Adding Extra Toolheads to the Prusa XL!

Prusa is now offering toolhead upgrades for the XL machines. Since I only had a 2 toolhead machine, I decided to upgrade to the full 5 toolheads. In this video, I'll show you the installation and calibration process for the extra toolheads and do a test print to verify everything's working properly.
Prusa XL - www.prusa3d.com/product/origi...
My Favorite Tools - www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls...
Prusa XL Playlist - • Prusa XL
00:00 Intro
00:43 What's Included
02:56 Disassembly
04:14 Adding PSU
06:07 Installing Power Splitter
06:45 First Step Done!
07:20 Installing the Docks
08:04 Securing Docks
09:17 Wiring
09:54 Installing Toolheads
10:32 First Power Up
11:38 Dock Calibration
13:15 Offset Calibration
14:14 Preparing for Printing
15:05 Pricing and Test Print
16:18 Conclusion

[@bluerider0988]

I used Loctite 243 on the docks, a non ball end hex key and used the universal wrench that comes with the printer as a cheater bar. Mine are not coming loose unless I loosen them. I also removed that mesh back section behind the docks for better access. Another good video. No good, no BS, just good info.

[@woodwaker1]

removing the back mesh makes it so much easier

[@alexsalchemy]

Very cool! Thank you for being on the bleeding edge and showing us what it looks like!

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Of course!

[@IanBradbury]

Can't wait to see what you print next. Great video that really shows, like you said, where you're money goes.

[@johnpapiewski7022]

Great Prusa XL content & advice. Really gets into the nitty gritty details, clearly explained.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Much appreciated!

[@joell439]

Robert - Can’t wait to see what you call crazy. 🎉

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Haha, me too!

[@kipsimpson2332]

This is a timely video. I got word some days ago that my XL will ship in the spring. Based on one of your earlier videos I decided to go all-in and get the five heads right off the hop. I am excited to see what "really crazy" demonstrative model you conjure to test/show off the capabilities of this machine. This video, with you sitting next to the XL, also gave me a real sense of how big this printer is. Great video that is void of fforwardable filler and yet is as entertaining as it is substantive. There's an art to that which you seem to have dialed-in. Nice. Look forward to more.

[@falxonPSN]

As someone else who went for the 5-head version, the initial setup is really quite straightforward. The only recommendation is to get a T-Handle 2.5mm hex driver to allow you to apply more torque to the dock screws when installing them. I would also suggest adding a drop of blue threadlocker as I have found they tend to loosen up with vibrations over time.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Oh yeah, it's MUCH bigger than you'd expect. It's a real machine. Also, thanks for the compliments!

[@Thadopeera]

Great video and right on time as always ..

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Thanks!

[@bami2]

Great video! I really like how you went a bit deeper into the install of everything since that's something a lot of people have questions about when looking at one of those machines, but you don't have to watch 2+ hours of livestream of somebody doing it live with clear chapters and all the information nicely condensed. I think you hit the nail right on the head on the pricing, yeah it might be an expensive piece of kit but the value proposition is pretty great, so if you have the uses for it it's probably worth it, especially since you already have a x1c so both printers complement each other pretty well I feel, specializing in different things instead of having 1 machine that's trying to do everything. Can't wait to see your projects involved with this, the multi material printing without all the purging and waste is going to give some awesome results.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Thanks! Yeah, seeing the machine up close gives you a better appreciation for how complex it really is. And I agree, the X1C and XL are good compliments to each other, not necessarily substitutes.

[@JonathanRansom]

Let's get crazy!!!

[@falxonPSN]

Nice to see what the upgrade looks like. Years ago at pre-order time, my plan was to go 3-toolhead so I would have the upgrade board already there. When I finally ordered it, I went whole-hog and went for 5-head pre-assembled. The main reason I was interested in the XL over any of the other similar size printers was the option of multi-material printing at different extrusion temperatures. So far, I have done things like using PETG supports for PLA prints, and it has worked out really well.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

I'm working on something for next week, but I printed PETG, PET-CF, TPU and PLA all in the same print, no problem.

[@PaulHuckaby]

Is it an expensive printer - yes. But the hardware design, very impressive. Contrary to other comments - that upgrade looks very easy, and well designed..that power supply design is slick! And even that 3 port controller card is a about as simple as you could make it - well done to the Prusa hardware team.

