Best products from r/wanhaoi3

I've had this printer for 3 years and have tweaked it about as far as I can go without replacing the electronics or frame. Here are the mods I recommend, in the order they should be applied for maximum effectiveness...

1. MOSFET mod. This one isn't for effectiveness, but rather safety. There is no thermal runaway protection on the firmware, and this mod will prevent heavy current from going through the control board...instead it is routed directly from the power supply to the print bed. It's a lot easier than it looks, and doing it will give you a good overview of the innards of the electronics. DO NOT SKIP THIS MOD. (While you have your electronics enclosure cracked you might also consider installing a 120mm cooling fan mod, which will make the printer MUCH quieter if you get a good fan for it. However, this mod can be installed anytime later on.)
   
   
2. Remote print monitoring. Octoprint. This mod is less about printing better and more about printing easier. Swapping out MicroSD cards sucks. Octoprint will make controlling your printer MUCH easier, especially if you plan on leaving it unattended and want to check on it remotely. Adding a camera to the Raspberry Pi and you can monitor it remotely. If Octoprint is a bridge too far for your skills, then AstroPrint is a much simpler fork of Octoprint. Same basic functionality, but you don't need to worry about IP addresses and such. I used AstroPrint for two years before finally installing OctoPrint.
   
   
3. Smart plug. Again, this is for unattended printing, which most people will say you should never do. But, unless you work from home or are a shut-in, you'll end up doing this so you can make nice sexy 50 hour prints. A wifi enabled smart plug like this one will let you kill the power remotely if your print fails and you're looking at a mess of spaghetti from afar and can't get home to clear it. While you're at it put your printer and Octoprint server on a UPS...even a small power blip can cause your control board to reset and your print will fail.
   
   
4. Glass print bed. Now, a lot of people will disagree with me on this, and even more will disagree with me on it being #4, but I found the bed to be a bit warped on mine and this upgrade got rid of that. It's easy and cheap and will give you glass-smooth first layers. I personally recommend borosilicate glass over Home Depot window pane glass or mirrors, but YMMV. Use only 3 small binder clips to secure the glass to the heated bed, skipping the front left corner (otherwise your nozzle might collide).
   
   
5. Z braces. There are tons of options out there. I have the standard front-mount variety, but I wish I'd installed the back-mount type...something like this...so I could get some more clearance around the bed in front when I'm leveling. Depending on the Z braces you install it might lift your Z columns off the table. If so, print something like this to add some additional support.
   
   
6. Part Cooler Fan Duct/Shroud. I've tried them all...the Dii, Cii, Cobra. The one I finally liked best is the [OptiCooler](https://letsprint3d.net/2017/01/29/guide-installing-a-mosfet-board-maker-select-v2/). Important note: you should really print this in PETG or ABS because the tips of the ducts get really close to the hotend and can melt if printed in PLA.
   
   
7. Microswiss All-Metal Hotend. I was having a lot of heatbreak issues on mine, where heat creep would cause the filament to get too soft in the PTFE tube and cause a jam. The Microswiss eliminated all that. Well worth the money. Get a couple spare nozzles while you're at it.
   
   
8. While you're modding the hotend, get some silicone socks and discard the wool/kapton crap that will drive you crazy if you try to replace it. Super cheap on BangGood or AliExpress. You'll be glad when you get a failed print that tries to glue itself to the hotend.
   
   
9. Y-axis carriage upgrade. This will reduce the weight of your Y-axis carriage and give you dramatically faster print speeds because of the reduced inertia. Huge improvement for me. Adding an actual cable drag chain at this point would make a lot of sense so your wires don't get caught or abraded. Why Wanhao/Monoprice don't include a Y-axis cable chain is beyond me. You'll need to print one rather than buy one because the hotbed cables are hardwired and can't be removed...the printed variety of drag chain lets you install it with the wires in place.
   
   
10. While you're under your Y axis make sure you have some good belt tensioner replacements already printed (hopefully in PETG for strength). I printed a bunch, and found these to be the best so far. My testing is far from exhaustive, so YMMV. Putting these on the X and Y axes will make your prints have less texture in them from the belts bouncing around.
    
    
11. Speaking of bouncing around, the front and back of the Y-axis frame on the Wanhao/Monoprice printers can get a bit bendy if you really crank up the tension on the belt. This is a major weak point and should be stiffened. The mods I installed is a two-part affair for the front and back. Be forewarned, the replacement stepper bracket for the back is a BITCH to get installed. I wanted to remix it and designed captured nuts for the bracket, but never got around to it.
    
