Prusa3d Manual Mk3 En

User Manual:

Open the PDF directly: View PDF .
Page Count: 69

Please always refer to the http://www.prusa3d.com/drivers/

for an updated version of this 3D printing handbook (PDF download).

QUICK GUIDE TO THE FIRST PRINT

1. Read the safety instructions carefully (page 7)

2. Place the printer on a flat and stable surface (page 10)

3. Download and install the drivers (page 39)

4. Calibrate the printer by following our calibration flow / wizard (page 11)

5. Insert the SD into the printer and print your first model (page 25)

Important notice, tip, hint or information that helps you print with ease.

Read carefully! This part of the text has the uppermost importance - either for user

safety of for a proper printer service.

This symbol indicates text related to a printer kit only.

Handbook



version



3.0



from



December



2017



Prusa



Research



s.r.o.

About the author

Josef Prusa (born Feb 23rd, 1990) became interested in the 3D printing phenomenon before

joining the Prague’s University of Economics in 2009 - at first it was a hobby, a new

technology open to changes and improvements. The hobby soon became a passion and

Josef grew into one of the leading developers of Adrien Bowyer’s international, open source,

RepRap project. Today, you can see the Prusa design in different versions all around the

world, it is one of the most popular printers and thanks to it, knowledge about the 3D printing

technology significantly increased among the public.

Jo’s work on self-replicating printers (you can print the other printer parts with your printer)

are still ongoing and currently, there is Prusa i3 - the third iteration of the original 3D printer.

It is constantly updated with the latest innovations and you've just purchased its latest

version. In addition to printer hardware upgrades, the main goal is to make the technology

more accessible and understandable to all users.

Josef Prusa also organizes workshops for the public, participates in professional

conferences dedicated to the popularization of 3D printing. For example, he lectured at the

TEDx conference in Prague and Vienna, at World Maker Faire in New York, Maker Faire in

Rome or at the Open Hardware Summit hosted by MIT. Josef also teaches Arduino at

Charles University and was also a lecturer at the Academy of Arts in Prague.

In his own words, he imagines 3D printers will be available in every home in a not too distant

future. “If anything is needed, you can simply print it. In this field, you just push the

boundaries every day... We're glad you're part of it with us!”

 
Table of contents
 
2 Product details 6 
3 Introduction - Glossary, Disclaimer, Safety instructions, Licenses 6 
4 Original Prusa i3 MK3 printer 8 
5 Original Prusa i3 MK3 printer kit 9 
6 First steps 10 
1 Printer unpacking and proper handling 10 
2 Printer assembly 11 
3 Setup before printing 11 
3.1 Calibration flow and wizard 11 
3.2 Flexible steel sheet surface preparation 13 
3.2.1 Flexible steel sheet with powder coated PEI 15 
3.2.2 Flexible steel sheet with PEI foil 15 
3.3 Increasing the adhesion 15 
3.4 Selftest (kit only) 16 
3.4.1 Selftest error messages and resolution (kit only) 16 
3.5 Calibrate XYZ (kit only) 17 
3.5.1 Calibrate XYZ error messages and resolution (kit only) 18 
3.6 Calibrate Z 20 
3.7 Loading the filament into the extruder 21 
3.7.1 Unloading the filament 22 
3.8 First layer calibration (kit only) 22 
3.8.4 Bed level correction (kit only) 23 
3.9 Fine-tuning the first layer 23 
3.9.1 Print prusa logo 23 
3.9.2 Check probe height (kit only) 24 
7 Printing 25 
1 Removing objects from the printer. 25 
2 Printer Control 26 
2.1 LCD screen 26 
2.2 Print statistics 27 
2.3 Fail stats 27 
2.4 Normal vs. Stealth mode 27 
2.5 Factory reset 27 
2.6 SD card sorting 28 
2.7 Testing if file (.gcode) is complete 28 
2.8 LCD layout 29 
2.9 Print speed versus print quality 32 
2.10 USB cable and Pronterface 32 
3 Printer addons 34 
3.1 Different nozzles 34 
3.1.1 Hardened steel nozzle 35 
3.1.2 0.25mm nozzle 35 
8 Advanced Calibration 35 
1 PID tuning for Hotend (Optional) 35 


 
2 PINDA probe calibration/ Temp. calibration (Experimental/Optional) 36 
3 View XYZ calibration details (Optional) 36 
4 Linear Advance (Experimental) 37 
5 Extruder info 38 
9 Printer drivers 39 
10 Printing your own models 39 
1 Where you can get the 3D models? 39 
2 In what program you can create your own models? 39 
3 PrusaControl 40 
4 Slic3r Prusa Edition 42 
5 Bundled 3D models 43 
6 Print in color with ColorPrint 44 
7 Printing of non-standard models 46 
7.1 Printing with support material 46 
7.2 Large object printing 47 
11 Materials 49 
1-11 ABS, PLA, PETG, HIPS, PP, Nylon, Flex, Composite materials, ASA, nGen, PC-ABS 49 
12 Dialing in new materials 56 
12 FAQ - Printer maintenance and print issues 57 
1 Regular maintenance 57 
1.1 Bearings 57 
1.2 Fans 57 
1.3 Extruder drive gear 58 
1.4 Electronics 58 
1.5 PEI rejuvenation 58 
2 Print surface preparation 58 
3 Filament sensor 59 
3.1 Running out of filament 59 
3.2 Filament jam 59 
3.3 False sensor readings and debugging 59 
3.3.1 Dust on the sensor - how to clean 60 
3.3.2 Extreme light conditions 60 
3.3.3 Exotic filaments 60 
4 Clogged / jammed extruder 60 
5 Nozzle cleaning 61 
6 Replacing / changing the nozzle 62 
7 Printing problems 63 
7.1 Layers break and split when printing from ABS material 63 
7.2 Models contain either too much or not enough of the filament 64 
8 Problems with finished models 64 
8.1 Model breaks and/or is easily damaged 64 
9 Updating printer firmware 64 
13 FAQ - common issues when assembling the printer kit 65 
1 Printer is rocking - YZ frame - geometry check 65 
2 Printer stops printing soon after start 66 
3 Printer can’t read the SD card 66 
4 Loose X- and/or Y-axis belts 67 
5 Detached cables to the heatbed 68 


2 Product details

Title: Original Prusa i3 MK3 / Original Prusa i3 MK3 (kit), Filament: 1.75 mm

Manufacturer: Prusa Research s.r.o., Partyzánská 188/7A, Prague, 170 00, Czech Republic

Contacts: phone +420 222 263 718, e-mail: info@prusa3d.com

EEE group: 3 (IT and/or telecommunication equipment), Device use: indoor only

Power supply: 90-135 VAC, 2 A / 180-264 VAC, 1 A (50-60 Hz)

Working temperature range: 18 °C (PLA)-38 °C, indoor use only

Working humidity: 85 % or less

Kit weight (brutto / netto): 9.8 kg / 6.3 kg, assembled printer weight (brutto / netto): 12 kg /

6.3 kg. Serial number is located on the printer frame and also on the packaging.

3 Introduction

Thank you for purchasing our original 3D printer Original Prusa i3 MK3 from Josef Prusa

either as an assembled printer or a printer kit - as your purchase supports us with its further

development. Read the handbook carefully, please, all chapters contain valuable info for the

correct service of the printer. Original Prusa i3 MK3 is a successor to Original Prusa i3

MK2S with numerous hardware and software upgrades, which lead to improved reliability,

increased print speed, and ease of use and assembly.

Please check the http://prusa3d.com/drivers page for the updated version of this 3D

printing handbook (PDF download).

In case of any printer related problem do not hesitate to contact us at info@prusa3d.com



.We

are glad to receive all your valuable comments and tips. We strongly suggest you visit our

official forum at forum.prusa3d.com, where you can find solutions to common issues, tips,

advice and hints in addition to actual information about the Original Prusa i3 printer’s

development.

3.1 Glossary

Bed, Heatbed, Printbed - Commonly used term for printing pad - a heated area of the 3D

printer where 3D objects are printed.

Extruder - Printing head or extruder is a part of a printer consisting of a nozzle, hobbed

pulley, idler and a nozzle fan.

Filament - Term for plastic provided on a spool is called “filament”, it’s used throughout this

handbook as well as in the LCD menu on the printer.

Heater, Hotend - another name for a printing nozzle.

1.75 - 3D printers use two different diameters (thickness) of a filament (thickness): 2.85 mm

(commonly called as 3 mm) and 1.75 mm. 1.75mm version is more used worldwide though

there is no difference in printing quality.

3.2 Disclaimer

Failure to read the Manual may lead to personal injury, inferior results or damage to the 3D

printer. Always ensure that anyone who operates the 3D printer knows and understands the

contents of the Manual. We can not control the conditions in which you assemble the

Original Prusa i3. For this and other reasons we do not assume responsibility and expressly

disclaim liability for loss, injuries, damage, or expense arising out of or in any way connected

with the assembly, handling, storage, use or disposal of the product. The information in this

Manual is provided without any warranty, expressed or implied, regarding its correctness.

3.3 Safety instructions

Please be very cautious during any interaction with the printer. This printer is an

electrical device with moving parts and hot-temperature areas.

1. The device is for indoor use only. Do not expose the printer to rain or snow. Always keep

the printer in a dry environment at a minimum distance of 30 cm from other objects.

2. Always place the printer on a stable place, where it can not fall or tip over.

3. The printer supply is household power outlet 230 VAC, 50 Hz or 110 VAC / 60 Hz; Never

connect the printer to a different power supply, it may cause malfunction or damage to the

printer.

4. Place the power cord so you can’t stumble on it, or step on it or otherwise expose to any

damage. Make sure that the power cord is not mechanically or otherwise damaged. Stop

using damaged cable immediately and replace it.

5. When you disconnect the power cord from the socket, pull the plug rather than the cord to

reduce the risk of damage to plug or AC outlet.

6. Never disassemble the printer power supply, it does not contain any parts that could be

repaired by an unskilled worker. All repairs must be provided by a qualified technician.

