Completely understand what you mean by the instructions explaining more than they should. I will say though that part of my real world job is to create instruction sets for technical products. More often than not, these products go to non-technical people. It took me a long time to realize that non-technical people need those details. Meanwhile, the analytical people get frustrated due to the overly detailed instructions.
Yeah, I don't think they should change a single thing with the instructions, they're very good. They just confuse and slow me down sometimes with all the details. But that's not a bad thing.
Rather have overly detailed instructions then poorly written instructions with not a whole lot of information Even though it can be frustrating with how much it slows me down I always skip a step somewhere when I don’t circle and X my steps 😂
You stole my thunder, LOL. I've been writing work instructions for manufacturing for a couple of decades, and there's no such thing as too much detail when creating instructions for someone that has maybe never turned a screw in their life.
While I have no direct evidence to support my suspicion, some of these strange choices could be carefully calculated to side-step the pernicious minefield of patents held by Stratasys. Especially those regarding heated build chambers. It could be argued that the defining threshold for "heat-control" is the feedback loop of a temperature sensor and the permanent affixation of a door with gaskets. The wink-wink culture around after-market upgrades will ideally close the gap. Literally, in this case. I appreciate the time you spent on this video as I will have my Prusa XL with Enclosure on Tuesday. You gave great insight on how I will be adjusting my assembly process to integrate the enclosure right from the get-go. Thank you!
Great video. I’m really inspired by your ability to tell it like it is respectfully but firmly, and not worry if manufacturers will punish you by not working with you again in the future. I admit that I have a hard time being as critical as I maybe should sometimes, and I need to learn from you.
@@RobertCowanDIY He was referring to @TheNextLayer and how he ignored bambu labs NDA and leaked the A1 mini a full day early to his paid subscribers. Subsequently causing bambu lab to cut all ties with him. Hes not to be trusted which is why nobody will give him free products for review anymore.
Believe me, we can tell when you are not being realistically critical and just doing it for the views. Honesty is the best policy, even if its just being honest with yourself.
The XL does monitor the enclosure temperature, it displays this temp within Prusa connect and the menu screen. You need to be running a print for it to log and show the temperature. I believe it is using one of the toolheads temperature sensors to do the work, rather than adding another sensor. Makes sense. I agree the fan is in an annoying place to remove the filter but otherwise I am happy with the enclosure. Well thought out and it works as intended.
Good to know. It's strange that it only shows in the Prusa Connect, NOT on the actual printer? I'll have to do more digging. Temp sensors are easily under $1, more like $0.25 in quantity though. It seems odd to not have a dedicated one placed at the right spot in the enclosure. It's an odd workaround when a workaround isn't needed.
Hi Robert. Yes, you can display the enclosure temperature in the footer. As per the 6.0.2. FW release notes: "You can display the temperature inside the enclosure in the footer by going to Settings -> User Interface -> Footer. The temperature value is derived from the current or first tool board temperature. The temperature will be displayed 5 minutes after the start of printing. This delay is due to the need for temperature stabilization inside the XL Enclosure. The temperature will reset to “-” after the print is complete."
I have a sumo enclosure and I have not reprinted any of the components inside inside my enclosure and regularly print at 45°C chamber temp. I personally appreciate the super detailed instructions. When you sell something that the user is going to assemble you really open a can of worms. Unfortunately not everyone is skilled and if it can be messed up people will mess it up. Then they'll expect Prusa to warranty it even though it's user error. So just keep that in mind if you think the instructions are overboard.
Last year I designed/printed/laser cut my own XL enclosure. I took strong inspiration from the SUMO enclosure prototypes - I used the same basic shape - but I designed from scratch and included a ton of weather sealing type features to strongly restrict where and how air flowed through the enclosure. Air enters the bottom front, and exits through four quiet 80mm Noctua fans on the sides (next to and above the steppers & tool heads, to draw cooling air over them). The fans are connected to a couple 3" air ducts that I have routed out a nearby window - no filters or noise to worry about. I can control fan speed to tailor the enclosure for different materials, i.e. less exhaust airflow for nylon, and I can maintain temps below 30C when printing PLA. I used 6mm acrylic, and the printed components are about 12mm thick, so I get a lot of noise reduction, so with the latest firmware I have a basically silent XL. I designed my own lift-off hinges for the front doors, so if/when they get in the way, I can quickly remove/install them. Overall, it cost me about $400 to construct it, including PETG, acrylic, and fans. One of the unexpected benefits of the flat-topped SUMO style enclosure is that I can easily store my filaments on top. I primarily do this for PETG/hygroscopic filaments, as I keep them in plastic cereal box DIY dry-boxes with desiccant, and run PTFE tubes down to the XL's filament intakes, so I have a fully sealed filament solution. Even better, I've found that certain filaments will not reliably feed through the XL's tubes, soft TPU for example. To solve this, I drilled a small hole in the top center of my enclosure, and I have a cereal dry-box they keys into it, so I can basically feed TPU straight from the dry-box into the enclosure without any tubes, and I disconnect the PTFE tube from the hot-end and run the filament straight into the Nextruder. This completely solves the filament feeding issue. Instead of disabling the side filament sensors, I'll just stick a short section of filament into it to trick the printer into thinking filament is running through its tubes. While Prusa's angular enclosure design looks neat, I don't think my tubeless direct filament feeding solution could be used at all. My main 3 requirements for my enclosure design were noise reduction, elevated enclosure temps for special needs filaments like nylon, and complete elimination of all harmful gasses. I get headaches even from printing PLA, and everyone in this hobby deserves to read up on the research that shows pretty much all filaments short of PETG produce harmful fumes while printing. I love that I can print even PLA with the enclosure fully closed up, or print stinky ABS and not smell anything at all. Prusa's solution to open the bellows for temp control denies realizing this benefit. I've long wondered if I would regret not waiting for Prusa's in-house solution. I went through several months and iterations to refine the design, and ultimately it still has that home-made quality, and of course has no tie-in to the printer's electronics for fully integrated temperature control. But apparently Prusa hasn't solved these issue either. Shame. Thanks to Robert's excellent review, I no longer have any regrets. I wouldn't trade my enclosure for one of Prusa's at any price. One thing I didn't know about were the PETG part replacements on the hot ends. I'll have to look into that. So far I've not had any issues with my setup, perhaps my fans are doing a better job at temp control. PETG has a glass transition point over 80C, far higher than the sub 40C enclosure temps I've measured. I have no desire to get that hot.
Soooo how about those designs and a BOM list? Your solutions sounds amazing. I’m in the same boat with feeling sick and nauseous followed by headaches with just PLA printing. I’m seriously interested in this.
I've strongly been considering releasing it, once I finish tweaking it. I originally used just a couple 80mm fans on dual 2" hoses, then upgraded to quad fans on the same 2 hoses, but there was too much back pressure and temps would climb a bit too high. Just this past week I upgraded to 3" hoses, doubling the airflow, and I think that's finally solved the temp issue. That was my last major design issue. I do have a few minor tweaks to the parts to improve printability. This is by far my most complicated project, with tons of heat set inserts, screws/bolts, t-slot insert nuts, metal shafts, magnets, hex shaft reinforcements, adhesive felt, fans, ducting, a nice hygrometer, laser cut acrylic panels, plus multi-material printing in PETG, PLA, and TPU. Putting together the BOM will be a huge task. The instructions even more so. I guess I'm saying it won't happen overnight. While some of the parts could be printed on a regular printer, most of it is designed for printing on at least a 2-tool XL, and some parts require as least 4-tools (assuming you want colors, I did galaxy black with orange & silver accents). There's easily several weeks of printing involved. The acrylic panels can be laser cut or CNC'd, and this will be your largest expense. I bought the panels for around $200, and had free access to an industrial laser, so that's why I was able to keep costs in check. My biggest challenge was actually successfully printing without an enclosure, many parts were too warped to use and had to be reprinted. For this reason, I found that printing a few parts for the top cover support frame, enough to rest the acrylic top in place as a draft shield, allowed me to successfully print the rest of the parts. Having lived with it for over half a year, I think my biggest complaint is limited access to the tool heads in the parked position. You can easily pop them off the docks and bring them towards the front for working on them, but doing any maintenance on the back half can be a pain. The top does lift off, and I've even included handles, but it's a big boy and those 6mm thick acrylic panels can be heavy. Somehow I've avoided removing the top so far. Even taller doors would have been nice, but that's a major design change I'm unlikely to make. If I post it, it will likely be on Printables. If you want to see what it looks like, you can check out my Prusa Buddy print video. I'll probably post more videos on the enclosure, so that might be the best way to get notified if I release it.
@@Roobotics That's a fine idea, but it's definitely not less assembly steps. There's a ton of labor involved in printing 70+ parts (some are pretty big) and plus inserting heat set inserts. Assembly is much more involved than Prusa's solution, mainly because you're still limited in print size even on the XL, so you end up bolting together smaller parts to form the enclosure's shell. There's over 100 screws/bolts required for assembly. I got lucky and had one-time free access to an industrial laser cutter, so I got my acrylic panels cut at material cost. If I was doing this as a retail product, I don't think I could undercut Prusa, it would likely be closer to $1k if I factored in labor and production expense. Even that might be a bit optimistic. For comparison, the SUMO kit retails for $300, which is primarily the acrylic panels, plus some fairly low-cost hardware, and you're responsible for printing all the plastic parts. The SUMO's acrylic panels are 3mm thick, half the thickness that I used. Since the acrylic is the biggest cost item, a similar kit with 6mm thick panels would likely be $450, and that doesn't even include the printed parts. Another factor is that 6mm acrylic is heavy, which affects both shipping expense and makes assembly quite a bit harder to manage. I do believe the end result is much better than Prusa's solution, but not cheaper or easier. I basically spared no expense in my design, with no concern for what a retail product would cost, I simply wanted the enclosure of my dreams.
@@PaulStevensonPinball I just did a few hours ago haha. Looks great from the stills I paused at. I think for simplicity I’m going to pull the trigger on the sumo and just modify it to be more airtight and setup the 120mm noctua fan and exit the window or maybe pipe it up into the attic so it exits the soffit outside. I just need to look into how to go about setting up a controller for maintaining fan speed by chamber temp and have a manual fan speed control as well. Did you tie any of that back into some sort of control board or are you just doing it manually?
Thanks Robert, great review. I put my XL enclosure together a couple weeks ago. I agree with your assessment. It took me many more hours than you did, but I’m not that handy at doing things like that, but I did get it done. I must have missed the belt tightening part, never saw that. I just tightened them up based on how I felt the belts should be and all seems to work fine. I’ll probably go back and find that and adjust them properly. The fact that you had to take the belt apart and replace the “coupler” wasn’t in your video. I wasn’t thrilled when I saw I had to do that. All in all I love my XL. It’s finally complete now that I have the enclosure.
The coupler section WAS in my video, but I cut it out for time. The instructions are quite thorough, so I was hoping people would just refer to those for the full information.
@@MikeKobb Yes it was. However, there's a note in there that XL's that were shipped out after June 2024 don't need it, as they already come with the PCCF parts installed.
Thanks for the video Rob. I have the sumo enclosure on my prusa XL. I’ve been having a lot of problems with my printer mostly due to the heat from the enclosure, causing electrical errors, but I am getting them worked out. I feel a lot better about my enclosure now that I see this video. I really appreciate your detailed approach. I’m working on my drawers that you designed for my printer once that’s done. I’ll put out a review of the XL and my enclosure. See what people think about it.
This is just more of the Prusa methodology. I mean, its not super slick, but it works and the prints are the proof. They don't do things just for image, some of the instructions and things are rather strange sounding, but they've always got a multi-year plan for any printer, the MK4 has a part on the board for an accelerometer for example and its clearly marked so this isn't speculation, so at some point, they're going to use that for something, we don't know what yet. To keep something as basic as possible helps with repairability too. The accordion screen thing could be keyed, yes, but that might do things like restrict movement taking it in and out if your printer is in a tight place and you can't pull something 10 inches forward to remove it. In its current state, its easy to replicate and works perfectly well. I built an MK4 from a kit, as my very first 3D printer, a lot of pain but it was worth it.
I think the issue prusa has now is that Bambu brought a next level of refinement in their industrial design to their machines , if wasn’t by bambu this would be considered a perfectly fine design , for an industrial design, the problem is that is being evaluated by a consumer with expectations much higher now because of the refined Bambu design
Exactly, I understand that people get drunk with a aluminum printer, but Bambu is not Apple it's just a nice painted 🍎 Cheap Chinese components in a nice coat. I appreciate Prusa for preferring functionality. BTW @Robert himself says he likes it, so it is necessary to say that even the design is nice imo, just utilitarian design.👍
@@ViniciusMiguel1988 I think that customers put mainly on functionality (?), I don't understand how people can be swayed by the outer appearance and then not care about how it works inside.
@@ViniciusMiguel1988 Of course, Bambu has made a very impressive printer. However it is not serviceable in any way and for a tool like this, I want to be able to fix it part by part as and when needed. Simplicity in machines like this is brilliant, I don't want a complex printer. One also has to be aware of the politics here. Bambu is likely heavily subsidised by the CCP. The M.O. is simple: Release a product that's got way more functionality than everyone else, regardless of manufacturing cost. Coax people away from everything else which now in comparison looks like terrible value, keep doing this until all competition die off, then jack your prices up. I suspect the Bambu X1 Carbon likely has a 'natural' unsupported cost of over $2,500. Said losses are as I stated, likely being absorbed by the CCP. Prusa are manufacturing in Europe. I do however agree, that $650 for some bent metal is about $300 too much, even for European manufacturing.
