The Prusa XL is built different

[@ydoucare55]

Thank you for actually showing how the tool change mechanism works unlike basically every other video about this printer.

[@maltoNitho]

I came for the XL but I’m commenting about the sponsor. TLDR; do NOT buy from FlexiSpot. I ordered my desk 20-Feb and it’s now 21-May. They CANNOT tell me when my desk will ship and they refuse to make any concessions. I’m debating canceling my nearly thousand dollar order as result. I’ll be telling this story in every YT comment I can find.

[@kyle8575]

That sucks. Was this from their site?

[@radish6691]

Cancel your order. If you don’t then you’re just validating their bad customer service. Then take your money to IKEA because their standing desks are very solid and work great. I have a Bekant but they’re closing out that line…good news is they’re discounted now.

[@aj_mcnamara]

I got an UPLIFT desk 2 years ago. It shipped fast and has worked great.

[@JH-zo5gk]

Cancle it. Get a eureka. Their customer support rocks. They sent me new parts for my desk I ordered like 6 years ago and they didn't even carry any more. Parts I lost when I moved. They searched all over and couldn't find me my part, so they made it for me and sent it to me for FREE. Way, way, way after any support could have been expected for a user caused error.

[@JamesTenniswood]

I have had a great experience with flex spot in the UK. Love the desk, good price

[@wiseovertime]

I finally received my August 22, 2024 full factory assembled Prusa XL 5 Tool head printer yesterday. I carefully took my time to properly follow all instructions to assemble and set up my printer to make sure the assembly was executed perfectly. All tests and All calibrations passed and were successfully completed the very 1st attempt. All showed green check marks and heated properly for all 5 heads. All filaments we’re also loaded 1st try to all 5 heads and extruded PLA in all five heads successfully the first attempt. My first test print was also perfect and flawless. I could not have been happier, and I was glad I took the extra time to make sure it was perfect. My second attempt was to print the PLA, PLA, Flex wrist CT scan model that comes on the flash drive with the printer, but my # 2 head suddenly gave an error message on the screen and the printer shut off and rebooted. The same error message appeared after booting that the thermistor or heat resistor wire has a problem and may be damaged? How, This was just a few minutes after all 5 heads had just heated and passed calibration tests and extruded PLA seamlessly. How is this possible? Nothing touched the printer. I stayed up trying to troubleshoot last night for two hours and spent another hour and a half this morning and an hour just now with support agents attempting to figure out how this went from functioning perfect and passing test to failing without the printer ever being touched, to an error? I spoke with 2 Prusa customer support agents who are unable to understand how to help me and make this right. This is very frustrating after 5 hours of careful assembly, I've lost 4-5 more hours trouble shooting the defective #2 Nextruder after it had just heated up and passed calibration. I asked PRUSA for help and support and tried to explain as friendly as possible that I can't waste any more time on this. I sent pictures and asked to please help me and make this right so I don't lose any more of my time on my brand new $5000 printer. Prusa's solution WAS NOT to overnight me 1 fully assembled Nextruder Replacement with a little store credit or to include a couple extra boxes of filament for the troubles I've had and loss of time on a brand new factory assembled unit, but instead they asked me to carry the burden and do all the work to spend another 2-3 hours 60 steps, disassembling the defective Nextruder, along with another perfectly working Nextruder and swap parts and reassemble to narrow down which part component is defective. And if that does not work, they want me to move on the dissembling both Nextruders again and swapping the next parts to check which adds another 2-3 hours. Keep in mind, I paid $500 extra for FULL factory assembled unit so I did not have to deal with issues or worry about each individual part or waste time making it look as clean as they can from the factory. I don't want to have the burden of not routing all wires and tucking lines back as perfect as they did because I am not as good as they are. Plus I'd have to recalibrate everything again afterwards. I'm a loyal Prusa customer for over 5 years, buy their Prusament filamnet regularly and have convinced my friends and others to purchase Prusa. Is their support satisfactory ? I feel this is not right and unacceptable. Am I off here to expect Prusa to replace the defective Nextruder with a new fully assembled unit like I originally paid for? It's business. I have to support my customers this way in my business, or I'll lose customers to my competitors who also offer this type of support. I'll remove this review once PRUSA steps up to the plate and takes ownership to make this right. Does this seem fair to deal with on a brand-new factory assembled unit or should the guys at PRUSA do the right thing and ship my replacement?

[@PutTheKettleOnGromit]

I print on my Prusa XL 5TH TPU with PLA supports (grid). I use the fully Soluble setting with a 0.1mm offset. I can make proper huge gaskets with complex geometries. So many possibilities.

[@sftzclem]

Great point. This is one of the most overlooked features of having a dual extruder system. It makes for easy to remove and beautiful supports. I do the same thing using PLA/PETG, but I also modify the supports tho only use different materials on the adjoining layers. This saves tool head changes and time.

[@connord816]

I also did the same thing but for a Nerf Nuke model (Think Geek 2014 april fools day prank product) I did the standard soluble setting which I think has 0 offset. Came out fantastic after I figured out the best way to remove the PLA was to dunk the whole print in boiling hot water (not actively boiling)

[@BaioWithMayo]

Ive had the XL since Feb of this year (5 head) and my hands down favorite part is using PLA/PETG/Polysupport (a dedicated breakaway material) for the support interface. This has made downloading random non-3d printed designed models and throwing them into slicer with basic settings a breeze. On the model its perfect overhangs and has broken me to think "yeah a massive curved overhang over nothing will print fine" its been THE game changer, and makes all parts look professionally done. Only thing I need from Prusa is allowing us to customize wipe towers, so I can have 4 colors of the same material wiping into infill and only have a wipe tower for the support and my main material since thats all thats needed. If you havent tried using it with a dedicated multimaterial support, highly recommended. Its the only printer that can do it and I will never go back to a printer without at least 2 print heads... my poor wallet

[@javitoto]

Hi, do you use poly support for both PLA and PETG prints? Just for the interface layer or for the whole support structure? Many thanks!