[@seljd]

for the price of one toolhead you could build 3 toolheads for the Voron Tapchanger, maybe not as fancy as XL toolheads but still

[@Thadopeera]

Voron has always intrigued me. I print Prusa But the Voron looks fun

[@adamsvensson2035]

Then you wouldn’t have one working tool, but three projects…

[@Arcadenut1]

Nice! I just put a video up about this as well. Do yourself a favor and remove that back panel that covers the belts and extruders, I find it a lot easier to work on the docks when the panel is not in the way.

[@woodwaker1]

Your comment about the dock screws is very important. I stripped my dock 1 when installing it, or it was not drilled correctly. I think this is the biggest design flaw on the printer. Needs more than one bolt, and I would like to see an alignment pin in addition to the two bolts. Just an update, Prusa will not sell only a Nextruder, at least not yet. I tried when I had one fail, and they said only as part of an upgrade kit. I wanted to have a spare on hand, as they are very quick to swap out

[@krollmond7544]

Looking forward to those tests without the prime tower, thanks for this.

[@TNX255]

I sure wish I had some 5000 bucks extra when watching this :D

[@tonynungaray5576]

Each power supply is rated for 240watts, the XL with all print heads heating and the bed full tilt it pulls about 600watts.

[@ScytheNoire]

It's really crazy that Prusa doesn't have any North American shipping center or any partnership with a company to handle it. They seem to really just focus on Europe.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Yeah, I'm a bit surprised by that.

[@webfiles4utube]

As always... thank you for the very nice and detailed video. I did have one question, during the time you had the dual extruder setup, have you had any of the fasteners come loose or where the extruder moved out of its calibrated home position?

[@RobertCowanDIY]

I haven't had this issue at all. I think it comes down to properly securing the docks. They now have a detailed video in the manual to address this. Wiggling everything while tightening helps everything seat into place.

[@bobbyhobbs1842]

Prusa doesn't offer a 2T to 3T upgrade but we can purchase a single extruder (1T to 2T). It appears the daughter board would be required even if adding one more tool to an existing 2T setup. What about the extra power supply - is it required if just adding another tool to a 2T setup? I don't need 5 tools but 3 tools would be nice....

[@JockeSelin]

Hi Robert! I’ve been enjoying your videos for a while now, and I’m very grateful for you taking the time to make them. Touching on your upcoming videos where you’re going to showcase the multi material capabilities of the Prusa XL, I’ve got one request. Let me elaborate. I bought the i3 Mk3 pretty much when it came out and it’s been a trusty workhorse ever since. I’ve done virtually nothing to it, and then at some point the MMU upgrade was made available and quite often I’ve toyed with the idea of getting it. Now when the i3 Mk4 is out, I might pull the trigger on the Mk4 and the MMU kit. Sadly the XL is not for me, even if the budget would allow. Anyway, my request is that there seems to be a vacuum in explaining multi material on KZbin. Granted it’s been a while since I searched for MMU specific videos, but when I did, I couldn’t find what I was looking for! Nobody seems to explain the process from design to print when it comes to MMU. I think I’ve read between the lines, but a video confirming how it’s all done would be superb. The grey areas, to me, are how to design the print to use multi material, I believe you simply design multiple components (I use Fusion 360 for reference), and then you do some magic in the slicer (PrusaSlicer for me), where you import the parts in place, and select the different material/extruder. That’s what I’ve sort of figured out, but I’ve never found a video that explicitly explains this. Maybe it’s one of those things that is so natural once you’re doing it that it gets forgotten. Anyway, if you could shed a bit of light on the process, I’d be very grateful, and thanks for your videos. 😎👍🏻

[@RobertCowanDIY]

You are correct, you just design the parts and select the extruder/filament for each part. The reason it's not explained is it's fairly straightforward. In my other XL video, I just made two parts that interlocked and selected the filament for each extruder and assigned an extruder to each part. If you save an assembly as a 3MF, you can easily import that into the slicer and assign each piece to an extruder.

[@JockeSelin]

@@RobertCowanDIY Thanks for confirming this. I saw your other video, great stuff, thanks! From my perspective it’s all quite implied, which means that for me, a more detailed video on how to design, slice and print with multi material would be very interesting, even if it’s just confirming exactly what I thought, and you just said. I’m sure there are others out there hating might benefit from such a video.😊 Anyway, I don’t want to come across as ungrateful, I really enjoy your videos, so big thanks! 😎👍🏻

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@JockeSelin Check out my most recent video ;-)

[@JockeSelin]

@@RobertCowanDIY As you already know, I watched it as soon as I saw it. Thank you!

[@jamesgates1074]

I want to see that big tire they showed off for the XL

[@RobertCowanDIY]

They only offer it as a pre-sliced model unfortunately.

