science

Prusa i3

Prusa i3 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Prusa i3 rather than just read about it. In short: The Prusa i3 is a family of fused filament fabrication 3D printers, manufactured by Czech company Prusa Research under the trademarked name Original Prusa i3. Part of the RepRap project, Prusa i3 printers were called the most used 3D printer in the world in 2016.

Key takeaways

Prusa i3 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Prusa i3 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Prusa i3 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Prusa i3 is a family of fused filament fabrication 3D printers, manufactured by Czech company Prusa Research under the trademarked name Original Prusa i3. Part of the RepRap project, Prusa i3 printers were called the most used 3D printer in the world in 2016. The first Prusa i3 was designed by Josef Průša in 2012, and was released as a commercial kit product in 2015. The latest model (Prusa MK4S on sale as of August 2024) is available in both kit and factory assembled versions. The Prusa i3's comparable low cost and ease of construction and modification made it popular in education and with hobbyists and professionals, with the Prusa i3 model MK2 printer receiving several awards in 2016. The i3 series is released under an open source license, which has led to many other companies and individuals producing variants and clones of the design. The i3 moniker refers to the printer being the third iteration of the design. It was used up until the Prusa i3 MK3 and its variants but was dropped from the model, Prusa MK4.

Models

RepRap Mendel

First conceived in 2009, RepRap Mendel 3D printers were designed to be assembled from 3D printed parts and commonly available off-the-shelf components (referred to as "vitamins," as they cannot be produced by the printer itself). These parts include threaded rods, leadscrews, smooth rods and bearings, screws, nuts, stepper motors, control circuit boards, and a "hot end" to melt and place thermoplastic materials. A Cartesian mechanism permits placement of material anywhere in a cubic volume; this design has continued throughout development of the i3 series. The flat "print bed" (the surface on which parts are printed) is movable in one axis (Y), while two horizontal and two vertical rods permit tool motion in two axes, designated X and Z respectively.

Prusa Mendel

Josef Průša was a core developer of the RepRap project who had previously developed a PCB heated "print bed". He adapted and simplified the RepRap Mendel design, reducing the time to print 3D plastic parts from 20 to 10 hours, changing to the use of two Z-axis motors to simplify the frame, and including 3D printed bushings in place of regular bearings. First announced in September 2010, the printer was dubbed Prusa Mendel by Průša himself. According to the RepRap wiki, "Prusa Mendel is the Ford Model T of 3D printers."

Prusa Mendel (Iteration 2)

Průša streamlined his Mendel design, releasing "Prusa Iteration 2" in November 2011. Parts changes allowed for snap-fit assembly (no glue required); fewer tools were needed to construct and maintain this version. Although not required, fine-pitch manufactured pulleys and LM8UU linear bearings were recommended over printed equivalents for "professional" results.

Mendel90

It was clear to the RepRap community that the threaded-rod, triangular Z axis frame construction was limited in strength and stability, and that it would be necessary for the printer's footprint to grow substantially for the maximum printing height to increase. Chris Palmer (posting as "Nophead") created "Mendel90" in December 2011, a printer using a gantry-style MDF frame. It improved printing speed and accuracy by replacing the upper supports on the Mendel frame (which were easily skewed or twisted out of alignment if not properly tightened) with a rigid frame cut from solid sheet material, assembled as one structural and two mechanical planes at 90 degree angles from one another. Prusa's two Z-axis motors were moved from floating mounts at the top to being fixed to the bottom of the vertical frame, and a Dibond composite panel made for a rigid mounting plate for the heated bed.

Prusa i3 and i3 1.75 mm

In May 2012, Průša released a major redesign, focused on ease of construction and use, and no longer structured around the simplest available common hardware as previous RepRap printers were. The Prusa i3 used a rigid, single-piece water jet cut aluminium vertical frame with a large opening for the printing area and hard mounting points for the Z-axis components, similar to the Mendel90. A second frame piece served as a lightweight mount for the heated bed. Rather than having a baseplate, Prusa retained the M10 threaded rods to support the heated bed Y-axis. It used a single piece, food safe stainless steel hot end called the Prusa Nozzle which printed with 3 mm filament, and used M5 threaded rods as lead screws instead of M8. In May 2015, Průša released an i3 full kit under the brand name "Original Prusa i3". After finding that 1.75 mm filament was far more common than 3 mm, Průša dropped the Prusa Nozzle and redesigned the extruder around a third-party hot end, the E3D V6-Lite. Noting that print quality was much improved, he introduced the new i3 1.75 mm version in August 2015. The original model was retrospectively dubbed MK0 or "Mark zero," while the new model came to be known as the "MK1."

Prusa i3 MK2 and MK2S

Průša released the Prusa i3 MK2 in May 2016. It was the first hobby 3D printer with mesh bed leveling and automatic geometry skew correction for all three axes. Features included a larger build volume, custom stepper motors with integrated lead screws, a non-contact inductive sensor for auto-leveling, and a rewritten version of the Marlin firmware. Other new features include a polyetherimide print surface, Rambo controller board and an E3D V6 Full hotend. The Prusa MK2 became the first RepRap printer to be supported by Windows 10 Plug-and-Play USB ID. In March 2017, Průša announced on his blog that the revised Prusa i3 MK2S would ship in place of the Prusa i3 MK2. Enhancements cited include U-bolts to hold the LM8UU bearings where cable ties had been used, higher quality bearings and rods, an improved mount for the inductance sensor, improved cable management, and a new electronics cover. An upgrade kit was offered to owners of the MK2 to add these improvements.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Prusa i3

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Prusa i3 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Prusa i3 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Prusa i3 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Prusa i3

In research: Prusa i3 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Prusa i3 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Prusa i3 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2012 establishments in the Czech Republic, 3D printers, Open hardware electronic devices, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Prusa i3 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Prusa i3 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Prusa i3 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Prusa i3 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Prusa i3 in simple terms?

Why does Prusa i3 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Prusa i3?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Prusa i3.