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

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

I am pretty confident that this one is gonna come on time of near on time.  This video clearly states that they have parts on hand to fill orders.  

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

Can definitely imagine the Mini as a secondary printer with a .20mm nozzle for small prints, would be incredibly nice not having to swap nozzles all the time. Also, I'm certain direct drive user mods is just a question of time.

Would also love a "secondary printer DIY kit" with only non-printable parts, to save manufacturing and shipping costs.  No offense meant, I do understand that a commercial business has to be efficient and have production goals, but my own prints are far better quality than the ones I got with my Mk3 kit too, since I got all the time in the world at hand.

If such a kit ended up in the same price range as the Chinese i3 clones, it would really be a no brainer.

Joining the chorus about a 32bit controller upgrade option for the Mk3S aswell 🙂

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

I never thought about having different printers operate with a different nozzles.  I may have to try that.  

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

Posted by: @kaputnik

Can definitely imagine the Mini as a secondary printer with a .20mm nozzle for small prints, would be incredibly nice not having to swap nozzles all the time. Also, I'm certain direct drive user mods is just a question of time.

 

I have a Mk3 but couldn't resist ordering the Mini.. And it crossed my mind too about setting this one up with a 0.2mm model for ultra-detailed prints.. I told someone and they suggested the opposite, by using a 0.6mm nozzle and using it as an ultra-fast prototype machine..

So I am not sure now.. Perhaps I need 2 🙂

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

I recieved the following response from the support people.

"

Hi Travis,

Yes, it does come with a spool holder. Unlike on MK3S, the one for MINI is not attached to the frame. You can see it in this video here:

​

Please let me know if you have any more questions 🙂

Hope you have a great day!"

So thats cool.

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

It transpired that the brick power supply cannot handle the power required for the MK3S bed after all:

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

Posted by: @misan

It transpired that the brick power supply cannot handle the power required for the MK3S bed after all:

 

I interpreted what was said slightly differently. What I heard was the connector on the Buddy board (that the brick plugs into) cannot handle the power required for the MK3S. Just thought I would point out this minor seeming, but significant, detail before someone says "just get a higher powered brick"...

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

@sembazuru

Interesting interpretation.  The benefit of a brick is that it is contained.  

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

Posted by: @sembazuru ... the connector on the Buddy board (that the brick plugs into) cannot handle the power required for the MK3S. 

You are absolutely right. I guess a simple change in the board could make it MK3S compatible, maybe even a hack is possible. We will see soon enough 😉

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

Interesting comment in Thomas Sanladerer's (Salamander?) video that it can print with 3000mm/s acceleration rates, so apparently Prusa has used the weight savings on the hotend assembly coupled with the Bowden setup to good effect. It may be a bit of a speed demon.

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

I take it no one noticed the two spade connectors on the board right behind the power jack!.

You don't normally have these like this unless your using them to put power in, so this is most likely how to get the higher amperage capability to allow compatibility with the Mk3 (s).

I'm waiting for the board schematics to come out to see what the board is capable of, the wi-fi connector I'm sure is capable of much more than just wi-fi after looking at the wi-fi module already seen in the video, and there are other pin headers as well as sockets which currently are an unknown.

The new 32-bit ARM STM32F407 also supports CAN and a camera interface and the Ethernet interface supports the IEE1588 standard (PTP).

The Precision Time Protocol (PTP) is a protocol used to synchronize clocks throughout a computer network. On a local area network, it achieves clock accuracy in the sub-microsecond range, making it suitable for measurement and control systems.

So basically if I am not mistaken, the board could in effect become an accurate slave controller to another board. Suddenly you have the possibility of a lot more drivers / IO by having more than one controller fitted. These would link by network cabling using something like PROFINET protocol etc. One control board for the printer, another for a mmu or multi extruder etc. Or you could achieve the same using CAN.

There appears to be a lot more thought as to the microcontroller chosen here than simply making code easier to reuse.

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

More info on the STM32F407

• 2x USB OTG (one with HS support)
• Audio: dedicated audio PLL and 2 full duplex I²S
• Up to 15 communication interfaces (including 6x USARTs running at up to 11.25 Mbit/s, 3x SPI running at up to 45 Mbit/s, 3x I²C, 2x CAN, SDIO)
• Analog: two 12-bit DACs, three 12-bit ADCs reaching 2.4 MSPS or 7.2 MSPS in interleaved mode
• Up to 17 timers: 16- and 32-bit running at up to 168 MHz
• Easily extendable memory range using the flexible static memory controller supporting Compact Flash, SRAM, PSRAM, NOR and NAND memories
• Analog true random number generator

How much of this has been implemented at hardware level remains to be seen.

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

You did some serious research ! nice! depanding on the cost i thinking about purchasing an extra board after release to experiment with it, special in combination of the mk3s. but personaly, i will become problems when it comes to software modification. e.g. changing bed size from adapting board from mini to mk3s. just thinking loud.

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

I listen to the Joseph speech, and it is clear that he will release an upgrade for MK3, but not just for the sake of releasing something, but as part of a longer development path. They don't want to release problematic  printers after the experience of the MMu2 that was seen as a disappointing product by several customers. So he want clearly wait some months later from the release of the MINI to see overall, how the new design, and specially the board and firmware goes. On the base of the results he will decide the next steps.
I understood that the "XL"  will a be completely different design, Makerbot style with the raising bed, and so the new firmware should be perfectly working and well tuned, especially if they will design also a new custom 32Bit board.

So I reasonably expect an official MK3 upgrade, later end 2020 or 2021.
For now, I am thinking to get a MINI and install just a small nozzle (0.2 as example) for miniatures.  I think resin printers are not good for an healthy home environment.

Regards

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

There's a couple more tidbits in this video:

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

@antimix

That is my understanding as well.  

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

Posted by: @antimix

[...]
I understood that the "XL"  will a be completely different design, Makerbot style with the raising bed, and so the new firmware should be perfectly working and well tuned, especially if they will design also a new custom 32Bit board.

[...]

Something I picked up that was almost a throw-away comment (I forget if it was in the Q&A, 3DMN's interview, or Tom Sanladerer's  interview), Jo Prusa is expecting each class of printer (i3, Mini, and XL) to have their own driver board model. He mentioned it right around explaining why (power requirements) the Buddy board is unsuitable for the i3 line of printers.

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

Posted by: @sembazuru

Posted by: @antimix

[...]
I understood that the "XL"  will a be completely different design, Makerbot style with the raising bed, and so the new firmware should be perfectly working and well tuned, especially if they will design also a new custom 32Bit board.

[...]

Something I picked up that was almost a throw-away comment (I forget if it was in the Q&A, 3DMN's interview, or Tom Sanladerer's  interview), Jo Prusa is expecting each class of printer (i3, Mini, and XL) to have their own driver board model. He mentioned it right around explaining why (power requirements) the Buddy board is unsuitable for the i3 line of printers.

Great point.  I would like to see a 32 bit board or better for all.  

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

yeah, his comment was that in the volumes they use, making custom boards for each feature set is a no brainer and that is their plan

also they have 2 developer teams for 8 and 32 bit but maybe next year after the mini ( and the SL1) have been out for a bit the plan is to end up all 32 bit after 2 more major EINSY firmware releases that are already planned

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

Any thoughts on printing speed compared to the mk3/s for a like for like model/nozzle size, etc ?

Texy