Robert, I like the approach you take to this review. Honest criticism and Kudo's where it's appropriate. I hope manufacturers are paying attention to your reviews. From a commonsense point of view and not purely financial. Keep up the good work.
Hey, i just wanted to say I'm a new viewer to your channel and for me you're the perfect mix of opinion, facts, and pace. Was hoping to see somebody talk about this and was excited to see your video pop up!
I’m so glad you made this video! No way I’m paying $650 for an enclosure that was half-hearted in “cost vs benefit” sense. Seems like it was more of an exercise in “how over-complicated can we make it before people won’t purchase”. I still haven’t received my XL, but I do look forward to some proper multi-MATERIAL printing
Thanks for the thorough vid. So much feels like a complete afterthought. As you're spinning the printer around and moving the enclosures, I couldn't help but notice how many areas you could see light shining through all the unsealed openings.
Excited to get down to building mine in a few weeks. I really appreciate you timing the sections and outlining the improvement points. As a former technical writer, I also appreciate Prusa's meticulous documentation.
Listened to the whole thing. Turned into a masterclass on how to give constructive criticism… my reality is I bought 10 mk3’s in the past, but now I have 20 bambu’s in my basement from doing client work. They’re just so affordable and easy to use… Excited to see what the future holds for innovation and competition.
Fantastic review! I haven't bought an XL because I felt it wasn't done yet. Part of the problem with it being the only commercial toolchanger (that isn't an industrial one) means they get to set whatever bar of quality and effort in. I would really like to see Bambu come in with a toolchanger and again, show the whole world what a polished machine should look like and function like.
@@RobertCowanDIY I am sure the larger format is coming, but I don't actually think they are going to go go to a toolchanger. They've done well with the AMS systems. I am trying to design my own large format printer the would rival Bambu, but getting sheet metal and custom extrusions/castings are so costly.
@@RobertCowanDIYwell Bambu Lab in an interview not long ago said that larger printer was coming BUT just "larger wasn't enough". Those were their words so Priss must get ready, they are getting competition on the XL category. Bambu Lab also mentioned 2024 so I guess their plan is to release it by the end of the year.
Great video again Robert. I'm very glad to see long-form content that is also positive and negative. I'm somewhat lucky to have my XL chilling on the floor next to my desk with the desk on the left, the walls of the apartment behind and right, and the ceiling of the building starting to cover the printer from about 0.6m off the ground. All I needed to enclose mine were two sheets of 25mm thick honeycomb cardboard that I ordered cut to size from a hardware store here in Switzerland, cost me about 30.-
Thank you for your honest review. I bought a month ago. I ordered my XL five head with enclosure. Look forward to putting it together. I would like to see you fix all the problems that you appointed out in this video. Especially around the fan enclosure. Look forward to your next video as always.
Could you try printing larger ABS prints. I have this setup and get random tile overheating errors. Open door do not get error but print is equally not successful. Seems like the chamber gets too hot for the bed electronics.
Got this in my youtube recommendations a couple of weeks after buying the X1C. I love the X1C so far, but the multi-toolhead capabilites of the prusa XL also look reeeeally nice! 😊 Took a few minutes before i realized why you looked so familiar… ah, the good old sparkfun days! 🥳 Glad to see you have your own channel, Robert. Subscribed immediately, and look forward to more like this! 💯
Yes the Prusa is really nice, but lets face it for a hobbyist way too expensive, for a company well probably a steal but they do not want the hazzle of building everything, they want an ootb solution they just can unpack. The Prusa sits exactly in the middle between those two markets with this enclosure!
@@werpu12 Hobbyist is a very vague term when it comes to budget, it ranges from cardboard to CNC mills. The Prusa XL is expensive and was likely never intended to appeal to the masses, but it still has a market.The only consumer market competitor I know (meaning 2 toolheads, decent quality & large print bed) is the Ratrig Vcore 4 IDEX, which costs over 2200 bucks as a kit without the enclosure panels, and supposedly takes dozens of hours to assemble. It still costs less than the XL but if you don't consider assembling the kit a fun pastime that may not matter as much.
Now that the mk4s is made with higher temp materials by default, do you know if new XL will still have PETG parts? We're looking at getting several prusa XL w/ enclosures for a project next year.
@@RobertCowanDIY I actually confirmed through prusa support chat, that the toolheads are upgrade to the PC-CF. Now if only printed solid would actually respond to their fucking invoice request form they keep directing me toward.
@@jasonfisher5004 Yeah, I agree. At that time, there just wasn't anything better. And once people finally swallowed the price of a MK3, they were converted.
I was waiting to see the official XL enclosure before thinking about whether to design and build my own... Might just build my own. lol. It's very weird that they didn't include a temp probe as part of the enclosure kit. I might try doing that myself to see how useful it would be. It looks like Prusa is using Molex 1.5mm Clik-Mate connectors (connector housing: Molex 502578-0201, pin: Molex 502579).
I got my Prusa XL Enclosure about 2 weeks ago, everything you said is very accurate. One of my magnets comes out every time I pull down the bellows. By default, the fan is off during the print (turns on after the print for 10mins), I guess it's so the heat warms up the enclosure but with all the holes and spaces around the enclosure, I'm not sure that it's does anything to filter fumes and air particles. I'm considering sealing most of the space (may just leave the holes at the bottom of the frame as air intake) to trap the dirty air, maybe add a filter inside the enclosure to filter the trapped air without loosing the heat.
Check to make sure you followed the instructions carefully. I missed a step and didn't put a magnet on the opposing side of the magnet holder and had the same issue. I realized I skipped the instructions and that it wasn't just spare magnets included. Once I put a magnet on the opposite side of the bracket/holder thing, the magnets stopped popping out.
As someone who can disassemble something and put it back together entirely by feel with a leatherman, this is why I appreciate video guides, I can fast forward those. Trying to parse huge walls of text that translate to “put the obvious thing in the obvious place” makes me want to implode. I get it, but damn it kills me when 3 pages amounts to “put in 5 M5 screws in these places”
I’m guessing the fan cable is so long because they are using the exact same part as the MK4 enclosure which has to route the cable from the front to the back. Anyways i’ve been waiting for someone to make a comprehensive review of this for a while now so thanks.
Hi Robert Your XL enclosure review came up on my you tube feed this morning just before I assembled mine. Thanks! I have the same concern as you about changing the Hepa filter when it needs it. My XL is in a tight space. I happen to be at that point right now. Looking at it. it seals both front and back, so I just didn't install the filtration cover box. Thanks again, Doug
@ FYI, I very much appreciate your thorough and critical review on this machine. If I choose to get the XL it will be a big help in getting me up and running.
Well, your timing is impeccable. Mine is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I appreciate the heads up for what's in store putting it all together. I believe your printer is a pretty early one, so I could sort of *barely* understand why they might have extruder parts that needed to be replaced on the earliest machines. But my printer is a few months old. It's pretty hard to fathom how they wouldn't have known about those parts by the time mine was built. To coin a phrase: weird. I'm also really disappointed to hear about the lack of a temperature sensor. Frankly, I assumed this was part of the design. I'm glad to hear that ASA worked well for you anyway, since that's my primary reason for buying the enclosure.
Yes, mine was ordered like 15 minutes after the pre-order was announced. Apparently it's using the temp sensor from the toolheads. I was unaware of that.
FWIW, I built my enclosure late last week. The enclosure build itself was pretty enjoyable. I didn't particularly enjoy upgrading the various PETG parts on the motion system and tool heads to PCCF, although I got pretty quick at the tool head work by the fifth time! 🤣 I was worried that the whole process of having to re-tension the belts would take what was a flawless printer and leave me with issues, but so far so good. I gather that printers built starting in June have the PCCF parts already so that won't suck so much. I totally agree that Prusa really needs to re-think how they do wire routing. They seem to be fixated on routing wires through the smallest channels possible, and that makes it a total PITA to assemble and modify. Having to do a bunch of disassembly on the back of the printer to connect up the fan and lighting for the enclosure was annoying. Now that it's all done, the one issue I have with the finished product is that every time I pull the bellows down, the magnets come with. That needs a re-think.
I know it might sound odd, but if I watched this same video, I would probably end up buying one too. Seeing as there aren't really any actual attachment points on the printer, making something from scratch would require quite a bit of engineering AND cost in prototyping. I just want to use the printer, so I would have bought it too. You'll probably end up liking it, it DOES work well in many aspects.
what a brilliant review! As for my MK 4 I'm gonna build my own enclosure for the XL if I finally decide to get it. As for the MK4 I designed & printed cooling adapters for the buddy board as well as the PSU (adapted only with strong magnets and no modifications whatsoever) so I didn't have to modify the printer at all for working in the enclosed environment! Also I don't understand why Prusa is not offering its printers with the higher temperature resistant parts (maybe as an option) in first place ... that actually still keeps me from placing an order for the 5 head XL. Once again 'chapeau!' for this honest review.
I love my prusa mk3s+, i was considering getting the XL. The reason i went with Voron was because of the enclosure and cost! I didnt want to pay these prices for a jank enclosure. the Voron has a nice enclosure that is a good form factor. I think Prusa dropped the ball on the enclosure of the XL
great overview. I am looking to get the enclosure. But I might wait an see if they adjust based on your feedback. ;) I have not read the instructions yet. But I wonder if it is a must to change from PETG to ABS/ASA on the printheads. Curious what the chamber temp has been, heat rise and all that.
I don't own any Prusa printers and have heard such great things about their design and reliability. The XL as a whole just seems like such an afterthought though, and this enclosure just further compounds that. For $650 I would expect this to be a comprehensive option, especially since it is from Prusa directly. One led strip, no keying or alignment on the bellows, and a cheap $5 hygrometer seem much more like the cut down "lite" version of what the enclosure should be. Which really does seem like the case since they have the software and hardware ready to go to support a chamber heater and ambient temp probe. This realistically should be a $250 option with a $500 fully featured alternative. I would bet money that those fancy bellows on the front ate up the majority of the design budget and contributes the most to production cost and for what? Designing a bifold door at the bottom using the same stamped steel and acrylic would have been just as effective and most likely cost substantially less. Just seems like some really odd design decisions that ballooned the final price far beyond what it is worth.
I have an XL enclosure. Most of your observations and criticisms are spot on. The lack of any wiggle room with wire routing is ridiculous. I ended up cutting a stepper motor wires. I did not install the Nextruder upgrades. The documentation said it is unnecessary for systems received after June. It appears Prusa changed the parts from PC carbon (?) to nylon. I received my XL in May and I am sure my printer already had the newer parts. I did not do the belt tension upgrade either. I don't have unusual play on my belts, why fix what isn't broken? I do not like control of the fan and LED in software. The button approach used in the Mk4 enclosure is, I find, preferable. The LED placed above and on the right creates glare and uneven lighting. It should have been placed above and horizontally. I experienced a bunch of weird problems post enclosure assembly. Straight away I had a power supply (don't recall the specifics) OSOD (orange screen of death) error and subsequently 2 thermal runaway OSOD's. I didn't experience those types of errors pre-enclosure. I saw a well engineered hydraulic lift for the Mk4 enclosure lid on Printables. I suspect someone will produce something similar for the XL. For some filaments an enclosure is essential so I have no regrets buying it.
The telemetry on mine shows an "enclosure temperature", as well as "enclosure fan". That enclosure temperature seems consistently higher (I haven't actually checked when not printing...) than the little indicator on the glass panel, and I assume is taken by the toolhead, or the tool carrier? Which would seem like a resonable place to take, given very close to the part?
The enclosure definitely seems like an afterthought. It's like they made the whole XL and were staring at their work and someone went, "shit, there's no enclosure". That being said, I kind of love it. I love how big it is and how repairable and accessible it is. This thing was made to be tinkered, modified and repaired by the user. I also love kits and building stuff so a long build like the XL and enclosure is a plus not a negative to me. If I had 5 - 6K to spare I would definitely get a fully kitted out XL. I'm just not rich like that.
Thank you for your time spent on your review. I will say I appreciate design that uses a minimum of complexity and materials while ensuring it is suitably effective. The bellows appear to define the enclosure while also allowing very ready access to a region that frequently needs easy access. Seems elegant. The ambient (air) environment (now air in enclosure) temperatures are already accessible from existing XL thermometer sensors when controlling prints, so I am not sure what your new concern is? The extra thermometer on lid is, I assume, just so user is not surprised by heat when opening it, not as an additional printer input? You didn’t mention how you attach a vent duct to the new enclosure? (To get fumes out of room.) Is that well designed/integrated? When assessing the pricing of machines I work with a lot I try to factor in reliability, predictability, (manufacturer)optimization since these really impact my time. Our time is a large additional cost component in builds, so the less of our time the machine ends up needing to achieve the final good print is a significant factor. This should always be considered when discussing the upfront purchase costs. I appreciate companies that are continually putting a lot of their own software and hardware engineering labor into their products. Prusa does this. They do need to recover this in the upfront cost they charge.
My thought when assembling the side panels is they just made one punch or laser profile to make the sheet metal. Opposite hand all of the bends to make the two different sides, but the rest of the tooling is shared or just mirrored.
The Prusa Mini enclosure also has a ton of redundant mounting holes, in part because all four "pillars" connecting the top and bottom are identical so they all have the holes for the door hinges etc. I like it though, I printed a cable holder for the back and the holes were already there, and I'm going to print some gridfinity baseplate mounts for the two holes at the top. As the enclosure is magnetic that makes it even more convenient. It does have some weird quirks of its own though. Not bad, but just odd decisions like you said.
