【3D Printing】Prusa proudly presents the CORE One upgrade system INDX!
Josef Prusa, Founder of PRUSA:
I hinted at this a few weeks ago, and now, I’m thrilled to finally give the Bondtech INDX system the attention it deserves!
INDX is a revolutionary tool changer concept. It’s not an upgrade to a filament switching unit, nor is it a slightly different tool changer; it’s a completely new architecture.
Imagine your CORE One printer loaded with eight different spools, changing tools in seconds, with virtually zero waste.
This is a huge leap forward and a prime example of two European companies – Prusa Research and Swedish extrusion leader Bondtech – joining forces to push the entire industry forward.
Bondtech’s patented design is both elegant and ingenious.
The Journey of Multi-Material
We have extensive experience in multi-material 3D printing. As early as September 2016, I introduced our first Multi-Material Upgrade (MMU) in a blog post.
Today, MMU3 is in its third generation, an easy and affordable way to add full five-filament printing capabilities to a single-nozzle machine.
Subsequently, we developed the original Prusa XL, equipped with an advanced tool changing system.
The XL is ideal for high-end, high-reliability printing, supporting the replacement of the entire tool head.
This allows you to use flexible and rigid materials in the same print, or even switch to completely different tools, such as a silicone printing tool head or the pick-and-place tool head we showcased at Formnext.
There are many solutions on the market, but each has some drawbacks.
Filament switching systems like MMU or AMS require repeated loading and unloading of consumables, which is slow and wasteful, as the previous color needs to be purged from the nozzle.
While the MMU's form factor is not as compact and streamlined as the AMS, we have managed to minimize the waste generated by the MMU – all waste is collected in a compact block.
Printers with two switchable nozzles are a special case: they look efficient and fast on paper (e.g., “only 8 seconds per nozzle switch”), but this is only limited to using two filaments.
If you increase the number of filaments, you face the same disadvantages and limitations as filament switching systems.
Waste is significant, and each filament change takes more than 40 seconds.
This is where we identified the gap.
What if you want true printhead switching with virtually zero waste and high speed, but also the scalability and low cost of a filament changer?
INDX fills this gap perfectly.
New Architecture: Smart Head, Passive Tools
The INDX, designed by Bondtech, can be described as a lightweight tool changer.
However, instead of replacing an entire bulky and expensive print head (including all parts like extruder motors, gears, heaters, thermistors, sensors, etc.), the INDX design is extremely clean and streamlined. You
can think of it like an electric shaver: a body with replaceable (cheap) passive blades.
The smart head is the only moving part on the gantry.
It contains all the expensive parts: induction heating (IN) and sensing electronics, as well as a dynamic extruder (DX) drive system with a self-adjusting tension mechanism.
Then there are the passive tools at the front: they are simple in construction and, most importantly, affordable.
They contain no wires, heaters, thermistors, or electronics. They are essentially just a filament channel and a special nozzle.
This architecture is key – it's easy to scale. This means that if you initially have four tools, adding a fifth, sixth, or even eighth material will be very cost-effective.
Revolutionary Induction Heating
The "IN" in INDX stands for induction heating, or more accurately, inductive heating.
Thanks to this ingenious design, the INDX does not require a hotend.
Here's how it works: the smart head has built-in induction coils.
When it senses a passive tool, the coils are energized.
This creates a high-frequency magnetic field, instantly heating the nozzle.
And the nozzle itself has "virtually no mass."
Almost all heating energy is used to melt the plastic, not to heat a large block of aluminum.
The INDX nozzle is so fast precisely because it combines direct heating with low thermal mass.
The nozzle heats from cold to printing temperature in just a few seconds.
At the same time, it cools down very quickly, which is crucial for multi-material printing: it effectively prevents material overflow when the tool is parked, without having to go through a long and slow reheating process.
So, how do you control the temperature of a wireless, passive piece of metal?
The smart nozzle reads the nozzle temperature without any contact or wires – essentially a non-contact thermal measurement.
Self-Adjusting Extruder for Any Material
"DX" stands for Dynamic eXtruder.
Anyone who has printed with PLA and TPU knows that there is no universal gear tension that works for all materials; you either need to adjust it manually or settle for sub-optimal tension.
The "DX" extruder eliminates this compromise. It is a self-adjusting extruder that requires no user intervention.
The clever part: it uses a responsive cam mechanism, not just a spring.
When the extruder experiences high back pressure (e.g., during high-flow printing), the filament's pull acts on the drive gear, and the cam mechanism mechanically translates this pull into a stronger grip.
And when printing soft TPU materials at low flow, it uses a gentler grip. It can dynamically provide the optimal pre-tension needed for printing any material, and can set any flow rate as needed.
The mechatronic design is very clever: the lightweight stepper motor that drives the filament also drives the cam mechanism, fully opening the drive gear to release the filament and unlock the passive tool during filament changes.
One motor, three functions.
Easy, Fast, Flexible Printing
Bringing all the components together for a seamless experience.
Simply place eight spools on the CORE One and load them into their dedicated passive tools.
No buffers, no rewinding filament into external boxes, no cutting filament, no purging filament, no preheating, and no complex mechanics.
The entire process – parking the current tool, moving, selecting a new tool, heating it to operating temperature, and resuming printing – can be completed in as little as 12 seconds, depending on the filament used.
The CORE One + with the INDX system is expected to be launched in Q1 2026. Follow us for more updates!
I hinted at this a few weeks ago, and now, I’m thrilled to finally give the Bondtech INDX system the attention it deserves!