7. Do not touch the nozzle or heat bed when the printer is printing or is warming up. Note

that the temperature of the nozzle is 210-300 °C (410-572 °F); heatbed temperature can

reach over 100 °C (212 °F). Temperatures above 40 °C (104 °F) can cause harm to human

body.

8. Do not reach inside the printer while it is still in operation. An injury may be caused by its

moving parts.

9. Prevent children from unsupervised access to the printer even when the printer is not

printing.

10. Do not leave the printer unattended while it's still on!

11. Plastic is being melted during printing which produces odors. Set up the printer some

place well ventilated.

3.4 Licenses

Original Prusa i3 MK3 printer is a part of the RepRap project, the first open source 3D printer

project free to use under a GNU GPL v3 license (www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html). If

you improve or alter any part of a printer and you are willing to sell, then you have to publish

the source codes under the same license. All 3D-printed elements of the printer that can be

improved upon can be found at http://www.prusa3d.com/prusa-i3-printable-parts/.

4 Original Prusa i3 MK3 printer

Unlike the printer kit, it’s completely assembled and almost ready to print. After plugging in

and running the necessary calibration you, can print a 3D object in a matter of minutes after

unpacking the printer. Keep in mind you can use our support email when you purchased the

assembled printer. Do not hesitate to write us if you need any advice or help. We will gladly

help with any specific prints.

3D printers use two different diameters of a filament (you can find more in chapter

Materials



): 2.85 mm and 1.75 mm. 1.75mm version is used more worldwide, though

there is no difference in printing quality. The filament is provided on a spool where

you can find the basic information - filament maker, material (ABS, PLA, etc.) and

filament diameter. 2.85 mm filament is commonly called as 3 mm.

This printer supports only a 1.75 mm filament. Please check the filament diameter to be

1.75 mm before inserting into the extruder. Do not try to insert wider filament it could

damage the extruder.

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Original

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Prusa

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MK3

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printer

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description

5 Original Prusa i3 MK3 printer kit

Original Prusa i3 MK3 kit is pictured in pict. 2. Detailed information and assembly

description can be found in chapter 6.2 Printer assembly. We offer the support for

users who purchased the printer kit through our official forum. If you need help do

not hesitate to visit our forum at forum.prusa3d.com. You can find the answers to

your problem there. If not, please just post your question directly there.

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Original

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Prusa

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MK3

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printer

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kit

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unboxed



 

6 First steps

6.1 Printer unpacking and proper handling

Holding the upper frame, take the printer and pull it out from the box. Be careful when

handling the printer not to damage the electronics and thus the proper printer functionality.

Anytime you move the printer, always hold the upper frame with hotbed upright pointing

away from you as pictured in pict. 3.



 When unpacking the fully assembled version, remove

the top foam from the box and gently lift the printer up. Parts of the printer are secured by

more foam which needs to be removed. Some parts are additionally secured with the white

zip-ties, cut those off too.

Pict.

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

Proper



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handling

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printer

Both the assembled version and the kit version come with a few things you might need

during the printer use.

-USB Cable - used for uploading a new firmware or alternatively printing from the

computer.

-Acupuncture needle - used for cleaning the nozzle when stuck. See the chapter

11.5 Nozzle cleaning for more information.

-Glue stick - Used for better Nylon adhesion or as a separator for Flex materials. See

the chapter 11 Materials for more information.

- Test protocol - All the components of every printer are tested. The electronic parts

are even connected as in a final assembly and battery of tests is ran. Only when all

tests pass the electronics get a serial number and protocol + S/N stickers are printed.

Test protocol shows all the test results of your printer components.

6.2 Printer assembly

With Original Prusa i3 MK3 printer kit we suggest to follow the guidelines and

assemble the kit according to the the online manual at manual.prusa3d.com. (Online

manual is available in several languages on the website). The construction of the

printer should not take more than one working day. After a successful completion

continue to the chapter 6.3 Setup before printing.

6.3 Setup before printing

● Place the printer to a horizontally stable position, the best place is a workbench

where there is no risk of draft.

● Attach the filament holders to the upper frame.

● Attach Filament to the holders. Make sure the filament spool doesn’t jam and can

move freely.

● Plug in the AC power cord and turn on the switch.

● Check out the firmware version (in the Support menu via LCD panel) and please

upgrade to the latest one from our website www.prusa3d.com/drivers.

Filament is a common term for the plastic rod - material provided on a spool from

which 3D objects are printed.

6.3.1 Calibration flow and wizard

With your first start-up of your freshly assembled printer, it will guide you through all the tests

and calibrations you need to do to get started printing.

Wizard can be also started manually from LCD menu Calibration -> Wizard. Do not forget

to read chapter 6.3.2 PEI print surface preparation before running the Wizard.

It follows the calibration flow and helps you with following steps:

● Selftest - Chapter 6.3.4

● Calibrate XYZ - Chapter 6.3.5

● Loading the filament  - Chapter 6.3.7

● First layer calibration  - Chapter 6.3.8

It is not mandatory to use it, and you can cancel the wizard at the beginning. Then you

should just manually follow the calibration flow as on older firmware revisions.

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Wizard

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setup

There are few special occasions where you will need to redo the calibration or part of it.

●Firmware update - Complete guide is in the chapter 12.9 Updating printer firmware.

6.3.8. First layer calibration needs to be rerun otherwise the printer will show an error

message.

● Readjusting the P.I.N.D.A. probe - Run 6.3.6 Calibrate Z to store new reference Z

height values.

It is important to disconnect the printer USB from any computer or OctoPrint running

on Raspberry Pi for the whole calibration. Printer will not respond to any request

from the host and communication will timeout, when host resets the connection, the

printer restarts and might end up in weird state requiring 7.2.5 Factory Reset.

6.3.2 Flexible steel sheet surface preparation

The MK52 heatbed has embedded high curie temperature magnets. These magnets are

able to firmly hold removable spring steel sheets. There are two pins at the end of the

heatbed that will align perfectly with cut out slots in the spring steel sheets. Make sure the

bed is clean and there aren’t any debris on it before you put on the steel sheet. Never

print directly on the heatbed.

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HeatBed

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MK52

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base

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and

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powder



coated

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steel

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sheet

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surface

To achieve the best adhesion on the new surface, it is important to keep the surface clean.

Cleaning of the surface is very easy. The best option is Isopropyl alcohol available in

drugstores which is the best for ABS, PLA and others (except for PETG where the adhesion

may be too strong. See the chapter 11.3 PET for instructions). Pour a little amount on

unscented paper towel and wipe the print surface. The bed should be cleaned while cold for

the best results but it can also be cleaned when already preheated for PLA, just be careful

not to touch the bed surface or the nozzle. When cleaning at higher temperatures the alcohol

will evaporate before it can clean anything. Alternatively, you can clean the bed with warm

water and a few drops of a dish soap on a paper towel. Denatured alcohol is yet another

option.

The surface does not have to be cleaned before every print! It is just important to not

touch the steel sheet with your hands or dirty tools. Clean your tools with the

same solution as you would the sheet and you will be able to start your next print

right away.

Pict.



Steel



sheets



smooth



PEI



sheet,



glossy



powder



coated



PEI



and



textured

powder



coated



PEI

All original print surfaces from Prusa Research are coated from both sides.

Pict.



Smooth



powder



coated



effect



surface



6.3.2.1 Flexible steel sheet with powder coated PEI

Powder coating directly on metal makes it very hard to damage this build plate. If a heated

nozzle crashed into it, the metal can dissipate the heat. Powder coating also gives the

surface distinct textured look that will be visible on your prints.

6.3.2.2 Flexible steel sheet with PEI foil

Uses the same PEI sheets as on the MK2/S.

You can leave small marks on the print surface with your nozzle or tools, they will typically

be shinier than the rest. It does not affect the functionality or adhesion. However, if you want

to have same surface look on the whole printbed you can resurface it. The easiest way is to

take a hard side of dry kitchen sponge and wipe the affected area with circular motion gently

few times.

The industrial glue which holds the PEI sheet on the heatbed itself softens when

temperatures greater than 110 °C are used. If higher temperatures are used, the

glue can migrate under the PEI and create slight bumps on the surface.

6.3.3 Increasing the adhesion

In some special occasions, like a tall object with a very small contact area with the print

surface, you might need to increase the adhesion. Fortunately PEI is a very chemically

resistant polymer and you can temporary apply other adhesion solutions without damaging

it. This also applies to materials which would not stick to PEI otherwise, like Nylon etc.

Before applying anything to the bed, consider using Brim option in Slic3r which increases

the surface area of the first layer.

For Nylon blends a simple glue stick does the trick. Glue can be later easily removed by

window cleaner or dish soap water.

For ABS prints, ABS juice can be used and later cleaned with pure acetone. Be very gentle

when applying the juice and do so while the bed is cold. Prints will attach very strongly.

Prepared juice can be also purchased in our e-shop. Unfortunately, UPS service

does not allow to deliver any acetone-based products due to shipping constraints. In

that case you get only the bottle and ABS from our e-shop and you have to source

the acetone locally.

6.3.4 Selftest (kit only)

The purpose of the selftest routine is to check most common errors when assembling and

connecting electronics and to help indicate any possible errors after assembly. You can run

the Selftest from Calibration menu on LCD panel. This should not be necessary on the

assembled printers as those are pretested.

Initiating this routine performs a series of tests. The progress and results of each step are

displayed on the LCD. In case of errors found, the selftest is interrupted and the reason for

error is shown to guide users in troubleshooting.

The selftest is just a diagnostic tool, the printer will still attempt to print even after

the test fails. If you are absolutely certain that the affected part is correct, you may

continue with the print process.

Test consists of

●Extruder and print fan test

●Heatbed and hotend proper wiring

●XYZ motors proper wiring and functionality

●XY axis length

●XY belts tension

●Loose belt pulley test

6.3.4.1 Selftest error messages and resolution (kit only)

Front



fan/



Left



hotend



fan



Not



spinning:

Check proper wiring of print and hotend fan cables. Ensure that both are properly

connected to the EINSY electronics, and that they are not swapped.

Please



check/



Not



connected



Heater/



Thermistor:

Check proper wiring of hotend power cables and thermistor cables. Ensure that both

are properly connected to the EINSY electronics, and that they are not swapped.

