Prusa MINI is the smallest and cheapest 3D printer offered by the Czech manufacturer, which combines absolute minimalism of design with high quality of work and reliability. Despite its very “amateur” and “cheap” appearance, it prints with excellent quality that can be envied by much larger and more expensive desktop-class 3D printers. This week, PRUSA Research introduced a firmware update to the MINI model, making the 3D printer print several times faster than before – without losing its flagship 3D print quality.
Prusa MINI, like other amateur FDM / FFF 3D printers, operated at a standard speed of 40-80 mm/s. In the official press release, Prusa explains: “our team did the impossible and transferred the software from the MK4 model to the humble MINI processor and smaller RAM.”
This change was forced by the market. This year, there was a speed revolution in the desktop 3D printer industry. The introduction of vibration-compensating firmware has enabled FDM/FFF 3D printers to operate at much higher speeds without affecting 3D printing quality. PRUSA Research joined the race when, at the end of March 2023, it presented a new version of its flagship model – MK4. The 3D printer can boast of achieving high speeds, but this resulted in a much higher price than its predecessors. In the case of the MINI model, all you need to do is update its firmware…
The company boasts that printing the popular 3DBenchy test model now takes 16 minutes, which is a huge upgrade from the current time of about 1 hour. The new firmware is available for download, but please note that it is classified as “alpha”. PRUSA Research reports that the final version will be available in about a month.
Higher 3D printing speed while maintaining quality parameters was achieved by the new “input signal shaping” function in the firmware. This feature analyzes the desired movements and continuously adjusts the stepper motors to compensate for vibrations produced during high-speed printing. However, please remember that the MINI is quite a simple structure (which translates into the low price of the 3D printer), so you should not exaggerate its efficiency. Most fast 3D printers are based on metal structures and CoreXY kinematics, which is much better for super-fast work.
Nevertheless, it is a fantastic improvement for the MINI and a great treat for its owners. We tested the upgrade ourselves on our devices and so far we can say that the increased speed makes a difference!
Source: www.prusa3d.com