Note that if your Prusa XL was made recently (since June, I think), most parts don't have to be reprinted; they are already in PC-CF, ready for the enclosure.
This reminds me a lot of my experience with the mk4 and its enclosure. Spend a crazy amount of money then spend hours disassembling and rebuilding to get a very average product. I ended up getting a P1S and was printing within 5mins! I’m selling my mk4 and I’ll never get anything from Prusa again, I want a tool not a hobby.
They gave me a MK4 and enclosure recently. I basically told them "I'm not doing a video on that because it won't be kind". This is definitely nicer, but the MK4 enclosure is just sad for what it is, IMO.
@@Ro3Deee Right? I love me negative reviews, about damn near anything. Maybe it's cathartic in this world filled with barely hidden infomercials trying to pass as reviews. Maybe it's because I just dont think people are negative enough. Of course only negative when fair, but there are so many products that deserve a good crapping on, if not just to save the fellow consumer from wasting their limited time on frustration.
I just built mine and the cables exiting the enclosure are even length (about 10cm), no extra cable to bundle above splitter board. I have an added 3030 profile as extra brace on the front of the printer, it acts as a nice stop for the upper door (needed to the off some on the nut covers though).
this seems to mirror my take on the official prusa enclosure for the i3 series. the i3 style printers have an excessively large footprint due to their design, so the enclosure for the i3 series from prusa is massive, especially in X and Y. the quality was fine, albeit the acrylic was super super thin to where I worried about cracking it as I fastened the million screws it took. they added a ton of extra mounting holes and such for modding and I think that's pretty cool. that said, even that printer and enclosure felt like a massive afterthought. I went in thinking I would build it, put my printer in it, then off I go. but no, it's unsurprisingly similar to your experience with the XL. for the power connector, you have to buy this optional male-male pass through connector and wire that into the PSU, which on the i3 requires disassembly because otherwise the psu would overheat from being inside the enclosure. if you don't get the male-male extra connector (you have to pay for it), your printer is literally hard-wired to the enclosure on the inside. they had some spots on the bottom where the printer was supposed to sit, but nothing actually keyed it, so centering it wasn't as straightforward as I'd like it to be. but that's not all. the lcd unit gets relocated to outside the enclosure, which requires more disassembly and you basically run a cable to the outside. the printer is now hard-wired to the enclosure in two places. I think you see where this is going aaaaand you have to do a bit more for the new Bowden tube that runs to the top and over to the side where the spool mounts inside the enclosure. while I have many printers, I stupidly chose to put my oldest printer in this enclosure, the original preorder mk3, and after thousands of hours, the mean well psu finally gave up the ghost. I went to troubleshoot the printer and I then came to the realization of the massive amount of work I have ahead of me just to do some troubleshooting. unlike the XL, that enclosure had doors in the front, but the rest is solid. those weren't cheaper either. I remember it being roughly the cost of another printer in kit form. that's about the time my first carbon x1 cc Bambu arrived, and well, that prusa basically sat there out of service until I ended up selling it to a friend. I like prusa. I like what they stand for, and I like all they did for the 3d printing industry for consumers. I get that being in the EU makes things more difficult, and I get the shipping across the pond can't make service related things easy. but at those prices, it's reaaaaally hard for me to recommend their stuff anymore. it really pains me to say it too, because I really like Josef and I like that company in general. I hope they find their way and stay in the game and nice review as usual
Thanks! I'm in the same boat. I have the enclosure for the MK4 and I was just downright mad when putting it together. It too a LOT longer than this and just felt cheap, and it was MASSIVE.
Great video Robert. I appreciate the level of detail and honest assessment of the enclosure. I bought mine prior to seeing your video because I wanted to get the discount before 7/31. I probably wouldn't have ordered it if I saw your video first. I just received my enclosure yesterday and I'm not sure if I want to take it out of the box based on your assessment. I don't really want to have to disassemble my printer and the space I have dedicated to the printer is only 26" deep and would be really difficult to make it 30-32" deep. Most likely I would have to modify the Prusa enclosure significantly in order to make it work and so I'm starting to think I might be better off just building a custom enclosure that fits my space. If I were to build my own enclosure, am I right to assume I would need to replace all the PETG parts anyway if it's going to get hot in there? Do you think there are enough benefits to the Prusa enclosure (over say a Sumo enclosure or other printables option) that I should just build the Prusa enclosure and modify it to suit my space or return the prusa enclosure and build something myself?
Robert, Prusa will be making a camera add-on for all their printers. Most likely it will be mounted on the opposite side of the led strip or for a fire suppression system (my guess). This enclosure is not active heating but they are talking about it in their podcast for an add-on. Ideally, I would like to see the hot air from the top enclosure be recirculated to the bottom thru a heating element or exhausted out on top. Also, I share the same issue with the Ballow system. It should have been attached to the bottom air intake and the magnates should have been incorporated int the top of the ballow, not the upper arms. And the lid needed to be sealed against the ballow. One other thing I did not see you mention is why you need to redo the belt tension. There is another PETG part that needs to be replaced on the tool selector that holds the belts together.
I am waiting for my XL enclosure. I think it looks pretty cool. But, I need another printer like it. But I wonder if i should wait for something like a Prusa XL mk2 with some of these things sorted.
Nah, I don't think there's anything WRONG with the printer. I still use it and it works great. You'll see many other UA-camrs using it as a 'reference', but not really talking about it. It's still a great printer, if you ignore the price tag and some other little quirks.
Veeery good review. Bravo. I would add that at that price I would expect for the spools to be inside of the chamber so they can remain dry. Also if I am not mistaken the x1c can reach a chamber temperature of about 50 degrees Celsius so this is what I would also expect for this one. But of course it is impossible because of the gaps and the thing panels.
Hi, if I may ask you a question about that enclosure? I got mine and saw that after a print (used only one tool and printed PC) all 5 toolhead heatbreak fans were working... Is it for cooling down the enclosure or FW controlling heatbreak temps?
Awesome breakdown and "weird" was definitely the perfect word to describe it. Do you think I'd be better off with some of DIY/3rd Party solutions? BluRolls and the Sumo come to mind.
The BluRolls looks alright, but the Sumo just seems strange and way too chunky. Functionally I like the official one, but it just seems like it could be SO much better. I'd probably look at the BluRolls if I had to do it all over again. For the price, it's worth the gamble.
@@RobertCowanDIY Have you been printing the ASA drawer pieces with the enclosure? It would be interesting to see the comparison between the shower curtain and the official enclosure. Any further tweaking to the ASA profile besides flow rate and temp?
@@hockeygoalie35 I haven't printed any of the drawers recently. I might expand on them a bit in the future, but right now they're fine. I don't expect to see much difference between the shower curtain and the enclosure. It's just a better overall solution having a real enclosure, but the shower curtain 'did the thing'.
MAYBE, but then they probably should have done aluminum for the metal panels? I'm not really sure I can speculate too much about their decisions though.
I built my first enclosure about 10 years ago, still using it. I added back then a DHT22 and a small arduino, talking over serial to the Marlin board for exactly what you are missing - temperature and humidity control / feedback. Later I 'hacked' it into Octoprint so I have full feedback and control over the UI.
The fan outlet hat to be on the top, where hot air accumulates. Also one might want to connect this to a duct to exhaust it outdoors - good luck with that in the current state !
@@RobertCowanDIY A printer of this caliber deserves to be hooked up just like your other machines. I know you are having one of this larger Hepa units on your laser, could have tied into that too..
I think it would have been feasible to have the top of the enclosure come off with a quick connect for the fan and light, with maybe more magnets for the mechanical mounting as that seems to be the theme here. That way getting to the extruders wouldn't be more difficult.
Potentially! However with the toolheads, you can just grab them and remove them from the docks, and within a few seconds you can disconnect them completely. It's PROBABLY not a big deal, we'll see.
I have a 5 tool head Prusa XL, and it makes *great* prints, and I'm overall happy with it, but there's parts that make it feel half baked (examples: no camera or even camera support, the trash that is the PusaLink interface, apparently not being able to set the *hostname*). For the price of these things, there's really no excuse for that. Especially, when there's nothing stopping them from just including a Pi-like board and running something like Octoprint... which would solve a bunch of issues (Which is what I've ended up doing myself).
First off, thanks for doing this review. I found it very thorough and informative. While watching this, everything you were surprised by, didn't surprise me at all. This is very much in character with the Prusa designs (excepting the SL1, which came from. A different team). They aren't very skilled at industrial design, at least not yet. The engineers at Bambu come from a background of mass manufacturing (DJI), and they clearly think about things like planned future features and maintenance. What's frustrating to me is not that Prusa is slow, or takes many iterations to get it right; it's that they have a huge price premium for this half-assery. Hopefully Bambu or someone else comes out with a solid multi-toolhead CoreXY soon. The Black box CE looks like a good design, but I'm really wanting to move away from the DIY printer, and just get something that's more like an appliance. Sadly, the XL isn't it.
I was wondering how you would feel about that magnetic attachment on the bellows. It’s all very rigged and I was certain I missed a step to keep the magnets in the pockets. I thought for sure they can’t mean to keep the magnets only attached with other magnets. On occasion I’ve had one not let go when I pull the bellows down. But that’s how you do the Prusa polka I guess 🪗
Interesting, I've got the enclosure too. I do not like the location of the filter but love the "harmonica". Will see how long does it last. As far as it comes to build quality I am OK with it. The print quality and functionality is the #1 to me. I appreciate using standard components instead of custom ones, it make me simpler to do modifications.
@@paulhuckaby It's expensive, doesn't REALLY do what it should do (no actual temperature sensor), you need to spend several hours building it AND I need to modify it? I'm just pointing out pros and cons.
Is there sufficient clearance behind tool 1 for your unit? Mine is rubbing against the curved end of the sheet metal and is detaching from the gantry about 50% of the time when it goes to retrieve it. When I try to pull it manually, I can tell that the back end is rubbing against the metal. All the other tools are fine since that
I would put it this way, Prusa has a long history and a great reputation in 3D printing. Its printers are used by professionals, production shops and enthusiasts around the world. Prusa Research is also a leader in innovation and user experience.
Why would I cover heads I'm always adjusting and removing nozzles due to the xl being a pain in the ass? Constant blockages in the heat tubes. Constantly having filment loading issues
There's still a good amount of room around the heads and they come off the docks easily enough. It's actually far easier to work on the heads on the XL than any other machine.
Super interesting!! Thanks for recording. Now watching. Annoying they didn’t include the full LED lighting strip on 3 sides! It is not be for me as I don’t print materials requiring enclosure, but interesting to see. I am ok with the bellows, it’s a good solution. But it doesn’t feel like a 600 piece of kit for what it has. As you said, it’s the price of a full printer.
two would have been fine, IMO. 3 might have been an issue. but I just can't fathom why you wouldn't do equal lighting, when the badging is clearly so social media posts can showcase the printer...
@@RobertCowanDIYmight it be the control board can’t supply the amps required for another light strip? With the splitter in place we’re already driving two strips where there was one originally. Regarding the additional holes in the vertical styles, I found them very useful to mount a camera.
Enjoyed the in depth look and appraisal of design choices. It's too janky for me to consider and I can't see how it works with those large gaps at the front and looks by the base. I can see the base used to draw clean/cooler air in but both at the expense of getting up to 50c which is what I'd expect an enclose to allow.. 40c is too on the edge for me especially in the UK when I want to run the printer in a garage. I assume your workshop is heated or temp controlled. When printing ABS or PC on the Bambu I will heat soak for 30 minutes to ensure an even chamber temp. I would like to see more testing of exotic martials in the chamber. Thanks for this video.
Yes, my shop is fully temperature controlled. It was around 70-75F (~21-24C) during filming. That being said, the XL does already have a heat soak cycle built in. The WHOLE chamber doesn't need to really soak, just the area around the bed for the first layer or so.
A very thoughtful review and pointed comment on the state of Prusa. I think a lot of this community wants to champion the open source oddball that is Prusa, but it hasn't really made what is the next obvious big step into being a manufacturing leader. You get a lot with Prusa but no longer is the bulk of it good, or enough to accept as a tax for appreciation of what the company represents. Its going to SAAB/Volvo its way out of its niche if it doesn't change soon IMO.
I think the issue with the mirrored Side Panel having *_all_* the Mounting Solutions and Features for a second Light but not having the Light is because it actually is the same part when they cut it to size with all the Holes but only up to the point until they start bending it into shape where it then becomes one side or the other - It simplifies Production. But yea... Should have added a second Light.
Hi, did you add the two magnets on the top right and the two magnets on the top left? It was kind of hard to see in the instructions that there are two magnets on each side of the top assembly. I had almost missed that since the picture of parts only showed 2 magnets for both sides but it was saying 4 in the text. I think that might be what was causing the magnet to come out, since this so far did not happen to me.
Thinking of going enXLosure for my work 5t and adding my own chamber heating/cooling. was trying to print asa with the box as an enclosure in +30 C and was having all kinds of overtemp errors. Added a pair of 40x40x10 24v noctuas for the buddy board chamber and bed splitter board along with heating the whole bed has it running. probably reprint all the petg parts in PC+ on my x1c, not sure it really needs pccf.
Would someone post a link to the build plate storage add on mentioned around 40:00 minutes into the video. Mr. Cowan states it on Printables, but I am having a heck of a time finding it.