[@BaioWithMayo]

@@javitoto Polysupport just for PLA. PETG I dont believe works and I havent tested it. I have a spool of PETG that I tried using PLA to support and it kinda works, but not great. Could narrow it down with settings. I use it just for the interface layer since Polysupport is $40/750g which is EXPENSIVE, and it works great. Takes some time to get your settings dialed in like anything does though

[@AckzaTV]

isnt special pla support expensive if youre throwing it in teh slicer? ion my a1+ ams lite i have to wastea lot of filament for changes and i wish bambu would just let us go without wasting filament just cut and go and deal with the color or put it on inside the walls infill sparse filling flsyhing etc

[@BaioWithMayo]

@AckzaTV on Bambu in particular the changes are expensive because of the "poops". The prusa MMU3 apparently is a little better, but the XL only uses a small purge tower to equalize pressures. Plus I only use it on interface layers. 0% gap, perfect curved overhang, and easy to remove. On my bread and butter 160g print, 5g is all the dedicated support I use. That's (if perfectly efficient) 150 prints I can get off one 40$ support spool

[@0calvin]

One of the benefits I like about the multi tool head setup on my XL is keeping one tool with a hardened nozzle and one with a .6 or .8 nozzle for the larger, less detailed prints.

[@BeefIngot]

I used to think that, but with faster printers, Id rather just another filament and to print faster.

[@aronseptianto8142]

@@BeefIngot yeah, i don't think for most modern consumer grade printer, nozzle size matter that much anymore. The printer can move fast enough to saturate the volumetric speed cap of most hotend. So you're not gaining any speed by using bigger nozzle, you're just allowing your kinematics to slow down a bit (that is unless you upgraded your hotend with a volcano or smth

[@damianparadis524]

I keep my 3rd nozzle with a 0.25mm nozzle. I've actually had it do perimeter extrusion with the 0.25mm, supports with something else (cheap but dry) for the supports) at 0.6mm, and infill with another 0.6mm. After tweaking, ie stealing 0.25mm settings from one profile for one nozzle and applying it to the 0.60mm profile for a new profile, it worked great. The next goal is to 'paint' the tops of shapes, text, and high detail areas for the 0.25mm and then a 0.4mm for the rest of the exterior.

[@krollmond7544]

You can do different nozzles?

[@thejosefprusa]

I'm glad you're enjoying your XL! Great points about the XL pricing, would you like to try the XL smart enclosure too? We have it nearly ready 👍

[@BeefIngot]

Should I assume heated and filtered?

[@zippy-boy8605]

Yo Josef, can you send me a Prusa XL lol. Jokes aside, I love your printers. It's a pity I got an Ender 3 before I saw something like this come out. Would you ever consider having Klipper preinstalled on any of your future printers?

[@ulaB]

Is it enough to have the same firstname to be able to test it? ;-)

[@Arcadenut1]

Can you please fix the way the docks are mounted? They are problematic on my XL and a real pain to setup initially. Single screw with a extremely tight fit isn't good.

[@JonneBackhaus]

Dunno why i cant comment directly so i need to highjack this, but Tom missed the wifi file generation in prusaslicer. So technically its now much more userfriendly :)

[@Foxhood]

I really appreciate that Prusa has kept things simple and old-fashioned when it came to firmware updates and configuration. Just put it on the stick and it will do the rest. No data harvesting apps required. Even the belt-tuning is done via a Website tool, and yeah their documentation is great. It has made building the MK4 for me a good experience that just works well on the first try. Its nice to read the XL is pretty much the same experience. Though such a size is a bit beyond my skill-level in regards of mechanical engineering to become interesting just yet.

[@BeefIngot]

You dont need to data harvest to be much more convenient than that.

[@Mike01Hu]

You mentioned step artifacts and pasted the question "is this belts". My analysis is that it is a belt-tooth hop-off or tooth-engage vibration, and is due to the small diameter of the drive pulleys and tooth profiles causing the belt to grab the edge of the pulley tooth when engaging or, through stiction, hanging onto the to tooth when it disengages. The artifact repetition is exactly the belt tooth pitch. This is a common problem with toothed belts, and it really requires shaping of the teeth to ensure clean transits, as with gears. Of course, much larger pulley diameters and/or super-fine tooth pitches may reduce the issue. Perhaps you could investigate this further, as I no longer have the resources to do so. Thanks again, Tom, for a great video.

[@riba2233]

I have seen people get rid of these artifacts with properly tuned belt tension.

[@draco10111b]

There is a smooth idler facing the belt teeth for each belt. Heard that may cause issues, but haven't seen proper testing for it.

[@smow7422]

I can confirm that these artifacts aka Vertical Line Artifacts can be induces by the belts and idlers. I’m troubleshooting this exact issue on my Voron Zero right now

[@AcECraftWorkshop]

You forgot the most important part why XL is so good. Multi material support (PLA PETG) is KING! Its the reason why I waited for the printer so long, and now I have huge freedom is during 3D designing. I find myself more and more switching to a design strategy where I don't care about overhangs and bridges anymore. More and more prints are designed for my XL with Multi-support then to my MK3's. It surprises me how few people I see talking about why Multi Material is such a big deal, maybe I should make a video about it to get it started? X3

[@BennyTygohome]

I think a single nozzle printer with a multi material ability (AMS, MMU3) can achieve the same. For example, the main model is PETG ...build your supports also in PETG. Then when it gets to the support interface layers where support contacts the model that's when it switches filaments for the support interface layer from PETG to PLA. The advantage of XL tool changer is when it brings in the 2nd tool for the interface layers, it probably goes faster (AMS needs to flush filaments)? But it only needs to do that tedious task at the interface layers. If your model had interface layers occurring at many various different layers of the model then XL is clear winner.

