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Had also problems with at the end a TMC blue screen of death. Got new sandwich and u buddy board, also a new connector cable for a tool head which is spare now. Prusa support rocks though.

You’ll love it. Mine took months to get working right and had so many more problems but it’s my favorite now. I’m even thinking about getting a second one even though Prusa is the worst company I’ve ever dealt with. I bought fried chicken from a homeless guy one time and got better customer service.

very nice that it's working again. The Prusa service is really great

I had the same problem with a mk4, replace that extruder motor

I have a few Prusa machines now... One thing I can definitely say with experience... They don't ground their machines for shit. I have gone through two main boards, 3 love boards, and half a dozen thermistors on my MK4S. Literally if my Texas office gets below 40% humidity, I need to ground myself to the table my printer sits on, before I can ever touch it. I've learned that static electricity, can devastate Prusa machines, and their unbelievably sensitive electronics. Only electronic thing in my entire life, that I've had this problem with. I know they incorporate a few fuses in their machines. They don't protect squat. I've learned that I just need to ground out the machine better, as well... as myself. Keep that in mind. It appears that you've probably shorted out your extruder drive motor, and now the VFD control for that motor is shot. You most likely will need to replace a board. Possibly the Nema motor as well.

Bought two single tool head XL's at work. One works great the other has this exact same issue. Prusa already sent us a new extruder stepper and tool board. That did not seem to fix it.

I commented about this issue on another of your videos. On that one I suggested that you reprint the idler-lever parts. That fixed the problem for me. In this video I noticed two things, first, it appears that the toolhead in this video may already be using the PC-CF idler-lever, which is a good thing. Second, it seemed that the problem was with whatever toolhead was in position 1. With my issue, the problem followed the toolhead to whatever position I moved it to. With the information from both videos, it does seem that the problem is either with one of the control boards on the back of the printer, or the communication cable going to toolhead position 1. If the toolhead in position 1 works fine in any/all other positions, and other toolheads that work fine in other positions fail in position 1, then I think it has to be the cable, control board, or possibly the power supply that handles toolhead position 1. Sorry about the rabbit hole with the idler lever, my issue was different. As far as the firmware, I am currently using 6.2.0-alpha2. Normally, I prefer to use the most current Release version, rather than playing around with alphas and betas, but I was having some problems with the current Release version 6.1.3. I was having issues where if it was trying to home the carriage with or without a toolhead present. When it was trying to locate the left most X position it would slam into the Y axis so hard that it sounded like it was skipping a tooth on the belt. I don't recall if I still had that problem with 6.2.0-alpha1, but I have not noticed any problems with 6.2.0-alpha2. If you haven't tried that yet, it may be worth a try. You can always switch back if you need to. Good luck! As far as the ongoing issue with BambuLab vs Prusa, you can always find a similar argument between Chevy and Ford owners, sometimes just as heated.

I have an XL5 and my 5th extrude has a very similar issue. I too switched it to spot 1 and it will print a few layers and say either stuck filament or filament change. I'm trouble shooting it too but seeing this video im going to check out the gear to see if it's that issue.

Although I have the 5 toolhead XL, I have not had this problem. First thing I noticed was that you don't use the silicone sock. I have one installed on all 5 toolheads. That won't stop the oozing, but it should make cleanup a little easier. It sounded like you said that this wasn't even the toolhead that was supposed to be printing. There is a small pad that rests under where the nozzle is located when the toolhead is parked. That can be adjusted up and down and is intended to help with oozing when the toolhead is idle. I would check to see if there was a change to the nozzle temp when idle. The default is for the toolhead to cool down a little bit when not in use, but this can be changed. I would also check to see if retraction has been changed from it's default setting. I haven't had this problem, but I also haven't changed either of these settings from their default. Another possible problem could be a hardware issue that is still causing filament to be fed when the toolhead is supposed to be idle. That appeared to be a lot more filament then what I would expect from oozing. I'm not an expert, so these are just some thoughts that I had. Good luck!

Have you tested a small purge tower? It's probably difficult to get honest help online due to the cult-like following around Prusa right now.