So the answer is, this machine with this bizarre enclosure option is not for anyone who wants to print high temp. I'm finishing a doom expanded insulated trident, has an expanded y so I can make it a tool changer, to have to compromise so much for this half baked prusa amalgamation, nope.
I'm still waiting to collect my enclosure at my "neighbors" house two streets further up (darn DPD courier),... Does it come with the printed parts for the tool head? Or do you need to print them? I hope the first as I dont have PCCF on stock and would cause more delay ...
BTW, If you want, you can actually use the rigid doors from my enXLosure design, with the top of the original enclosure! Also, I offer a adapter kit so you can have the full connectivity and features of the original, on the cheaper enXLosure!
I think that this design is really good. It's light and can be scurely send in small package. Every part can be easily swaped and modified. You want something to key the bellows - that's 10min print, but you can use them as you like thanks to they are not keyed. Tempered glass is nice, but it would make whole, already heavy printer, heavier, it's harder to ship and easier to break, but harder to swap. Those cheap panels you definately can order localy or made themself and you don't need to relly on Prusa to send you replacement. It's expensive but it's a very good product. Price is high probably becouse low volume. The good part is it's simple design, so you can replicate it possibly much cheaper. I agree with fan and temperature probe issues.
Hmm, I really liked their last enclosure but for 5 or 6 hundred you can just go to a cabinet shop and have a cabinet made and maybe have enough to buy a double pane window in the door. I like how they used the printer itself for the structure of the enclosure though, that was a good idea. I think they're re-thinking the enclosure after the first impression videos because it isn't on the site right now. As for as the gaps, the last one had it also. I plugged a ton of mounting holes. I don't think printer companies are worried about air quality. That is another reason I'd just go with a cabinet, cut a hole for air intake and air exhaust, put a filter on both and hook the the fans to a temperature sensor so you can have it close to the temp you need.
I had to replace the idler and catch in my MK4 that was in an enclosure. The PETG parts started to deform partway through prints, causing them to fail… but once cool they whee fine again. Took ages to work out what was happening… but I guess I and everyone else who had these issues and reported their pain to Prusa aided all of you XL users. 😉
was only a matter of time till the community fixed some of these issues - there is a replacement filter box for the back that enables sliding out the filter without needing to remove the box - really should have just came that way, but we have 3D printers... we can fix these things. Also there are some bellow alignment prints (but I'm waiting for some other options).
Good stuff, great overview the enclosure reminds me of some WWII tank river fording kit with a green house top. Im not associated with anyone but what would the consideration on the cost of the weight of it all? If you added all of what you want, that would really make the thing better in all honesty, how much would the end cost of shipping be? The accordion front seems to be a light "durable"? solution along with the thinner clear plastic and using the print farm that is home brew saves on other companies knowing what you are up to and gives jobs to your local community. IDK I see many solutions to one problem. I mean is the community in such a way that a plug and play is what everybody wants? I think that to tinker might be something that prusa seems a benefit, maybe? Also I wonder along with securing new supply lines for new products how do other businesses or maybe other countries feel about hampering what their own group wants to take the share of (if thats a little too far out there and or don't make no sense, sry). Or its that they are leaving space for mk 2 of the enclosure. IDK It might have been that they had the B team on it wile they where working on the Pro HT90 (it looks so nice) I mean the XLs components look like (on the bottom or the buy page for prusa) just look like they took a mk4 and made it a Core XY or really vise versa. Also how many people bought the Prusa brand enclosure for the mk3/mk4? like why even bother it seems like maybe its there to say its there. IDK but what I do know Is Ill watch the heck out of some longer vids about maker stuff or almost what ever you put out. Thanks for the vid have a good week
I'm sure shipping and weight was a consideration. Thicker windows would have cost more to ship. I just tried to give my impressions as I saw them. In the end, I AM happy with how it works and functions, the price tag just seems strange considering how it seems like a really strong DIY effort.
Very fair review. The XL itself has a few design flaws of it's own (I'm looking at your Docks)... Maybe they'll fix them in the XL2 version of the printer.
I actually think the docks are fine. The design flaw was letting customers assemble them. If assembled properly, they're pretty bulletproof. But there are many places where incorrect assembly could result in errors.
Good, calm video! I think Prusa is completely disconnected from their customers since COVID-19. The Mini with the 32 Bit board and an entry level price came just in time, minor flaws were fixed within month. After that, the XL and MK4 came way to late. XL has many many design flaws that other brands don’t have for nearly half the price tag. So many issues and decisions where you just stand there and ask „what were they thinking?“. XL without enclosure is the most obvious one. PETG parts on an 2000-4000€ machine?
Dear Robert, about your regards about the temp sensor. If you use Prusa Connect you will see the (enclosure) temp in the telemetry section. Also the sliding of the bellows is perfect for temp regulation. I had also a loose magnet.. drop of glue will do the trick... (-;
Regarding the temp sensor, I learned about this after the video was released. It does seem strange to have the control loop in the cloud, rather than on the machine (the menu doesn't show the temp, but the cloud service does?). As I said, I DO like the sliding bellows, it just seems poorly implemented. Yes, you could glue in the magnets, but that's not really the point is it?
They do, but they all seem to be drinking the kool-aid of "but we're Prusa, and we're the best". They're potentially tone-deaf to what the market is actually saying.
@@RobertCowanDIY I don't think so. Maybe a bit, they clearly were surprised by the Bambu (which is a good thing for competition, even though the design philosophy is different), but they can't react that fast to what the market is saying. The XL and MK4 were kinda fixed designs at this point and the reaction will be for the next models. Which I assume to be ramped up. So, let's judge for those.
@@VincentGroenewold yeah but if they don’t change, Prusa will be out of business in 10 years. I’m reading more and more often that print farms order P1 or P1S printers instead of Prusa. They are faster with same print quality. Replacement parts are cheap. Build quality/parts aren’t that much better on a Prusa either.
Thank you, I enjoyed watching the video! Your sharp criticism never stops amusing me!. Could you also make a review video about the Xtool F1 laser engraver? I am curious about your opinion of the F1 and laser cutting and engraving. Also curious about any recommendations about CNC, laser engraving and cutting in general.
My review on the F1 Ultra is coming. So far, I actually like it. I think they are very well focused on who their audience is. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I should have that review out. Stay tuned! CNC is just another animal completely. I don't have a CNC machine under $10K and I think there are just far too many compromises even with THOSE. CNC is best outsourced unless you have a really specific business-case for one, or just like having toys at home.
Especially given the fact that Prusa has shown parts of this long time ago, it is indeed strange that they did not take any mounting holes or the PETG levers on the nextruders into account on the newer models delivered. I don't like these little push thingies they use to mount the plexi/lexan panels. On the Mk3 enclosure they use the same ones and if you even need to take them out (and believe me - you do ...) you are bound to break one or two. I also don't like the bellows, I prefer lexan doors so I can look at the printing progress when I am sitting behing my desk - but that's more a personal preference. Overall a good overview of the whole thing. Looks like Prusa missed out on quite a few features that should have been implemented. Looks like "the XL selling scheme:" is becoming the new industry standard: deliver a half baked product while promising to deliver fancy features later by upgrades ...
The packaging was next level, all the screws/fasteners in their own little baggies with labels, the sheet metal really adds up (has a really nice finish on it), and they're most likely having things made locally in the EU rather than China.
Once again another well done video. Given I was one of the lucky ones and had zero issues with the hardware on XL5, MK4 and MK4 MMU3. But, I do feel things were rushed when it comes to firmware and this enclosure. No fan heater control? No left side light? 😢 maybe I’ll pass on this. ❤
The lack of a temperature sensor is actually an absurd decision. The amount of quality it would add to the printer and the control to the user from a temp sensor is a night-and-day difference. How much could it possibly have cost for that probe to forego its inclusion??? If it would make the build too complex or something, give it as a recommended option for people to add, but include the part. If it costs too much, add it as a add-on with the kid for additional cost. (not very compelling considering those cheapo temperature readouts measure temps just fine).
Agreed! Stop sending gummy bears, don't include the little snap in one, and just give me a sensor (which the controller board and interface clearly supports!)
@@RobertCowanDIY loved your video btw. That was super insightful. I don't even have an XL. 😅 Hopefully Joseph and the Prusa team actually take some of your pointers. They definitely need to start playing catch-up or they will be buried by the competition.
Also, I just thought of this now seeing your comment, but how cool would it have been for them to use their multi zone heated bed to act as a chamber heater with the parts that arent actively being printed on, like I can imagine many caveats of such a system, like needing a buffer zone, but I think many prints dont use the whole bed anyways so its an idea just sitting there.
For the most part, my thoughts mirror yours. Just finished assembly, have the same sentiment about the bellows and am just flabbergasted that it has absolutely no alignment features. As for the exhaust fan, I understand where Prusa is coming from. It's the same way with the Original enclosure for the MK's - it's meant as filtration, not as a means to control temperature. Reasoning has always been that the expected chamber temperature is never supposed to exceed 40c anyway, so there's not really all that much to affect. Whether that's a valid hand-waving will depend person to person... I'm thankfully in the camp that doesn't care except to not smell ABS ever again. The one thing I will mention that frustrated me to no end was the entire wire management Undo button. Everything that we went through during the original assembly -- rip it all out. Do it again, now with another ground wire and a different LED plug. And don't mess up the antenna, kthxbye. It's all done now, so w/e. Time to get back to actually printing.
Thank you for a very detailed and interesting video! I appreciate your attention to details and the calm and unrushed presentation style. Also I think the enclosure is very cool-looking and the bellows totally not what I was expecting :D The whole printer now looks like a droid from Star Wars Personally I'm not sure Prusa should start going into the direction of most large manufacturers with injection molding and other conventional or more streamlined manufacturing techniques - their whole thing has been and still is to stand out of the crowd by being a sort of like a "maker collective", doing things more the homebrew DIY way, if you get my point. The print farm is not just a manufacturing method but also a major advertising and PR asset I think - and as far as I know, Prusa as a company is doing well despite their products having more "premium" prices and slightly different approaches to certain things compared to others amongst the industry (like supposedly the best product support). Having said that, I personally don't own a Prusa printer - even though I'd really like to - simply because of the price =I
Completely understand what you mean by the instructions explaining more than they should. I will say though that part of my real world job is to create instruction sets for technical products. More often than not, these products go to non-technical people. It took me a long time to realize that non-technical people need those details. Meanwhile, the analytical people get frustrated due to the overly detailed instructions.
Yeah, I don't think they should change a single thing with the instructions, they're very good. They just confuse and slow me down sometimes with all the details. But that's not a bad thing.
Rather have overly detailed instructions then poorly written instructions with not a whole lot of information
Even though it can be frustrating with how much it slows me down I always skip a step somewhere when I don’t circle and X my steps 😂
You stole my thunder, LOL. I've been writing work instructions for manufacturing for a couple of decades, and there's no such thing as too much detail when creating instructions for someone that has maybe never turned a screw in their life.
I love that you're doing more 3d printing videos, thanks for the honest review - hard to find these days!
you're welcome!
While I have no direct evidence to support my suspicion, some of these strange choices could be carefully calculated to side-step the pernicious minefield of patents held by Stratasys. Especially those regarding heated build chambers. It could be argued that the defining threshold for "heat-control" is the feedback loop of a temperature sensor and the permanent affixation of a door with gaskets. The wink-wink culture around after-market upgrades will ideally close the gap. Literally, in this case.
I appreciate the time you spent on this video as I will have my Prusa XL with Enclosure on Tuesday. You gave great insight on how I will be adjusting my assembly process to integrate the enclosure right from the get-go. Thank you!
My suspicion too
Great video. I’m really inspired by your ability to tell it like it is respectfully but firmly, and not worry if manufacturers will punish you by not working with you again in the future. I admit that I have a hard time being as critical as I maybe should sometimes, and I need to learn from you.
Awww, thanks. I have a hard time NOT just saying what I want, so I envy the opposite side of it equally ;-)
Or maybe it's because you see NDA's as suggested guidelines.
@@mikedhaen6878 I do not have any active NDAs with any company right now (personally).
@@RobertCowanDIY He was referring to @TheNextLayer and how he ignored bambu labs NDA and leaked the A1 mini a full day early to his paid subscribers. Subsequently causing bambu lab to cut all ties with him. Hes not to be trusted which is why nobody will give him free products for review anymore.
Believe me, we can tell when you are not being realistically critical and just doing it for the views. Honesty is the best policy, even if its just being honest with yourself.
The XL does monitor the enclosure temperature, it displays this temp within Prusa connect and the menu screen.
You need to be running a print for it to log and show the temperature.
I believe it is using one of the toolheads temperature sensors to do the work, rather than adding another sensor. Makes sense.
I agree the fan is in an annoying place to remove the filter but otherwise I am happy with the enclosure. Well thought out and it works as intended.
I wonder how that could work if you're doing a 5-color print where it has to keep all five tools warm.
@@MikeKobb Thats a good question. Maybe there is an ambient sensor on there somewhere? Unsure, but I do know it is measured somewhere.
Good to know. It's strange that it only shows in the Prusa Connect, NOT on the actual printer? I'll have to do more digging. Temp sensors are easily under $1, more like $0.25 in quantity though. It seems odd to not have a dedicated one placed at the right spot in the enclosure. It's an odd workaround when a workaround isn't needed.
