So, after nearly 10 years of faithful service, my shitty ol’ Wanhao i3 Plus is finally ready for retirement. Steppers are buzzing, occasional collisions with the bed, and the heat block just doesn’t… heat as quickly as it used to.
Talking to a mate who does a lot more printing than I, it seems I can’t pass up the Ender 3 V2. The right price for what I typically do, and is backed by a mature community.
I’ve ordered the auto-level kit with it, but nothing else. My i3 already sits in a Lack Rack I made, and it should comfortably take the new printer.
I have a couple of functional print projects on the backburner that were waiting for me to make a move, but wanted to get some advice on mods and upgrades first, that might make the first experience with the Ender even better.
So, asking the more experienced Ender owners out there: are there any essential upgrades, preferably 3D printed, you think I should look at first?
Cheers in advance!
There are a few things that I really recommend you do with your ender. Some are printed, some are not. Let’s start with the printed.
Cable chains for your hot end and your heated bed. This is more of an aesthetic thing but it also keeps your cables from snagging. I would also recommend v-slot covers to prevent dust and random bits of filament from getting into the extrusions.
A filament guide. The path the filament takes from the top of the printer to the extruder is a pretty sharp turn so this would be one of the first things I would print.
A tool holder. The v2 comes with a little box to put things in, but I prefer to have my tools more easily accessible.
Non printable upgrades:
First and foremost, klipperize that sucker. You’ll lose the use of the lcd panel, but the amount of speed, control, and overall ease of use you gain from using klipper and fluidd or mainsail is so worth it. I would also recommend upgrading the main board to an skr mini e3 v3. It takes some effort to load the firmware on it, but it individually controls each fan (so that annoying hot end fan actually shuts off below a certain temperature instead of running all the time). It also has a ton of room to expand the functionality of your printer.
After that it’s up to your personal preference. I added a neopixel strip to my top bar that is controlled by the skr mini and klipper. A pi cam for giggles and remote monitoring. I also upgraded to the sprite DD extruder so I can print flexible filament. If you don’t go the DD route, definitely get Capricorn tubes and get rid of that stock Bowden tube. Definitely get better compression fittings as the stock fittings suck. I would also upgrade to an all metal extruder and a steel extruder gear. I personally love the flex steel pei sheet from biqu as I had a lot of problems with the glass bed that came with the printer.
If you have any questions, feel free to message me. I have hundreds of hours of tweaking time with this printer.
Especially the metal extruder arm if you’re keeping the existing nema17. The current ones have a tendency to crack/break over time.
For me it was after a few months but others have encountered it much sooner while others much later
Some really great ideas here - thanks. I’m thinking little things like end caps and tool holders are a great way to start calibrating the printer. I’ve got a RasPi running Octoprint for the i3, so Klipper seems like a really quick, easy win too.
I’m thinking I’ll try out the Bowden tube for a while, but may upgrade the plastic extruder bits - I hear the plastic handle breaks too easily.
I’m going to have a think about upgrading to a PEI sheet on a magnetic base. I did that to my i3 and it worked amazingly well. But it prevented me from printing higher temps stuff, like ABS. I hear there’s high temp PEI sheets available, so will do some research before buying. My mate (who has three Enders going) swears by cheap hair spray on the stock glass bed, so I might give that a go. Not afraid to experiment and tweak - that’s the fun bit. It’s like a never-ending series of puzzles!