A Long and Slow Upgrade for my Ender-3 Printer..

[The Hat]

I’ve now got most of the spare parts I’d ordered during the virus outbreak and I have started re-assembling my Ender-2 again, I originally had intended to fit a bigger hot bed to make it 180 x180 but during lock down I purchased the Kingroon KP3 printer which had a 180 x180 sized hot bed. !

Now there’s no need to make the hot bed upgrade but I already had plans to change the look of the Ender-2 in other ways, so as I put this menagerie together I will take a few photos as I make progress and hopefully I’ll end up with a functioning printer that not only looks different but prints better too..

Here’s how the original Ender-2 printer looked when new, then for my first upgrade I only moved the control box and that was the start.

The next upgrade was again moving the control box to an upright position, added a second rail to the hotbed and a new nozzle cover (Fang) and fan and changed the position of the micro stop switchs.. The Nozzle Fang was @Redbrickman idea..
1) 2) 3)
clickto enlarge...
Progress on the new rebuild will not be quick so it may be some time before I can come back with the printer complete and running !, either ways I’ll still report back, whether it’s good or bad news.. I started this rebuild back in February, so I’m anxious to see it complete ..
A week ot two more will see it finished, and I'll include a good few pics of the lady..

 

[stratman]

I find all the stuff around the printer more interesting than the printer. It tells a tale about the owner.

Await more updates.

 

[The Hat]

I find all the stuff around the printer more interesting than the printer

Yes I have more rubbish on and around my bench right now, and I don’t want to move anything, because I know where everything is and when I’m finished I’ll do a clean-up and put the tools back where they rightly belong, for about five minutes…

Then it will be time to make upgrades for both new printers and also find the time to get the old CR-10 running again.. I’ll need quite a few new parts and extras to improve my working environment.. 3D printer are great at making new and spare parts for themselves..

 

[stratman]

when I’m finished I’ll do a clean-up

Definitely not what I meant!

The image demonstrates work in progress and potential projects in the making.

If you commissioned a portrait of the Mrs, wouldn't you expect him to have a palette and easel marked up with paint of all colors, the signs of experience?

 

[The Hat]

Well I powered her up today and got quite a few surprises, after rearranging some of the little plugs into their proper positions it worked without causing any more grinding sounds.

I’ve now got to see if I can get both the nozzle and the hotbed to heat without going out of control, but if the main board has gone west then, I’ll have to think of something else, I’ll come back anyway working or not with a few Pics..

P.S. maybe my wiring and soldering is not up to scratch..

 

[The Hat]

Ok, This is not a Happy ending...
This is how I started out and just added bits and pieces as I went along, sometimes I went a bit too far, and had to take things apart again because I’d forgot to add in something.


The original idea was to use a 180 x180 hot bed and then I didn’t need too, so I still went ahead with the wider format which makes the current hotbed look a bit lost.


I made a few changes to accommodate all my new ideas and surprisingly they all worked, it did mean reprinting some of the new pieces to get them to fit and work properly.


The printer can move in all directions as it should but it won’t print because the mainboard has developed a fault, probably caused by me try to force the larger 180 x180 spare hotbed to work. I didn’t finish fitting the cover and sides to the main board until I knew it would work..



The hot nozzle will heat up to the correct setting and can be controlled properly but the hotbed only heats to the set temperature but can’t be monitored which then won’t allow it commence printing, and there are no main board available anywhere, so my project is doomed to failure.

I’ll put the printer to one side until I can find a main board that will work with this printer, and if I can’t then I got quite a few spare parts in reserve…

 

[stratman]

Sad. Sorry to hear.

Time to break out the booze and have a ball.

 

[The Hat]

Sad. Sorry to hear.

I am not sad nor sorry, because I’ve learned quite bit about the workings of the printer, unlike inkjet printers these things are all different in many little ways, and it’s good to find their limitations, and mine into the bargain.

When a motherboard become unavailable then you have to be prepared to let the printer go unless you can find something later that might work, I still can’t get my head around why one motherboard version will work and an a newer one wont, the only changes are in the Firmware..

Anyway I’ve still got two perfectly good working printers to pacify my urge to print..

Time to break out the booze and have a ball.

I'm already on that case...

 

[berttheghost]

Hi,
There ae several third party upgrade mainboards available for the Ender3. No need to give up on it. The boards are preconfigured, pretty much plug and pray. Some even promise improved print quality (faster 32 bit cpu doesn't fall behind in issueing commands to the steppers and heaters).

 

[The Hat]

There ae several third party upgrade mainboards available for the Ender3.

Thanks but that sounds too good to be true in my case, because my machine is an Ender-2 not a 3, but if it works I won’t complain, and if it doesn’t I still won’t, you wouldn’t have a link to the site by any chance..