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Post by jennifer on Mar 9, 2016 10:06:48 GMT
Creating this thread for discussion about this printer. I am now seriously considering this Monoprice Maker Select 3D printer -- which is a clone of Wanhao Duplicator i3 V1 (as mentioned before here). EDIT: 2/19/2016 The Monoprice Maker Select 3D printer I just received was in fact V2 not V1 -- great news. The reasons I am interested: the price, it's metal, large 8x8 build area and it's a RepRap Prusa i3 OpenSource clone. There is tons of support for this printer I just recently found out. Lots of mods, tweaks, fixes, upgrades, parts to print etc. Here are some extremely valuable resources for this printer: www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=13860(read the review titled "Great print quality at a reasonable price" on 2/23/16 -- great review) 3dprinterwiki.info/wiki/wanhao-duplicator-i3/Wanhao 3d Printer GroupJetGuy Youtube VideosAnd another youtube video with lots of mods. This printer needs some tweaks to make it a beautifully functioning machine, but it does work out of the box. I am prepared to make those modifications -- and there are a lot.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 9, 2016 14:11:58 GMT
Okay so from what I've seen--been spending some hours now researching this printer--it can be made into a very nice printer with some doable tweaks.
Therefore I just placed an order for it from Monoprice.
Order Date 3/9/2016 6:09:41 AM Shipping Method Standard: 3-5 business days Estimated Shipping Date 3/9/2016
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Post by jennifer on Mar 9, 2016 14:31:13 GMT
I have decided to buy it, but I've decided to wait a month. Reaiding all those posts here about 3D printers has definitely infected me with enthusiam to buy it, but at the same time a healthy reality check as to how much work it is going to entail. It seems that 3D printers are less plug and play than I initially thought, requiring a steep learning curve. Juggling quite a few things in my life at the moment and I thought it best to resolve a few of them before starting a new time intensive hobby.of House of Cards and Daredevil Season 2 to get through ? Operating with a limited amount of free time, how can I hope to learn to print and modify 3D designs while I still have 3 seasons Looks like a Glass Build Plate, lock nuts, and printed wing nuts are pretty standard upgrades and leveling the build plate every 3 or so prints are the burden you deal with when you only pay $350 for a 3D printer. Seems worth it to me. My family and I are going on a trip mid-April and I plan on ordering my Maker Select once we get back. I understand how that goes. Yeah there is some time involved getting this printer right. I'll let you know how mine works out for me over the next weeks. Regarding "leveling build plate every 3 or 4 prints", there are fixes/mods/tweaks for this I believe. Like using the M3 nuts under the build plate between it and the printed adjustment wheels. And the z axis stabilizer thing. I am hoping with all the tweaks I won't have to keep re-leveling it every 3 or 4 prints like you say. We'll see
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Post by adamsouza on Mar 9, 2016 14:34:37 GMT
Sweet. Thank you for posting those resources Jenn.
I look forward to seeing your progress with this printer, and sharing info on it once I get mine.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 9, 2016 15:13:14 GMT
Well I just canceled the order because I found out a place where I can get V2 version of the printer within the USA, for $399 free shipping.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 10, 2016 2:12:03 GMT
Been chatting in the Wanhao Printer google forum and the Wanhao Duplicator I3 group on Thingiverse.
People are saying I should get the Monoprice Maker Select because even though it is based off the V1, it has all the important mods made to V2. The only thing that is different is the display is not angled and doesn't have buildtak build plate.
They are saying all I need for the Monoprice printer is a borosilicate glass plate (for $20 or so) to sit on top of the aluminum plate. And to do some other easy well-documented mods (some of which include the machine printing replacement parts for itself).
Here is what one guy had to say about the Monoprice Maker Select on the Thingiverse group:
" adrianjudy - in reply to WVUTampaAlum
The one I got for Christmas from monoprice, I would call the wanhao 1.5. It has many of the upgrades that come on the wanhao i3 with the exception of the build tak and sloped front. I know that monoprice basically just rebrands other manufacturers' stuff (with the manufacturer's permission of course). I have been through every tear down of the wanhao and to the last screw, it is the same printer. Better than the wanhao i3 v1. The mods that I did to the monoprice have been; the slopes front for the lcd, the X axis stabilizers, some of the jet guy stuff (longer linear bearings and get rid of one bearing block, rotate the stepper motor 90 degrees, put lock nuts on the underside of the print bed to hold the spring screws), printed cobra fan and removed included fan, replaced wing nuts with the dials and nylock nuts, and I added the flex couplers to the z axis motors.
One last thing I figured out was, while you have the heat bed off, rotate it 360 degrees clockwise to put a coil in the wires to keep the from getting hooked on the platform.
The mods that were alread done were; z stop holes drilled in the frame to move it up 3mm for glass, dampeners on the z steppers, some of the electronic stuff on the board ( I see jetguy cutting leads on the board so it doesn't reboot when you insert sd card, mine never did that), and never had to change out to a 12v fan from a 24v, it came with a 12v that stays on all of the time ( so no need to modifying the wiring to make it stay on). I am on my phone, so I can't post the links to the thingiverse mods I have printed, but I can grab them later if anyone wants. "
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Post by jennifer on Mar 10, 2016 2:17:54 GMT
Just read people are having problems with the V2, they want to remove the buildtak plate (it's not a real buildtak -- some cheap knock off), to replace with borosilicate glass. It's the adhesive -- pain to remove I hear.