I also have the 5TH XL and I had a similar problem. I was able to confirm that the gear could spin by telling the toolhead to purge more filament and leave the idler lever open so that I could visually see it move. I still wasn't clear after watching the video again if the problem followed the toolhead when you moved it, or if it was whichever toolhead that you had in the first position. If it is the later, then my suggestion probably won't help. My problem was that I started having one, then another, and then another toolhead that would print like crap, usually only for a few layers, and then generally stop extruding altogether. It looks like the gear in toolhead 1 is spinning because you do get some filament extruded, and then it eventually stops. On mine, it looked like the filament was very wet (it wasn't) but I could move the same filament to a working toolhead and it would print perfectly. I later figured out that the genesis of my problem was when I tried to print with ABS. The higher temp required caused very minor deformation of the idler lever, which in turn caused it to not apply the necessary amount of pressure against the filament to press it against the extruder gear. In my case, it did not chew up the filament either, but I was able to see the gear moving during a purge attempt. The idler levers that were shipped with my toolheads were printed using PETG. In February 2024 Prusa updated the material listed for the idler lever and additional parts, to be printed with PC-CF. Prior to getting some PC-CF I reprinted a set of idler lever parts using my best remaining toolhead. I installed them into the worst performing toolhead and it was an instant fix that put it back to printing like new. Although I had never successfully printed anything with ABS, all previous attempts had been larger items (which looked great for the first few layers), I decided to try and print a set of idler lever parts in ABS. I figured the toolhead could finish those parts before the heat deformed the PETG parts. It worked. I installed the ABS pair and set out to print a new set for all of the toolheads. Once complete, all toolheads were back to working like new. Note: There was no visible deformation to the original idler levers and I could not feel any imperfection. I'm guessing that the tolerance is very tight. I have since then purchased a spool of PC-CF and reprinted all of the idler levers again and those too are working great. I also reprinted the idler nut for each with the PC-CF, but I found that due to the design and the way they printed, that I was experiencing failures on that part. I reprinted the idler-nut and idler-swivel parts in ABS and have had very good luck using that material for those parts. Although I never had a problem with the ABS idler-lever parts, I have switched to the PC-CF idler-lever parts. I have saved the ABS idler-lever parts, just in case. My printer now prints PLA, PETG, and TPU like it did when it was new (very nicely). It now also prints ABS and PC-CF great too. In my opinion, your problem looks very similar to the problem I had. I hope that this information is helpful, if not to you, then someone else that reads this. Good luck!

Really sucks how much people who have trouble with Prusa printers feel like they are walking on eggshells because of the toxic positivity sorrounding the brand. With every other brand people would just state the problems they have without needing to first pledge fealty to the brand and talk about how good it is. There are so many user issues with the XL being fickle and support being slow at figuring out its issues in particular that I think its reasonable to say maybe it's just not as perfect a company as people keep saying it is. Maybe, it's just another printer company, perhaps better than some others but not in a magical tier of its own.

I had this very same issue the other day and it turned out the filament was brittle/ stale. Did you try another head or filament?

i would try double checking that the g code is actually telling it to spin the motor and if its not that its almost certainly the board. you probably got a lemon which unfortunately seems to be a bit of a trend for the xls.

Sounds like you just need a new extruder stepper. Swap stepper motors with the other tool heads and see if thats the issue. If the gear isn't spinning at all then its probable the stepper, or like you said, the board that goes too it. Could always try swapping boards.

In terms of print quality, both at a slow speed, which one does better?

prusa is just shit

Just a suggestion, have you tried slicing on a different PC? I had a quality issue once that ended up being caused by my windows 7 PC. My windows 10 laptop didn't have the same errors, and neither did Prusa when they sliced it for me.

Not that is discounts your experience with the XL but I have a few thousand hours on my 5T XL (well first 500 or so it was a 2T (2 tool head)) and other then 1 tool head needing the filament feeder gear tension adjust, two screws and about 10 seconds, 5 of which was looking for my Allen wrench, I have not had any problems. It prints so well that it has become my go to printer - quality and dependability is top notch. Bummer that you are having problems with it.

You can load/unload on TH1, and it seems to me that it printed at least a few layers. So the motor and gears look to be OK. I would therefore start checking on the electronics in the toolhead, and maybe the cabling/connector from the Buddy board. Disconnect all sensors/connectors in the toolhead, remove the dwarf board and mount everything back in again...

I know it's stupid, but have you tried slicing on a different device?

If the problem moved with the toolhead being moved, then I would suspect the microcontroller in the head assembly OR a wire fault. I've experienced the latter with a Computer's mouse not working in Kalbarri, and shipped the whole box to Perth (500kms) where it was tested and all worked fine. Then back and it was a second trip. After it beat 2 techies I was given a shot at it with fresh eyes. They had even checked the power supply voltages and everything was correct. I found the issue was the lead to the motherboard was slightly stretched (not normally an issue and the 9V AC lead didn't make proper contact. The Logitech mouse model they had actually USED the 9V and every other mouse we'd plugged it into did not. Visual inspection looked fine. It was only when I multimetered the motherboard I found the missing voltage. Wire faults are rare, but not impossible. When all else fails check connections wire by wire.

These printers are going to be scary once the warranty is up

The filament gear doesn't move since the microcontroller on the toolhead doesn't make it rotate. That microcontroller could be "hang" or not receiving data from main board's microcontroller. There is a reset button on the toolhead board ("dwarf" board as named by Prusa). You can try to see what hapoens if You push it without power cycling the whole printer. It could be the dwarf board in the toolhead that "hangs" for some reason. For example could be a problem with the comnector on the main boards' side, a power line issue from main boards to the dwarf on line 1, or an EMI arriving from main power cables or from line 1 wiring. Resetting the dwarf board should resume the communication with microcontroller in the main board (if main board firmware allows to recover / reset communication with the toohhead microcontroller. Very likely Prusa will ask You to return the printer to study the problem.