[@chrissniederle3960]

@@BennyTygohome That's a bit short-sighted: the XL also uses significantly less material than a system that has to be flushed! Furthermore, some materials have interactions, which is why mixing them is not advisable. As far as I know, neither AMS nor MMU are really suitable for materials such as TPU! The domain is inevitably the color change. Material combinations are less recommendable...! Another problem is if you want to combine different nozzles! For example, I sometimes have orders for personalized key rings that also function as shopping cart tokens. I can print these on the MMU. It works well and was standard before the XL. I had to choose the nozzle as large as possible because of the printing time, but as small as necessary because of the font/graphics. I'm already looking forward to the next job when I can test this on my XL for the first time...! Lettering/graphics and a small "bubble" embedded as separate objects with 0.25 nozzle and "bubble" and base carrier same material. This allows me to print the base support with a 06 nozzle and the "bubble" with text/graphics with a 025 nozzle. It will probably be difficult to print finer and more detailed and at the same time faster and with less material - especially for MMU or AMS, I think... 😉

[@Todestelzer]

I looked into the XL but I bought a Snapmaker J1 for 1/3 of the price in the end. Only 2 tool heads but that's enough for me. And it has a enclosure as well.

[@drstefankrank]

@@BennyTygohome If you have a single extruder, you need to purge a lot when going from PLA back to PETG. I noticed that if you only flush enough for a colour change, the nozzle seems to be contaminated with PLA still and the next PETG layers don't stick. Still, if you need clean supports, the waste is manageable.

[@BeefIngot]

@@chrissniederle3960 I think a lot of what you say makes sense but then ypu think you have 3000 dollars to spend on that waste fioament and suddenly you realize maybe that waste isnt so bad. TPU and other weird materials is where multi tool head shines. Where the MMU systems cant seem to do it.

[@dark_matter8420]

I just don't understand them insisting the filament needs to be bone dry, but the spool holders they designed are just outside of the frame exposed to air. Meaning they will inevitably absorb some moisture. Or do they expect you to take off all filament rolls after every print and store them separately?

[@TorianTammas]

Yes this is exactly a weird concept. five printing heads need an enclosed dry space to store the filament on the machine.

[@patrickchase5614]

I have a 5-head XL with the new enclosure. I love this printer. I was trained as a mechanical engineer but currently work in software, and have the printer for hobby projects. As you say, it just gets out of the way and lets you get on with work. I saw some of the same oddities as you around z-calibration, but like you was able to resolve it by recalibrating and doing test prints. I also have a modded UM S3 (I added chamber heating and a heated recirculation path for an external filter) for higher-temp materials and a Voron 0.2 for "quick and small" prints.

[@markuszirbel3831]

I would like to mention it is missing an enclosure. Sure, I would love, the XL having a camera. If Prusa don´t release a proprietary enclosure this year, I will take a third party enclosure or build one myself. Apart from that, I love the maschine, it is my first Prusa printer and it is amazing.

[@Pixelplanet5]

Prusa has confirmed in the comments on their KZbin channel that the official enclosure will be released latest next month.

[@SleepLessThan3]

Considering that there are either pla or petg printed parts, are you worried at all about those parts failing in an enclosed machine?

[@TheKUBAGTA4]

@@SleepLessThan3 I'm using an Ender 3 S1 Pro inside an enclosure, printing quite a lot from ABS and ASA and I have a few PETG printed parts inside of the enclosure, never had any problems with that The Prusa printed parts are PETG

[@chrissniederle3960]

@@SleepLessThan3 Prusa works on his maschines with Printed Parts and you can Download these Orginal Parts to Print it yourself, if one ist broken (Mk3s Print has lost Bedaddhession and closed the Nozzle with the Print - the Printhead was full with material. That was my mistake, becaus i has to MK3s at this time (now both is MK4 now...), one with 04 Nozzle and one with 06 Nozzle - Print started on Wrong printer and ignored the Warning - my Wife started the next Print, while I´m at work and she knows not really the different so special - mea culpa. Mistakes are here to do they and learn... 😉 But I use the orginal datas to make my optimized Parts based on the Perfect start - the original Datas! So my XL has now optimized Filament-sensors with perfect soft input - i has moded they to magnet and Flipped they 90 degrees, so the magnets can perfect work and all materials - also TPU, too can very easy put in - the original with spring works, but they works very hard! Smooth materials like TPU don´t like this hardness... But Prusa works and tested it long times, so the printed parts will work very long ok. Only at my MM3 has I changed Selector and Idler Body has I Printed in SLS with PA6 material, because this Parts are must work very exactly and Petg and hot temperature and Presure on the Threads are not so good for a longt easy Printtime... But now, all 3 are stable working and I´m very happy with it...! Sorry about my bad english - i´m better in German, but I hope, you understand me...

[@drstefankrank]

@@SleepLessThan3 PETG is fine if the doors are closed (MK4 with enclosure and all holes stuffed), reaching over 40°C after some time. PLA on the other hand doesn't like it and I leave the doors open while printing.

[@0calvin]

I've had my XL for a number of months now and absolutely love it. It's a Prusa, so of course there are one or two weird things with it but overall it rocks.

[@Pyriscent]

One or two weird things? Every time it changes a tool head it destroys alignment and this was proven by another KZbinr. I'm convinced these are all paid comments at this point.

[@brisance]

@@Pyriscent you can visit the various makerfaires, Rapid+TCT, Formnext etc and see the machine in action for yourself, whether what you said is true or not. Hint: it's not.

[@haenselundgretel654]

That the XL doesn't have a spool-tray that keeps the filament dry is a real bummer.

[@renesfoodpassion]

printables gibt es Lösungen

[@lamborn3D]

This actually Prusa's only printer that legitimately interests me. I can't afford it even a little though.

[@elleryfg7853]

At this point it's probably their only relevant printer

[@startedtech]

For multi color printing it already holds a huge advantage over systems like the Bambu AMS, since it doesn't have to do extraordinarily wasteful purges. Not to mention the speed advantage of that.

