Would You Guys Buy the 5Head XL Again?  

RE: Would You Guys Buy the 5Head XL Again?

Definitely would buy it again.
After all, how many printers can do this kind of large 3-day 2-color 4-spool print?

This is a modular miniatures carrying case I designed for friend.
Don't sweat the layer lines, I wanted fast not neat.
The four spools: 1 blue for embedded letters on the bottom, and three spool-chained white. 
Spool chaining worked perfectly.

We also used this printer to make a 4-desk playable-terrain ship for D&D; each deck barely fit the bed diagonally.
Used multi-color on that to do white furled sails on brown masts.
Then made, in a single tall barely-fit print, a cradle for carrying it.
Next will be a custom carrying case the cradle will slide into.

This printer allows you to do some pretty cool stuff.

RE: Would You Guys Buy the 5Head XL Again?

Buying another next week.

RE: Would You Guys Buy the 5Head XL Again?

Only if it comes in a CORE enclosed version in the future. I definitely have a love-hate relationship with my XLs. They are the only machines that do what I do with them (complex geometries with water-soluble supports). The problem is that it is a consumer machine that was designed for a professional type of printing unless one wants to print giant multicolor figurines, which I don't. It's a good multi-color PLA machine, but the multi-head should be better for parts making.

There have been lots of failures, maintenance, and replacements (mainboard, hotends/thermistors, splitter board, multiple filament sensors, display pad, ... many more). It can be difficult to get through a 18-24 hour print without a failure sometimes. Some thoughts on my end,

• The filament sensors are garbage, and never seem to work right. I have to disable them most of the time.
• It should have been designed from the start as an enclosed system (XL Core 5). It is large enough that prints in many materials require a temperature controlled environment, otherwise the real estate is not usable due to excessive warping.
• Ventilation of fumes is just too important when running prints the size that this machine can, in certain materials especially, and so again should have been designed with an enclosure integrated that has exhaust port or HEPA filtration.
• Why they don't put PVA and BVOH in the materials selection in the firmware is baffling. I made this request immediately upon receiving the first system.

RE: Would You Guys Buy the 5Head XL Again?

Now that I have two of them running full steam printing parts I guess time will tell how they do for 24/7 seven professional production.  Your post scared me a little bit.  I print lots of small parts, the only complaint I have so far is PrusaConnect  "object cancel" not working for high parts - See: https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/bugs-errors/bug-prusa-connect-w-xl-cancel-object-fails-error-422-w-large-number-of-objects/#post-733276  

I have had no problems with the filament sensors, can you elaborate exactly on what your  hardware failure related problems are?   I think the pros definitely outweigh the cons when it comes to engineering/design of new parts.  Using multiple extruder technology is amazing, different materials, more importantly different nozzle sizes/types on different extruders...  using .25 for areas that need super accuracy and .4  for not so important areas is a huge one for me and works very well even though it was just released.   

Here's an example of some trays I designed for the XL, I used .4 for the tray, .25 for the  flush font and it came out super crisp and flush: Tool Trays for Prusa XL - Right & Left Side w/ Honeycomb & PRUSA XL logo

RE: Would You Guys Buy the 5Head XL Again?

I would absolutely buy another one.  Best printer I have ever owned.  I started with a two head but have upgraded to 5.  It is a fantastic design and was worth wait.  

RE: Would You Guys Buy the 5Head XL Again?

I would!

The PETG/PLA support combo is my favourite function! I no longer have to design my stuff for "printability" and so can optimise the design for strength and compactness.

My wife is so impressed by the XL, she's happy with it sitting at the end of the kitchen counter and relegated the Mk 4 to the storage room.

Regarding the filament sensor issues, I sorted mine out from my experience with the Mk 4. Repeatedly inserting the filament past the metal ball and back. Like A LOT! This helps smooth out the surfaces that the balls slide against. After that, blow compressed air to clear the dust.