Prusa Research has put a 400 C hotend on sale for its enclosed CoreXY printers. According to the company's HT Hotend Upgrade product page, the part is an easily swappable unit that unlocks PEKK-CF, PPS-CF, PPSU and other demanding materials on the CORE One, CORE One L and their "+" variants. VoxelMatters reported on September 30 that Prusa is launching two high-temperature products at once: the hotend as a standalone upgrade at $199.99, and a CORE One L+ that ships with the hotend and advanced filtration already installed, at $2,169.00.
The pairing is a clear statement of intent. Prusa is no longer treating engineering-grade polymers as a footnote to its enclosed machines; it is selling a defined path to them, at two price points and two sizes.
What the upgrade actually is
The headline specification is the 400 C ceiling, but the more practical detail is how the hotend gets onto the machine. Prusa describes it as easy to swap, and the announcement coverage says it swaps without tools in less than a minute. For an owner who runs PETG and ASA most days and wants to print a high-temperature part only occasionally, that matters more than the raw number. VoxelMatters adds that PLA, PETG and other standard materials print normally with the hotend installed, per Prusa, so it does not have to come off between jobs.
The kit, as VoxelMatters lists it, includes a hardened 0.4 mm ObXidian 500 nozzle, two idlers (one for standard materials and one for high-temperature filaments), and a main plate printed in PC Blend Carbon Fiber, plus gloves and a printed user guide. The hardened nozzle is not optional decoration: the materials this hotend is meant to unlock are largely carbon- or glass-filled, and those abrade soft brass quickly. Shipping the wear-resistant nozzle in the box removes one purchase decision and one common failure mode. The printed main plate in a carbon-fiber-filled polycarbonate blend is a small but fitting detail, since it is a part made from the class of material the hotend targets.
Compatibility is broad. The product page title covers the CORE One/+ and CORE One L/+, and VoxelMatters lists the CORE One, CORE One+, CORE One+ (Gen 2), CORE One L and CORE One L+. The product page lists an order preparation time of two weeks.
A note on the price
The product page we consulted, set to ship to the United States and display USD, showed $184.26, while VoxelMatters quotes $199.99. We use the VoxelMatters figure here, attributed to that outlet. We did not establish why the two differ, so confirm the price at checkout before you order.
Materials: what changes
Two groups of material benefit. The first is the exotic tier the product page names directly: PEKK-CF, PPS-CF and PPSU. The second is materials that already print on a stock CORE One but improve with more thermal headroom. Prusa says the HT Hotend improves quality with PA11 Carbon Fiber and PC Blend Carbon Fiber.
VoxelMatters puts numbers on that. With Prusament PA11 Carbon Fiber, interlayer adhesion rises by 23 percent. With Prusament PC Blend Carbon Fiber printed at 350 C, the gain is 7 percent. Those are vendor-reported figures, relayed secondhand, and we have not reproduced them. They are still informative about where the benefit is concentrated: interlayer strength, the weak axis of every FFF part, rather than surface finish or dimensional accuracy.
The hotend also adds PPS and PPA profiles. VoxelMatters reports print profiles for PPS filled with carbon fiber or glass fiber and for carbon fiber-filled PPA, and states that PPS has a heat deflection temperature of up to 250 C and a UL94 V-0 flame-retardant rating. For makers building parts that sit near motors, heaters or enclosures in electronics, a flame-retardant rating and a deflection temperature in that range is the actual selling point, not the nozzle temperature itself.
The CORE One L+ bundle
The second product is a CORE One L+ sold pre-assembled with the HT Hotend and an advanced filtration system, at $2,169.00. Its build volume is 300 x 300 x 330 mm, or 29.7 liters, and it offers active convection chamber heating to 60 C.
That chamber figure is the important contrast with the smaller machine. High-performance polymers shrink and warp as they cool, and the usual countermeasure is a warm chamber that narrows the temperature gap between freshly extruded plastic and the part beneath it. The CORE One+ (Gen 2), by comparison, has passive chamber heating to 55 C and a 250 x 220 x 270 mm build volume. According to Prusa's comparison table, as VoxelMatters relays it, the Gen 2 supports high-temperature materials for small-scale parts only.
The implication is straightforward. The hotend gets the plastic molten; the chamber helps determine whether a large part stays flat and bonded. A 400 C nozzle on a passively heated 55 C chamber is capable, but the company itself frames it as a small-part proposition. If your target is a large PPS or PEKK component, the L+ looks like the configuration best suited to it.
Fumes and filtration
High-temperature printing is not just a thermal problem. VoxelMatters reports that for some materials Prusa recommends a high-temperature print sheet, a USS Drybox for hygroscopic filament, and HEPA and carbon filtration for materials that off-gas, such as PA11. The filtration included with the L+ bundle addresses the fume point; the drybox recommendation addresses moisture.
For anyone upgrading an existing CORE One rather than buying the bundle, this is the hidden line item. The $199.99 covers the hotend, not the ventilation and storage that responsible use of these materials calls for.
What It Means for Makers
The value of this release depends on what you print.
- Current CORE One owners who want better carbon-fiber nylon and polycarbonate parts: the upgrade is an inexpensive way to gain interlayer strength, if Prusa's reported gains hold on your prints.
- Makers who need flame-retardant or heat-resistant parts: PPS profiles, a stated heat deflection temperature of up to 250 C for PPS and a UL94 V-0 rating put genuinely functional parts within reach of a desktop enclosed printer.
- Anyone planning large high-temperature parts: the CORE One+ (Gen 2) is limited to small-scale high-temperature parts. The L+ with 60 C active chamber heating and a 29.7-liter volume is the better fit.
- Anyone planning to buy: budget for filtration and drying alongside the hotend, and confirm the final price at checkout given the gap between the storefront figure we saw and the quoted one.
The caveat is the usual one for new hardware: the performance claims come from Prusa and its launch coverage, not from independent testing. With a listed two-week order preparation time, first deliveries would likely come in October, and real-world results on PPS and PEKK-CF will tell us whether the 400 C figure translates into parts that hold their specification.