[@elleryfg7853]

@@startedtech Yeah it's great for multicolor you can do up to 5 colors for only $4000. That's a lot of money to print "cute" things. Unless you're selling them it seems like a waste of money

[@Fantastika]

@@elleryfg7853 Its less of a waste than AMS, different colours of the same filament? Wow that great, completely useless. 5 toolheads are actually useful as you can use different materials.

[@LilApe]

@@elleryfg7853 Prusa sells 11k printers a month. All of their printers are relevant.

[@stonelambert]

Just finished building my semi assembled singletool XL and my second print is finishing now. No hiccups thus far! Super happy with quality, speed, and volume (both audible and print size). Really impressed with the bed leveling capabilities.

[@zerofox3d]

Extremely well balanced review, Tom at his best.

[@ricardo2859-y4t]

Hey Tom, thanks for your efforts as always.. It seems these later models have had some things ironed out. Your experience with the XL has been far better than mine. I am a big fan of Prusa and own every single one of their printers (multiples of the MK3s+). I pre-ordered the 5 tool XL on day one so I was one of the first to receive the 5 tool head units. It has gone so poorly I almost gave up on it. Your video has made me want to put some effort into getting it running like every Prusa Machine should. Thanks for the motivation.

[@Ro3Deee]

as Prusa XL owner, I recomend: 1. use the smooth plate for PLA, the satin for PETG and PC and the textured for TPU. Check my videos for PEY, PEO and H1 plates. 2. use Obxidian nozzles 3. install silicone nozzle wipers for each toolhead 4. calibrate the belt tension 5. use a small thumbdrive usb 6. connect the printer using a ethernet cable and don't use wifi 7. use a UPS at least when upgradinding FW 8. print five Cable protecting toolbase clip for preventing the cable of previos tool from wearing off when docking 9. Replace the knob with a mk3s style one for faster navigation 10. replace the two side sensor cables with two bed cables and then lower the side sensors for better cable path (see my videos on this topic). Happy printing!

[@cdjxwubcyex]

You forgot: 11. Never use CAT5e ethernet cable, use only CAT6

[@faultboy]

​@@cdjxwubcyexWhy? Do you plan to use 2.5GBase with your printer?

[@EK1H]

I have just got my 5T XL up and running. It takes a detailed understanding of how it works to get good results and you must print dry filament, ideally straight from a heated box. It can do multicolour faster than an old Mk3S and waaay faster than a bamboo with ams. Prusa also have excellent support and customer service.

[@johnkray7352]

Thanks you for talking about the price! I'm so sick of people complaining about the price. As a business that operates a print farm and needs large format machines, there just isn't really another viable professional-level machine on the market. The fact that it's not $10k+ is amazing.

[@BeefIngot]

This isnt a professional level machine though.. And unless you need the toolheads, ratrigs exist and the sovol sv08 exists.

[@johnkray7352]

​@@BeefIngot I'm not going to get into it, but those machines you mentioned are not well suited to the professional environment that I'm in, and I've been using many XLs professionally.

[@BeefIngot]

@@johnkray7352 Im very curious to hear how those are discounted past the very vague handwaving. Ultimately these machines are still kits, you are unlikely to have any sort of sla if youre in the us, so im just wondering how it passes for professional especially given all the faults.

[@jackersing]

⁠@@BeefIngotDo you own an XL? If so, what faults are you experiencing?

[@BeefIngot]

@@jackersing Nope. Using that as a dismissal isnt actually a good argument though and qe can see the faults in reviews everywhere including this one like lack of a decent interface, no chamber, no is calibration (to my knowledge, maybe this is updated), no camera and more. No need to be defensive about a product. It is a product.

[@cmdrspidermonk4n377]

That sponsor segment transition was god tier 😂

[@zacharywilson9876]

He really took it to a new level

[@shadowgolem9158]

Like the opening scene of Highlander.

[@Martial-Mat]

Especially with "Sponsor block..."

[@therunophil]

it elevated the entire video!

[@Mephora]

Can you turn the desk into a bed for a massive printer tho?

[@ThePrimaFacie]

Thanks for taking the time for this video. I think that if you look at Prusa's history it will only get better over time but its always a good thing to "buy what it is rn then what it could be later". Thanks for the vid

[@MartynDerg]

what an absoluely insane sponsor placement. I was gawking for a portion of the start of the video at how you were sitting on a table and it wasn't wobbling at all despite you moving your entire arm around, and before you even mentioned it I was thinking "damn, I want a table like that". Bravo, I say, bravo. They need to pay you more. I don't remotely have the money for something like that at the moment though ;A;

[@TheCreat]

Fantastic and multi-faceted review, as we've come to expect here. The only comment I have is that I've just built a 350 sized Voron 2.4r2 kit, and I've paid basically exactly 1k € (formbot kit). So the quoted price in the video of 2k € seems a bit steep, even for premium kits like the LDO version. My kit honestly was fantastic, despite the budget price, and even includes tap, can board toolhead and upgraded hotend for that price. No complaints about the quality either. That being said, a Voron kit and a Prusa XL 'kit' are in very different stages of assembly in comparison. I would plan for a week of assembly for the Voron, not 2-3 hours.

[@SentientTeapot2444]

Formbot is genuinely such good value for money. The only things I changed out from their kit were the fans.

[@BeefIngot]

Also notably the Sv08 exists and ratrigs exist so the large size isnt really a selling point without the tool changers, especially because the others will be more fully featured with klipper.

[@TheCreat]

@@BeefIngot There's also the Troodon for around 1k € (also from Frombot), which has existed a lot longer than the Sv08, years actually, and is much closer to a "real" Voron. It still isn't a Voron, but at least uses a normal Stealthburner as the carriage/hotend and not something proprietary like the Sovol. Assembly is comparable to the Prusa XL, probably faster and less tuning/setup required, too. Obviously it's also single tool head, like all these examples, as it was just a comment on the price comparison. I don't mean to suggest they are a cheaper Prusa XL (clearly not).