[@huntliba]

Another nice video m8! Thanks for that... but if I may little question to you - I have understood that XL has two filament sensors per head... one on the side and other in the head... I may be wrong also :D but I have seen that it wastes quite some filament, if roll ends (bowden tube length of filament) or is there a way to overcome that...

[@Keptains]

I just got my Prusa XL this week and i can confirm there is one sensor in the Nextruder and one on the side. Theoretically youre right that it might waste some filament. But you can setup an additonal extruder tool/head as a backup (So it continous printing with another head if you have loaded the same filament in both). But to avoid wasting this 30cm(?) of filament you could simply manually add something into the outside sensor. I personaly dont care about this to much though considering how much you save with the priming tower instead of the poop-shute from bambu or something. One last option is ofcourse to permanently put a 5cm filament piece into the outside sensor and put in the filament directly in the tube i guess

[@huntliba]

@@Keptains Thanks m8

[@BeefIngot]

Just wanted to add a filament suggestion for your playing: PP Like TPU, but stiffer. ... None of my phrasing did that any good.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Haha, are we still doing phrasing?

[@chrismitchell9936]

Was the torus smooth around the outer edge? I noticed you tested on the topside between the colors, but I didn't hear you test on the side. Obviously there's a perimeter to perimeter seam so it's not continuous, but were they aligned? I thought i visually saw a small XY deviation..

[@RobertCowanDIY]

You'll never get sharp corners, so there was a little bit of a radius between the colors.

[@hologos_]

@@RobertCowanDIYI was thinking the same. The alignment should be tested with a cylinder and changing colors after let's say 20 layers.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@hologos_ I'm not sure what you're asking? I measured the part just now and it's nearly perfectly circular, it deviates around 0.1mm. I don't really see how the printer would have an issue keeping calibration based on how it picks and places the toolheads. Let me know if you'd like something tested, but it's a pretty simple and foolproof way of calibrating the offets.

[@hologos_]

@@RobertCowanDIYMy intention was to check the alignment of the toolheads (x,y offset of each toolhead).

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@hologos_Gotcha. In an earlier video I printed the TPU and PETG part and showed the interface under a microscope. It's dead-on. I guess I didn't see any issues so I didn't really go any further.

[@mariuszstanisz9070]

You only have to remove the extruders, If you have a V1 dock. V2 not required.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

gotcha.

[@MrDksmall]

How smart is the power distribution? Let’s say you are doing a single extruder print, does the printer heat up all 5 hot ends, or does it only heat up the 1 so you’re saving power?

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Fair. My understanding though is a switch mode power supply isn't putting out full power when there's no load on it.

[@MrDksmall]

@@RobertCowanDIY I would think this falls on to the slicer, which should be setting the unused hot ends to 0 degrees, thus they don’t heat up.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@MrDksmall This is how it's done, there's even a temperature delta you can set when they aren't currently printing. I did some quick testing and the whole machine never got over 400 watts, printing in open air. I'm assuming with higher bed and nozzle temps it would go up a bit, but it seems like they have a lot of extra margin in the power supplies.

[@NoizieWorks]

The price is a bit insane but at the end i think it's going to be worth it

[@RobertCowanDIY]

I guess it's all relative. The tool changer on my Tormach is $3500 and is FAR simpler.

[@garagecedric]

Price is also very relative, if you come fron an ender and live in your moms basement its massive amounts of money. For a company its pretty much nothing, that upgrade is like one order i do of some SLS parts at work :) So it depends in what way you look at it, this printer falls slightly in between, which makes for a lot of price discussions :)

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Oh, 100% agree. Everyone has a different budget. For me as a part-time hobbyist, the price isn't a deal breaker, but it certainly might be for others. It just depends on what you need or want it for and are willing to justify the price.

[@woodwaker1]

I'm a retired compute person and this is my passion and full time hobby. I purchased the XL and am fortunate to not see this as a large expense, vs going on a cruise or playing golf five times a week. 5 years ago I started with an Ender 5, have upgraded over the years and now have 2 Bambu, 2 Rat Rigs and the XL with 5 heads. I have to stop as I ran out of space. This is like life, you spend what you can on what is important to you. I don't smoke or drink and have no cell phone.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@woodwaker1For sure, money is relative. I also don't drink and don't have a fancy car. I see people with $500+ car payments and such.

[@Eric_Wolfe-Schulte]

No gummy bears with the upgrade kit? 😁

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Ha, they did include them, I just didn't mention it. I kinda wish they'd get rid of the gummy bears and focus more on other things...