Want to thank you for the videos ... was going to pull the trigger on this ... but not now.

The complex the design the more difficult is to catch firmware bugs and the issue the 3D printers are becoming more and more difficult to diagnose issues but it’s part of the owning a 3D printer

I had the same problems. I had to change the cable between the board and the print head. After that, it worked again.

Thank you for documenting your issues.

could i possbly get a link to where i can find this stl? so cute

good video, well, mistakes happen everywhere, or tell me where mistakes never happen, but for me, my XL from Prusa is an amazing machine the best one I’ve ever had the chance to try and work with. I haven't seen better quality products in that amount of printing time.

Sorry your printer hasn't been the experience that you wanted. I'm also sorry about these comments, while I do agree with them that the printer isn't a piece of junk, them saying "you don't know what you are doing" is just useless lol. I know that frustration can be a major cause to being stuck in one area. While it is currently a "$3500 paper weight" I would seriously step away from it for a few days and then come back to it, I have had to do that with printers before when I couldn't get it figured out. I have heard mixed things on Prusa support but I would say there is no harm in shooting them a message about it. I really do want one of the printers and am definitely considering purchasing one right now my only hold back is that I have heard really good things and really bad things about these printers, the only thing that keeps me thinking about buying one is that it is a Prusa product and they have brand reputation. I hope you get all your problems solved and that it prints beautiful!

I replaced the dwarf boards on the bad tool heads and they are 100% working again.

Just love my XL..! If you don´t have the skills to fix a minor problem, don't blame it on the printer..! EVERYTHING in this world will have a minor breakdown now and then, and when it happens.. just fix it and go on.!

Reach out to prusa support

That's crazy

You could try to reset the toolhead board, the "dwarf" board. Each board has its microcontroller and stepper motor in TMC2130 to drive the nextruder gears. There are three pushbuttons, one is labeled "reset", they are near the STM32G070 microcontroller. I have not an XL, so don't know if You can reach the button. If toolheads on other communication lines are ok, than the problen is not a stepoer motor problem, but a communication or power to dwarf board. Could be also caused by EMI problem rhat "hangs" the dwarf board or power sipply problems on line 1, even small momentary events can cause a microcontroller to stop working.

I'm sorry brother, you sound uber frustrated

Extruder stepper driver is overheating/failing. When it cools it probably starts again

Yeah I saved my money and bought a CNC, Sorotec CL0404. No enclosure at the release and issues with the 0.6 nozzles stringing. Loading filament is a struggle and only lately they enabled endless spool mode. This printer should have been delayed for at least another year in my opinion.

For Prusa being such a big industry leader their machine's printed parts don't look that good. Like the housing around your XL's control interface has bad looking seams. They could had at least post processed them for the price they want or maybe sell the printer cheaper because they're not molded parts and they 3D print them for cheap. Then they print a test part and stick it to your machine to avoid waste management to let their customers deal with their waste. Testing the machine is just basic QA.

extruder is not the issue. stepper driver on the mainboard is bad or is overheating, prusa needs to replace it. stepper drives the motor for the extruder, stepper is located on the mainboard. it's overheating, so it's shutting off to prevent damage. or there is another issue that only manifests at a certain temperature. that's why the issue still happens no matter what extruder you're using.

My second and fourth tool heads are suffering from the same issue. I have a couple of new buddy boards to install to see if this gets cleared. Interesting about the cable between the board and the toolhead, that's next.

I had the same problems. I had to change the cable between the board and the print head. After that, it worked again.

The filliment is broken on the extruder and wont feed that was your issue

Stop buying Prusas the Core One is also a joke it's a P1S for double the price..... The XL should've been a ~$2000 machine assembled with 5 toolheads and an enclosure instead it's $5000 machine at that point.

Ta Prusa to pomyłka. Astronomiczna cena, za niedopracowany produkt. Podobnie jest z ich najnowszą drukarką. Kosztuje tyle co Bambulab, a nawet wiFi nie ma. Te drukarki są po prostu przestarzałe. Prusa został z technologią w 2012 roku. Kupno Prusa, to imho strata pieniędzy.

Junk, no, but I feel like a beta tester. It has more quirks than Doug DeMuro would care to list. I am way way too preoccupied and have the printer running a lot, but on my to do list is to contact prusa and try to work with them on this thing. There is a great printer in there. I've done amazing prints. But it needs user feedback and fixes.

You're doing something, wrong material, didn't configure right. 3d pretty isn't for everyone. Its not like desktop laserjet printing.

I think this happened to another guy that made a video recently. A chip on the buddy board was failing, Prusa wanted him to replace the whole board but he just replaced the chip and it was good.

I had lots and lots of problems with mine from day one and it took a couple months to get it dialed in. Prusa support is terrible. Mine had quite a few problems that were caused by poor build quality at the factory. It’s great now, rarely fails and it used to fail almost every single print. The thermistors keep dying, 3 so far.