Bed/Heater



Wiring



error:

Check that heatbed and hotend power cables are not swapped or thermistor cables

from both hotend and heatbed are not swapped in the EINSY electronics.

Loose



pulley







Pulley



{XY}:

The belt pulley is loose and slips on the motor shaft. It is important to tighten the first

grub screw on the flat piece of shaft, then continue with the second grub screw.

Axis length



{XY}:

Printer measures the length of the axis by going from end to end twice. If the

measured value is different from the physical length, your axis might be blocked from

moving all the way. Check by hand if axis is running smoothly when printer is

powered off.

Endstops



Wiring



error



Check the proper cabling of PINDA probe. Routine indicates PINDA has malfunction

or is not properly responding. Check the proper connection in the EINSY electronics.

Endstop



not



hit



Motor



Check if Z axis can go all the way down to trigger the PINDA prove over the bed.



6.3.5 Calibrate XYZ (kit only)

The Original Prusa i3 MK3 comes with a full mesh bed leveling feature, however

for this to work we need to first calibrate the distance between tip of the nozzle

and P.I.N.D.A (Prusa INDuction Autoleveling) probe.

The process is fairly straightforward, so let’s get to it.

The purpose of the X/Y/Z calibration routine is to measure the skew of the X/Y/Z axes and to

find the position of the 4 calibration points on the print bed for the proper bed leveling. You

can run the XYZ calibration from Calibration menu on LCD panel. This should not be

necessary on the assembled printers as those are factory calibrated.

Place a sheet of a regular office paper (for example the checklist shipped with

every order) and hold it under the nozzle during the first round (first 4 points

being checked) of calibration. If the nozzle catches on the paper during the

process, power off the printer and lower the P.I.N.D.A. probe slightly. See the

P.I.N.D.A. probe response diagram in 6.3.9.2 Check probe height. The paper

will not affect the calibration process. The nozzle must not touch the print

surface or deflect the bed by any means. If everything went correctly, continue

with the calibration process.

Initiating this routine performs a series of measurements in three rounds: In the first round

without the steel sheet installed 4 sensor points on the print bed are searched for carefully

as to not touch the print bed by the nozzle. In the second round, the point locations are

improved. In the last round with the steel sheet on the height above the 9 sensor points is

measured and stored into a non-volatile memory for reference, this finished the Z axis

calibration.

At the start of the XYZ calibration procedure the printer homes X and Y axis. After that, Z

axis will begin to move up until both sides touch the printed parts at the top.

Please make sure the Z axis went all the way up and you heard a rattling sound as the Z

stepper motors skip steps.This procedure ensures, that 1) the X axis is perfectly horizontal,

2) the print nozzle is in a known distance from the print bed. In case the Z carriage did not

touch the end stoppers, the printer could not possibly know the height of the print nozzle

above the print bed and it could, therefore, crash into the print bed during the first round of

the X/Y calibration procedure.

The XYZ calibration procedure also prompts you to "Please



clean



the



nozzle



for

calibration.



Click



when



done."

If this advice is not followed and there is a plastic debris on the print nozzle, then the debris

may touch the print bed or even push the print bed away from the PINDA probe, so the

PINDA probe will not trigger properly and the calibration will fail.

After the calibration is passed, the values can be reviewed for tweaking later. When you get

your axes perpendicular or slightly skewed, nothing needs to be tweaked as printer will

perform with the best accuracy. Learn more in chapter 8.3 View XYZ calibration details

(Optional) under 8 Advanced calibration.

6.3.5.1 Calibrate XYZ error messages and resolution (kit only)

1) XYZ



calibration



failed.



Bed



calibration



point



was



not



found.

Calibration routine did not find a bed sensor point. The printer stops close to the bed

point, which it failed to detect. Please verify, that the printer is assembled correctly,

that all axes move freely, the pulleys do not slip and the print nozzle is clean. If

everything looks good, re-run the X/Y calibration and verify with a sheet of paper

between the nozzle and the print bed that the print nozzle does not touch the print

bed during the calibration routine. If you feel a friction of the nozzle against the sheet

of paper and the nozzle is clean, you need to screw the PINDA probe slightly lower

and re-run the X/Y calibration.

2) XYZ



calibration



failed.



Please



consult



the



manual.

The calibration points were found in positions far from what should be expected for a

properly assembled printer. Please follow the instructions of case 1).

3) XYZ



calibration



ok.



X/Y



axes



are



perpendicular.



Congratulations!

Congratulations, you built your printer precisely, your X/Y axes are perpendicular.

4) XYZ



calibration



all



right.



X/Y



axes



are



slightly



skewed.



Good



job!

Good job, the X/Y axes are not precisely perpendicular, but still quite all right. The

firmware will correct for the X/Y skew during normal printing, so boxes will be printed

with right angles.

5) XYZ



calibration



all



right.



skew



will



corrected



automatically.

You may consider to re-align the X/Y axes (as described in the chapter 6.3.5.1 Y

axis alignment). Still the firmware will correct the skew during normal printing and as

long as the X and Y axes move freely, the printer will print correctly.

During the mesh bed leveling procedure following errors may be reported on the display.

1) Bed



leveling



failed.



Sensor



disconnected



cable



broken.



Waiting



for



reset.

Verify, whether the PINDA probe cable is plugged into the RAMBo board correctly. If

it is the case, the PINDA probe is broken and it needs to be replaced.

2) Bed



leveling



failed.



Sensor



didn’t



trigger.



Debris



nozzle?



Waiting



for



reset.

This is a safety check to avoid the nozzle to crash into the print bed if the PINDA

sensor stops working or something goes wrong with the printer mechanics (for

example, a pulley slips). This safety check may be triggered as well, if the printer has

been moved to an uneven surface. Before doing anything else, make the Z axis level

by going all the way up and try again.

At the end of the X/Y calibration, the printer measures the reference height above

each of the 9 bed sensor points and stores the reference heights into a non-volatile

memory. During the normal bed leveling, it is expected that the PINDA probe triggers

not further than 1 mm from the reference value, therefore the nozzle is not allowed to

move more than 1 mm below the reference value during the bed calibration.

If you moved the printer, you may need to re-run the Z calibration to sample new

reference Z height values reflecting the twist and bend of the table surface the printer

is sitting on. If that does not help, please verify, that the PINDA probe is aligned with

the sensor points on the print bed during the bed Z calibration. The alignment shall

be ensured by the automatic X/Y calibration routine. If the PINDA probe is no more

aligned during the Z calibration over time, it is possible, that a pulley is slipping or

something on the machine frame got loose.

3) Bed



leveling



failed.



Sensor



triggered



too



high.



Waiting



for



reset.

Similar to case 2). This time the PINDA sensor triggered more than 1 mm above the

reference height. Before doing anything else, make the Z axis level by going all the

way up and try again.



 

6.3.6 Calibrate Z

Calibrate Z is located in Calibration menu. It is always done with steel sheet on. It should

be performed whenever you move the printer to different location. It saves the heights of all

9 calibration points in non-volatile memory. Stored information is used every time mesh bed

leveling is called during a print. When the measured values are vastly different to the stored

value, print is canceled as it is a good indicator something is wrong. Calibrate Z is a part of

Calibrate XYZ routine so there’s no need to run it after successful Calibrate XYZ.

It is a good practice to run this procedure every time you travel or printer is shipped as the

geometry might change slightly and cause an error.

At the start of the Z calibration procedure the printer homes X and Y axis. After that, Z axis

will begin to move up until both sides touch the printed parts at the top.

stepper motors skip steps. This procedure ensures, that 1) the X axis is perfectly horizontal,

touch the end stoppers, the printer could not possibly know the height of the print nozzle

above the print bed and it could therefore crash into the print bed during the Z calibration

procedure.

The Z calibration procedure also prompts you to "Please



clean



the



nozzle



for



calibration.

Click



when



done."

may touch the print bed or even push the print bed away from the PINDA probe, so the

PINDA probe will not trigger properly and the calibration will fail.

 

6.3.7 Loading the filament into the extruder

● You need to preheat the nozzle before inserting the filament (and the bed too if you

like to print right away). The temperature depends on the material used. Detailed

information about nozzle and bed temperatures are described at chapter 11

Materials.

● Press the LCD-knob to enter the main menu on the LCD. Rotate the button to choose

Preheat option and confirm by pressing the LCD-knob. Next you choose the material

you will print from. Choose a material then confirm with LCD-knob. The nozzle and

heatbed will heat to the requested temperature.

●Press the LCD-knob on the LCD panel to enter the main menu. Insert the filament to

the extruder, choose the Load filament option in the menu and press the button to

confirm. Filament is then loaded to the extruder by the extruder stepper

automatically. You should cut the top of the filament as shown in the picture below.

Pict.







the





filament





the



extruder

● Check if the filament is flowing from the nozzle.

● If you change the filament for a new one do not forget to completely remove the old

filament before the printing by extruding the filament from Settings - Move axis -

Extruder until the color is completely changed.

If your filament is running out during a print, you can easily change it for a new spool. Just go

to the LCD menu, select Tweak submenu and press Change filament. Printer will pause, go

out of the print area, unload the old filament and guide you on the LCD what to do. You can

even insert filament of different color and make your prints more colorful. Check out chapter

10.6 Printing in color with ColorPrint to find out how to make more intricate color models.

Read chapter about our new 12.3 Filament sensor and it’s functions. Autoloading of

the filament, when inserted into the extruder body is a planned feature.

6.3.7.1 Unloading the filament

Similar procedure to the loading operation. Preheat the nozzle for material you used last

time (pre assembled printers are shipped with PLA). Wait for temperatures to stabilize and

use Unload filament option from the menu.

6.3.8 First layer calibration (kit only)

Now we will finally calibrate the distance between the tip of the nozzle and the probe.

Check if your print surface is clean! You can find instructions how to clean it in

the chapter 6.3.2 PEI print surface preparation. Don't forget to complete 6.3.5

Calibrate XYZ chapter or you can permanently damage the print surface!



You can launch the calibration from menu Calibration -> First layer cal.

The printer will probe the bed and start printing zig zag pattern on the print surface. The

nozzle will be at the height based on the P.I.N.D.A probe setting, it must not by any means

touch the print surface.

