 bit board with this new LAN + Trinamic 2209 + 32 Bit processor board. Probably it will have also the LCD colour display included.

Of course this means the end of 8bit boards, and the next PRUSA  (e.g. MK4 ?) will have for sure a 32 Bit + LAN +WiFi.
- But what will happen to Marlin ?

They have not mentioned if the Firmware core of the 32bit Buddy motherboard is still Marlin. MK3S may be the last Marlin printer.

Regards

 

 

Marlin 2.0 has support for 32 bit boards, so while the MK3S may be the last 8-bit Prusa it won't necessarily be the last Marlin one.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

Marlin has been running on the STM32 platform  since 2017 in one version or another, so should be quite mature on it by now.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

Hadn't they mentioned somewhere during live stream with Thomas Sanladerer that Marlin 2.0 is driving something? Display unit?

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

@crawlerin

Josef said the mini is "running Marlin 2.0 but only as the motion planner".  Then there was a separate comment made right after that that it's running a real time operating system.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

I was having a bad Saturday today and I was surprised with this news! I was planning on buyin 6 more mk3s  to add to my prusa farm, but with the MINI coming out, ill definitely pick 10 Minis! They will look great on my farm!

Thrill to know that Prusa is going to launch a 3D printing farm management software. I am so happy right now! 

Planning on becoming the biggest Printing farm around here thanks to Prusa! So glad i did my research before buying any other 3D printer brand! 

Just a very excited guy from Peru.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

It would be nice if new 32bit board would be available as an mk3s upgrade option... i guess it shouldn’t be too hard to implement, right?

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

Posted by: @protoncek

It would be nice if new 32bit board would be available as an mk3s upgrade option... i guess it shouldn’t be too hard to implement, right?

at least the one for the mini will certainly not fit for the MK3 as its lacking enough ports for all the stepper motors as we have two for the z axis while the mini only has one.

RE: Announcing the Original Prusa MINI - a smart & compact 3D printing workhorse!

Ok, I pulled the trigger.