Prusa Research suddenly announced the CORE One L 3D printer.
After some brief hints, the company released details on their latest desktop 3D printer, the CORE One L. As you might guess, it is essentially a CORE One — but with a larger build volume. However, there are a number of interesting new features on the device.
The main new feature seems to be much improved thermals. This is composed of several new innovations, the most important of which is a solid aluminum block that is used as the heating source for the print plate.
Previous systems provided uneven heat as the warmth would not always travel to the corners of the plate, for example. However, the new aluminum plate conducts heat very well and ensures, according to Prusa Research, a variance of only two percent over the entire surface.
In addition to the print plate, they’ve also developed an interesting blower system that leverages the block’s heat to raise the chamber temperature — up to a maximum of 60C. The fans, located under the plate, blow air around the chamber and apparently can heat it much faster.
Finally, there is a new vent at the top of the machine. This is used to lower the chamber temperature when printing low temp materials such as PLA and TPU. The firmware will automatically open the top vent when these materials are being printed, and remains closed for other higher temperature materials.
But what about the “L”? That stands for “Large”, as they’ve increased the build volume on the CORE One L. From the original CORE One’s 250 x 220 x 270 mm, the new Core ONE L moves up to 300 x 300 x 330 mm. This is twice the volume, but actually increases the size of the machine only slightly — ten percent, according to the company.
The increased build volume will enable makers to print helmets in one piece, for example, avoiding the need for assembly of separate parts. It also has somewhat greater surface area, meaning you can print larger batches of small parts in a single print job.
Larger build volumes often mean much larger machines, but it seems that Prusa Research has been able to engineer the machine to keep its footprint down as much as possible. But is its weight also up?
Yes, but not as much as you’d expect. They’ve switched out the heavy side panels from the CORE One and replaced them with lightweight aluminum versions on the larger machine. This eliminates the magnetic capability, but saves on weight. This is important, as I’ve personally had to heft some pretty heavy machines around lately.
They’ve also beefed up the webcam, as it’s now 1080p — with night vision. I don’t think I’ve seen a machine with this feature before.
Finally, the machine is not available as a kit, unlike many Prusa Research 3D printers. It’s shipped fully assembled — and apparently calibrated, too. The price? In the US, it’s set to US$1799, quite a bit more than the CORE One, but it is a larger and better machine.
Via Prusa Research
