rprsa INDX Update (Shipping starts this week!)

[prenatal_confusion@feddit.org]

Hey everyone. Here's the update that was emailed to Prusa INDX customers directly, attached here again for trasparency and convenience for interested parties outside of this group.

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Hi,

We have another update regarding your INDX Conversion Kit order. This time, we have some good news and enough information to move forward, and start shipping later this week.

In our previous email, we shared Bondtech’s confirmation that the nozzles supplied for INDX are surface-hardened, rather than fully hardened as originally specified by Bondtech. We therefore postponed shipping while we investigated what this means in practice and waited for Bondtech to finalize the compensation for our customers. We have been running extensive wear tests ever since.
Testing results

With standard carbon-fiber materials such as PETG-CF, PC-CF and PA-CF, we have so far struggled to wear the current INDX nozzles to the point where we can identify any deterioration in print quality.

Each of our PETG-CF nozzles went through 10 kg of material printed. The PC-CF nozzles currently track 5 kg of material and PA-CF about 2-3 kg each. We can measure some minimal wear at the nozzle orifice, but so far we have not seen a corresponding change in extrusion width, print accuracy or visible print quality.

That means the nozzles do wear, as all nozzles eventually do, but their real-world abrasion resistance is significantly better than Bondtech’s initial concerns suggested.

PETG Ultraglow serves as our accelerated wear test, since it is known to wear out most nozzles on the market at a fast rate. We are still accumulating more data, the topic of hardened nozzles is complex and interesting, so we will likely publish a larger blog post covering our findings.

If your main use case is a machine dedicated to printing abrasive materials, these nozzles are not the ideal solution.

Bondtech is investigating more wear-resistant nozzles, but there is currently no confirmed availability date, price, or guarantee that such a product will become available. We don't want to keep your order waiting for something we cannot promise.
Compensation for your order

Regardless of the test results, the current nozzle specification is different from what was advertised when you placed your order. Bondtech is therefore providing compensation for customers whose kits ship with these nozzles. Since you purchased your INDX from us, we will handle this compensation directly for you.

You can choose:

8-tool INDX kit: $160 / €140 Prusa Store credit, or $120 / €104 cash refund.

4-tool INDX kit: $80 / €70 Prusa Store credit, or $60 / €52 cash refund.

We will send out the vouchers via email in waves, synchronized with the shipping of individual INDX batches. If you can’t find the voucher in your inbox within 2-3 days after your INDX has arrived, please contact our tech support team. If you prefer the cash refund instead, you can request it by reaching out to our support via live chat or email.
An additional gift from us

In the previous email, we’ve teased that regardless of the solution Bondtech offers, we’re adding something on top of that.

We can now reveal what it is: the newly announced hardware upgrade that turns your CORE One+ into the latest CORE One+ (Gen 2).

We include this upgrade for the initial batch Prusa INDX conversion kit orders, at our own expense. Specifically the new belts, the belt pulleys and new thermal expansion joints, all resulting in better print quality, faster print starts and better ease of use. So you can upgrade your printer to the latest version while installing the new INDX parts. You can find the installation instructions in our CORE One+ (Gen 2) upgrade guide.
Shipping is ready to start this week

INDX Conversion Kits will ship in the existing queue, based on the date and time of the order, as we receive tool shipments from Bondtech. You do not need to do anything if you want to keep your order.

If the current nozzle specification doesn't work for your use case, you can of course cancel your order before shipment and receive a full refund at no cost to you. After delivery, you will also remain covered by our extended 60-day return policy.

We know there has been a lot of information around the INDX nozzles over the past few weeks. We deliberately took the time to test them extensively before giving you another answer, and we're happy that the real-world results are considerably more positive than our initial accelerated testing suggested.

Thank you again for your patience.

Prusa Research Team