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!
Basic assembly and purchased mods:
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.
Disassemble and rebuild as close to perfectly square on every corner as possible.
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.
All metal or bi-metal heat break. Higher temp without burning ptfe
Higher temp rated heat block
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.
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.
bed underside adhesive insulation. Stabilizes bed temps a fair bit, mostly benefits abs and shrinkage in my testing.
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:
Extruder relocation to the front allows Bowden tube bending amount to remain consistent through the full height range
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.
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.
click lock bed screw wheels. Holds your adjustments better.
More involved mods:
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.
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.
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.