I’ve been having big problems with my 3D Printer Wanhao Duplicator I3 (Bed wont level, but none of the smooth rods or leadscrews are bent, the only issue may be the frame being bent or something of that sort). I recently started thinking about ripping the hardware out of my Wanhao and converting it to a MP3DP. It should have most of the things I’d need to build the MP3DP. I have a school 3d printer I can use to print the printed parts, and my Wanhao successfully printed all the MPCNC parts before giving up. I have a couple questions though. Would precision and efficiency suffer? I know the Wanhao isn’t the most lavish 3D printer, but it does have metal parts which the MP3DP would not have. Would the Melzi Ardentissimo board work for the MP3DP?
I’m pretty certain the hardware in the Wanhao is not at fault, but the frame pieces. Do you think this would be a wise decision or should I just continue trying to fix the Wanhao? Thanks!
I have an original wanhao duplicator i3 and the frame is probably it’s best feature. The rest of the parts are pretty awful. The extruder is especially poor and the melzi board doesn’t have enough memory to run the latest Marlin. I have put a lot of work into it, including reprogramming the melzi and adding an inductive sensor and it does run well.
How are you going to cut the flat parts?
Can you describe what’s wrong with level? Which version do you have?
I also have built an MP3DP (both versions) and I love it. The wanhao and the MP3DP sit next to each other and sometimes even print at the same time.
The leveling issue is really weird, I can’t explain it very well. Everything is flat, the carriage plate is new, the glass plate has no warp but still the machine is totally inable to level when using 4 screws. When using 4 screws 2 of the screws level just fine, but if you try and level the two others they just ruin for eachother, making it impossible to use both. When using only 3 of the screws I can still print on ~30% of the printer, but that is a quite small area. Am planning to just take absolutely everything apart and put it together as from the factory to see if that would fix it (which it probably wont, but I’ll give it a try).
I have a Wanhao i3 Plus, and I’ve had the same issue. Make sure your Z screws are in sync. Put the printer on a known level surface, then put a little level on your X-axis rails. Manually twist a Z screw until it’s perfectly level. You will have a WAY better time of things. Also, if you haven’t upgraded your Y-carriage to a thicker plate, make sure that’s not bending when you’re adjusting. The upgraded plate isn’t very expensive, but worth it!
I printed them with a big brim, and left it on so they didn’t topple over as easily.
To answer your original question, the heatbed, X, Y, Z motors should all be reusable. I don’t know if the rods or leadscrews are the same length. The control board will work, but on mine, I had to either stick with v1.1.6 or disable SD card support. The power supply will be fine. I think I’d buy a new extruder. If nothing else, it will be easier to mount.
So if you want to do that:
new extruder
a bunch of #6-32 screws and locknuts
maybe some new rods?
maybe a part cooling fan?
some significant control board tinkering
It might be worth it. I hate to take apart a working printer though…
Have upgraded to a thicker plate, and I’m quite sure I’ve tried that, but thanks
Thanks for the list I always hate to take apart things when they’re technically working, but the Printer is already almost as torn apart as it can be, might reassemble it once to see if anything works better, but if it does not I will continue checking after the MP3DP. Also I use OctoPrint so disabling SD Support is no problem for me.
Have you considered mesh bed leveling? I just shifted my printer over to it and I really like it. If nothing else, the mesh will tell you where your bed is unlevel.