[@brisance]

They are different class of machines. As mentioned in the video, XL has the segmented heated bed that will reduce warping of the bed after many heat cycles.

[@snuups]

I bought one. 5 Toolheads. I had a lot of doubts in the beginning. Mine came already with 0.4 mm nozzles. lucky me. Since I have it I had no issues whatsoever. It became a workhorse in my shop. Now I am thinking to retire older printers with XLs.Due to the size I can print more parts at once. Less wörk for me. I really like this printer.

[@lilietto1]

I'm a consumer, but if I were a business, the prusa xl would be a no brainer, especially with an enclosure. 4000€ for this kind of capability, so cheap.

[@Krynn72]

I've got a MK3s and a Mini and haven't used either one since I got the XL. It's so much faster than I can print two separate prints one after the other in the XL and still be done before printing one in the XL and one on the MK3s. And the auto first layer cal is amazing and makes it so much safer to just start the print and walk away.

[@benruss4130]

​@@Krynn72 tbf that is cuz the mk3s is like prehistoric compared to the XL. The MK4S is like 50-80% faster than the XL

[@Krynn72]

@@benruss4130 the mk4s wasn't even announced when I made that comment.

[@benruss4130]

@@Krynn72 ah... Well mine just arrived and blows the 3s out of the water

[@suntoxx9667]

You can also print with multiple nozzle sizes in one print, but it disables the prime tower. You can trick the XL though, if you do not tell the printer nor Prusaslicer, that you run another nozzle size. You need to create custom filament profiles for the other nozzle, setting flow and pressure advance and you need to make sure to stick to layer heigths and extrusions widths, that both nozzle sizes support. I made a post about that recently in the fb group called Prusa XL users. It works great so far.

[@krollmond7544]

Damn, and people think the XL is over priced lol. What other printer can do that.

[@suntoxx9667]

@@krollmond7544 it is not that expensive if you look at voron or ratrig kits and it can do so much more if you go for multiple toolheads. Question always is though, if you are going to take advantage of them. So it largely depends on what you print.

[@drstefankrank]

If I have enough space on the print bed, I use the "No sparse layers" for the wipe tower with the MK4+MMU3. It saves a lot of filament, especially if only a few layers have different colours.

[@harrycanada2003]

If you want better results for multi material prints without using the prime tower you just need to tweak the parked retraction distance. Adjust the retraction while disabled setting for each extruder to 11.8mm. It should be in the printer settings tab.

[@SplatusEve]

I love the locking mechanism of the tool heads. Its like a roller-delayed blowback from a H&K rifle.

[@Arcadenut1]

I love my XL and I originally purchased the 2 tool head version (to get it sooner) and immediately wanted the 5 tools. I've since upgraded to that and would never go back. The multi material (and the ability to spool join) is great! If you haven't upgraded to firmware 6, you should.

[@jmaarts74]

Thanks for sharing your point of view. Much appreciated! If I was in the market for a new printer, this would be it.

[@MichaelTavel]

That's the first time I've watched an ad segment all the way through in a long time.... bravo

[@LeftJoystick]

If you want an example of the best ads, the Internet Historian’s Nord VPN ads are the gold standard. His ads are sometimes better than other channels’ entire videos haha.

[@alphadragon601_9]

23:54 the prusa ethos “I have it so I’m just going to put it to work”

[@lars-erikbtkerpetersen9466]

Great review - 🙏 Good not only to get light on the pros but also the cons - thanks for your quite deep and very detailed review - 🙏🤓🤗

[@theproceedings4050]

A 2 headed IDEX printer with an AMS unit on each head would be an ideal compromise I think. It would be cheaper and almost as versatile. I could do only two material, but up to 8 color still.

[@chrislambe400]

This yes want this. I use Bambu P1S with AMS and came up with this: Bambu P1S with AMS I would love a second head just for the interface layer in supports. PLA in multiple colours in the AMS and a head with a single spool for PETG supports. But the IDEX would be killer: If Bambu release your idea with 350x350x350 it would get most of the market share. This as a two week 3d printing newbie.

[@phasesecuritytechnology6573]

Ratrig is releasing this right now.

[@BeefIngot]

Sounds like you want a Ratrig Vcore4 Idex. Exactly that but actually open source and even bigger.

[@mikegriffinasl]

I love mine - build volume is brilliant and multi material printing so useful.. No problems in print quality obscenely quiet and reliable..

[@duckman-pu9mn]

Having a Xl I do love this printer and I do believe this is still early in it's stage. Hardware wise it is fine but software is still being worked on. I believe over over time this printer will get incredibly amazing it just takes time.

[@peterfelecan3639]

An honest, objective review, oh, more than a review, as we always get from Thomas. For me, the Prusa XL is worth every cent of euro and even the 25 months of waiting to have one 🙂 Buying it as a semi-assembled version spared a few hundred € and offered another opportunity to learn.

[@Janovich]

When first launched the Prusa XL seemed like too expensive to me and I was waiting for other large printers to arrive on the market at more affordable prices. But now that Creality K2 is priced at $1500 the XL starts to look a lot more attractive suddenly. I'm gonna buy it now.

[@redkingrauri3769]

I was a early adopter of the xl and unfortunately I got a bad unit. After a month I ended up sending it back. Was my first prusa, but I don't think it'll be the last. They've clearly ben updating and fixing the issues I had and hopefully when I can afford it I'll get the 5 head. That, or I really hope other tool changers become more commonplace. A KZbinr has been making a custom tool changer called the "wp-daksh" based on the xl's system since it was announced and it workswith rat rigs and vorons. I think if it got a little polish and funding it could be the next best thing.