Seems like the Monoprice Maker Select is actually the best Wanhao Duplicator I3 one can get because even though it's chassis is V1 looking, it has all the important mods of the V2 without the painful mess of taking off the fake buildtak plate.
Looks like I might be re-ordering the Maker Select.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 10, 2016 11:14:16 GMT
Okay placed the order again, since I found out that this printer is really going to be totally awesome!
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Post by adamsouza on Mar 11, 2016 4:42:53 GMT
This is excellent news indeed !!
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Post by teazia on Mar 11, 2016 5:34:33 GMT
Please document all the trials and joys you get with the machine.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 15, 2016 16:53:55 GMT
I'm excited -- I'll be receiving this printer today. Most likely this evening.
Going to be busy modding / tweaking this printer over the next few days so I won't be doing much crafting. Needed a break anyways!
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Post by jennifer on Mar 15, 2016 21:56:18 GMT
Just received my Monoprice Maker Select. Opened up the box and was shocked to find that it is a full on V2 machine with sloped display and buildtak plate. Their photos show it being a V1 machine. I understood from others that have bought it recently from Monoprice to have the looks of a V1 machine but with all the important V2 upgrades, minus the sloped display and buildtak plate.
I don't know how to feel about the buildtak plate. I bought borosilicate glass and thermal pads to sit on what I thought was going to be a bare aluminum plate. Now I have to figure out what to do. Asking others on thingiverse forum about buildtak plate now.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 16, 2016 9:00:45 GMT
Loving this printer.
I adjusted the Z end stop switch by mounting it in the holes 3mm higher, to accommodate the 3mm thick borosilicate glass plate I sat on top of the buildtak. I am doing this for levelness (glass doesn't warp like aluminum from my understanding). I am using thermal pads between the glass plate and the buildtak plate.
I tried glue stick on the glass and that didn't work out well -- raft was sliding around. Maybe it was the glue stick I used. I heard some people say hairspray is great. But for now, I applied the good ole trusty painter's tape to the glass plate and the raft is doing well now.
I find it interesting by default, the printer's heated build plate heats to 50C for PLA. I turned this off for the test print I am doing now. I tried printing at 200C and the filament wasn't sticking to the painter's tape that well. It's doing good at 210C. But maybe if I heated the bed somewhat then I could print at 200C -- I'll have to experiment.
One thing I really love about this printer, besides it being all metal, is that it is VERY quiet compared to the Monoprice Maker Architect 3D I had. Jeff and I both agree it's about three times quieter. The bearings sound nice.
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Post by jennifer on Mar 16, 2016 20:43:04 GMT
Printed out for each of the four build plate springs: a knurled thumb wheel and a pair of spring guides. www.thingiverse.com/thing:874155www.thingiverse.com/thing:1261806(respectively) The wheels help tremendously compared to the wingnuts. It speeds up bed leveling by at least FIVE times. EDIT: I did away with the upper spring guide, not needed
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Post by adamsouza on Mar 16, 2016 21:52:36 GMT
Loving the progress reports. Keep up the good work.
You might be interested in this: 3D Printing Nerd just uploaded a new video about installing an all Metal Hot end upgrade
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Post by jennifer on Mar 17, 2016 10:44:56 GMT
Replaced the two aluminum upper x-axis bearing blocks with PLA printed ones. There is a design flaw with the Wanhao/Monoprice where the x-axis belt rubs against the two upper bearing blocks. A kind person on thingiverse redesigned the bearing block and made it available--otherwise I would of had to take a hacksaw to it like others have done. The new design has recesses to clear the belt. Besides the belt fix, it significantly reduces the mass on the x carriage since the plastic weighs much less than the aluminum. This will improve print speed/quality. I removed the bearings from the old aluminum bearing blocks and installed them into the newly printed ones. Friction fit -- hammered in with a piece of 2x4 pine. Here they are installed:
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Post by adamsouza on Mar 17, 2016 11:53:16 GMT
3 Months from now you can build a second printer from all the left over parts you uprgraded with printed parts
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Post by jennifer on Mar 17, 2016 15:47:38 GMT
3 Months from now you can build a second printer from all the left over parts you uprgraded with printed parts Hah. All the parts i am printing though are super cheap and better than the leftover junk I am gonna sell the leftover alumimum bearing blocks for like $5 a piece on ebay
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Post by jennifer on Mar 17, 2016 16:07:29 GMT
The Wanhao Duplicator I3 V2 motherboard (not the V1) had a grounding problem and was causing the extruder heater to not get full power / heat. Wanhao made a youtube video of the bug and even showed how to fix it.. i.e. to solder a jumper wire from a pad on one side of the board to another connection point on the other side of the board. Well I just opened up the control box for this "Monoprice Maker Select V2" printer and revealed that the jumper wire fix had already been done at the factory. Here's a photo of it. (I purchased this printer about a week ago and have had it for a couple days.)
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Post by adamsouza on Mar 18, 2016 2:29:59 GMT
EXCELLENT. It looks like holding off a bit is really going to pay off.
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