Seems to be another temp sensor if you look on Prusa connect there’s temp for all the tools, bed, and enclosure and none are the same
Hi Robert. Yes, you can display the enclosure temperature in the footer. As per the 6.0.2. FW release notes:
"You can display the temperature inside the enclosure in the footer by going to Settings -> User Interface -> Footer. The temperature value is derived from the current or first tool board temperature. The temperature will be displayed 5 minutes after the start of printing. This delay is due to the need for temperature stabilization inside the XL Enclosure. The temperature will reset to “-” after the print is complete."
I have a sumo enclosure and I have not reprinted any of the components inside inside my enclosure and regularly print at 45°C chamber temp.
I personally appreciate the super detailed instructions. When you sell something that the user is going to assemble you really open a can of worms. Unfortunately not everyone is skilled and if it can be messed up people will mess it up. Then they'll expect Prusa to warranty it even though it's user error. So just keep that in mind if you think the instructions are overboard.
Last year I designed/printed/laser cut my own XL enclosure. I took strong inspiration from the SUMO enclosure prototypes - I used the same basic shape - but I designed from scratch and included a ton of weather sealing type features to strongly restrict where and how air flowed through the enclosure. Air enters the bottom front, and exits through four quiet 80mm Noctua fans on the sides (next to and above the steppers & tool heads, to draw cooling air over them). The fans are connected to a couple 3" air ducts that I have routed out a nearby window - no filters or noise to worry about. I can control fan speed to tailor the enclosure for different materials, i.e. less exhaust airflow for nylon, and I can maintain temps below 30C when printing PLA. I used 6mm acrylic, and the printed components are about 12mm thick, so I get a lot of noise reduction, so with the latest firmware I have a basically silent XL. I designed my own lift-off hinges for the front doors, so if/when they get in the way, I can quickly remove/install them. Overall, it cost me about $400 to construct it, including PETG, acrylic, and fans.
One of the unexpected benefits of the flat-topped SUMO style enclosure is that I can easily store my filaments on top. I primarily do this for PETG/hygroscopic filaments, as I keep them in plastic cereal box DIY dry-boxes with desiccant, and run PTFE tubes down to the XL's filament intakes, so I have a fully sealed filament solution. Even better, I've found that certain filaments will not reliably feed through the XL's tubes, soft TPU for example. To solve this, I drilled a small hole in the top center of my enclosure, and I have a cereal dry-box they keys into it, so I can basically feed TPU straight from the dry-box into the enclosure without any tubes, and I disconnect the PTFE tube from the hot-end and run the filament straight into the Nextruder. This completely solves the filament feeding issue. Instead of disabling the side filament sensors, I'll just stick a short section of filament into it to trick the printer into thinking filament is running through its tubes. While Prusa's angular enclosure design looks neat, I don't think my tubeless direct filament feeding solution could be used at all.
My main 3 requirements for my enclosure design were noise reduction, elevated enclosure temps for special needs filaments like nylon, and complete elimination of all harmful gasses. I get headaches even from printing PLA, and everyone in this hobby deserves to read up on the research that shows pretty much all filaments short of PETG produce harmful fumes while printing. I love that I can print even PLA with the enclosure fully closed up, or print stinky ABS and not smell anything at all. Prusa's solution to open the bellows for temp control denies realizing this benefit.
I've long wondered if I would regret not waiting for Prusa's in-house solution. I went through several months and iterations to refine the design, and ultimately it still has that home-made quality, and of course has no tie-in to the printer's electronics for fully integrated temperature control. But apparently Prusa hasn't solved these issue either. Shame.
Thanks to Robert's excellent review, I no longer have any regrets. I wouldn't trade my enclosure for one of Prusa's at any price.
One thing I didn't know about were the PETG part replacements on the hot ends. I'll have to look into that. So far I've not had any issues with my setup, perhaps my fans are doing a better job at temp control. PETG has a glass transition point over 80C, far higher than the sub 40C enclosure temps I've measured. I have no desire to get that hot.
Soooo how about those designs and a BOM list? Your solutions sounds amazing. I’m in the same boat with feeling sick and nauseous followed by headaches with just PLA printing. I’m seriously interested in this.
You should go to market at 600, undercut them and deliver a better serviceable product, probably with less assembly steps at that!
I've strongly been considering releasing it, once I finish tweaking it. I originally used just a couple 80mm fans on dual 2" hoses, then upgraded to quad fans on the same 2 hoses, but there was too much back pressure and temps would climb a bit too high. Just this past week I upgraded to 3" hoses, doubling the airflow, and I think that's finally solved the temp issue. That was my last major design issue. I do have a few minor tweaks to the parts to improve printability. This is by far my most complicated project, with tons of heat set inserts, screws/bolts, t-slot insert nuts, metal shafts, magnets, hex shaft reinforcements, adhesive felt, fans, ducting, a nice hygrometer, laser cut acrylic panels, plus multi-material printing in PETG, PLA, and TPU. Putting together the BOM will be a huge task. The instructions even more so. I guess I'm saying it won't happen overnight.
While some of the parts could be printed on a regular printer, most of it is designed for printing on at least a 2-tool XL, and some parts require as least 4-tools (assuming you want colors, I did galaxy black with orange & silver accents). There's easily several weeks of printing involved. The acrylic panels can be laser cut or CNC'd, and this will be your largest expense. I bought the panels for around $200, and had free access to an industrial laser, so that's why I was able to keep costs in check. My biggest challenge was actually successfully printing without an enclosure, many parts were too warped to use and had to be reprinted. For this reason, I found that printing a few parts for the top cover support frame, enough to rest the acrylic top in place as a draft shield, allowed me to successfully print the rest of the parts.
Having lived with it for over half a year, I think my biggest complaint is limited access to the tool heads in the parked position. You can easily pop them off the docks and bring them towards the front for working on them, but doing any maintenance on the back half can be a pain. The top does lift off, and I've even included handles, but it's a big boy and those 6mm thick acrylic panels can be heavy. Somehow I've avoided removing the top so far. Even taller doors would have been nice, but that's a major design change I'm unlikely to make.
If I post it, it will likely be on Printables. If you want to see what it looks like, you can check out my Prusa Buddy print video. I'll probably post more videos on the enclosure, so that might be the best way to get notified if I release it.
@@Roobotics That's a fine idea, but it's definitely not less assembly steps. There's a ton of labor involved in printing 70+ parts (some are pretty big) and plus inserting heat set inserts. Assembly is much more involved than Prusa's solution, mainly because you're still limited in print size even on the XL, so you end up bolting together smaller parts to form the enclosure's shell. There's over 100 screws/bolts required for assembly. I got lucky and had one-time free access to an industrial laser cutter, so I got my acrylic panels cut at material cost. If I was doing this as a retail product, I don't think I could undercut Prusa, it would likely be closer to $1k if I factored in labor and production expense.
Even that might be a bit optimistic. For comparison, the SUMO kit retails for $300, which is primarily the acrylic panels, plus some fairly low-cost hardware, and you're responsible for printing all the plastic parts. The SUMO's acrylic panels are 3mm thick, half the thickness that I used. Since the acrylic is the biggest cost item, a similar kit with 6mm thick panels would likely be $450, and that doesn't even include the printed parts. Another factor is that 6mm acrylic is heavy, which affects both shipping expense and makes assembly quite a bit harder to manage.
I do believe the end result is much better than Prusa's solution, but not cheaper or easier. I basically spared no expense in my design, with no concern for what a retail product would cost, I simply wanted the enclosure of my dreams.
@@PaulStevensonPinball I just did a few hours ago haha. Looks great from the stills I paused at. I think for simplicity I’m going to pull the trigger on the sumo and just modify it to be more airtight and setup the 120mm noctua fan and exit the window or maybe pipe it up into the attic so it exits the soffit outside. I just need to look into how to go about setting up a controller for maintaining fan speed by chamber temp and have a manual fan speed control as well. Did you tie any of that back into some sort of control board or are you just doing it manually?
Thanks Robert, great review. I put my XL enclosure together a couple weeks ago. I agree with your assessment. It took me many more hours than you did, but I’m not that handy at doing things like that, but I did get it done. I must have missed the belt tightening part, never saw that. I just tightened them up based on how I felt the belts should be and all seems to work fine. I’ll probably go back and find that and adjust them properly. The fact that you had to take the belt apart and replace the “coupler” wasn’t in your video. I wasn’t thrilled when I saw I had to do that. All in all I love my XL. It’s finally complete now that I have the enclosure.
The coupler section WAS in my video, but I cut it out for time. The instructions are quite thorough, so I was hoping people would just refer to those for the full information.
@@RobertCowanDIY Was the coupler one of the parts that needed to be replaced for temp?
@@MikeKobb Yes it was. However, there's a note in there that XL's that were shipped out after June 2024 don't need it, as they already come with the PCCF parts installed.
Thanks for the video Rob. I have the sumo enclosure on my prusa XL. I’ve been having a lot of problems with my printer mostly due to the heat from the enclosure, causing electrical errors, but I am getting them worked out. I feel a lot better about my enclosure now that I see this video. I really appreciate your detailed approach. I’m working on my drawers that you designed for my printer once that’s done. I’ll put out a review of the XL and my enclosure. See what people think about it.
This is just more of the Prusa methodology. I mean, its not super slick, but it works and the prints are the proof. They don't do things just for image, some of the instructions and things are rather strange sounding, but they've always got a multi-year plan for any printer, the MK4 has a part on the board for an accelerometer for example and its clearly marked so this isn't speculation, so at some point, they're going to use that for something, we don't know what yet. To keep something as basic as possible helps with repairability too. The accordion screen thing could be keyed, yes, but that might do things like restrict movement taking it in and out if your printer is in a tight place and you can't pull something 10 inches forward to remove it. In its current state, its easy to replicate and works perfectly well. I built an MK4 from a kit, as my very first 3D printer, a lot of pain but it was worth it.
I think the issue prusa has now is that Bambu brought a next level of refinement in their industrial design to their machines , if wasn’t by bambu this would be considered a perfectly fine design , for an industrial design, the problem is that is being evaluated by a consumer with expectations much higher now because of the refined Bambu design
Exactly, I understand that people get drunk with a aluminum printer, but Bambu is not Apple it's just a nice painted 🍎 Cheap Chinese components in a nice coat.
I appreciate Prusa for preferring functionality. BTW @Robert himself says he likes it, so it is necessary to say that even the design is nice imo, just utilitarian design.👍
@vmiguel1988 I don't know, man. Folded sheet steel for 650 I feel would be rough even if they did not exist.
@@ViniciusMiguel1988 I think that customers put mainly on functionality (?), I don't understand how people can be swayed by the outer appearance and then not care about how it works inside.
@@ViniciusMiguel1988 Of course, Bambu has made a very impressive printer. However it is not serviceable in any way and for a tool like this, I want to be able to fix it part by part as and when needed. Simplicity in machines like this is brilliant, I don't want a complex printer. One also has to be aware of the politics here. Bambu is likely heavily subsidised by the CCP. The M.O. is simple: Release a product that's got way more functionality than everyone else, regardless of manufacturing cost. Coax people away from everything else which now in comparison looks like terrible value, keep doing this until all competition die off, then jack your prices up.
I suspect the Bambu X1 Carbon likely has a 'natural' unsupported cost of over $2,500. Said losses are as I stated, likely being absorbed by the CCP. Prusa are manufacturing in Europe. I do however agree, that $650 for some bent metal is about $300 too much, even for European manufacturing.
Robert, I like the approach you take to this review. Honest criticism and Kudo's where it's appropriate. I hope manufacturers are paying attention to your reviews. From a commonsense point of view and not purely financial. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for watching!
Hey, i just wanted to say I'm a new viewer to your channel and for me you're the perfect mix of opinion, facts, and pace. Was hoping to see somebody talk about this and was excited to see your video pop up!
Welcome aboard!
I’m so glad you made this video! No way I’m paying $650 for an enclosure that was half-hearted in “cost vs benefit” sense. Seems like it was more of an exercise in “how over-complicated can we make it before people won’t purchase”. I still haven’t received my XL, but I do look forward to some proper multi-MATERIAL printing
Thanks for the thorough vid. So much feels like a complete afterthought. As you're spinning the printer around and moving the enclosures, I couldn't help but notice how many areas you could see light shining through all the unsealed openings.
Excited to get down to building mine in a few weeks. I really appreciate you timing the sections and outlining the improvement points. As a former technical writer, I also appreciate Prusa's meticulous documentation.
Your Knife has now been named "Fred"
Thank you.
hahaha.
Fred Cowan!!
For this channel, it really should be "Slice" IMO
Listened to the whole thing. Turned into a masterclass on how to give constructive criticism… my reality is I bought 10 mk3’s in the past, but now I have 20 bambu’s in my basement from doing client work. They’re just so affordable and easy to use… Excited to see what the future holds for innovation and competition.
Fantastic review! I haven't bought an XL because I felt it wasn't done yet. Part of the problem with it being the only commercial toolchanger (that isn't an industrial one) means they get to set whatever bar of quality and effort in. I would really like to see Bambu come in with a toolchanger and again, show the whole world what a polished machine should look like and function like.
If bambu came out with a toolchanger and/or large format printer, things would get REALLY interesting!
@@RobertCowanDIY I am sure the larger format is coming, but I don't actually think they are going to go go to a toolchanger. They've done well with the AMS systems. I am trying to design my own large format printer the would rival Bambu, but getting sheet metal and custom extrusions/castings are so costly.
@@RobertCowanDIYwell Bambu Lab in an interview not long ago said that larger printer was coming BUT just "larger wasn't enough". Those were their words so Priss must get ready, they are getting competition on the XL category. Bambu Lab also mentioned 2024 so I guess their plan is to release it by the end of the year.