[@zarster]

Ive been working with the XL 5 head since december. Love it! It has even put our Minis out of work for the most part. Printing stuff like PETG with PLA support (which I dont believe that you highlighted) is a GODSEND! Also using colorfabs varioshore foamy TPU as a soft grib on specialty tools is quite impressive on the customers. Can not recommend the 5H XL enough!

[@rcmaniac25]

I have a single tool XL and it's worked great. Some issues and, for the price, I always go to Prusa support. But otherwise don't regret the purchase. But my main rant comment here: 110%, they need to up the speed profiles. Prusa went to lengths to not say machine speeds, and then profiles came out and they were fast but not what people expected for a modern printer. I was told "they're conservative but the machine will fly for faster profiles" but I've yet to see it. I've told people "the reason a Bambu printer prints at 0.1mm layers by default is because it means they can do faster speeds. And if 2 layers, at faster speeds, end up being less then then 1x 0.2mm layer, then you get faster prints AND higher detail" so when the final profiles came out... they didn't do that. Lower layer heights have slower max speeds. They already have a structural profile for when you need to structural parts... but bring the speed Prusa. Secondary rants: they have a lot of stuff going on, but I feel they need to accept some low hanging fruit... control of the light bars on the side (6.0 was the first time they offered any control, and it's just "do you want them to dim, or to always stay on"), single wall top/bottom layer (I don't find this important, but I've seen so many who use OrcaSlicer over PrusaSlicer purely because it has the feature...), etc. Or some bigger ones: please, for the love of all things holy... if you're gonna have some dev sink months into a feature, get us more then 16 cancel objects. It's a hardcoded limit that even Prusa Connect shows there being more then 16 objects with cancel options. Of course, I keep adding more to the rant: For the cost of a ESP32-CAM, they should really include one with the firmware they now tout, and a mount pre-sliced on the USB drive. If the cost margins are that low that one of those can't be included, I have other concerns. And the enclosure... having owned multiple Prusa machines and seeing how people look at a feature list and go "has/has not" I almost feel like they should default their store to the maxed out setup and let people uncheck items to reduce cost. Here's a MK4 Assembled, with MMU3 (pre-assembled?), and a Prusa Enclosure, and a ESP-32... only $1684. Oh, you don't plan to print multi color? It's now $1385... You don't need the enclosure? $1108. You have a camera already? $1099... It's human psychology. Many will instant disregard the printer for that price, but many do without those items included... and others stop paying attention when they find out it doesn't have an enclosure and multi-color and a camera. But reducing cost instead of adding cost has a different mental reaction. Offer the options, get the line items when comparisons happen, see how people react... the power of defaults is strong. So if suddenly that becomes the top selling printer SKU... it becomes now something to tweak and scale in areas so maybe at one point, a XL with enclosure and camera costs as much as an XL without those, costs right now. Ok, pet peeves about XL done.

[@thomaswiley666]

It seems like a printable(?) set of shrouds could be added to the sides of the XL where the filaments reside. The idea is to create two really large desiccant/dryer additions with the outside frame being (re)movable for filament swaps.

[@michaelthorsby]

I've been happy with my 2T XL since the start but it's impressive how much firmware updates has improved it, in six months it's gone from a great to absolutely excellent! For any professional it's such a no brainer. It's expensive is your standard is Ender 3, dirt cheap if you come from an underwhelming Ultimaker

[@RegularOldDan]

Great video and good explanation of the value of the printer. I've had a hard time explaining to others how this printer actually is a decent (even excellent) price for what you get. However, people still look at it in the short term - "Sure, in the long run, my multi-color/material prints will be far cheaper due to less waste... but think of how much filament I could buy to waste with a cheaper printer!" Never mind that such printers w/ a single print head just can't do true multi-material due to the different temperature requirements. In any case, this looks like a great printer, albeit way out of my price range right now.

[@06TundraLTD]

I've got an XL 5-head and I love it, I've done some crazy stuff that I would never have been able to do with some other machines

[@GrahamMcCullough]

I've heard about dissolvable supports, but I've never seen anyone actually try it. This machine looks like it would be easy to try with, and I trust you to get to the bottom of whether or not it's a good idea, and if it's worth doing outside of really niche stuff

[@SirWrender]

Dude that was such a smooth sponsor reveal a minute in hahaha!!! 👏

[@sevilnatas]

OH DAMN!!!!! I thought I recognized that base piece you printed on the XL. I better buy my AR4 now before the rush after the video you are obviously going to make about it. Finally someone is paying attention to the best DYI robot on the market. That guy deserves some acknowledgement for his incredible creation.

[@3DPrintingNerd]

This was a great look at the XL, and I think you and I came to some of the same conclusions.

[@coreymartin9630]

Given that dry filament is such a strict requirement, I'd love to see some kind of integrated drybox

[@magomat6756]

I have my xl now a few months. Itsvthe best printer ever.i love the 5 heads.great machine and Prusa delivers they didn't trow it at the market and then you on our you self

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

21:45 This is the point that I think a lot of customers for Voron and BambuLab miss when they say the XL is "expensive". The XL was clearly aimed at the Ultimaker and Markforged prosumer/professional market, and lower cost fast CoreXY printers came onto the scene in the meantime. 5 tool heads at this volume and this speed capability + Prusa's open and supportive ecosystem is a _bargain_ compared to the Onyx One or any Ultimaker, let alone higher end industrial machines from Stratasys or HP. If I had this option 6 years ago when my boss asked me for 3D printer recommendations, I would have said Prusa XL with 2 or 3 heads without hesitation.

[@marcels.1225]

A stratasy metal printer is a nother league. If prusa would have aimed for Industrial application one would think you could print abs proper right out the box. Yet it does not even have an enclosure.

[@gamejunkie7]

There is a voron tool changer project. On a standard 350mm voron, you can fit 6 heads too.

[@robotwithhumanhair]

You are making a AR4 robot, me too!

[@ryanmast6977]

HA ha Me too!, I am watching this in my shop while working on mine and was very surprised to see the J1 base enclosure at 35 seconds

[@edkim962]

Me too! Printed out all the parts and assembling now. Good luck to you guys!

