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!
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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
I’ve got an ender 3 pro v1 collecting dust. Been planning on redoing it. Going for kipper first.
I’ve got all those printed mods plus a bltouch and a new board. I was planning on adding lights and upgrading the cooling but never did.
I’ve got bed issues. Ordered a new basic mag bed 2 years ago to get rid of my dumb ikea mirror.
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!
Replace the extruder. The plastic one will break, and screw up your day. It may already be broken even. Anything is better, even a drop-in metal copy of the existing one. If you want to spend a lil $$ to future-proof yourself, look into a BMG.
Yep, that seems to be the common theme with these. My mate already sent me the link for the aluminium one he’s put on all his Enders, so I’m thinking that’s a very early upgrade. Cheers!
Sorry for the reddit link, but this is a really cheap hack, to get a better frame.
Print some parts, add nuts and bolts and use a proper method to adjust the frame.
Other modifications:
- direct drive
- enclosure
- replace the main board or at least adjust the vRefs, check the main board version.
- use Klipper to let it calculate the compensation for linear advance
- print something like a brissfang (also compatible with a microswiss direct drive) to get better part-cooling.
- camera
- replace the bed springs with silicone
I may have to relax my rule and temporarily allow traffic to Reddit for this one! Thanks.
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Thanks for that - others are saying the Capricorn tube is the way to go? I’ll see how I go with the stock Bowden tube. I’m used to DD on my i3, so may end up changing over to that anyway.
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My first suggestion if you have a Raspberry Pi Zero 2w or better is to install Klipper. If that isn’t a route to go down for you then Myers firmware was really good (not sure if it’s still around since I went to Klipper).
I’ve printed so many miss for mine, spool holder moves to the side, filament guides, different spool holders with bearings, new hot end fan assemblies ,small tool holder that slides into the v slots. Covers for the V slots.
It’s a great machine to learn and tinker on, some people don’t like that but I really enjoyed it.
I’ve since switched to direct drive instead of the Bowden tube and added another Z rod and stepper. I have a microswiss all metal hotend which has been fantastic and I have put Noctua fans for the heat break. Also upgrade the Bowden tube to the Capricorn type, it is much better.
A magnetic build plate from Biqu was another good addition.
Almost forgot, I printed risers for the feet out if TPU and that seems to help, I probably would have tried the ones that the squash balls go into but these work fine. In order to print TPU with the Bowden tube you need to print slow.
Also keep an eye on the plastic handle on the filament extruder, they are known to be weak and crack, a good aluminum dual gear is a good low cost investment.
Search on Thingiverse and Printables for mods for the Ender 3 and you will be overwhelmed with your options.
Patience is a virtue, and remember there are no stupid questions and a huge community of people willing to help.
If there is anything else I can do to help, don’t hesitate to ask.
Maybe -before making the jump to klipper-, use the ProfessionalFirmware, as Myers was no longer active the last time I checked.
That firmware is a nice improvement over the original, but running Klipper will really improve speed and quality.
Some great suggestions here - thank you. Will definitely look into Klipper. I already have a dedicated Raspberry Pi running Octoprint for the i3. A quick read of the Klipper website suggests that as a starting point so that’s a quick win already.
My mate also warned me about the plastic extruder handle and sent me a link for the aluminium replacement, so I’ll probably do that early on as well.
I’ll start sifting through the printable mods - you’re right, there’s a lot to choose from!
Cheers.
For the love of all that is holey make sure your axes are square and properly tensioned.
Also if adding auto levelling modify it so that it’s at the same coordinates as the nozzle in Y (so measurements aren’t altered by a non square and difficult to fix bed axis).
Ah - good tip on the auto-level thing. Thanks.
Basic assembly and purchased mods:
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I don’t really recommend direct drive much on i3 frame style. The additional moving weight makes tuning more difficult in my opinion. I can print all but the two softest tpu with my current setup.
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Disassemble and rebuild as close to perfectly square on every corner as possible.
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Check the screw terminals if the wires are tinned(solder on the strands) and snip if they are and strip back the same amount as before and reinstall, optionally crimp ferrules. This is fire hazard prevention.
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All metal or bi-metal heat break. Higher temp without burning ptfe
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Higher temp rated heat block
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just regular or stock ptfe tube, Capricorn is a scam and even non ptfe tube has worked with no noticable difference when other tuning is complete. My first printed mod recommendation probably has the largest influence over this.
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Stronger extruder. I use a bmg clone. Anything will be better than the stock plastic one that will snap at the hinge after 50-80 prints.
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bed underside adhesive insulation. Stabilizes bed temps a fair bit, mostly benefits abs and shrinkage in my testing.
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adhesive magnet + spring steel bed plates. I mainly use the matte pei plate with abs but I have others that work better for other filaments. The glass will be fine until it isn’t. I recommend washing glass or magnet plates with dish soap and let it drip dry vertically. If print doesn’t stick it’s always the first layer squish and/or bed/filament material combo. I don’t believe in anything else like my dad won’t believe that trump is a PoS…
Printed:
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Extruder relocation to the front allows Bowden tube bending amount to remain consistent through the full height range
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minimus hotend fan mount. It looks like it’s been changed and updated since I printed mine. It’s the least pain in the ass hotend system that can use both stock and aftermarket parts easily. I’ve tried them all and even ones that are better are not better by enough to justify the extra screwing around.
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klackender probe. I had 3 bltouch variants die on me. This uses printed parts, magnets, and a mouse click switch. I used a kailh gm8 instead of the recommended omron and it’s been great.
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click lock bed screw wheels. Holds your adjustments better.
More involved mods:
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belt drive z mod. I use the kevinakasam top end single motor belt drive mod. It’s the single biggest improvement in print quality for me and drastically improves consistency over multiple prints as well. Needs purchased parts. There was discussion on the discord about a bottom drive single motor version for stability improvements but I don’t know if that went anywhere.
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klipper. I regretted every little bit of time spent on screwing around with firmware after this. Most guides suggest raspberry pi, but any sbc, laptop, or any computer really, running debian can use kiauh to easily install klipper, moonraker, and either fluidd or mainsail(my preference). It requires one flashing of the printer’s board. I don’t know if it is still the case, but when I first set it up the e3v2 screen was not compatible. I didn’t like it anyways and just use mobileraker app. There are so many cool features that can be configured with text files and just reset via web interface or app to apply changes instead of constantly flashing firmware for all the tweaks and tuning.
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switchwire mod. I have two ender 3v2 printers and I wanted to compare this to my existing mod setup but I haven’t had the time for dedicated tinkering time. It’s just pending final assembly too… I’m currently leaning towards this being totally overkill for unknown degree of benefit.
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Almost forgot, Teaching Tech has a great calibration web site and YouTube channel.
my shitty ol’ Wanhaoni3 Plus
How dare you! Jokes aside, I had the same printer, in monoprice guize, for something like 6 years before recently using it to print Voron parts.
I don’t own an ender, but from watching from afar they seem as community backed, and quirky, as the i3/i3 plus were back when we bought ours.
I personally found my i3 plus to be fairly reliable/consistent, but print quality was certainly not the best. Some of the design on the i3 is a little better than the ender 3 IMO (rods vs rollers, dual z, etc), but ender 3s do have some out-of-the-box features that weren’t available back then like CR touch and an extruded frame).
I wish you well in your ender 3 journey. It’s amazing how cheap they are. I got my i3 Plus on sale for $250 and with inflation that’s $315 in today’s dollars. Meanwhile an ender 3 V3 SE can be had for $220 on Amazon without looking for any kind of deals.