Pict.



How



tune



the



nozzle



height



live



during



the



test



print.



Note:



-0.640



only



for

illustration.



Your



setting



will



different!

Observe the line which is being extruded on the print surface. New menu will automatically

show up where you can tune the nozzle height live during the test print. The point is to lower

the nozzle until the extruded plastic sticks nicely to the bed and you can see it is being

slightly squished. Set value should not exceed  -1 mm, if you have to adjust it more, move

the probe slightly higher.

Loosen the two screws on the probe holder to make adjustments. By rotating the probe

counter clockwise, it will raise at 1mm per turn. It is very handy for precise adjustments,

but it can also be pushed in and out when set screws are loosened completely. Then rerun

Calibrate Z followed by the First layer calibration again.

Pict.



The



properly



tuned



first



layer

6.3.8.4 Bed level correction (kit only)

A bed level correction is an advanced feature is designed to allow advanced users to correct

for the slightest imperfections in the first layer. This feature can be found in Calibration -

Bed level correction. For example if the first layer seems to be ever so slightly more

squished on the right side, you can virtually raise the nozzle by +20 microns on the right

side. Settings are available for Left, Right, Front and Back. The limit is +-50 microns and

even +-20 microns can make a huge difference. When you are using this function, do small

incremental changes. Negative value will act as lowering the bed in the selected direction.

6.3.9 Fine-tuning the first layer

6.3.9.1 Print prusa logo

After finishing the calibration gcode, it is a good idea to print a simple object. The Prusa

gcode from the supplied SD card is a great example. The Live adjust Z function (described

in 6.3.8. First layer calibration) works during every print, so you can finetune at any point.

You can see the properly tuned first layer on the Pict. 11.

Calibration might be slightly different for different steel print sheets as the coating

thickness varies. It is a good practice to check the first layer and adjust accordingly

with Live adjust Z when switching between different types of steel sheets.

Pict.



Perfect



Prusa



logo



first



layer

6.3.9.2 Check probe height (kit only)

If the first layer seems inconsistent between multiple prints, the probe might be

too high. Lower it slightly. Loosen the two screws on the probe holder to make

adjustments. By rotating the probe clockwise, it will lower at 1mm per turn. It

is very handy for precise adjustments, but it can also be pushed in and out when set screws

are loosened completely. Then try again Calibrate XYZ. Keep in mind, the probe must be

always higher than the nozzle tip, otherwise it will catch on prints.

Pict.



Probe



response



diagram.

Now you are done!



 

7 Printing

● Make sure that the nozzle and the bed are heated to the desired temperature. If you

forget to preheat the printing nozzle and the bed before printing, the printer will

automatically check the temperatures of the nozzle and the bed; printing will start

when desired temperature is reached - it can take several minutes. However, we

recommend preheating the printer beforehand as described in the chapter 6.3.7

Loading the filament into the extruder.

Do not let the preheated printer idle. When a printer is preheated and non-printing

material in an extruder degrades over time - it may cause the nozzle to jam up.

● Watch the first few printed layers to be sure filament has attached to the bed

properly (5 to 10 minutes).

● Press the LCD-knob and choose the Print from SD option from menu, press to

confirm and pick the desired model model_name.gcode. Printer will start printing the

object.

The filename (.gcode) must not contain any special characters otherwise the

printer is not able to display the file on the LCD.

7.1 Removing objects from the printer.

Removing prints from the build plate is much easier with the ability to remove and bend the

build plate. Different thermal expansion of the steel sheet and plastics used in 3D printing

also helps with detaching prints after the plate has cooled down.

● When printing is finished let the nozzle and heatbed cool down before removing the

printed object. Always handle the printed objects when temperature of the bed and

nozzle drop to the room temperature, when the bed is hot objects are very hard to

remove. Remove the steel sheet from the printer and bend it slightly, prints should

pop off.

● If you experience any troubles removing the object (especially the small ones) you

can use a flat tool like a spatula with rounded corners to prevent damage of PEI.

Slide the spatula under the corner of the object and gently push, until the print pops

off.

Pict.





Removing





the





model





from



PEI



surface



bending



the



steel



sheet



7.2 Printer Control

There are two ways controlling the printer. You can use the LCD panel integrated with the

printer or you can connect your computer with USB cable. We suggest the LCD panel

because of its speed and reliability, and moreover you do not rely on a computer.

7.2.1 LCD screen

● Main screen is an information screen displaying the most important details. These

are the temperature of the nozzle and the heatbed (1, 2), printing time (3) and the

actual Z-axis position (5).

Pict.



LCD



layout

1. Nozzle temperature (actual / desired temperature)

2. Heatbed temperature (actual / desired temperature)

3. Progress of printing in % - shown only during the printing

4. Status bar (Prusa i3 MK3 ready / Heating / model_name.gcode, etc.)

5. Z-axis position

6. Printing speed

7. Elapsed printing time - shown only when printing



 

7.2.2 Print statistics

The printer tracks printing statistics. When you access this option during a print, you will see

statistics for the running print. If you do so while the printer is idle, you will see the lifetime

statistics. Both filament usage and print time are being tracked.

Pict.



statistics

7.2.3 Fail stats

Printer keeps statistics about the failures it went thru and recovered during the last print. It is

useful to asses the long print, for example over a night or a weekend if everything ran

smoothly. Fail stats are placed at the bottom of the LCD menu.

Failures which are detected:

● Filament runout

● Power panic

● Lost steps / shifted layers

7.2.4 Normal vs. Stealth mode

The printer offers two print modes. Normal mode is required for the detection of lost steps

(shifted layers) while still being quieter that silent mode on MK2/S. The second is called

Stealth mode and utilizes Trinamic StealthChop technology making the printer almost

inaudible with print cooling fan being the noisiest part of the printer. Stealth mode however

doesn’t provide lost step detection.

7.2.5 Factory reset

The factory reset is used when troubleshooting the printer and resetting it to the factory

state.

Entering the factory reset menu:

1. Press and release the reset button (marked X and positioned under the control

knob on the LCD panel)

2. Press and hold the control knob until you hear a beep

3. Release the control knob

Options:

●Language option resets the language preference.

●Statistics will erase all the recorded print time and material from the memory.

●Shipping prep which resets only the printer language selection. All the calibration

data including the Live adjust Z remain intact. Even though the calibration data are

still present and functional, the printer will prompt user once to run the Calibrate Z

function. This light factory reset is mainly used for resetting of assembled printers

before shipping out of the factory, and users are expected to select their language

and run Calibrate Z after unpacking.

●All data which resets everything including all calibration data and whole EEPROM is

cleaned. After this reset, user is expected to go through the calibration flow again,

except setting the probe height.

If you experience random glitches after firmware update or after printer upgrade, use the All

data option.

7.2.6 SD card sorting

Files on the SD card can be sorted, you can change the sorting type in Settings -> Sort:

[Type] you can select to sort by name, by date or no sorting. The best is by time where

newest files are on the top.

Folders are shown on the top of the SD card menu and then other files follow.

Maximum number of files which can be sorted is 100. If there are more, some of them will

remain unsorted.

Pict.



card



sorting

SD card file sorting will be available from FW 3.1.1 final.

7.2.7 Testing if file (.gcode) is complete

The printer automatically looks for common g-codes which indicate the end of the generated

file. If they are not detected, you will get a warning. You can still continue printing if you wish,

but at least checking the file should be done.

Pict.



Incomplete



file



warning

.gcode file testing will be available from FW 3.1.1 final.



7.2.8 LCD layout

Items not mentioned below are not used for the common print setup - you should not change

any of the unmentioned items unless you are absolutely sure what you are doing.

❏Info screen

❏Live adjust Z (during the printing process only)

❏Tune (during the printing process only)

❏Speed

❏Nozzle

❏Bed

❏Fan speed

❏Flow

❏Change filament

❏Mode

❏Pause print (during the printing process only)

❏Stop print (during the printing process only)

❏Preheat

❏PLA - 215/60

❏PET - 240/90

❏ABS - 255/100

❏HIPS - 220/100

❏PP - 254/100

❏FLEX - 230/50

❏Cooldown

❏Print from SD

❏Load filament

❏Unload filament

❏Settings

❏Temperature

❏Nozzle

❏Bed

❏Fan speed

❏Move axis

❏Move X

❏Move Y

❏Move Z

❏Extruder

❏Disable steppers

❏Filament sensor - On / Off

❏Fans check - On / Off

❏Crash detection - On / Off

❏Temperature calibration - On / Off

❏Mode - Normal / Stealth

❏Live adjust Z

❏Select language

❏SD card - Normal / FlashAir

❏Sort - Time / Alphabet / None

❏Calibration

❏Wizard

❏First layer calibration

❏Auto home

❏Selftest

❏Calibrate XYZ

❏Calibrate Z

❏Mesh Bed Leveling

❏Bed level correction

❏PID Calibration

❏Show end stops

❏Reset XYZ calibration

❏Temperature Calibration

❏Statistics

❏Support

❏Firmware version

❏XYZ calibration detail

❏Extruder info

❏Belt status

❏Temperatures

❏Fail stats



 

7.2.9 Print speed versus print quality

Printing a small object takes a few minutes, but printing larger models are time consuming -

there are prints taking tens of hours. The overall printing time can be changed in different

ways. First way to alter the printing speed is changing layer height in Slic3r - upper right

windows shows Print settings option. Default setting is 0.20 mm (NORMAL), you can speed

up the printer by choosing the 0.35 mm (FAST) option. Raising speed will result in the model

being less detailed with visible layer borders. If you prefer quality over speed, choose 0.10

mm (DETAIL) option. Printing time will double but the model gets the extra detail. Again,

higher printing speed results in less detailed model

Pict.



quality



time

Speed can al so be changed while printing. LCD shows the FR 100 % item - it’s actual print

speed (feed rate). By turning the LCD-knob clockwise you can increase the print speed up to

999 %. However, we do not advise to increase the speed over 200 %. Watch the results of

increased speed on the printed model and adjust the speed eventually.

