Josef Prusa offered an update on his company’s progress developing more advanced filament switching technology.
Prusa Research was one of the first companies to offer a widely available add-on for multicolor FFF 3D printing: the MMU. This device would retract and insert filaments throughout a print job, enabling use of several different colours in a single print.
The early versions of the MMU were, well, challenging to operate. They required significant tuning and I actually gave up on mine after never being able to get it to work reliably, as did many others.
Since then, Prusa Research has launched updated versions of the device — they are currently at MMU3, which is said to be more reliable.
Now, Josef Prusa published a video where he explains where the company may go next for a future MMU, and the information was curious.
In the video, Prusa first shows what’s called a “lite” version, which would provide an upgrade over the current MMU3. This configuration is quite similar to the MMU3, as it involves separate spool rollers for up to five filaments, and the controversial buffer system. Prusa points out that unlike some other multimaterial systems, this product can handle oddly sized spools, including oversized versions. This will be sold online soon.
Prusa then showed a more advanced version of this product, which basically includes a dust cover. This would be helpful, as dust accumulates on the mechanism and would eventually be drawn into the hot end. However, the spools are still exposed in this approach. This variant is to be sold in May or June of this year.
Prusa finally showed a “development version” that had been put together by their internal team. This was apparently a version intended to be the next MMU, but it was decided not to proceed for unknown reasons.
The version has an interesting twist in that the buffer functionality has been integrated into the spool holders. These are also enclosed, making the entire sequence dust-free.
Prusa explained that instead, this design would be released as a “community version” of the public 3D model on Printables, where anyone can print and build it. However, he also said it could take up to five kg of material to print this version.
That’s a lot of material, and I am wondering whether anyone would actually build this.
As for the true next version, Prusa would only say that they are working on something that is a “reimagination of the concept from the ground up”, and that it would not be possible to upgrade from the MMU3 to the (presumably) MMU4.
I would not be surprised if Prusa Research’s new “MMU4” would be something quite similar to the AMS-style filament changer that has been used by Bambu Lab, Elegoo, Anycubic, and several others. This approach has been proven to work fairly reliably, and that seems to be the key success factor for this type of accessory.
Via YouTube
