I got me 3D printer, awesome!

No because I bought it second hand locally, but it was a very reasonable price with a lot of extras (glass bed, depth gauge, lots of PLA, etc).
 
So I've had the Wanhao i3 for 2 weeks now, and here's an update and some questions!

I've done some mods (listed below) and the quality of my new 3Dbenchy is a lot better, but there's still a couple of major problems that are doing my head in.

Work done...
- PID tune
- Blueprinting (as best as I can get it)
- Y axis alignment
- E-step calibration
- Acceleration & jerk
- Higher Z end stop

Mods done...
- Glass bed
- Thumbscrews + spring cups
- Diicooler fan shroud (running at 70% because high fan speed seems to be cooling the hot end too much)
- Z brace (but no Y braces, all printing attempts failed so far in different stages)
- Octoprint
- Control box cooling

The problems are firstly I still have a lot of trouble with first layer adhesion. This is compounded by the fact that I just cannot get the bed to level properly - the front left/rear right screws are very loose, while the front right/rear left screws are all the way in :( And yes I'm sure the X gantry and Y rods are square.

The second problem is that for prints that are larger than the 3Dbenchy, such as when printing the Y braces, often time the whole print gets knocked away by the nozzle half way through! Even when using a brim! I think it's maybe caused by vibration from Y axis movement? Or probably layers not stacking well so it's higher than expected?

Any help please?

EDIT - Also some curling/wrapping around the corners, which is already much better after fitting the Diicooler, but it still happens rather frequently.
 
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So I've had the Wanhao i3 for 2 weeks now, and here's an update and some questions!

I've done some mods (listed below) and the quality of my new 3Dbenchy is a lot better, but there's still a couple of major problems that are doing my head in.

Work done...
- PID tune
- Blueprinting (as best as I can get it)
- Y axis alignment
- E-step calibration
- Acceleration & jerk
- Higher Z end stop

Mods done...
- Glass bed
- Thumbscrews + spring cups
- Diicooler fan shroud (running at 70% because high fan speed seems to be cooling the hot end too much)
- Z brace (but no Y braces, all printing attempts failed so far in different stages)
- Octoprint
- Control box cooling

The problems are firstly I still have a lot of trouble with first layer adhesion. This is compounded by the fact that I just cannot get the bed to level properly - the front left/rear right screws are very loose, while the front right/rear left screws are all the way in :( And yes I'm sure the X gantry and Y rods are square.

The second problem is that for prints that are larger than the 3Dbenchy, such as when printing the Y braces, often time the whole print gets knocked away by the nozzle half way through! Even when using a brim! I think it's maybe caused by vibration from Y axis movement? Or probably layers not stacking well so it's higher than expected?

Any help please?

EDIT - Also some curling/wrapping around the corners, which is already much better after fitting the Diicooler, but it still happens rather frequently.

Hey wywywywy,

what's Blueprinting?

Both problems can solved by getting the bed level and the nozzle closer to the bed, but first what are you printing with? PLA, ABS or something else. PLA should be easy, leave the cooling fan off for the first 3-4 layers and make you are printing at the right temp around 210°C.

Second what are you printing on, just glass or have you added anything on to it? The glass has to be spotlessly clean if you going bare glass, maybe try print on blue tape to start with.

Regards,

James.
 
Blueprinting (as far as I know) just means making sure everything is square.

Yea I think bed levelling is the biggest issue, but I just can NOT get it to level properly! When I adjust one corner, the others go out of whack :(

I'm using glass with nothing added on. I wipe it with a microfibre cloth before every print.

I print in PLA and these are my usual settings -

Extruder 210c (also experimented with 200c)
Bed 65c (also experimented with 60c)
Fan 70% (also experimented with 50%) off for the first layer
Nozzle 0.4mm
Layer 0.2mm
First layer 0.3mm
Line width 0.4mm
Shell 1.2mm
Retraction 4.5mm @ 40mm/s
Speed print=50, travel=100, first layer=25mm/s
Then use either 8mm brim or 1 round of skirt depending on the model
 
Blueprinting (as far as I know) just means making sure everything is square.

Yea I think bed levelling is the biggest issue, but I just can NOT get it to level properly! When I adjust one corner, the others go out of whack :(
I'm using glass with nothing added on. I wipe it with a microfibre cloth before every print.

I print in PLA and these are my usual settings -

Extruder 210c (also experimented with 200c)
Bed 65c (also experimented with 60c)
Fan 70% (also experimented with 50%) off for the first layer
Nozzle 0.4mm
Layer 0.2mm
First layer 0.3mm
Line width 0.4mm
Shell 1.2mm
Retraction 4.5mm @ 40mm/s
Speed print=50, travel=100, first layer=25mm/s
Then use either 8mm brim or 1 round of skirt depending on the model



You adjust the bed corners like a X bottom left..then top right...bottom right..top left.

just move the screw so it just catches the paper on all corners. It does take time.
Or if you'll like me invest in a BLTouch :D
 
Yes I understand the procedure but look at this,

Front left = as loose as it'll go
Front right = as tight as it'll go
Rear left = as tight as it'll go
Rear right = as loose as it'll go

You see, I can't even make sense of it! :( And I'm sure the pane of glass is flat.