Great video again Robert. I'm very glad to see long-form content that is also positive and negative.
I'm somewhat lucky to have my XL chilling on the floor next to my desk with the desk on the left, the walls of the apartment behind and right, and the ceiling of the building starting to cover the printer from about 0.6m off the ground. All I needed to enclose mine were two sheets of 25mm thick honeycomb cardboard that I ordered cut to size from a hardware store here in Switzerland, cost me about 30.-
Thank you for your honest review. I bought a month ago. I ordered my XL five head with enclosure. Look forward to putting it together. I would like to see you fix all the problems that you appointed out in this video. Especially around the fan enclosure. Look forward to your next video as always.
Could you try printing larger ABS prints. I have this setup and get random tile overheating errors. Open door do not get error but print is equally not successful. Seems like the chamber gets too hot for the bed electronics.
Got this in my youtube recommendations a couple of weeks after buying the X1C. I love the X1C so far, but the multi-toolhead capabilites of the prusa XL also look reeeeally nice! 😊
Took a few minutes before i realized why you looked so familiar… ah, the good old sparkfun days! 🥳
Glad to see you have your own channel, Robert. Subscribed immediately, and look forward to more like this! 💯
I never stopped making videos!
Yes the Prusa is really nice, but lets face it for a hobbyist way too expensive, for a company well probably a steal but they do not want the hazzle of building everything, they want an ootb solution they just can unpack. The Prusa sits exactly in the middle between those two markets with this enclosure!
@@werpu12 Hobbyist is a very vague term when it comes to budget, it ranges from cardboard to CNC mills. The Prusa XL is expensive and was likely never intended to appeal to the masses, but it still has a market.The only consumer market competitor I know (meaning 2 toolheads, decent quality & large print bed) is the Ratrig Vcore 4 IDEX, which costs over 2200 bucks as a kit without the enclosure panels, and supposedly takes dozens of hours to assemble. It still costs less than the XL but if you don't consider assembling the kit a fun pastime that may not matter as much.
Now that the mk4s is made with higher temp materials by default, do you know if new XL will still have PETG parts? We're looking at getting several prusa XL w/ enclosures for a project next year.
I suspect they will continue their fascination with poorly printed PETG parts. The MK4S still has them in some places.
@@RobertCowanDIY I actually confirmed through prusa support chat, that the toolheads are upgrade to the PC-CF. Now if only printed solid would actually respond to their fucking invoice request form they keep directing me toward.
Every time you said weird, I heard disappointment. At least that is how I felt when building mine.
It's been 3 months now. Has Prusa responded to any of the points you brought up?
Not that I'm aware. Whenever I try to provide feedback, they just double-down on their decisions.
@RobertCowanDIY bummer... I keep hoping to get the Prusa of the mk3 back. That seems to be their peak 😕
@@jasonfisher5004 Yeah, I agree. At that time, there just wasn't anything better. And once people finally swallowed the price of a MK3, they were converted.
I was waiting to see the official XL enclosure before thinking about whether to design and build my own... Might just build my own. lol. It's very weird that they didn't include a temp probe as part of the enclosure kit. I might try doing that myself to see how useful it would be. It looks like Prusa is using Molex 1.5mm Clik-Mate connectors (connector housing: Molex 502578-0201, pin: Molex 502579).
that's on my list. It literally has a reading for it in the menu system, I wonder what would happen if I just hooked something up...
I got my Prusa XL Enclosure about 2 weeks ago, everything you said is very accurate. One of my magnets comes out every time I pull down the bellows. By default, the fan is off during the print (turns on after the print for 10mins), I guess it's so the heat warms up the enclosure but with all the holes and spaces around the enclosure, I'm not sure that it's does anything to filter fumes and air particles. I'm considering sealing most of the space (may just leave the holes at the bottom of the frame as air intake) to trap the dirty air, maybe add a filter inside the enclosure to filter the trapped air without loosing the heat.
Check to make sure you followed the instructions carefully. I missed a step and didn't put a magnet on the opposing side of the magnet holder and had the same issue. I realized I skipped the instructions and that it wasn't just spare magnets included. Once I put a magnet on the opposite side of the bracket/holder thing, the magnets stopped popping out.
As someone who can disassemble something and put it back together entirely by feel with a leatherman, this is why I appreciate video guides, I can fast forward those. Trying to parse huge walls of text that translate to “put the obvious thing in the obvious place” makes me want to implode. I get it, but damn it kills me when 3 pages amounts to “put in 5 M5 screws in these places”
I’m guessing the fan cable is so long because they are using the exact same part as the MK4 enclosure which has to route the cable from the front to the back. Anyways i’ve been waiting for someone to make a comprehensive review of this for a while now so thanks.
ah, maybe!
Hi Robert
Your XL enclosure review came up on my you tube feed this morning just before I assembled mine. Thanks!
I have the same concern as you about changing the Hepa filter when it needs it. My XL is in a tight space. I happen to be at that point right now.
Looking at it. it seals both front and back, so I just didn't install the filtration cover box.
Thanks again,
Doug
I think its so funny how much you're glitching out about the bellows. I can appreciate the simplicity.
I wouldn't say I'm glitching out. I actually like the concept and they do work well. BUT, it seems like a prototype, rather than the final design.
@ FYI, I very much appreciate your thorough and critical review on this machine. If I choose to get the XL it will be a big help in getting me up and running.
Well, your timing is impeccable. Mine is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I appreciate the heads up for what's in store putting it all together. I believe your printer is a pretty early one, so I could sort of *barely* understand why they might have extruder parts that needed to be replaced on the earliest machines. But my printer is a few months old. It's pretty hard to fathom how they wouldn't have known about those parts by the time mine was built. To coin a phrase: weird. I'm also really disappointed to hear about the lack of a temperature sensor. Frankly, I assumed this was part of the design. I'm glad to hear that ASA worked well for you anyway, since that's my primary reason for buying the enclosure.
Yes, mine was ordered like 15 minutes after the pre-order was announced. Apparently it's using the temp sensor from the toolheads. I was unaware of that.
FWIW, I built my enclosure late last week. The enclosure build itself was pretty enjoyable. I didn't particularly enjoy upgrading the various PETG parts on the motion system and tool heads to PCCF, although I got pretty quick at the tool head work by the fifth time! 🤣 I was worried that the whole process of having to re-tension the belts would take what was a flawless printer and leave me with issues, but so far so good. I gather that printers built starting in June have the PCCF parts already so that won't suck so much.
I totally agree that Prusa really needs to re-think how they do wire routing. They seem to be fixated on routing wires through the smallest channels possible, and that makes it a total PITA to assemble and modify. Having to do a bunch of disassembly on the back of the printer to connect up the fan and lighting for the enclosure was annoying.
Now that it's all done, the one issue I have with the finished product is that every time I pull the bellows down, the magnets come with. That needs a re-think.
Very good deep dive on the enclosure. Regardless of the quirks and the price, I've decided to order one.
I know it might sound odd, but if I watched this same video, I would probably end up buying one too. Seeing as there aren't really any actual attachment points on the printer, making something from scratch would require quite a bit of engineering AND cost in prototyping. I just want to use the printer, so I would have bought it too. You'll probably end up liking it, it DOES work well in many aspects.
what a brilliant review! As for my MK 4 I'm gonna build my own enclosure for the XL if I finally decide to get it.
As for the MK4 I designed & printed cooling adapters for the buddy board as well as the PSU (adapted only with strong magnets and no modifications whatsoever) so I didn't have to modify the printer at all for working in the enclosed environment!
Also I don't understand why Prusa is not offering its printers with the higher temperature resistant parts (maybe as an option) in first place ... that actually still keeps me from placing an order for the 5 head XL. Once again 'chapeau!' for this honest review.
I think they feel that the vast majority of people just print PETG and PLA, which is probably true.
yes maybe@@RobertCowanDIY
I love my prusa mk3s+, i was considering getting the XL. The reason i went with Voron was because of the enclosure and cost! I didnt want to pay these prices for a jank enclosure. the Voron has a nice enclosure that is a good form factor. I think Prusa dropped the ball on the enclosure of the XL
great overview. I am looking to get the enclosure. But I might wait an see if they adjust based on your feedback. ;) I have not read the instructions yet. But I wonder if it is a must to change from PETG to ABS/ASA on the printheads. Curious what the chamber temp has been, heat rise and all that.
I don't own any Prusa printers and have heard such great things about their design and reliability. The XL as a whole just seems like such an afterthought though, and this enclosure just further compounds that. For $650 I would expect this to be a comprehensive option, especially since it is from Prusa directly. One led strip, no keying or alignment on the bellows, and a cheap $5 hygrometer seem much more like the cut down "lite" version of what the enclosure should be. Which really does seem like the case since they have the software and hardware ready to go to support a chamber heater and ambient temp probe. This realistically should be a $250 option with a $500 fully featured alternative. I would bet money that those fancy bellows on the front ate up the majority of the design budget and contributes the most to production cost and for what? Designing a bifold door at the bottom using the same stamped steel and acrylic would have been just as effective and most likely cost substantially less. Just seems like some really odd design decisions that ballooned the final price far beyond what it is worth.
For the price, id be expecting a lot more then this...
same.
What are you waiting with this "more"? What else you wait from working encloser, +1 LED string? or maybe i dont know what else ...
@@pavolkrajcik7675 have you ever seen a Voron 2.4 or Trident?
Full Pre-cut acrylic panels is what hes referring to. The accordion BS is wild for $520
I have an XL enclosure. Most of your observations and criticisms are spot on. The lack of any wiggle room with wire routing is ridiculous. I ended up cutting a stepper motor wires. I did not install the Nextruder upgrades. The documentation said it is unnecessary for systems received after June. It appears Prusa changed the parts from PC carbon (?) to nylon. I received my XL in May and I am sure my printer already had the newer parts. I did not do the belt tension upgrade either. I don't have unusual play on my belts, why fix what isn't broken? I do not like control of the fan and LED in software. The button approach used in the Mk4 enclosure is, I find, preferable. The LED placed above and on the right creates glare and uneven lighting. It should have been placed above and horizontally. I experienced a bunch of weird problems post enclosure assembly. Straight away I had a power supply (don't recall the specifics) OSOD (orange screen of death) error and subsequently 2 thermal runaway OSOD's. I didn't experience those types of errors pre-enclosure. I saw a well engineered hydraulic lift for the Mk4 enclosure lid on Printables. I suspect someone will produce something similar for the XL. For some filaments an enclosure is essential so I have no regrets buying it.
The telemetry on mine shows an "enclosure temperature", as well as "enclosure fan". That enclosure temperature seems consistently higher (I haven't actually checked when not printing...) than the little indicator on the glass panel, and I assume is taken by the toolhead, or the tool carrier? Which would seem like a resonable place to take, given very close to the part?
Is it really worth it for them to safe on material for the higher heat resistance like they could already print it correctly.
The enclosure definitely seems like an afterthought. It's like they made the whole XL and were staring at their work and someone went, "shit, there's no enclosure".
That being said, I kind of love it. I love how big it is and how repairable and accessible it is. This thing was made to be tinkered, modified and repaired by the user. I also love kits and building stuff so a long build like the XL and enclosure is a plus not a negative to me.
If I had 5 - 6K to spare I would definitely get a fully kitted out XL. I'm just not rich like that.
Soo, did they modify any parts since this video came out? Like petg parts exchanged for asa etc.? Or did they make some mounts for magnetic "doors"?
Not that I'm aware of. I think you might be able to look at the assembly instructions and see where they note different versions.
Thank you for your time spent on your review.
I will say I appreciate design that uses a minimum of complexity and materials while ensuring it is suitably effective. The bellows appear to define the enclosure while also allowing very ready access to a region that frequently needs easy access. Seems elegant.
The ambient (air) environment (now air in enclosure) temperatures are already accessible from existing XL thermometer sensors when controlling prints, so I am not sure what your new concern is? The extra thermometer on lid is, I assume, just so user is not surprised by heat when opening it, not as an additional printer input?
You didn’t mention how you attach a vent duct to the new enclosure? (To get fumes out of room.) Is that well designed/integrated?
When assessing the pricing of machines I work with a lot I try to factor in reliability, predictability, (manufacturer)optimization since these really impact my time. Our time is a large additional cost component in builds, so the less of our time the machine ends up needing to achieve the final good print is a significant factor. This should always be considered when discussing the upfront purchase costs.
I appreciate companies that are continually putting a lot of their own software and hardware engineering labor into their products. Prusa does this. They do need to recover this in the upfront cost they charge.
My thought when assembling the side panels is they just made one punch or laser profile to make the sheet metal. Opposite hand all of the bends to make the two different sides, but the rest of the tooling is shared or just mirrored.
The Prusa Mini enclosure also has a ton of redundant mounting holes, in part because all four "pillars" connecting the top and bottom are identical so they all have the holes for the door hinges etc. I like it though, I printed a cable holder for the back and the holes were already there, and I'm going to print some gridfinity baseplate mounts for the two holes at the top. As the enclosure is magnetic that makes it even more convenient. It does have some weird quirks of its own though. Not bad, but just odd decisions like you said.
Note that if your Prusa XL was made recently (since June, I think), most parts don't have to be reprinted; they are already in PC-CF, ready for the enclosure.
This reminds me a lot of my experience with the mk4 and its enclosure. Spend a crazy amount of money then spend hours disassembling and rebuilding to get a very average product. I ended up getting a P1S and was printing within 5mins! I’m selling my mk4 and I’ll never get anything from Prusa again, I want a tool not a hobby.