    
12. Lights. Oh my god, lights! Once you install lights in your printer you'll wonder how you ever saw anything without them. I skipped the whole dedicated LED mount on the print head and just adhered a strip of LED lights around the entire inside of the frame. There's just enough space to stick it inside the arch and let the steppers clear as they move up the Z screws. If you're good with electronics you can wire them in directly to the main power supply, so you don't have another power supply under your desk.
    
    
13. Not necessary for print effectiveness, but I eventually upgraded my thermistor to a screw-in variety. They are less likely to short out.
    
    
14. Z-extensions. I've only really needed these on a couple of prints, but they are nice to have for extra height.
    
    
15. Oh..one last thing. Unlike the i3 Plus, the v2 has a separate power supply and electronics unit, which makes moving the printer a pain. Cut a section of 3/4" plywood 24" x 24" and put everything on it...makes moving it so much easier. Go to the dollar store and buy some cheap gray doormats...spray glue those onto the plywood to dress it up!
    
    Lastly, I highly recommend having a stock of spare parts for your printer on hand. Nothing is more frustrating than having your thermistor short out and despite Amazon Prime you're still down for two days while you wait. Order ahead from Ali or BangGood where possible, saving yourself some money in the process. I recommend getting some spare nozzles, silicone socks, belts, an assortment of M3 screws and nuts, spare 40mm fans, spare part cooling fans (axial or radial depending on your mod). You'd be surprised how often fans go out!
    
    Good luck, have fun! Be safe!
    
    (edit, added #15)

What I did was I got a nice thick borosilicate glass plate from amazon, the one with the corners cut off so it fits the bed perfectly without the heated bed bolts interfering. Then I got a sheet of PEI with 3M adhesive on the back. I cleaned the glass with alcohol and then carefully applied the PEI so there weren't any air bubbles.

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This is the glass:

https://smile.amazon.com/Gulfcoast-Robotics-Borosilicate-Duplicator-Printers/dp/B07B2YLWF9/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2640M0KDOPOV&keywords=borosilicate+glass+plate&qid=1555903635&s=gateway&sprefix=borosilicate+glass+pl%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-5

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And this is the kind of PEI:

https://smile.amazon.com/Gizmo-Dorks-Preapplied-Laminated-Adhesive/dp/B07GSJSDWR/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=PEI+sheet&qid=1555903728&s=gateway&sr=8-4

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I have gone through a handful of these borosilicate sheets, and have had one or two that were warped. All of them were thinner than the Gulf Coast Robotics one. Theirs is bang on flat and way tougher, hands down the best. When you apply the PEI, make sure you do it very carefully as to not create any bubbles underneath. I started on the center of one edge and slowly applied from one side to the other, peeling the backing off as I went. Press it down from the center out as you lay it down and you shouldn't get any bubbles. Lots of very tiny bubbles are to be expected and work their way out after a while (Im talking really tiny). As for attaching the glass to the bed, a set of four binder clips are perfect. Don't bother with the thermal pads some people suggest, they make it a pain to remove the glass in between prints and don't really do anything.

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This is a great way to have a removable build surface that everything sticks to. I have since moved up to a Prusa MK3, so I get to enjoy the luxury of the magnetic PEI build plate. You could get a similar thing going, BuildTak sells a magnetic build surface that you apply to the heated bed. The drawback of this is that if your bed is warped at all, the magnetic sheet does nothing to correct it. The thick glass on the other hand makes everything nice and flat.

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I should add that to put the glass sheet on, you will have to move your z endstop switch down. There are several mounting holes on the printer to do this already so its really not that hard, you just have to experiment. The glass is about 4mm thick so you have to adjust for it.

I did all of those upgrades plus the extruder gear change. It prints great and highly recommended. The microswiss machined idler stuff is nice but I'm not sure how nessassary it was. I have that fan and have had no issues with 11+ hour prints.

Edit:

I added these split Zaxis couplers. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HBPHSII/

I added this gear: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZYG5Z47/

And the Zaxis brace kit from GulfCoast also.

I've been pretty happy with these upgrades.

I added the Z probe for ABL and used a PEI sheet vs the old sticker. I tried the glass and had good luck until it chipped...too much abs adhesion with the juice.

I've had this machine now for about 4 or 5 years, and it went unused for a little over 2 years because I wound up with a clogged PTFE tube and decided that I would just change the hot end for the all metal. I went out and bought the hot end, put it on a shelf, had a baby and been running around until about 3 weeks ago when I finally found some time in my schedule to rip into the printer and replace the hotend. The prints are decent (I wish I could push it a bit faster) but I still have problems with bed leveling (more like annoyances that I actually have to relevel it every so often).