[@FerTechCH]

As always Thomas great video. I purchased the Prusa XL with 2 Toolheads some months back, and I built an enclosure for it. This week Prusa announced a 600 Euros enclosure which actually covers with a "black curtain" most of the print area, very odd. And it doesn't even include a camera yet. I am a bit disappointed to be honest, I purchased a Prusa to support the company and what they stand for (all my 3D printing friends got a Bambu X1C for half the price). I would like to see Prusa taking care of us by releasing an enclosure we could 3D print ourselves and add optional accessories.

[@hanswurst9866]

The human for scale thing is funny and for once the ad with the table fits wonderfully.

[@woodwaker1]

I have had my 5 tool head XL since last fall. A few problems, but the software upgrades have been great. I agree with the complaint regarding the lack of a camera, on a $5000 printer this is unreasonable. Thanks for the coverage of the offset problem with one tool head, I'm having the same thing with tool 2, will try and swap.

[@BinaryExplosions]

I'd love to see captive TPU hinges in an otherwise rigid print. I can imagine getting it to print will be tough since TPU doesn't bond well onto other filaments, but if it could be printed in the gaps between parts of PLA or PETG it would be a really interesting option

[@EIEIOOOOO241]

I've been waiting for this video for months!

[@robh.8214]

I’m rocking a 5 tool head that my family thought was a complete waste of money. It can do things that most printers can’t or can’t do efficiently…. Think of a giant Lego space man with the logo on the front done in coloured filament embedded rather than painted on…. Same with the head with the face… The quality of the prints is exceptional!

[@widjis]

This is my first watch of your videos since may be two years ago 😮

[@finlay9260]

I was confused when I saw the speed and acceleration values in PrusaSlicer for the "Speed" profile at 16:17, because I remembered them being much higher. Note that you were selecting the non input shaper profile there. The input shaping profile uses 170-200 mm/s for speed and 2000-4000 mm/s² for acceleration.

[@MisterMakerNL]

Got this thing at work, works like a beast. Only pulled out a wire when cleaning the nozzle. I o=print 90% of the time in the structural mode, where the seam is on one spot. Which would be not pretty, but production doesn't really cares if it is pretty they care if it is strong and doesn't break. I did not hear you mention one annoying limitation atm. This is that you cannot use different nozzles sized mixed. So if you think you can use one extruder with a 0,6 and the other with a 0,4 then you cannot do dual prints anymore.

[@roysigurdkarlsbakk3842]

I just don't understand why they should build such a fine machine without an enclosure. It shouldn't cost much, but open the doors for a lot of other uses.

[@Pyriscent]

I thought the same thing myself but really they're just trying to catch up to bamboo labs at this point

[@roysigurdkarlsbakk3842]

@@Pyriscent that doesn't match the preorder dates, which were way before anyone had heard of bambu

[@kevinpezzi6777]

The Prusa XL is very intriguing but I’ve seen too many experienced users bitterly complain about its many problems. It has the Prusa name, but not the quality and reliability we’ve come to expect from that.

[@fastbike9845]

Looks like a very sweet printer - it might be time for an upgrade in my workroom

[@Peter-i7y1q]

Ok that sponsorship transition was smooth af xD

[@mvadu]

5:16 As a Prusa mk4 owner I can relate to that "coming soon TM"

[@derekamadeuslong]

A cool idea might be to make a skeleton arm with PLA for the bones and ligaments with tpu in one single print session

[@Zachary3DPrints]

That was one amazing review about the Prusa XL, well done Thomas

[@dim1723]

Came for the unicorn 🦄! Been doing multi color layer pictures since mark 2... Still on the mark 2 maybe some day get this new beast!

[@bluerider0988]

I'm the exact opposite when it comes to print quality vs. speed. I'm only interested in the fastest the printer can print and maintain quality. I've found the structural profile does just that. I've used the speed profile on occasion, and haven't noticed a huge difference, but with a printer this size I've had some 46 hour prints and I'm not willing to risk a sub quality part to save a few hours.

[@markus30000]

After the bashing Prusa received in a bunch of your last videos, I am honestly surprised how well the XL gets away here. Good to see you're not drifting off into clickbaity bias! :-)

[@Vallecaucanisimo]

I felt the same way. I was like this dude is going to nit pick the crap out of it. I was surprised he didn’t.

[@BeefIngot]

Its crazy to suggest tom is picky about prusa printers. Its very clearly his favourite brwnd (nothing wrong with that). He criticized them rightfully because they were going astray and still are in some ways. The XL story is not done being told though and it brings something unique so of course he will point that out too. It has glaring flaws but is nowhere close to unusable

[@redkingrauri3769]

@@BeefIngot Yeah. Like, I had a bad experience with my XL but I don't want Prusa to fail over this. I want them to improve upon it and make it better, and I want other companies to try their own versions of this. Big hope I have is that future kits will have tool changer options too, like adding the DAKSH system 3DUnplugged has been working on as an add-on or the like.

[@glp.1337]

He kind of skipped over the stringing problem a bit and blamed it on "wet filament" which of course isn't the case.

[@redkingrauri3769]

@@glp.1337 Didn't he try it again with other filament and it worked fine?

[@kylequinn1963]

The biggest issue with this machine is the cost. Im in Canada and over $5500 for this machine which isn't even enclosed is ridiculous. I know people are gonna lose their minds over this but my X1C and AMS can do 4 colors and was less than half the price of the XL.

[@WyvernDotRed]

One of my long-term goals is picking up a Prusa XL printer once I live on my own and have a stable income. As a student I have made a to me significant investment in a Prusa Mini. This is after having self-built a Hypercube back in highschool as a hobby, that was fun and I plan to re-do the project, but now I want a tool that just works. While I felt the need to make some tweaks to it and don't use it that much, it's been an absolute life-saver for the few functional and school project related prints I do make with it. Which the Prusa XL seems to deliver in a way I can trust to still work in a decade or more and be maintainable even if Prusa Research were to go down, like the Mini.