When increasing the speed always check the model is cooled properly - especially

when printing small object from ABS increased speed causes the distortion

(sometimes called “warping”) of the model. You can prevent this issue by printing

more similar objects together - layer printing interval is long enough to prevent this

issue.

If the model shows lower quality than desired you can decrease the printing speed - turn the

LCD-knob counterclockwise. Minimum usable printing speed is around 20 % of nominal

speed.

7.2.10 USB cable and Pronterface

We strongly recommend to use LCD panel while printing on Prusa i3 MK3 -

Pronterface doesn’t support all functions of a new firmware (e.g. filament change

while printing).

Keep in mind that when printing from the Pronterface the computer must be connected to

the printer during the whole printing process - computer must be prevented from sleep,

hibernation or shutting down. Disconnecting the computer during the print ends the printing

without the option to finish the object.

● Connect the printer to the computer with the USB cable.

Pict.



You



can



find



USB



port



here

● Choose connection port in Pronterface (download available with the printer drivers,

see the chapter 9 Printer drivers): Mac users use /usbmodem



 port, PC Windows

ports are COM1, COM2, etc.; the correct port is displayed in device manager, Linux

users connect the printer using the virtual serial port. When the printer is connected

click the Connect button. Right column shows the connection information.

● Next step is loading the model with Load model button and choosing the

model_name.gcode (no special symbols in file name).

● You can control the movement of all printer axes at the control area.

● Next you can preheat the printer and prepare it for the printing. Set the temperatures

for the nozzle (heater) and heatbed (bed) and click Set button. Printer starts heating

immediately. Always check that the temperatures set in Pronterface are correct

according to our material guide!

● You can check the actual temperatures of nozzle and bed in Pronterface.

● When model is loaded right column shows the estimated print duration: Estimated

duration (pessimistic)

Pict.



Pronterface

1. Load file button is used to load the desired model.. Model must be in *.gcode file

format.

2. Choose the port printer is connected to computer. (mostly /usbmodem



 for Mac,

COM1, COM2, etc for Windows PC).

3. Print button starts the printing process.

4. Disconnect button disconnects the printer from the computer.

5. Printer controls. Here you can manipulate the printer axes.

6. Setting the nozzle and bed temperatures.

7. Thermometer.

8. Confirming the set temperatures, heating starts.

9. 2D print process preview.

10. Info panel. Estimated print time, axis position and other info is displayed after loading

the model.

7.3 Printer addons

7.3.1 Different nozzles

E3D, a UK based company, supplies hotends for the Original Prusa i3 MK3 has whole

ecosystem of upgrades and addons. We support some of them. You have to use proper

preset settings for different nozzles in Slic3r or PrusaControl.

You can check out how to change the nozzle in section 12.6 Replacing / changing the

nozzle.

7.3.1.1 Hardened steel nozzle

Hardened steel nozzles are a must for highly abrasive materials. Regular brass nozzles will

degrade very quickly and lose their properties.

Most of the abrasive materials are composites, plastics with something mixed in. Some

examples are ColorFabb XT CF20, ColorFabb Bronzefill, ColorFabb Brassfill and some glow

in the dark filaments. Always ask your filament vendor if you are not sure. Slight

disadvantage is that some standard materials like ABS aren’t possible to print as fast as with

regular nozzle.

7.3.1.2 0.25mm nozzle

To get finer detail on 0.1mm or 0.05mm print settings, you can use 0.25mm nozzle. But use

it for only very small objects, only couple centimeters big. The print time can be considerably

longer compared to 0.4mm. Ideal use is jewelery.

8 Advanced Calibration

Additional calibration tools and settings for advanced users are available, but they are

entirely optional and some of them even experimental.

8.1 PID tuning for Hotend (Optional)

In case you are experiencing wide swings in temperatures of your nozzle (e.g +/- 5 C°), you

shall do PID tuning on your printer. If



 you



are



experiencing



major



temperature



fluctuations

higher



than



that,



check



that



your



hotend



thermistor



properly



seated



the



heater



block



and

plugged



your



EINSY



board



first.

You can find this feature in Calibration - PID calibration. In this menu you have the option

to choose the temperature for which PID will be run. Set the temperature with which you

print the most as it will tune it for that the best, however, general stability will improve for all

temperatures (PLA/ABS/PETG). After that, nozzle will heat up to the set temperature in 5

cycles. During cycles it is mastering the amount of power needed to reach the temperature

and maintain it.

Do not touch the nozzle during this process until it is fully finished as it will reach

high temperatures!

Be aware that PID tuning is not a solution for all of the temperature fluctuation issues.

Always make sure that your printer is located in a room with stable ambient temperatures,

more about that in Thermal Runaway and Temperature Drops at help.prusa3d.com





8.2 PINDA probe calibration/ Temp. calibration (Experimental/Optional)

All induction proximity probes drift the sensing distance with increased temperature. This

might affect the quality of the first printed layer. PINDA v2 probe, included in the MK3, has

embedded thermistor inside it’s body to measure the temperature and fully compensate for

the drift.

Precalibrated data table is stored in the printer and the temperature calibration is active by

default.

You can re-calibrate the data table from the menu, it can be found in Calibration - Temp.

calibration - Calibrate. Before you do so, please make sure that your nozzle and heatbed

are perfectly clean as the extruder will be moving around heatbed during this process.

This procedure must be done in a place with normal room temperature around 21°C/69°F.

Do not touch the nozzle or heatbed during this process until it is fully finished as it will reach

high temperatures!

Once calibrating your PINDA probe, it will be comparing its data readings under different

temperatures and also on top of that it will include your Live Z data. This should help you to

have stable Live Z.

Still make sure that your 1st layer is done properly. More about that in 6.3.9. Fine-tuning the

first layer

8.3 View XYZ calibration details (Optional)



This feature can be found in Support -> XYZ cal. Details and provides access to more

detailed info about XYZ calibrating results. The 1st screen tells you the distance of the

“perfect” position of your two front calibration points. Ideally, all of these are positive and at

least 10 mm or more. When you get your axes perpendicular or slightly skewed,

nothing needs to be tweaked as printer will perform with the best accuracy.

Pict.



Distance



the



front



calibration



point



from



the



axis



start.

Pressing the button will get you to the 2nd screen. This screen will identify how far you are

from the perfect perpendicularity. It is measuring the skew of your X/Y axis.



0.25





Severe



skew



compensating





for



offset



1.1



250



length



0.12°





Slight



skew



compensating





for



offset



0.5



250



length

Under



0.12°







need



compensate



X/Y



axes



are



perpendicular.



Congratulations!

8.4 Linear Advance (Experimental)

Linear advance is a new technology which predicts the pressure build-up in the extruder

when printing at higher speeds. Firmware of the printer uses that prediction to decrease the

amount of filament extruded just before stopping a decelerating, which prevents blobs or

artifacts at the sharp corners.

If you are using different slicers than Slic3r PE or PrusaControl or you just want to

tweak and play around with different values, you can manually change the settings

in gcode script. However, if you do not understand the concept of gcodes yet or

never played with editing it, stop reading here and skip for another chapter.

The K values (the parameter affecting how much Linear Advance affects the print) we

measured and tested are as follows:

● PLA: M900 K30

● ABS: M900 K30

● PET: M900 K45

● Multi material printer: M900 K200 for all materials

Pict.



How



value



affects



the



These values are preset in our Slic3r PE. The K value is set in custom gcode section in the

Filament Settings tab, NOT under the printer specific custom gcode. PrusaControl uses

the same K values but will not allow users editing.

Simplify3D, Cura, … users just need to add “M900 K??” into the starting gcode script. Keep

in mind you need to manually change that for different filament materials. Only Slic3r PE has

custom gcode for each filament preset and therefore K value is changed automatically.

Set the speed you want, print something (large enough for speed to show up). If sharp

corners have blobs, increase K value. If you see missing filament, decrease the K value.

Please note that different brands and colors of the same material may require

slightly different K value when printing at extreme speeds, however our presets

should be fine with all of them.

8.5 Extruder info

Extruder info provides debug information about the extruder sensors.

It provides info of:

● Extruder cooling fan RPM

● Print cooling fan RPM

● Information of filament moving in the extruder

●Illumination level of the filament sensor - optimally below 100

This information can be used to check the function of the fans and asses how well particular

filament works with the sensor.



 

 
9 Printer drivers
 
Latest drivers and information can be found at http://www.prusa3d.com/drivers/.  
 
Driver package contains following settings and programs:  
PrusaControl - preparing the 3D models to .gcode format for printing. 
Slic3r Prusa Edition - preparing the 3D models to .gcode format for printing. 
Pronterface - legacy printing from a computer (in case you don’t want to print from SD) 
NetFabb - repairing the corrupted or unprintable models 
Settings - optimized print settings for Slic3r, Cura, Simplify3D and KISSlicer 
Drivers for Prusa i3 printer - Windows a Mac drivers 
Test objects 
 
10 Printing your own models
 
10.1 Where you can get the 3D models?
 
The best way to get started with your own 3D printing is to find already created models on 
internet - they should be in the .stl or .obj format . Fortunately there are a lot of fans and 
there are sites from which you can download a wealth of ready-made 3D models - from a 
simple shaver holder to a detailed aircraft engine model. 
3D models are generally free to download under the Creative Commons - Attribution - 
Non Commercial (Models not to be used commercially, you must always include the name 
of the author) or for a small fee. We have selected the most interesting sites with high-quality 
models: 
1. http://www.thingiverse.com/ 
2. https://pinshape.com/ 
3. https://www.youmagine.com/ 
4. http://www.shapeways.com/ 
5. http://www.123dapp.com/ 
 
 
10.2 In what program you can create your own models?
 
To create a 3D model yourself, you need a dedicated program. The easiest way to quickly 
create a model is TinkerCad (www.tinkercad.com) - an online editor (no installation needed) 
- you create your 3D model directly in the browser window. It is free, is easy to operate and 
you will find even basic video tutorials, so after a few minutes nothing prevents you to create 
your first 3D object. 
Other popular tool for creating models is Fusion 360 
(https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/) for PC, Mac and iPad. Website provides a 
quick guide along with detailed video tutorials so it’s a very good choice for novice 
enthusiasts. 
There is a great deal of 3D programs - free or paid - your choice depends more on your 
personal taste and preferences. The following is a list of other programs used for making 3D 
39 

models: OpenScad, DesignSpark Mechanical, Fusion 360°, Blender, Maya, 3DS Max,

Autocad and many more…

Pict.



