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Prusa Connect and PrusaLink explained

Last updated 2 months ago
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Prusa Connect and PrusaLink are two remote printing solutions developed in-house by Prusa. Its origin is in the management system used in our record-sized print farm located in Prague HQ.

    • Prusa Connect is a cloud service for remote printing available from anywhere.
    • PrusaLink* is the client-side running locally on your printer, accessible from local network

*formerly known as Prusa Connect Local

 

What is Prusa Connect?

Prusa Connect (connect.prusa3d.com) allows you to control your individual printers or even manage a print farm from anywhere in the world.

Example of Prusa Connect interface (cloud service)

 

It is available for free to the owners of selected Original Prusa printers (see the list below). You get a free 1 GB of cloud storage for your G-codes and telemetric data. The full list of features and pricing for end customers or businesses will be announced later on.

Furthermore, Prusa Connect is able to monitor the use of each printer individually, providing valuable statistics of your production environment. 

 

Much like Octoprint, this remote printer-management system runs locally on your Original Prusa printer.

Example of PrusaLink interface (local network)

 

Its main goal is to provide communication between your printer and the Prusa Connect cloud. The secondary function is to provide a web interface, which can be used on your local (home) network only. Simply paste the printer's IP address into your web browser to access it. Using PrusaLink alone you can monitor your printer, upload G-codes, start or cancel a print. 

 

To use the Prusa Connect, you have to first set up the PrusaLink on your printer. The guides below will take you to step by step through the entire process.

FDM printersPrusaLinkPrusa Connect
Original Prusa MK4 / MK3.9 / MK3.5built-inAvailable
Original Prusa i3 MK3/S/+via RPi / RPi Zero (GPIO/USB)Available
Original Prusa i3 MK2.5/Svia RPi (USB)Available
Original Prusa XLbuilt-inAvailable
Original Prusa MINI / MINI +built-inAvailable

 

SLA printersPrusaLinkPrusa Connect
Original Prusa SL1S SPEEDbuilt-inTBA (work in progress)
Original Prusa SL1built-inTBA (work in progress)

 

Next-gen Original Prusa printers

Such as the MK4, MK3.9, MK3.5, XL, MINI/+, SL1/SL1S  as well as the other upcoming models have the PrusaLink built-in. You can connect the printer either using Wi-Fi or a wired LAN (Ethernet) network. Note that on MINI/+, you have to first install the Wi-Fi module to use the wireless functionality.

 

Original Prusa i3 MK3/S/+ or MK2.5/S

In this case, the PrusaLink name also refers to the required hardware solution of a Raspberry Pi (RPi). These printers don't have enough performance, therefore additional hardware is required. PrusaLink is a replacement for the discontinued PrusaPrint solution (Octoprint and the RPi Zero W).

Which Raspberry Pi should I get for my i3 (MK3/S/+ or MK2.5/S)?

For your MK3/S/+, you need to get a Raspberry Pi (RPi) to make the PrusaLink and Prusa Connect work. The supported RPi boards are listed below and if you are about to purchase a new one, it is highly recommended to seek the latest generation, as the older ones might be slower.

On MK3/S/+, you can attach the RPi Zero directly onto the printer’s mainboard or use the USB connection.
On MK2.5/S, you have to use the USB connection to the RPi. Then, the PrusaLink and PrusaConnect setup is fairly similar to the MK3/S/+.

Since the RPi doesn't have internal storage, you need to get a MicroSD card. Recommended SD card: Micro SD, SDHC standard, Class 10, 8GB or more. Preferably, choose a name-brand card known to work with RPi. Do backups regularly as even a name-brand card doesn’t guarantee you won’t lose your data. 

Supported boards (GPIO connection on Einsy Rambo)

  • Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
  • Raspberry Pi Zero W

Supported boards (USB connection)

  • Raspberry Pi 4
  • Raspberry Pi 3+
  • Raspberry Pi 3

Unsupported boards

  • Raspberry Pi Zero (without Wi-Fi) and older
  • Raspberry Pi 2 and older
What not to do while RPi Zero W/2 is connected and the printer is powered up:

- Don't move any of the printer's axes by hand! Use the Move Axis menu only.
- Don't connect or disconnect the RPi.
- Don't insert or remove the microSD card inside the RPi.
- Don't touch the RPi board.
- For connecting or powering the RPi, don't use any other methods than the ones endorsed by Prusa.
- Only follow the guidance from the official documentation issued by Prusa Research.
- Prusa Research is not responsible for any damage done by or caused to third-party hardware.

 

 

Octoprint / Other / 3rd-party projects:

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