They gave me a MK4 and enclosure recently. I basically told them "I'm not doing a video on that because it won't be kind". This is definitely nicer, but the MK4 enclosure is just sad for what it is, IMO.
@@RobertCowanDIY , please make a Prusa Mk4 enclosure review.
@@Ro3Deee Right? I love me negative reviews, about damn near anything.
Maybe it's cathartic in this world filled with barely hidden infomercials trying to pass as reviews. Maybe it's because I just dont think people are negative enough. Of course only negative when fair, but there are so many products that deserve a good crapping on, if not just to save the fellow consumer from wasting their limited time on frustration.
I have the other enclosures and they work great. Not sure what all the negativity is. What's so bad about them?
Considering that for the price of this enclosure, that one still needs to assemble by themselve, is almost the price for the P1S 😄
I just built mine and the cables exiting the enclosure are even length (about 10cm), no extra cable to bundle above splitter board.
I have an added 3030 profile as extra brace on the front of the printer, it acts as a nice stop for the upper door (needed to the off some on the nut covers though).
Ah nice. The pictures for the assembly showed the extra cable length, so they must be changing things still.
this seems to mirror my take on the official prusa enclosure for the i3 series. the i3 style printers have an excessively large footprint due to their design, so the enclosure for the i3 series from prusa is massive, especially in X and Y. the quality was fine, albeit the acrylic was super super thin to where I worried about cracking it as I fastened the million screws it took. they added a ton of extra mounting holes and such for modding and I think that's pretty cool.
that said, even that printer and enclosure felt like a massive afterthought. I went in thinking I would build it, put my printer in it, then off I go. but no, it's unsurprisingly similar to your experience with the XL. for the power connector, you have to buy this optional male-male pass through connector and wire that into the PSU, which on the i3 requires disassembly because otherwise the psu would overheat from being inside the enclosure. if you don't get the male-male extra connector (you have to pay for it), your printer is literally hard-wired to the enclosure on the inside.
they had some spots on the bottom where the printer was supposed to sit, but nothing actually keyed it, so centering it wasn't as straightforward as I'd like it to be. but that's not all.
the lcd unit gets relocated to outside the enclosure, which requires more disassembly and you basically run a cable to the outside. the printer is now hard-wired to the enclosure in two places. I think you see where this is going
aaaaand you have to do a bit more for the new Bowden tube that runs to the top and over to the side where the spool mounts inside the enclosure.
while I have many printers, I stupidly chose to put my oldest printer in this enclosure, the original preorder mk3, and after thousands of hours, the mean well psu finally gave up the ghost. I went to troubleshoot the printer and I then came to the realization of the massive amount of work I have ahead of me just to do some troubleshooting. unlike the XL, that enclosure had doors in the front, but the rest is solid. those weren't cheaper either. I remember it being roughly the cost of another printer in kit form. that's about the time my first carbon x1 cc Bambu arrived, and well, that prusa basically sat there out of service until I ended up selling it to a friend.
I like prusa. I like what they stand for, and I like all they did for the 3d printing industry for consumers. I get that being in the EU makes things more difficult, and I get the shipping across the pond can't make service related things easy. but at those prices, it's reaaaaally hard for me to recommend their stuff anymore. it really pains me to say it too, because I really like Josef and I like that company in general. I hope they find their way and stay in the game
and nice review as usual
Thanks! I'm in the same boat. I have the enclosure for the MK4 and I was just downright mad when putting it together. It too a LOT longer than this and just felt cheap, and it was MASSIVE.
Great video Robert. I appreciate the level of detail and honest assessment of the enclosure. I bought mine prior to seeing your video because I wanted to get the discount before 7/31. I probably wouldn't have ordered it if I saw your video first. I just received my enclosure yesterday and I'm not sure if I want to take it out of the box based on your assessment. I don't really want to have to disassemble my printer and the space I have dedicated to the printer is only 26" deep and would be really difficult to make it 30-32" deep. Most likely I would have to modify the Prusa enclosure significantly in order to make it work and so I'm starting to think I might be better off just building a custom enclosure that fits my space. If I were to build my own enclosure, am I right to assume I would need to replace all the PETG parts anyway if it's going to get hot in there? Do you think there are enough benefits to the Prusa enclosure (over say a Sumo enclosure or other printables option) that I should just build the Prusa enclosure and modify it to suit my space or return the prusa enclosure and build something myself?
Robert, Prusa will be making a camera add-on for all their printers. Most likely it will be mounted on the opposite side of the led strip or for a fire suppression system (my guess). This enclosure is not active heating but they are talking about it in their podcast for an add-on. Ideally, I would like to see the hot air from the top enclosure be recirculated to the bottom thru a heating element or exhausted out on top. Also, I share the same issue with the Ballow system. It should have been attached to the bottom air intake and the magnates should have been incorporated int the top of the ballow, not the upper arms. And the lid needed to be sealed against the ballow. One other thing I did not see you mention is why you need to redo the belt tension. There is another PETG part that needs to be replaced on the tool selector that holds the belts together.
How do you know this, because they certainly haven't told me that.
The fact that a maker would be capable of building the enclosure themselves is actually an added value - it's repairable!
I am waiting for my XL enclosure. I think it looks pretty cool. But, I need another printer like it. But I wonder if i should wait for something like a Prusa XL mk2 with some of these things sorted.
Nah, I don't think there's anything WRONG with the printer. I still use it and it works great. You'll see many other UA-camrs using it as a 'reference', but not really talking about it. It's still a great printer, if you ignore the price tag and some other little quirks.
Veeery good review.
Bravo.
I would add that at that price I would expect for the spools to be inside of the chamber so they can remain dry. Also if I am not mistaken the x1c can reach a chamber temperature of about 50 degrees Celsius so this is what I would also expect for this one. But of course it is impossible because of the gaps and the thing panels.
Hi, if I may ask you a question about that enclosure?
I got mine and saw that after a print (used only one tool and printed PC) all 5 toolhead heatbreak fans were working...
Is it for cooling down the enclosure or FW controlling heatbreak temps?
I'm not at all sure. I think during prints, all toolheads will cool themselves.
@@RobertCowanDIY I was wondering that... thanks
That is one HELL of an opening sir. Bravo 👏🏻
ha, thanks.
The opening of the video, or the opening of the enclosure? Either way, I agree.
Awesome breakdown and "weird" was definitely the perfect word to describe it. Do you think I'd be better off with some of DIY/3rd Party solutions? BluRolls and the Sumo come to mind.
The BluRolls looks alright, but the Sumo just seems strange and way too chunky. Functionally I like the official one, but it just seems like it could be SO much better. I'd probably look at the BluRolls if I had to do it all over again. For the price, it's worth the gamble.
@@RobertCowanDIY Have you been printing the ASA drawer pieces with the enclosure? It would be interesting to see the comparison between the shower curtain and the official enclosure. Any further tweaking to the ASA profile besides flow rate and temp?
@@hockeygoalie35 I haven't printed any of the drawers recently. I might expand on them a bit in the future, but right now they're fine. I don't expect to see much difference between the shower curtain and the enclosure. It's just a better overall solution having a real enclosure, but the shower curtain 'did the thing'.
@@RobertCowanDIY Gotcha. Keep up the good content, your channel's quickly become one my favorite 3D printing channels!
@@hockeygoalie35 Thanks so much!
Do you think maybe they chose those thin clear panels to save the amount of weight pushing down on the top assembly?
MAYBE, but then they probably should have done aluminum for the metal panels? I'm not really sure I can speculate too much about their decisions though.
@@RobertCowanDIY Good point. Despite the goofy decisions this is by far the best looking enclosure solution I've seen for the XL.
I built my first enclosure about 10 years ago, still using it. I added back then a DHT22 and a small arduino, talking over serial to the Marlin board for exactly what you are missing - temperature and humidity control / feedback. Later I 'hacked' it into Octoprint so I have full feedback and control over the UI.
The fan outlet hat to be on the top, where hot air accumulates. Also one might want to connect this to a duct to exhaust it outdoors - good luck with that in the current state !
Well, it's already through a HEPA filter, but outside wouldn't be a bad idea!
@@RobertCowanDIY A printer of this caliber deserves to be hooked up just like your other machines. I know you are having one of this larger Hepa units on your laser, could have tied into that too..
I think it would have been feasible to have the top of the enclosure come off with a quick connect for the fan and light, with maybe more magnets for the mechanical mounting as that seems to be the theme here. That way getting to the extruders wouldn't be more difficult.
Potentially! However with the toolheads, you can just grab them and remove them from the docks, and within a few seconds you can disconnect them completely. It's PROBABLY not a big deal, we'll see.
I have a 5 tool head Prusa XL, and it makes *great* prints, and I'm overall happy with it, but there's parts that make it feel half baked (examples: no camera or even camera support, the trash that is the PusaLink interface, apparently not being able to set the *hostname*). For the price of these things, there's really no excuse for that. Especially, when there's nothing stopping them from just including a Pi-like board and running something like Octoprint... which would solve a bunch of issues (Which is what I've ended up doing myself).
Definitely agree with you about the quality of the XL's prints. I've found them to be outstanding.
First off, thanks for doing this review. I found it very thorough and informative. While watching this, everything you were surprised by, didn't surprise me at all. This is very much in character with the Prusa designs (excepting the SL1, which came from. A different team). They aren't very skilled at industrial design, at least not yet. The engineers at Bambu come from a background of mass manufacturing (DJI), and they clearly think about things like planned future features and maintenance. What's frustrating to me is not that Prusa is slow, or takes many iterations to get it right; it's that they have a huge price premium for this half-assery. Hopefully Bambu or someone else comes out with a solid multi-toolhead CoreXY soon. The Black box CE looks like a good design, but I'm really wanting to move away from the DIY printer, and just get something that's more like an appliance. Sadly, the XL isn't it.
I was wondering how you would feel about that magnetic attachment on the bellows. It’s all very rigged and I was certain I missed a step to keep the magnets in the pockets. I thought for sure they can’t mean to keep the magnets only attached with other magnets. On occasion I’ve had one not let go when I pull the bellows down. But that’s how you do the Prusa polka I guess 🪗
Interesting, I've got the enclosure too. I do not like the location of the filter but love the "harmonica". Will see how long does it last. As far as it comes to build quality I am OK with it. The print quality and functionality is the #1 to me. I appreciate using standard components instead of custom ones, it make me simpler to do modifications.
Understood. I do like the accordion too, but I don't like how the magnets don't always stay in place.
@@RobertCowanDIY I mean we are talking a drop of super glue - is it really that much of an issue?
@@paulhuckaby It's expensive, doesn't REALLY do what it should do (no actual temperature sensor), you need to spend several hours building it AND I need to modify it? I'm just pointing out pros and cons.
Is there sufficient clearance behind tool 1 for your unit? Mine is rubbing against the curved end of the sheet metal and is detaching from the gantry about 50% of the time when it goes to retrieve it. When I try to pull it manually, I can tell that the back end is rubbing against the metal. All the other tools are fine since that
Huh, mine looks fine and I can't really see that happening?
Is your LED strip RGB? Mine says RGB in the firmware settings but I've only seen white.
Same. I think it's RGB, but they haven't introduced any functionality other than white. Maybe in an error state?
I would put it this way, Prusa has a long history and a great reputation in 3D printing. Its printers are used by professionals, production shops and enthusiasts around the world. Prusa Research is also a leader in innovation and user experience.
Why would I cover heads I'm always adjusting and removing nozzles due to the xl being a pain in the ass? Constant blockages in the heat tubes. Constantly having filment loading issues
There's still a good amount of room around the heads and they come off the docks easily enough. It's actually far easier to work on the heads on the XL than any other machine.
Super interesting!! Thanks for recording.
Now watching. Annoying they didn’t include the full LED lighting strip on 3 sides!
It is not be for me as I don’t print materials requiring enclosure, but interesting to see.
I am ok with the bellows, it’s a good solution. But it doesn’t feel like a 600 piece of kit for what it has. As you said, it’s the price of a full printer.
two would have been fine, IMO. 3 might have been an issue. but I just can't fathom why you wouldn't do equal lighting, when the badging is clearly so social media posts can showcase the printer...
Prusa's pricing these days is very aspirational, considering the quality of the end product. $1200 for an assembled MK4? Yikes.
@@RobertCowanDIYmight it be the control board can’t supply the amps required for another light strip? With the splitter in place we’re already driving two strips where there was one originally. Regarding the additional holes in the vertical styles, I found them very useful to mount a camera.
Enjoyed the in depth look and appraisal of design choices. It's too janky for me to consider and I can't see how it works with those large gaps at the front and looks by the base. I can see the base used to draw clean/cooler air in but both at the expense of getting up to 50c which is what I'd expect an enclose to allow.. 40c is too on the edge for me especially in the UK when I want to run the printer in a garage. I assume your workshop is heated or temp controlled. When printing ABS or PC on the Bambu I will heat soak for 30 minutes to ensure an even chamber temp. I would like to see more testing of exotic martials in the chamber. Thanks for this video.
Yes, my shop is fully temperature controlled. It was around 70-75F (~21-24C) during filming. That being said, the XL does already have a heat soak cycle built in. The WHOLE chamber doesn't need to really soak, just the area around the bed for the first layer or so.