Fusion



360

10.3 PrusaControl

A 3D printer can print almost anything. Whether you’ve downloaded 3D models from the

Internet or created your own models, you will need to convert the .obj or .stl format into a

.gcode file. Gcode is a file format readable by a 3D printer. The file contains information for

nozzle movement and the amount of filament to extrude. The right tool for this task - and for

many more - is the PrusaControl program.

You set the printing material, print quality and the print speed in PrusaControl. You can

manipulate the object here, varying the placement on the printbed, resize it, etc.

PrusaControl is the easiest way to get perfect prints on the MK3 and should be used when

first experiencing the 3D printing world. When you get more advanced and want to tweak the

print settings or add new materials, Slic3r Prusa Edition is waiting for you.

Pict.



Prusa



Control



interface

1. Undo/Redo buttons return changes.

2. Scale button allows you to scale with the mouse while the model is selected.

3. Rotate button allows you to rotate with the mouse while the model is selected (outer

circle step are 0,1°, inner circle step is 45°.)

4. Auto arrange button positions objects on the print bed.

5. Material selection menu

6. Quality / Speed setting of a print menu

7. Infill menu

8. Supports menu

9. Reset transformation settings button

10. Position values

11. Rotation values

12. Scale values

13. Place on bed button turns on automatic placing of objects to Z=[0]

14. Brim On/Off button

15. Model preview

16. Generate button slices the model

17. Progress bar



 

10.4 Slic3r Prusa Edition

PrusaControl is built on top of the Slic3r Prusa Edition and hides all the unnecessary clutter

from having all settings exposed. If you choose to create your own specific print settings or

tweak material settings heavily, you can use Slic3r PE directly.

 

Pict.



Slic3r



interface

1. Add button loads models into Slic3r.

2. Delete and Delete All buttons remove the model(s) from Slic3r.

3. Opens the detailed settings of print, filament and printer.

4. When the model is ready for print this button generates the .gcode file.

5. Quality / Speed setting of a print

6. Material selection

7. Printer selection

8. Right-click on model opens the menu with rotate, resize and other options

9. Type of model preview

10. Model preview

 

10.5 Bundled 3D models

We asked couple known 3D designers and prepared some printable object for you to print.

They are ideal for the first prints on your new printer. STL and GCODE files are available

after installing the driver’s package in “3D Objects” folder or bundled on your SD card. You

can check them out at http://www.prusa3d.com/printable-3d-models/.

Pict.



microns



treefrog



commonly



used



printing



benchmark.



 

10.6 Print in color with ColorPrint

There is a simple way on how to create layer based multicolored 3D prints with PrusaControl

or with our simple online ColorPrint app by manually changing the filament.

Pict.



Multicolored



object



printed



with



ColorPrint

   ColorPrint is now directly integrated into the PrusaControl and filament

changes can be added when the gcode is already generated before saving it

to the file. PrusaControl can also add color changes to existing gcodes

(generated in Slic3r for example). You can also use Web ColorPrint for gcode

from other slicers including Slic3r Prusa Edition.

Pict.



Adding



color



change



PrusaControl

● First of all you need to prepare regular gcode with common print and filament

settings. Save the file.

● Then go to www.prusaprinters.org and choose Color Print in the header menu.

● Drag the gcode to frame and click on Add change button.

● Find the height of the layer where you want to make the color change. This can be

easily found in Slic3r under tab “Layers.” The scale along right side displays the

height of individual layers. Set this number to the box. Number of these changes is

unlimited.

● When you are done with your modification, download the file. This file is ready to be

printed!

Pict.



Web



version



Colorprint



interface



prusaprinters.org/colorprint

Insert the filament which you want to start with into your printer and start printing the file.

When the color change is triggered from the gcode the printer will follow simple procedure:

● Stop moving and retract

● Raise the Z by 2 mm and move quickly outside the printbed

● Unload the current filament

● You will get asked to insert the new filament. When you do so and continue, filament

will be pulled into the hotend and LCD will display “Changed correctly?” with three

options:

1. “Yes” Everything went ok and printing can continue. Check if the new color is clear

without any remains of the previous filament - if yes, choose this option to continue

printing with a new color.

2. “Filament not loaded” If the new filament was not loaded properly, choose this

option and the printer will start the automatic filament load again. When the filament

is loaded properly, you can choose the “Yes” option and the printing will continue with

a new color.

3. “Color not clear” Filament was loaded but the color is still mixed with the previous

filament. Press the button with this option and the printer will extrude more filament

from the nozzle. When the color is pure without any remains of the previous filament

you can choose the “Yes” option and the printing will continue with a new color.

After confirming, the printer returns to the original position and continues to print.

Other options for multicolored print is to use the filament change option. Choose

the Tune and then Change filament option during the print. Printer will pause the

printing process, unload the filament and signals you to insert the new filament. The

procedure is the same as above.

You should always use the same material or combine materials with similar print

temperatures and settings.

10.7 Printing of non-standard models

Slic3r helps you while printing the non-standard models as models with overhangs and/or

models larger than a printing bed.

10.7.1 Printing with support material

When you print models you can find special cases different from standard printing. The first

case is printing with support material.

If you print an object with a gradient lower than 45° the material overhang would be

preventing the object to be printed correctly. Slic3r allows you to print such objects thanks to

the ‘Printing with support’ function. Support material is an extra structure printed as

scaffolding for the object - you can remove the support material after the printing is finished.

Choose the Print



Settings



 tab (1) and click the Support



Material



option (2) in left column.

First you have to check the Generate





support



material



 box (3). Next item - Overhang

threshold



 (4) lets you set the minimal angle for printing the support material. Setting this item

to zero lets the printer detect problematic parts automatically and print support where it’s

needed.

Enforce





support



 option (5) is used mostly with small models or models with a small base to

prevent the object from breaking or tearing out from the bed.

Pict.







with





support





10.7.2 Large object printing

Another special printing case is when printing objects larger than the heatbed. The first

option is to resize the object to a printable size. Right-click on an object in Slic3r opens a

menu with the Scale



…





option, then you choose Uniformly



, if you want to scale down the

model evenly; or you can alter the size of a model along the one of the axes: Along







axis



…

Pict.





Size





change



printed



object

If you need to print an object that doesn’t fit the printer, you have to cut the object using

Slic3r. Right-click and choose the Cut



…



 option in the menu. You can cut the object

horizontally - if you need to perform a cut in a different axis, use the Flip...



option in the same

menu.

Pict.



Cutting



the



object



with



the





Cut





option

11 Materials

Temperatures and the heatbed treatment before a print according to a specific material.

11.1 ABS

ABS is a very strong and versatile material with great thermal resistance. It’s suitable for

both indoor and outdoor use.

ABS is a thermoplastic polymer, that means that just like PLA, it can be melted and

crystallized multiple times without degrading too much. ABS, however, melts at a higher

temperature than PLA. Higher melting temperature gives ABS great thermal resistance, your

prints won’t show signs of deformation up to 98 °C.

ABS includes high wear resistance synthetic rubber, which makes it very strong and

impact resistant. And last but not least, it’s soluble in acetone! This makes it really easy to

not only connect multiple parts together but also allows you to smooth prints with acetone

vapors. You still have to be careful when handling acetone, but it’s not anywhere near as

dangerous as for example PLA solvents.

The best use of ABS is for architectural models, concept models, spare parts (car

interior, gears, phone cases), etc.

On the other hand, thermal contraction is where ABS makes it really hard to successfully

print something. And that’s especially true when printing anything big. Even with the heatbed

at 100 °C, your part may start lifting from the build plate and warp. This and the unpleasant

smell of ABS is why you should consider getting an enclosure for your printer when printing

with ABS. Or at least place the printer in a warm room.

If you need to use your print outside or just need your print stronger, give ABS a shot. It’s

what LEGO is made of after all.

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

High impact and heat resistance

Bad smell

Strong and versatile

Worse resolution

Soluble in acetone (easy post-processing)

Needs warm room or enclosure

Can be vapor smoothed

● Nozzle temperature: 255 °C

● Bed temperature: 100 °C. You can set the bed temperature between 80 to 110 °C

depending the size of an object (larger object means higher temperature)

● Heatbed: Make sure the surface is clean as described in 6.3.2 PEI print surface

preparation chapter

11.2 PLA

PLA is the most commonly used filament. It’s biodegradable,easy to print, and a very

strong material. The perfect choice for printing large objects thanks to its low thermal

expansion (little to no warping) and for printing tiny parts because of its low melting

temperature. This material only is proven for 50 microns layer height.

PLA has a relatively low melting temperature of about 175 degrees Celsius. Unlike so-called

thermoset materials, PLA can be heated past its melting point multiple times with very little

degradation. It’s also very hard material, but that also means it’s somewhat brittle and once it

breaks, it likes to shatter.

The best use of PLA is for printing concept models, prototypes, low-wear toys, etc.

However, PLA is not a perfect material and just like every other plastic has some

disadvantages. The low melting temperature also means low-temperature resistance.

Parts start to lose mechanical strength at temperatures over 60 °C.

The combination of being both biodegradable and having low-temperature resistance means

that it’s not ideal for outdoor use, not to mention low UV-resistance. Also, PLA is only

soluble in chemicals like chloroform or hot benzene. So when connecting multiple pieces,

you’re better off just using glue.

Even though PLA is biodegradable and the material on its own is food safe, we do not

suggest to repeatedly drink or eat from your 3D prints. Because of the small fractures on

the print surface, bacteria can build up in there over time. You can prevent this by applying

food safe coating. When post-processing PLA, it’s better to use wet sanding. Without water

you'll quickly start heating the plastic by friction, it will melt locally and make it hard to keep

sanding.

