Prusa i3

The first Prusa Mendel was released in September 2010 with the aim of simplifying the existing Mendel design, including reducing the time needed to create the 3D printed parts from 20 to 10 hours and 3D printable bushings replacing regular bearings.[7]

The second Prusa Mendel was released in November 2011 and with upgrades including snap fit parts, reduction of the number of tools needed to construct, maintain the printer and improved belts attached to the stepper motors and use of LM8UU linear bearings.[8]

In May 2012[9] , designs (produced in OpenSCAD) for the Prusa i3 were released, it was a major redesign from previous versions and other RepRap printers. The design replaced the triangular threaded rod frame construction with a water jet cut aluminum frame, had a food-safe hot end called the Prusa Nozzle, and used M5 threaded screws instead of M8.[10][11][12][13] The design focused on ease of construction and use rather than maximising the number of self replicated components.[14] In 2015 Průša released a version which he called the Original Prusa i3, selling through his company Prusa Research.[1]

In May 2016, the Prusa i3 MK2 was released, it is the first printer with automatic geometry skew correction for all three axes and includes a larger build volume, custom stepper motors with integrated lead screws, mesh bed levelling using a non-contact inductance sensor and a rewritten version of the Marlin firmware.[3][15][16] Other new features include a polyetherimide print surface, Rambo controller board and an E3D V6 Full hotend.[17][18] The Prusa MK2 became the first RepRap printer to be supported by Windows Plug-and-Play USB ID.[19]

In March 2017, Josef Prusa announced on his blog [20] that the Prusa i3 MK2 was now shipping as the Prusa i3 MK2S. Enhancements cited include U-bolts to hold the LM8UU bearings, improved LM8UU bearings, smoother rods, an improved mount for the inductance sensor, improved cable management, and a new electronics cover. While new shipments of the MK2 automatically receive the "S" upgrades, an upgrade kit is available to bring these improvements to earlier purchasers.

In September 2017, Prusa i3 MK3 was released,[21] marketed as "bloody smart". Upgraded features included:[22] a sturdier Y axis, a new extruder with double sided Bondtech drive-gears, quieter fans with rpm monitoring, an updated bed leveling sensor, a new electronics board named "Einsy", quieter stepper motors with 128 step microstepping drivers and a magnetic heatbed with interchangeable PEI-coated steel sheets. This model also includes new sensors: several temperature sensors, a filament detector, and a sensor that detects power interruptions. The MK3 runs on 24V instead of 12V, so all the electrical components were updated to 24V variants. The printer also offers dedicated sockets to connect Raspberry Pi Zero W running open source OctoPrint software for wireless printing, and offers a custom Octoprint fork for the Prusa i3.

The idea of the MK3 update was to make the printer easier to use for casual users and less likely to lead to failed prints. The filament detector allows users to load filament just by inserting it, and it can detect and pause the print if the filament is jammed or runs out. In both cases, printing resumes normally after the issue is fixed. The new stepper motor drivers can handle skipped steps automatically and prevent layer shifts. The power panic sensor allows the printer to recover from power outages, and uses the remaining charge in the power supply's capacitors to lift the print head up to prevent it from melting the printed part while the power is out. The ambient temperature sensor is able to detect mainboard overheating caused by loose electrical connections.

The upgraded chassis and electronics also allow for faster print speeds — up to 200 mm/s.

Existing MK2 and MK2S users were offered a $200 partial upgrade named MK2.5, limited to features which are cheaper to upgrade. After negative feedback from the community, Prusa made available a more expensive $500 MK2S to MK3 full upgrade.

In February 2019, Prusa i3 MK3s was released, along with the Multi Material Upgrade 2S (MMU2S), which allows utilizing up to 5 different materials for printing simultaneously. The MK3 was named FFF 3D printer of the year for 2019 by 3D Printing Industry.[23]

As an open-source design, the success of the Prusa i3 is underlined by the ready availability of both complete and kit-built machines that follow the various iterations of the i3 design. Rather than compete directly with these versions, Prusa Research's strategy is to pursue continual refinement of its designs.[24]

In 2012, Josef received honours from the governor of the Vysočina Region in the Czech Republic for his accomplishments in technology.[25] In February 2014 he was featured on the cover of Czech Forbes magazine as one of the 30 under 30 list.[26] At the 3D Printing Industry awards dinner, the MK3 was the desktop printer of the year for FFF printing.[23] Deloitte placed Prusa Research at the top of the 2018 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 as the fastest growing company in Central Europe.[27][28] Josef was again featured on the cover of the Czech edition of Forbes in 2019 for his leadership at the now billion-koruna company.[29]

Like other RepRap printers the Prusa i3 is capable of creating many of its own parts, which were usually printed in ABS plastic prior to the Mk3, which uses PETG instead.[30] The standard Prusa i3 has 26 printed parts.

Depending on the hot end and heated bed installed, the Prusa i3 is capable of printing many materials including Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polylactic acid (PLA), high impact polystyrene (HIPS), Polyethylene terephtalate glycol-modified (PETG) , different flexible filaments (FLEX, TPU, TPE), polypropylene (PP) and nylon.[31] Different materials require different working temperatures and techniques to make them adhere to the print bed.

The main variant in designs of the Prusa i3 are different frames used, these include a single sheet frame cut from steel, acrylic (laser cut or CNC milled), medium-density fibreboard box frames and Lego.[34][35][36][37]

• 
  A Prusa i3 with a standard metal frame.
• 
  A Prusa Xi3 with an acrylic frame.
• 
  A Prusa i3 with a plywood box frame.
• 
  A Prusa i3 with a melamine-resin particle board frame.

• 
  A partially printed single-colour object showing the infill created to reduce the amount of plastic used.
• 
  A 3DBenchy created on a Prusa i3 using a color-mixing hot end.

There are a range of different extruders used on variants of the Prusa i3 including 1.75 mm and 3 mm filament extruders and other tool heads including a MIG welder and a laser cutter.[38][39][40]