I did have a look at the BLTouch but and I WANT IT BAD but to be honest it's quite a lot of hassle, having to replace the Melzi with RAMPS and print out various mounts/adapters etc. I just can't justify any more big mods until I can at least print something out without 50+% failure rate!
 
Yes I understand the procedure but look at this,

Front left = as loose as it'll go
Front right = as tight as it'll go
Rear left = as tight as it'll go
Rear right = as loose as it'll go

You see, I can't even make sense of it! :( And I'm sure the pane of glass is flat.

I did have a look at the BLTouch but and I WANT IT BAD but to be honest it's quite a lot of hassle, having to replace the Melzi with RAMPS and print out various mounts/adapters etc. I just can't justify any more big mods until I can at least print something out without 50+% failure rate!

What printer model have you got and have you got a link?
 
Mnay thanks and yes I have already seen that thread. That Y carriage plate is for the Prusa i3 so it will need hand drill which... is less than precise.

However I found a company in Czech Republic that does one for the Wanhao at bloody 6mm thick!!! I'm hoping to give it a go, pending a review from someone in the Wanhao facebook group.
http://tehnologika.net/Wanhao-duplicator-i3-composit-heated-bed-support-y-carriage-plate-reprap/

I also hope to get some Igus Drylin which may or may not help.
 
Yes I understand the procedure but look at this,

Front left = as loose as it'll go
Front right = as tight as it'll go
Rear left = as tight as it'll go
Rear right = as loose as it'll go

You see, I can't even make sense of it! :( And I'm sure the pane of glass is flat.

I did have a look at the BLTouch but and I WANT IT BAD but to be honest it's quite a lot of hassle, having to replace the Melzi with RAMPS and print out various mounts/adapters etc. I just can't justify any more big mods until I can at least print something out without 50+% failure rate!

Clearly something isn't flat or square. Did you buy it assembled? If so time to get the tools out and strip it down and rebuilt it i think.
 
So what are all you 3d printer owners using for your build surface? I've got a video coming out trw about the FLEKS 3D build plate, I used it before on my Printrbot metal plus but it doesn't really work with inductive probes (made a video about that). I'm now using it on my NFire 1 delta (which I'm upgrading :-)).

Here's the video for you all a day early :-), more videos on the plates and upgrades will follow.


J.
 
Just tried isopropyl alcohol + glue stick. My first layer adhesion problem is much improved!!! I can probably even called it a "solved" issue for now! Although it's a bit of hassle.

The bed levelling problem is a bit better now having fitting the Y brace as well. I don't know exactly how it helped but it did. I also placed an order for a 6mm thick Y carriage that will never warp! Hopefully that'll improve it even further.

Below is my 3Dbenchies. Left is after one week of owning the printer, right is 2 weeks. (Contrast adjusted to show detailed better.) Printed at 0.2mm layers.

9crWTtJl.jpg

It's much improved but still not perfect.

Week 3 of mods incoming that hopefully will make it better!

Can't Wanhao help you at all?

They are in China and to be honest I trust the internet collective much more than them!

Clearly something isn't flat or square. Did you buy it assembled? If so time to get the tools out and strip it down and rebuilt it i think.

I did strip it down when fitting the Z brace mod. Pretty much everything was either loosen or taken apart. I guess the issue is/was that the Y cross beams kept flexing.
 
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Well Im getting a replacement duplicator tomorrow. I think my termistor shorted out my board even with a new (extruder) thermistor it was reporting def/def. And serial output showed that the bed thermistor was still working.
Should be fun to set it up again then onto getting it properly modded with Z braces and such I think.
 
Interesting announcement from Prusa printers today. Currently backing a 2 material solution on kickstater, now got to decided whether to go this way instead, lol.

MULTI MATERIAL UPGRADE
http://prusaprinters.org/original-prusa-i3-mk2-multi-material-upgrade-release/

Would need to but yet another printer for this option, or stick with my kickstarter option and upgrade my NFire1 delta?

Kickstarter - The Prometheus System

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...tem-intuitive-multi-filament-3d?ref=user_menu

James.
 
Interesting announcement from Prusa printers today. Currently backing a 2 material solution on kickstater, now got to decided whether to go this way instead, lol.

MULTI MATERIAL UPGRADE
http://prusaprinters.org/original-prusa-i3-mk2-multi-material-upgrade-release/

Would need to but yet another printer for this option, or stick with my kickstarter option and upgrade my NFire1 delta?

Kickstarter - The Prometheus System

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...tem-intuitive-multi-filament-3d?ref=user_menu

James.

They both look very good. Wonder if E3D will do something so the V6 doesn't fall behind?

Just seen the price of a Prusa i3 MK2 kit and the upgrade. They are now in the Big Box territory.
 
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They both look very good. Wonder if E3D will do something so the V6 doesn't fall behind?

Just seen the price of a Prusa i3 MK2 kit and the upgrade. They are now in the Big Box territory.

The Prusa uses an E3D V6, so why would they?

Plus they have dual colour/material hotends, these are complete systems.
 
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