[@Eric_Wolfe-Schulte]

It's definitely a gimmick, but it's brilliant marketing!

[@hitf5]

Ideed! The XL came with a huge tub of them, something like a few pounds worth! And I'm thinking...I paid for shipping this! Would rather have gotten a roll of filament.@@RobertCowanDIY

[@Keptains]

@@RobertCowanDIY Do you mean to add something else besides gummy bears like chocolate or to just forget about this gimmik completly? Because i would assume that they dont use to much time on this that "focus more on other things" would be relevant

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@Eric_Wolfe-Schulte I think it's not carrying enough weight. Gimmicks work when your competition doesn't have enough differentiators, which isn't the case right now.

[@rikkilake]

If you have a kill-a-watt, it'd be nice to know the total power draw from the wall.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Yeah, I could certainly do that in my next video.

[@75keg75]

The need a torque setting for the 8:57 steps…

[@RobertCowanDIY]

They need to better design the dock. It's a 3d printed part that doesn't seat well into the extrusion. ALSO, there are only a couple threads so you actually need more torque than you can really provide for the tiny fastener. They should have done a machined nut-strip bar thing in the channel. I would absolutely replace mine, but you need to tear down the whole machine to get to it.

[@75keg75]

@@RobertCowanDIY I’m gonna get mine in next month or so wonder what I need to get to rectify from outset ? Couiid you do a community post with a couple of pics and you fix idea. It might be adopted by prusa. Joel telling had that grease nipple idea thats apparently in the manual now…

[@RobertCowanDIY]

@@75keg75 Yeah, as long as you're careful, it's fine. It's just not an ideal design. They should have a nut strip (similar to a single nut that would go in the channel, but longer to accommodate all 5 tool heads) instead of the flat bar, which doesn't give you enough threads. They could also switch to a machined part instead of the 3d printed part. I can mock something up but it would be a change from the factory as it wouldn't be worth tearing down the machine to replace anything.

[@ianhoolihan2396]

why is everyone saying $5000? It's $3500 on the website?

[@ManIkWeet]

Have you ever noticed that the beard in your logo, on its own, is like a little pointy eared head?

[@Festivejelly]

Its a very good looking machine. But far out of my price range. I do wish though that Prusa would try to up their quality on their printed parts that they supply on the machines. Some of the printed parts look really bad.

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Yeah, I guess I'd agree. But they're dimensionally accurate and structurally sound.

[@BeefIngot]

I know its the first of its kind to not just be diy, but... it kinda comes off as a lot of diy for a 6000 dollar printer. Im starting to think there might be an argument in favour of a custom tool changer using one of the many plans out there when you consider total cost and "paying yourself" for all the stuff I would have assumed paying this amount would have gotten rid of. I initially assumed this woupd be more like taking a typical bed slinger out and connecting the 2 halves x2. Also, by god, every other company has figured it out yet prusa still ships from their home country and making the user pay hefty shipping fees and duties that could have been cut significantly by using one of many available import services. Kinda makes me wonder if its not just a way to make the user think its one price but then its another. Anyhow, thats a lot of whining but I do think Robert might be like one of the few people this product is for. An engineer or engineer adjacent, familiar enough with 3d printers to use intuition to get passed hurdles that would have stumped less adept people, but also not wanting to put in the time to figure out his own solution making this a worthy tradeoff. I mean, here I am moaning but at least this can print cool stuff as opposed to being a giant "please rob me" paperweight (Vision Pro (Some of its tech is cool though, like 12ms e2e outside view cameras))

[@RobertCowanDIY]

The video makes it seem a lot more DIY than in reality. Calibration will always need to be done, regardless of the machine. So if you just look at the assembly, it's maybe 1 hour in total to add 3 toolheads, which really isn't bad.

[@ray-charc3131]

No use

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Haha, what?

[@woodwaker1]

Glad you pointed out the alignment process. It takes time, but is another why this is a higher cost machine. I learned that it is better do go through the process every time you do any thing with the hot ends. Something else that I did - lube the 3 points on the extruder

[@falxonPSN]

Do you mean the 3 pins on each toolhead dock mechanism?

[@woodwaker1]

@@falxonPSN yes, the three brass pins are inserted in to dock, and lube helps. There are some fittings on Printables to make fittings for the tube of grease thaecame with the printer

[@RobertCowanDIY]

Correct, any time the machine is moved, everything should be calibrated. This would be the same with a CNC milling machine as well. Re-tram the head after placing it. I've heard about lubing the toolheads, I should look into that.