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Easy to print

Brittle

Can print tiny parts

Low-temperature resistance

Can print huge objects

Difficult post-processing

Hard and stiff

Low warping

Environmentally friendly

● Nozzle temperature: 215 °C

● Bed temperature: 50 - 60 °C

● Heatbed: Make sure the surface is clean, as described in 6.3.2 PEI print surface

preparation chapter

11.3 PET/PETG

PETG is a very tough material with good thermal resistance. It’s universal but suitable

especially for mechanical parts and both indoor and outdoor use. PETG has almost no

warping, so printing large objects isn’t a problem. We use PETG to print parts for our

printers!

PETG is one of our favorite materials for 3D printing. It’s almost as easy to print as PLA, but

it can offer many mechanical properties that PLA prints just cannot achieve.

The G in the acronym PETG stands for Glycol which is added during the manufacturing

process. Glycol modifies the properties of PET, so that it’s easier to print, less brittle and

clearer when printing with semi-transparent variants. PETG has low thermal expansion, so

even when printing big and without an enclosure, it rarely lifts from the bed and warps. In

addition to that, PETG is ductile. It has a healthy amount of flex which can prevent parts

from breaking under stress.

Unlike PLA or ABS, PETG tends to ooze a bit and may leave strings of plastic on your

print. You can fight this with increasing retraction and playing with hotend temperature, but if

you use our filament presets in Slic3r or Prusa Control, we already did that for you and the

amount of stringing is minimal. If you witness a tiny bit of stringing anyway, you can get rid of

it by quickly blasting your finished prints with a heat gun.

PETG sticks very well to PEI, which is generally a good thing. But sometimes it could stick a

little bit too well and you could rip a piece of PEI from the bed, so you should use a

separating agent (e.g. gluestick).

If you can handle the oozing and strong adhesion, you’ll be left with a very durable print, that

is considerably temperature resistant and usable for both indoor and outdoor use.

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Easy to print

Possibility of stringing

Good layer adhesion

Not soluble in acetone

Very tough, low warping

Prone to scratches

Temperature resistance

Little shrinking

Durable

● Nozzle temperature: 240 °C

● Bed temperature: 80 - 100 °C

● Heatbed: Make sure the surface is clean, as described in 6.3.2 PEI print surface

preparation chapter. Do not use isopropyl alcohol to clean the bed, or the adhesion

may be too strong, if you do not have anything else on hand use the bundled glue as

a separator after cleaning it. Windex or similar windows cleaner is a great option for

PET and you don’t need to use the glue after the cleaning. Pour a little amount on an

unscented paper towel and wipe the print surface.

11.4 HIPS

HIPS is high impact polystyrene, and as for behavior, it's similar to ABS, so it's easy to print.

It's a universal and stable material with excellent heat resistance, and it produces very

smooth layers. HIPS is also very malleable, and it can be dissolved using limonene. HIPS is

mostly suited for printable mechanical components.

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Smooth

High level of warping

Durable

Bad smell

Soluble

● Nozzle temperature: 220 °C

● Bed temperature: 100 °C. You can set the bed temperature between 80 to 110 °C

depending the size of an object (larger object means higher temperature)

● Heatbed: Make sure the surface is clean, as described in 6.3.2 PEI print surface

preparation chapter

11.5 PP

Polypropylene is a flexible and resistant material suitable for printing of the precise objects

requiring the flexibility, firmness and persistence.

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Tough

High level of warping

Semi-flexible

Temperature resistance

● Nozzle temperature: 254 °C

● Bed temperature: 95 - 100 °C.

● Heatbed: The best results are obtained with common scotch tape - just attach the

tape directly to the print surface and clean it after the print is finished.

11.6 Nylon (Taulman Bridge)

Nylon is very tough material suitable for mechanical parts.

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Durable

Demanding storage (it’s hygroscopic)

Chemically resistant

Flexible, but strong

Chemical resistance

● Nozzle temperature: 240 °C

● Bed temperature: 80 - 90 °C.

● Heatbed: Use one coat of glue stick. Clean as described after the print.

11.7 Flex

Flex is a very strong and flexible material. There are many use cases where hard plastic is

not the ideal or even unusable at all. But whether you need a phone cover, an action camera

case or wheels for your RC car, flexible is the way to go.

Before you start printing from Flex, clean the nozzle from the previous material -

preheat the nozzle and load PLA to remove any other previous material. When

loading Flex loosen the extruder (idler) screws. Keep in mind that when printing

from Flex the automatic filament exchange function may not work properly.

Flex has very good abrasion resistance, remains flexible in cold environments, and is

resistant to many solvents. It doesn’t shrink much when cooling down, so you can be fairly

accurate with your measurements and perfect fit models.

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Flexible and elastic

Needs extra steps when loading filament

Little shrinking

Can be tricky to print

Good layer adhesion

Needs to be printed slowly

● Nozzle temperature: 230 °C

● Bed temperature: 50 °C. You can set the bed temperature up to 65 °C depending

on the size of an object. (larger object means higher temperature)

● Heatbed: Make sure the surface is clean as described in 6.3.2 PEI print surface

preparation chapter. Some very soft flex materials can bond to the bed too much and

require to use glue on the bed as a separator to prevent PEI damage.



 

11.8 Composite materials

Composite materials (woodfill, copperfill, bronzefill, glow-in-the-dark, carbon or aramid

composites and many others) consist of a main plastic base and second material in the form

of dust. These materials tend (except for wood composites) to be very abrasive, therefore

hardened nozzle is strongly suggested for long-term printing. The larger nozzle is

recommended while printing with wood composites (0.5 mm and up). Please use

corresponding print settings in Slic3r or PrusaControl as print parameters can be very

different depending on plastic base.

The first step in polishing is sanding. It’s a good idea to start with a coarse grit size (80) and

slowly move up the grit table. After sanding a big improvement in polish can be achieved

with steel wool or brass brush. If you’re still not happy with the finish, you can try wet

sanding with a very fine grit (1500).

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Easy to print

Needs hardened nozzle

No warping

Great look after post-processing

● Nozzle temperature: 190 - 210 °C

● Bed temperature: 50 - 70 °C (bigger object -> higher temp.)

● Heatbed:  Make sure the surface is clean as described in 6.3.2 PEI print surface

preparation chapter.

11.9 ASA

Acrylonitrile-styrene-acryl (ASA) is a material with properties similar to ABS, its main benefit

is increased weather and UV resistance. Another advantage is overall dimensional stability.

To achieve cast-like surface, acetone smoothing can be used…

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Heat and UV resistant

Bad smell

Soluble in acetone (easy post-processing)

High level of warping

Can be vapor smoothed

● Nozzle temperature: 270 - 280 °C

● Bed temperature: 100 - 110 °C (bigger object -> higher temp.)

● Heatbed:  Make sure the surface of the heatbed is clean. Usage of brim is suggested

(see Prusa Knowledgebase).

11.10 nGen

Developed by Eastman Chemical Company and colorFabb, nGen offers increased

resistance to heat as well as dimensional stability. The material is low-odor and styrene-free.

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

High gloss

Brittle

Good surface finish

A bit of warping

Good layer adhesion

● Nozzle temperature: 240  °C

● Bed temperature: 80 - 100 °C (bigger object -> higher temp.)

● Heatbed:  Make sure the surface is clean. Do not use isopropyl alcohol to clean the

bed, or the adhesion may be too strong, use window cleaner instead. If you do not

have anything else on hand use the bundled glue as a separator after cleaning it.

Windex or similar windows cleaner is a great option for nGen and you don’t need to

use the glue after the cleaning. Spray small amount on unscented paper towel and

wipe the print surface.

11.11 PC-ABS (E3D)

Polycarbonate ABS (PC-ABS) is an enhanced version of traditional ABS. Offers easier

processing, higher strength, stiffness and temperature resistance. PC-ABS is also suitable

for structures with openings, its bridging capability is improved compared to ABS. Typical

usage of PC-ABS is for durable plastic parts like television or computer casings.

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Lightweight

Warps

Good for mechanical parts

Low elasticity

● Nozzle temperature: 270 - 280 °C

● Bed temperature: 100 - 110 °C (bigger object -> higher temp.)

● Heatbed:  Make sure the surface of the heatbed is clean.

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11.12 Dialing in new materials

Each manufacturer produces slightly different material even though, they are under the

same group. For example Prusa PLA and ColorFabb PLA will have a slightly different output

when printed.

To achieve the best possible output you should experiment with the nozzle temperature,

fan speed, print speed and flow. All of these can be changed even during a print from the

Tweak menu on the LCD panel.

Same also applies even for materials which are not listed here. Take the manufacturer

suggested settings, find the closest match in Slic3r material profiles, modify and save as

new. Continue by printing few simple test pieces and continuously use the Tweak

menu. After each improvement, don’t forget to modify the settings in Slic3r. Reset the tweak

values before every print.

Don’t forget to share your settings on our forums or directly with us.

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12 FAQ - Printer maintenance and print issues

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12.1 Regular maintenance

12.1.1 Bearings

Every couple hundred hours, the smooth rods should be cleaned with paper towel. Then

apply a little bit of general purpose machine oil on the smooth rods and move the axis back

and forth couple of times. This cleans the dirt and increases longevity.

If you feel the axis is not running smoothly anymore, bearings can be taken out and greased

on the inside (they need to be removed from axis as plastic lip will prevent the grease from

getting inside). Super-lube or any other multi purpose grease will do.

12.1.2 Fans

Both fans should be checked and cleaned every couple hundred hours, dust or plastic build

up can decrease their efficiency or even damage them. Computer cleaner spray will get the

dust away and tweezers can be used for little plastic strands.

Both extruder and part cooling fans measure current RPM (Rounds Per Minute). Because of

that, they can detect any problem that will cause the fan to slow down, like a piece of

filament getting stuck in it. If you get a fan error, check that it can rotate freely, clear any

debris that may be stuck in it.

Pict.



Nozzle



cooling



fan



from



Noctua

Pict.



Fan



error

The nozzle cooling fan is made by Noctua. These premium fans are known for their superb

quietness and exceptional performance.

You can turn off the monitoring in LCD menu under Settings -> Check fans for example if

you replaced one of the fans with replacement not supporting RPM sensing.