INDX is a revolutionary tool changer concept. It’s not an upgrade to a filament switching unit, nor is it a slightly different tool changer; it’s a completely new architecture.
Imagine your CORE One printer loaded with eight different spools, changing tools in seconds, with virtually zero waste.
This is a huge leap forward and a prime example of two European companies – Prusa Research and Swedish extrusion leader Bondtech – joining forces to push the entire industry forward.
Bondtech’s patented design is both elegant and ingenious.
The Journey of Multi-Material
We have extensive experience in multi-material 3D printing. As early as September 2016, I introduced our first Multi-Material Upgrade (MMU) in a blog post.
Today, MMU3 is in its third generation, an easy and affordable way to add full five-filament printing capabilities to a single-nozzle machine.
Subsequently, we developed the original Prusa XL, equipped with an advanced tool changing system.
The XL is ideal for high-end, high-reliability printing, supporting the replacement of the entire tool head.
This allows you to use flexible and rigid materials in the same print, or even switch to completely different tools, such as a silicone printing tool head or the pick-and-place tool head we showcased at Formnext.
There are many solutions on the market, but each has some drawbacks.
Filament switching systems like MMU or AMS require repeated loading and unloading of consumables, which is slow and wasteful, as the previous color needs to be purged from the nozzle.
While the MMU's form factor is not as compact and streamlined as the AMS, we have managed to minimize the waste generated by the MMU – all waste is collected in a compact block.
Printers with two switchable nozzles are a special case: they look efficient and fast on paper (e.g., “only 8 seconds per nozzle switch”), but this is only limited to using two filaments.
If you increase the number of filaments, you face the same disadvantages and limitations as filament switching systems.
Waste is significant, and each filament change takes more than 40 seconds.
This is where we identified the gap.
What if you want true printhead switching with virtually zero waste and high speed, but also the scalability and low cost of a filament changer?
INDX fills this gap perfectly.
New Architecture: Smart Head, Passive Tools
The INDX, designed by Bondtech, can be described as a lightweight tool changer.
However, instead of replacing an entire bulky and expensive print head (including all parts like extruder motors, gears, heaters, thermistors, sensors, etc.), the INDX design is extremely clean and streamlined. You
can think of it like an electric shaver: a body with replaceable (cheap) passive blades.
The smart head is the only moving part on the gantry.
It contains all the expensive parts: induction heating (IN) and sensing electronics, as well as a dynamic extruder (DX) drive system with a self-adjusting tension mechanism.
Then there are the passive tools at the front: they are simple in construction and, most importantly, affordable.
They contain no wires, heaters, thermistors, or electronics. They are essentially just a filament channel and a special nozzle.
This architecture is key – it's easy to scale. This means that if you initially have four tools, adding a fifth, sixth, or even eighth material will be very cost-effective.
Revolutionary Induction Heating
The "IN" in INDX stands for induction heating, or more accurately, inductive heating.
Thanks to this ingenious design, the INDX does not require a hotend.
Here's how it works: the smart head has built-in induction coils.
When it senses a passive tool, the coils are energized.
This creates a high-frequency magnetic field, instantly heating the nozzle.
And the nozzle itself has "virtually no mass."
Almost all heating energy is used to melt the plastic, not to heat a large block of aluminum.
The INDX nozzle is so fast precisely because it combines direct heating with low thermal mass.
The nozzle heats from cold to printing temperature in just a few seconds.
At the same time, it cools down very quickly, which is crucial for multi-material printing: it effectively prevents material overflow when the tool is parked, without having to go through a long and slow reheating process.
So, how do you control the temperature of a wireless, passive piece of metal?
The smart nozzle reads the nozzle temperature without any contact or wires – essentially a non-contact thermal measurement.
Self-Adjusting Extruder for Any Material
"DX" stands for Dynamic eXtruder.
Anyone who has printed with PLA and TPU knows that there is no universal gear tension that works for all materials; you either need to adjust it manually or settle for sub-optimal tension.
The "DX" extruder eliminates this compromise. It is a self-adjusting extruder that requires no user intervention.
The clever part: it uses a responsive cam mechanism, not just a spring.
When the extruder experiences high back pressure (e.g., during high-flow printing), the filament's pull acts on the drive gear, and the cam mechanism mechanically translates this pull into a stronger grip.
And when printing soft TPU materials at low flow, it uses a gentler grip. It can dynamically provide the optimal pre-tension needed for printing any material, and can set any flow rate as needed.
The mechatronic design is very clever: the lightweight stepper motor that drives the filament also drives the cam mechanism, fully opening the drive gear to release the filament and unlock the passive tool during filament changes.
One motor, three functions.
Easy, Fast, Flexible Printing
Bringing all the components together for a seamless experience.
Simply place eight spools on the CORE One and load them into their dedicated passive tools.
No buffers, no rewinding filament into external boxes, no cutting filament, no purging filament, no preheating, and no complex mechanics.
The entire process – parking the current tool, moving, selecting a new tool, heating it to operating temperature, and resuming printing – can be completed in as little as 12 seconds, depending on the filament used.
The CORE One + with the INDX system is expected to be launched in Q1 2026. Follow us for more updates!
Did you enjoy this sharing?
The CORE One + with the INDX system is expected to be launched in Q1 2026. Follow us for more updates!
Contact us now to learn more about Original Prusa details.
The CORE One + with the INDX system is expected to be launched in Q1 2026. Follow us for more updates!
Contact us now to learn more about Original Prusa details.
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