The Original Prusa XL has been delayed because of supply chain issues.

In a blog posted by Josef Průša on August 5, he said:

“We are struggling to find parts for our testing units, let alone suppliers we can rely on when we ramp up into full production.”

Some parts that the company is having trouble with are Hall sensors, 1-wire serial EEPROM chips, and STM32 chips, which some suppliers are quoting a lead time of 1-2 years.

The blog continued to explain that Prusa Research is now using “multiple sourcing agents to get the required parts.” It’s become a big issue for the company. “The situation is so dire and there are so few batches that it actually happened more than once that they kept bidding on the same batch of parts and kept outbidding each other.”

In the post, Průša acknowledges that this means the XL will be significantly delayed by at least six months. As a result, preorders will not be fulfilled until early 2023.

Fortunately, the delays have meant that the Original Prusa XL has continued to evolve, which now has a planetary gearbox with a 1:10 gear ratio. The previously detailed version of the Nextruder had a “zero-backlash” cycloidal gearbox with 20:1 ratio. Further evolution comes in the addition of accelerometers for each of the tool changer’s print heads, allowing each to “see perfectly how it moves and vibrates.” Also, the X/Y axis motor has been replaced with a faster model. This means prints should be significantly faster without compromising on quality.

There are other updates, but most excitingly, there’s the promise that the company is working on shortening the tool change time from 10 seconds to 3-4 seconds.