12.1.3 Extruder drive gear

The hobbed drive gear on the extruder motor shaft can have build up of filament shavings in

the grooves and cause under extrusion. A small brass brush is ideal tool to clean the

grooves but regular toothpick will do the job as well. Check and clean from the access

window on both sides of the extruder assembly. Clean what you can, then rotate the gear

and repeat. Nothing needs to be disassembled. Clean when you see signs of missing plastic

in the objects, e.g. missing lines of extrusion.

12.1.4 Electronics

It is good practice to check and eventually reset the electrical connectors on the mini RAMBo

board. Do so after first 50 hours of printing and then every 150-200 hours.

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12.1.5 PEI rejuvenation

PEI can lose its adhesive powers after couple hundred hours. Wipe thoroughly with acetone

when you see models getting loose to restore the adhesion.

12.2 Print surface preparation

Print surface preparation is described in 6.3.2 PEI print surface preparation chapter.

12.3 Filament sensor

The optical filament sensor detects the presence of filament and also it’s movement.

Filament sensor can detect:

● Running out of filament

● Filament getting stuck - jammed nozzle

12.3.1 Running out of filament

Running out of filament will no longer cause a print failure. If you run out of filament, the

printer will automatically pause the print, unload the remaining few centimeters in the

heatbreak and move the X-carriage away from the print. You will be prompted to replace the

spool and insert new filament. Use pliers to remove extruded filament from the loading

process. After that, you can continue in the current print.

12.3.2 Filament jam

The sensor can also detect filament getting stuck. Unfortunately, in most cases, it’s not

possible to recover the current print, because it’s hard to detect the exact moment of the

jam happening. However, in future version of the firmware, we plan to offer few more options

how to eventually save the print. When the jam is detected, the printer will try to unload the

filament. However, this may not be always possible if too much filament was already ground

off. Either way, the printer will stop, display a warning about jam happening and cool down to

prevent any further damage.

12.3.3 False sensor readings and debugging

You can encounter false runout readings from the sensor. First check if the sensor is

positioned correctly and connectors are properly seated.

Pict.



Properly



connected



filament



sensor

If everything is in order, other causes might be:

12.3.3.1 Dust on the sensor - how to clean

If you start getting a lot of false alarms on filament jams or filament running out, your sensor

might need cleaning. The easiest way is to use compressed air. There is a dedicated hole in

the x-carriage exactly for this purpose.

Pict.



Access



hole



for



cleaning



the



filament



sensor

12.3.3.2 Extreme light conditions

If you’re printing in extreme light conditions (direct sunlight, very strong LED lighting) you

might also encounter some false alarms. Settings -> Fil. sensor [on/off].

12.3.3.3 Exotic filaments

Some translucent filaments focus more light on the sensor and this can result in weird

behavior. Certain colors like ivory, matte white or lime green can also cause false alarms. If

you’re printing with any of these filaments and you’re getting a lot of false alarms, consider

turning the sensor off in Settings -> Fil. sensor [on/off].



12.4 Clogged / jammed extruder

Material clogged in the extruder can cause problems with the printing or with the loading of a

new filament.

● Heat the nozzle, remove the filament from the extruder and cut the rod about 10 cm

above the damaged part.

● The next step is to clean the extruder. There is a service hole on the left side of the

extruder where you can access the hobbed pulley (pict. 37).

● Clean the hobbed pulley, then heat the nozzle before reloading the filament.

● If a problem persists you will have to clean the nozzle.

Pict.





Cleaning





the



extruder



you



can



see



the



hobbed



pulley



through



the



service



hole

12.5 Nozzle cleaning

Do not touch the nozzle during these procedures as it is preheated and you may

burn yourself!

Before you do any of these procedures. Go to the LCD - settings - move axis -

move Z axis. As you will be operating with the hotend.

Use



wire



brush



clean



the





nozzle





from



outside.



Heat



the





nozzle





before



you



so.

Filament is pouring out a little

If filament doesn’t go through the extruder smoothly and only small volume is coming out,

first check the extruder fan is working properly and that the temperature is set correctly (PLA

210 °C; ABS 255 °C, HIPS 220 °C, PET 240 °C). Also check that the filament was correctly

loaded into the extruder.

If that is not the case. Follow the instructions below:

1. Heat the nozzle according to filament you want to print from, load the filament and

put a bundled acupuncture needle (0,3-0,35 mm) into the nozzle from below -

between 1 and 2 cm deep.

2. Choose Load filament option from the LCD menu and check if filament is extruded

properly.

3. Put the acupuncture needle into the nozzle again and repeat these steps a few

times more. When the filament is extruded properly, the nozzle is clear.

None of the filament is going through the nozzle

If none of the filament is going thru. Then most likely your hotend got clogged. In order to

fully clear it, please follow these instructions:

1. Heat up the nozzle to 250 °C for PLA or 270°C for ABS jams.

2. Wait 3-5 minutes and then go LCD - Load filament. If you cleared the clog and

filament went thru. Simply lower the temps to normal and re-do load filament again.

3. If successful, you can resume printing.

12.6 Replacing / changing the nozzle

In case of replacing the Olsson Ruby nozzle. Please visit this website for

instructions, otherwise you might damage it!

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/66-the-olsson-ruby-instructions-for-use .

Preheat the nozzle (LCD menu -> Settings -> Temperature -> Nozzle) and set the

temperature to at least 200°C. Heating the nozzle is crucial for removing the old nozzle and

putting in the new one.

1) Move the extruder body upwards to get to the nozzle end (LCD menu -> Settings ->

Move axis -> Move Z -> Set the height by rotating the LCD knob and then confirm).

2) Unscrew the screw on fan mouthpiece and the two screws on the print fan and

remove both parts (Pict. 38, part 1).

3) Remove the two front screws on the nozzle fan (Pict. 38, part 2).

4) Unscrew the two screw holding the extruder cover (Pict. 38, part 3). Even though

the nozzle itself is accessible directly, we recommend to remove the extruder cover

to get access to the heating element.

5) Now the whole nozzle body is accessible (Pict. 38, part 4).

6) Hold the heating element with a spanner (size 17) and unscrew the nozzle (Pict. 38,

part 5). Be careful, the nozzle is still hot!

When the new nozzle is inserted, tighten it while the nozzle is preheated. While tightening do

not forget to hold the heating element with the spanner. Re-assemble the extruder, insert the

filament and you are ready to print.

Be careful, the nozzle is hot during this whole process and can cause burns!

Be careful around the hotend thermistor leads, you can break them easily.

Be careful and don’t apply force to the nozzle or heater block, you can bend

the heatbreak easily.

It is a good practice to run 6.3.8 First layer calibration after changing the nozzle!

Pict.





Nozzle



change

12.7 Printing problems

12.7.1 Layers break and split when printing from ABS material

ABS material has a higher thermal expansion than other materials. We suggest other

materials like PET, HIPS or PLA when you print larger models.

12.7.2 Models contain either too much or not enough of the filament

You can manage the filament flow during the print. Use the LCD-knob and choose Tune -

Flow - xx% where you can adjust the filament flow. Pronterface users can enter the value

M221 Sxx into the command line.

When you change the filament flow next print will use the same settings unless you

change it again in menu or you reset the printer or unplug it from the power source.

12.8 Problems with finished models

12.8.1 Model breaks and/or is easily damaged

A typical feature of larger models printed from ABS. If you have set the temperature

properly, the printer is away from drafts and object design is right, the printed object should

not break. The easiest way to avoid breaking or overall model fragility is to choose a different

material. The strongest are PET, HIPS and PLA; while PLA has low heat resistance,PET is

the firmest and has the lowest thermal expansion.

When parts break and there is no spare time to reprint the model you can use

super glue or any other glue for plastics for temporal fix :).



12.9 Updating printer firmware

Firmware update is a simple process which is done via the USB cable and a computer. With

the driver installation a program called FirmwareUpdater V2 is installed on the computer.

The latest firmware can be found on http://www.prusa3d.com/drivers/ where you can find the

latest guide on which firmware to choose and detailed instructions for the process. Printer

will reset automatically right before the update and after the update is finished. First Layer

Calibration is required to finish after the firmware update, see chapter 6.3.9 First layer

calibration.

13 FAQ - common issues when assembling the printer kit

13.1 Printer is rocking - YZ frame - geometry check

If your printer is rocking on the table, please check step 11 of Y axis assembly - YZ frame -

geometry check.

All the components are cut or drilled by a machine for highest precision, but with uneven

tightening it is possible to warp the frame.

● Using your hand, try to wiggle with the frame sides and check, whether some corners

are lifting up or not.

● In case you find some imperfections, release the screws, press the extrusions

against the FLAT SURFACE and tighten them again.

Pict.



Proper



way



tighten



the



frame,



plates



and



aluminium



extrusion



together.

13.2 Printer stops printing soon after start

Extruder is likely overheated. Make sure the nozzle fan is working properly. If not, please

inspect its connection according to the assembly manual.

Pict.





Proper





wiring



the



connectors

13.3 Printer can’t read the SD card

First, make sure that the file name on the SD does not contain special characters -

otherwise the file could not be displayed on the LCD. If there is no error in the file name,

check the EXT2 wiring (from electronics to LCD). If the cable is connected properly, try to

swap the cables.



 

13.4 Loose X- and/or Y-axis belts

Check if both belts are properly tightened, loose belts would cause a printer malfunction and

prevent proper printing. The easiest way to check is printing a round object - if any of the

belts are not tightened properly the result is an irregular shape instead of a perfect circle.

Y-axis belt is located under the heatbed, X-axis belt moves the extruder. See the pictures

with properly tightened belts.

You can check the belt status on the LCD menu under Support -> Belt status after

successfully running a selftest. Values 240 +- 40 are good.

Pict.





properly





tightened



Y-axis



belt



under



the





heatbed

Pict.





properly





tightened



X-axis



belt

13.5 Detached cables to the heatbed

Do not forget to use a spiral wrap on heatbed cables and attach the cables properly so they

won’t restrict movement during printing.

Pict.





Cables





wrapped



spiral



wrap

Print and share!



Do not forget to tag your prints with #prusai3mk3

while sharing so we can find, pin and showcase them

with our





http://www.prusa3d.com/original-prusa-i3-prints/



Happy Printing :)

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Prusa3d Manual Mk3 En

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