A very thoughtful review and pointed comment on the state of Prusa. I think a lot of this community wants to champion the open source oddball that is Prusa, but it hasn't really made what is the next obvious big step into being a manufacturing leader. You get a lot with Prusa but no longer is the bulk of it good, or enough to accept as a tax for appreciation of what the company represents. Its going to SAAB/Volvo its way out of its niche if it doesn't change soon IMO.
I think the issue with the mirrored Side Panel having *_all_* the Mounting Solutions and Features for a second Light but not having the Light is because it actually is the same part when they cut it to size with all the Holes but only up to the point until they start bending it into shape where it then becomes one side or the other - It simplifies Production. But yea... Should have added a second Light.
Hi, did you add the two magnets on the top right and the two magnets on the top left? It was kind of hard to see in the instructions that there are two magnets on each side of the top assembly. I had almost missed that since the picture of parts only showed 2 magnets for both sides but it was saying 4 in the text.
I think that might be what was causing the magnet to come out, since this so far did not happen to me.
Yes, I added both. Without both it wouldn't hold.
Thinking of going enXLosure for my work 5t and adding my own chamber heating/cooling. was trying to print asa with the box as an enclosure in +30 C and was having all kinds of overtemp errors. Added a pair of 40x40x10 24v noctuas for the buddy board chamber and bed splitter board along with heating the whole bed has it running. probably reprint all the petg parts in PC+ on my x1c, not sure it really needs pccf.
Would someone post a link to the build plate storage add on mentioned around 40:00 minutes into the video. Mr. Cowan states it on Printables, but I am having a heck of a time finding it.
Here you go! It's OK, I might make my own some day, but it works: www.printables.com/model/593481-prusa-xl-series-integrated-steel-sheetx2-holder
Prusa if you're seeing this, try again. This is a flop of a release. Im not purchasing this even though I have a prusa XL that needs an enclosure.
Unfortunately it's the best option out there. A few DIY efforts exist, but they seem far clunkier even.
yeh, also its little bit ugly and feels like unfinished product :/
@@RobertCowanDIY , I really like your first solution with the plastic curtain, with the printer in a corner. You can even put a thermometer on it :)
So the answer is, this machine with this bizarre enclosure option is not for anyone who wants to print high temp. I'm finishing a doom expanded insulated trident, has an expanded y so I can make it a tool changer, to have to compromise so much for this half baked prusa amalgamation, nope.
@@RobertCowanDIYI’d take chunkier if it’s clear.
I'm still waiting to collect my enclosure at my "neighbors" house two streets further up (darn DPD courier),... Does it come with the printed parts for the tool head? Or do you need to print them? I hope the first as I dont have PCCF on stock and would cause more delay ...
It DOES come with the printed parts, you don't need to add anything on your own, everything is included and the quality of the parts is great.
BTW, If you want, you can actually use the rigid doors from my enXLosure design, with the top of the original enclosure!
Also, I offer a adapter kit so you can have the full connectivity and features of the original, on the cheaper enXLosure!
I like how the 3d printer from Prusa works
I think that this design is really good. It's light and can be scurely send in small package. Every part can be easily swaped and modified. You want something to key the bellows - that's 10min print, but you can use them as you like thanks to they are not keyed. Tempered glass is nice, but it would make whole, already heavy printer, heavier, it's harder to ship and easier to break, but harder to swap. Those cheap panels you definately can order localy or made themself and you don't need to relly on Prusa to send you replacement.
It's expensive but it's a very good product. Price is high probably becouse low volume. The good part is it's simple design, so you can replicate it possibly much cheaper. I agree with fan and temperature probe issues.
Hmm, I really liked their last enclosure but for 5 or 6 hundred you can just go to a cabinet shop and have a cabinet made and maybe have enough to buy a double pane window in the door. I like how they used the printer itself for the structure of the enclosure though, that was a good idea. I think they're re-thinking the enclosure after the first impression videos because it isn't on the site right now.
As for as the gaps, the last one had it also. I plugged a ton of mounting holes. I don't think printer companies are worried about air quality. That is another reason I'd just go with a cabinet, cut a hole for air intake and air exhaust, put a filter on both and hook the the fans to a temperature sensor so you can have it close to the temp you need.
I had to replace the idler and catch in my MK4 that was in an enclosure. The PETG parts started to deform partway through prints, causing them to fail… but once cool they whee fine again. Took ages to work out what was happening… but I guess I and everyone else who had these issues and reported their pain to Prusa aided all of you XL users. 😉
Re gas springs, they wear out after a few years, I personally think the magnet solution is pretty clever!
was only a matter of time till the community fixed some of these issues - there is a replacement filter box for the back that enables sliding out the filter without needing to remove the box - really should have just came that way, but we have 3D printers... we can fix these things. Also there are some bellow alignment prints (but I'm waiting for some other options).
I'm sure others have done the engineering for Prusa, but why didn't Prusa do it themselves?
@@RobertCowanDIY oh I agree.. but easy fixes to an other wise pretty nice enclosure incase someone was on the fence after watching this video
@@MakerShed3D Yeah, I'd agree with that. I've been using it and it seems just fine, but in the future I'd like to fix a few things.
@@RobertCowanDIY Sounds like a follow up video topic - "How I Fixed the Prusa XL Enclosure"
@@MakerShed3D haha. Nah, I want to work on my own projects!
Good stuff, great overview the enclosure reminds me of some WWII tank river fording kit with a green house top. Im not associated with anyone but what would the consideration on the cost of the weight of it all? If you added all of what you want, that would really make the thing better in all honesty, how much would the end cost of shipping be? The accordion front seems to be a light "durable"? solution along with the thinner clear plastic and using the print farm that is home brew saves on other companies knowing what you are up to and gives jobs to your local community. IDK I see many solutions to one problem. I mean is the community in such a way that a plug and play is what everybody wants? I think that to tinker might be something that prusa seems a benefit, maybe? Also I wonder along with securing new supply lines for new products how do other businesses or maybe other countries feel about hampering what their own group wants to take the share of (if thats a little too far out there and or don't make no sense, sry). Or its that they are leaving space for mk 2 of the enclosure. IDK It might have been that they had the B team on it wile they where working on the Pro HT90 (it looks so nice) I mean the XLs components look like (on the bottom or the buy page for prusa) just look like they took a mk4 and made it a Core XY or really vise versa. Also how many people bought the Prusa brand enclosure for the mk3/mk4? like why even bother it seems like maybe its there to say its there. IDK but what I do know Is Ill watch the heck out of some longer vids about maker stuff or almost what ever you put out. Thanks for the vid have a good week
I'm sure shipping and weight was a consideration. Thicker windows would have cost more to ship. I just tried to give my impressions as I saw them. In the end, I AM happy with how it works and functions, the price tag just seems strange considering how it seems like a really strong DIY effort.
Very fair review. The XL itself has a few design flaws of it's own (I'm looking at your Docks)... Maybe they'll fix them in the XL2 version of the printer.
I actually think the docks are fine. The design flaw was letting customers assemble them. If assembled properly, they're pretty bulletproof. But there are many places where incorrect assembly could result in errors.
Good, calm video! I think Prusa is completely disconnected from their customers since COVID-19. The Mini with the 32 Bit board and an entry level price came just in time, minor flaws were fixed within month.
After that, the XL and MK4 came way to late. XL has many many design flaws that other brands don’t have for nearly half the price tag. So many issues and decisions where you just stand there and ask „what were they thinking?“. XL without enclosure is the most obvious one. PETG parts on an 2000-4000€ machine?
They have been confusing, for sure!
Dear Robert, about your regards about the temp sensor. If you use Prusa Connect you will see the (enclosure) temp in the telemetry section.
Also the sliding of the bellows is perfect for temp regulation. I had also a loose magnet.. drop of glue will do the trick... (-;
Regarding the temp sensor, I learned about this after the video was released. It does seem strange to have the control loop in the cloud, rather than on the machine (the menu doesn't show the temp, but the cloud service does?). As I said, I DO like the sliding bellows, it just seems poorly implemented. Yes, you could glue in the magnets, but that's not really the point is it?
Im glad you waited to send Prusa suggestions because i dont think they care.
They do, but they all seem to be drinking the kool-aid of "but we're Prusa, and we're the best". They're potentially tone-deaf to what the market is actually saying.
@@RobertCowanDIY and that is exactly what I mean.
@@RobertCowanDIY I don't think so. Maybe a bit, they clearly were surprised by the Bambu (which is a good thing for competition, even though the design philosophy is different), but they can't react that fast to what the market is saying. The XL and MK4 were kinda fixed designs at this point and the reaction will be for the next models. Which I assume to be ramped up. So, let's judge for those.
@@VincentGroenewold yeah but if they don’t change, Prusa will be out of business in 10 years. I’m reading more and more often that print farms order P1 or P1S printers instead of Prusa. They are faster with same print quality. Replacement parts are cheap. Build quality/parts aren’t that much better on a Prusa either.
@@VincentGroenewoldi think Prusa is changing their target to engineering consumers, if you saw their latest printer.
Thank you, I enjoyed watching the video! Your sharp criticism never stops amusing me!. Could you also make a review video about the Xtool F1 laser engraver? I am curious about your opinion of the F1 and laser cutting and engraving. Also curious about any recommendations about CNC, laser engraving and cutting in general.
My review on the F1 Ultra is coming. So far, I actually like it. I think they are very well focused on who their audience is. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I should have that review out. Stay tuned! CNC is just another animal completely. I don't have a CNC machine under $10K and I think there are just far too many compromises even with THOSE. CNC is best outsourced unless you have a really specific business-case for one, or just like having toys at home.
Fan on top rather than back???
Especially given the fact that Prusa has shown parts of this long time ago, it is indeed strange that they did not take any mounting holes or the PETG levers on the nextruders into account on the newer models delivered.
I don't like these little push thingies they use to mount the plexi/lexan panels. On the Mk3 enclosure they use the same ones and if you even need to take them out (and believe me - you do ...) you are bound to break one or two.
I also don't like the bellows, I prefer lexan doors so I can look at the printing progress when I am sitting behing my desk - but that's more a personal preference.
Overall a good overview of the whole thing. Looks like Prusa missed out on quite a few features that should have been implemented. Looks like "the XL selling scheme:" is becoming the new industry standard: deliver a half baked product while promising to deliver fancy features later by upgrades ...
im just having a hard time figuring out how they reached this price
The packaging was next level, all the screws/fasteners in their own little baggies with labels, the sheet metal really adds up (has a really nice finish on it), and they're most likely having things made locally in the EU rather than China.
Once again another well done video. Given I was one of the lucky ones and had zero issues with the hardware on XL5, MK4 and MK4 MMU3. But, I do feel things were rushed when it comes to firmware and this enclosure. No fan heater control? No left side light? 😢 maybe I’ll pass on this. ❤
The lack of a temperature sensor is actually an absurd decision. The amount of quality it would add to the printer and the control to the user from a temp sensor is a night-and-day difference.
How much could it possibly have cost for that probe to forego its inclusion???
If it would make the build too complex or something, give it as a recommended option for people to add, but include the part.
If it costs too much, add it as a add-on with the kid for additional cost. (not very compelling considering those cheapo temperature readouts measure temps just fine).
Agreed! Stop sending gummy bears, don't include the little snap in one, and just give me a sensor (which the controller board and interface clearly supports!)
@@RobertCowanDIY loved your video btw. That was super insightful. I don't even have an XL. 😅
Hopefully Joseph and the Prusa team actually take some of your pointers. They definitely need to start playing catch-up or they will be buried by the competition.
Also, I just thought of this now seeing your comment, but how cool would it have been for them to use their multi zone heated bed to act as a chamber heater with the parts that arent actively being printed on, like I can imagine many caveats of such a system, like needing a buffer zone, but I think many prints dont use the whole bed anyways so its an idea just sitting there.
They are saving it for the $800 MK2 upgrade 🤣
@@jimmer411 🙃
Lol
For the most part, my thoughts mirror yours. Just finished assembly, have the same sentiment about the bellows and am just flabbergasted that it has absolutely no alignment features.
As for the exhaust fan, I understand where Prusa is coming from. It's the same way with the Original enclosure for the MK's - it's meant as filtration, not as a means to control temperature. Reasoning has always been that the expected chamber temperature is never supposed to exceed 40c anyway, so there's not really all that much to affect. Whether that's a valid hand-waving will depend person to person... I'm thankfully in the camp that doesn't care except to not smell ABS ever again.
The one thing I will mention that frustrated me to no end was the entire wire management Undo button. Everything that we went through during the original assembly -- rip it all out. Do it again, now with another ground wire and a different LED plug. And don't mess up the antenna, kthxbye.
It's all done now, so w/e. Time to get back to actually printing.
Thank you for a very detailed and interesting video! I appreciate your attention to details and the calm and unrushed presentation style. Also I think the enclosure is very cool-looking and the bellows totally not what I was expecting :D The whole printer now looks like a droid from Star Wars
Personally I'm not sure Prusa should start going into the direction of most large manufacturers with injection molding and other conventional or more streamlined manufacturing techniques - their whole thing has been and still is to stand out of the crowd by being a sort of like a "maker collective", doing things more the homebrew DIY way, if you get my point. The print farm is not just a manufacturing method but also a major advertising and PR asset I think - and as far as I know, Prusa as a company is doing well despite their products having more "premium" prices and slightly different approaches to certain things compared to others amongst the industry (like supposedly the best product support).
Having said that, I personally don't own a Prusa printer - even though I'd really like to - simply because of the price =I
I don't know if anyone dudv this already, but it's Benchmade Phaeton. I'm more a Microtech Halo guy, but Benchmade's OTF's are really impressive too!