[@davidgator2279]

Thanks for the honest review!

[@SuperMIKevin]

It's been a couple years since I've paid any attention to 3D printing. A lot has changed.

[@marcelzuidwijk]

Hey @MadeWithLayers , that stringing I have (had) too. I've solved it to a lower print temp. Instead of 215 for PLA (I'm using mostly Polymaker) I'm using 205 and that's printing way better (very little to none stringing).

[@justindelpero]

Man, I'm glad you put your name in brackets in your channel title. I keep forgetting that 'Made with layers' is not the same as 'The next layer' which I avoid.

[@ddavidebor]

I use the Prusa XL to prototype complex injection-molded parts printing with TPU+PLA(to simulate PC) + soluble filament + a second color of TPU

[@bagfleet]

Thomas! Yay for new vid! Love your channel

[@skulldi]

Great detailed video! Also awesome shirt!

[@degreeless_engineering]

I've received brand new rolls of filament with 30-50% humidity levels right out of the box from well known brands. Always dry your rolls before use new or not. Even fresh out of dry storage. Dry them. Filament starts misbehaving around 25-30% humidity. An exposed roll of PETG can get to those levels on an overnight print after drying to 17% humidity. PLA users aren't safe either.

[@lens1736]

Thanks for a well balanced review.

[@username9774]

A Voron 2.4 350 can be had for 800 from MagicPhoenix or Fysetc. I went with MagicPhoenix and now hava a 2.4 350 for 820 (with light and bed upgrade) shipping included

[@FrankyieFrank]

This is cool. Especially the tool changer. Let me, as a builder of my own tool changing 3D printer, share some personal knowledge regarding tool changers. First of all, the trouble with the kinematic coupling of the tool changer. Kinematic couplings are great, when they are lying horizontal. Vertically they are a bit of a pain in the ass because an external force is necessary to pull the kinematic coupling together. This force creates friction. On the kinematic coupling itself (same as horizontal) and the force pushing on the tool (here is your problem). If you do a quick calculation you quickly figure out that the total friction of all these friction points prevents the kinematic coupling from seating properly. It does not work! Prusa got around this with that bearing solution. However, it does only rol in one direction. Which left me wondering if this thing is as robust as it should be. I would love try to pull the tool out of position in the not bearing rolling direction in order to see if the system can indeed correct this or not. Perhaps there is another trick in there somewhere. I have no idea how e3d handled this in there design. Personally I handled it by pulling on the tool with a flexibel cable. Therefore my contact point for the force does not need to slip, eliminating that friction completely. Still, the necessary to hold my similar weight tool is a lot! These tools are heavy. One thing you might not realized is the major cabling issue tool changer have. The cable to the head interferes with all the cables from the tools. Prusa got around this completely by not having an active head. This is very smart! I got around it by using an tool elevator which is an insane solution, but necessary if your tool changer printer has the same mechanics as an Ultimaker. My design and Prusa's desing makes an enclosed printer better possible because of the relatively small height needed above the tools. Lastly, some fun print ideas. If you need support, you can actually use a different material for the interface between the support and the part. I made a material table trying out different materials on each other and determining the layer adhesion. If your material combination has an average layer adhesion you can have supports with 0mm clearance and verry smooth interface surface. This will lead to easy removal of supports and a verry good surface finish on the interface. Polystyreen is the material I use the most for this trick. I you would like to see my weird printer, I have some (old) videos on my channel. As an engineer, I think you would enjoy it.

[@CharlFasching]

Thanks for the thorough walk through, I've looked at it a few times. Think I won't get one, it would be cool to play with and experiment, but feel I can't justify the price for the simple things I print which usually get sanded and painted anyway.

[@przemekkobel4874]

In digital camera world this would be called a 'prosumer' device. Pretty popular, despite the gut feeling about the price.

[@mdbssn]

As someone who makes mostly single material parts, I highly recommend looking into using a different material as a support. I've been doing a bunch of PETG with PLA supports and while I did have to turn down speeds for external infill layers (Prusa Slicer doesn't have a setting for slowing down just the interface layers next to supports), and the brand of PLA does seem to count for a lot (some have very little adhesion and are really difficult to make work), when you get the settings/brand correct, you just print them like they're soluble supports and they break off cleanly with almost no sign of being there. Has been great for reducing post processing time and cleaning up the look of the underside of things. I have the two toolhead version and wish there was a configuration for a third so I could do Flex+PETG with PLA supports, but maybe those parts will be available piecemeal down the line.

[@SaHaRaSquad]

What makes those supports in a different material so much better? Do they just not fuse with the part as much? For me better quality with supports would be huge.

[@MrBlackmidi1234567890987654321]

@@SaHaRaSquad using pla with for example petg, they will not stick together which is why its a good support interface

[@chrisbob1200]

Really interesting review, thank you. Maybe one day I can get an XL, but for the time being, I'll have to rely on a home brewed twin head printer.

[@3DEMS.]

Good review. This is going to change the design process!

[@Garcia....]

Thank you for sharing!!!

[@ImplicitConversion]

There are several Opensource tool changers available, available with things like optical tool alignment etc. As usual, you put a little more effort into get them going.. but worth it.

[@jonbondy]

Nice video! You should try mixing TPU (I use Cheetah) with PLA. I find that I have to design parts that interlock while being printed, but the results are quite good.

[@dmh-gaming3983]

Would be great if you would be able to use the 5 extruders at the same time for mass production of small parts

[@MikeHarris1984]

That dark green Shrek is the thing of nightmares. Lol

[@ToddAnglin]

Appreciate the review. Makes me want to give my XL 5T another chance. Even from your video, it seems stringing is a fact of life on the XL with multi-color…and that’s the biggest downside for me, where surface finish is critical.