The upgrades I've done (both before and now) are:

• Z-Brace
  
• MicroSwiss all metal hot end
  
• mirror print surface
  
• Printer Enclosure
  
• Spool holder (is that even really an upgrade?)
  
• bed nut retainers to make leveling a bit easier
  
• MOSFET for heat bed
  
• Upgraded the Y carriage plate to something substantially thicker
  
• added a 120mm PSU fan to the control box (makes it so much quieter, it's insane)
  
• upgraded extruder cooling fan (the one that blows on the heatsink) to a quieter fan that pushes more air
  
• Changed belt tensioners to remove springs
  
• use thermal pad to hold glass in place
  
• Added OctoPi (last night) and it's a gamechanger
  
  I mostly print ABS (trying PETG and it's driving me crazy) so cooling hasn't really been an issue as the fans are usually off (maybe I need a better cooler for the PETG?) and find that the glass (now mirror) is definitely the way to go and forget the binder clips, those things are a damn nuissance. The thermal pad holds the glass so tight when it's warm it's not going anywhere, and it doesn't let go too easily when it's cool either.
  
  What I really want to add next is an auto bed level, but I keep finding people complaining about how hard it is to add to the Melzi board. Hopefully I find something soon, that's probably about the last "major" change I want to make (until I find a new annoyance).

That works but if any LEDs ever burn out you will get a voltage increase. Best to install in parallel and then install a voltage regulator (or appropriately sized resistor but voltage regulator is better probably for this):

https://www.amazon.com/MCIGICM-Voltage-Regulator-Linear-Positive/dp/B07D9Z7TDS/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1536255292&sr=8-7&keywords=voltage+regulator+12v+output

I bought a pei sheet off Amazon and just clamped it on top of the original surface. No need for glue or hairspray or anything like that. It sticks perfectly and when it cools down it pops right off.

Would recommend it to everyone.

Gizmo Dorks PEI Sheet, 8" x 8" 3D Printer Build Surface Polyetherimide Ultem https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KBGJU5S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_IA4KofJ8WMGmf

My advice (first of all) is to install ADVi3++ if you haven't, the bed-leveing function (under the Tuning menu I think) is pretty good.

Some general advice for the actual leveling process:

• Start with the knobs tightened enough that the nozzle is too high everywhere and work from there.
  
• Underturn each knob during the leveling process. Loosening the knobs adjacent to a corner you're leveling will affect that corner somewhat - e.g., loosening the front left and back right knobs will also lower the bed for the front right corner, so if you adjust the front right corner knob fully, when you loosen the other knobs, the bed will be too close in that corner.
  
• Keep making minor adjustments, keeping in mind which corners are high/low, until a piece of paper can be slid under the nozzle with some friction.
  
  If things still aren't leveling:
  
  
• Mess with your z-axis motors. I actually just used a normal level for this, which worked for me, but you may require more experimentation.
  
• Adjust your z-endstop. Especially if you've put a glass bed in place, you may have set your endstop too high or too low to effectively level the bed. Ideally, you want the knobs to be about in the middle of their range while the bed is level. If the knobs are too tight or too loose, wonky things can happen (bed can get pulled sideways slightly)
  
• If all else fails, you probably have a warped y-carriage. Mine is warped slightly, and leveling is harder for me than it should be. You can get a replacement y-carriage here, and you can follow this video to replace it.
  
  Once you can actually get things level, I highly recommend getting some M3 nyloc nuts and replacing the default bed leveling knobs with these. They don't look as nice as the metal/stock ones, but it will prevent vibration/movement from de-leveling your bed as quickly.
  
  Good luck!

If you have a multimeter check the resistance at the connector that plugs into the board. Also check what it says the temp is with the thermistor disconnected and shorted to give you a clue what's happening.

I got this one when I broke mine, it screws in so no crushing it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07B3W8XQ4/

I pulled the wires out cleaning off a huge blob of pla from my hotend. I can't remember what my symptoms were but I feel like I saw something like you. My best guess is that it's shorted, disconnected or you crushed the actual sensor.

What caused it was probably the Y-axis rods not being aligned very well from the factory or just crappy bearings. You'll need new bearings and then have to adjust the y-rods appropriately.

http://3dprinterwiki.info/y-axis-rod-allignment/ (page is for the i3 but it is shared information for the plus too)

For the bearings you are looking for 8mm linear bearings. They are pretty standard for most of these 3d printers and can be found on numerous 3d printing store sites.

Here's a non-affiliate link to some on Amazon to get you started. https://www.amazon.com/Easy-RepRap-Linear-Bearings-Printer/dp/B00ED150S4


or here from the Ultimate 3d printing store which is Wanhao's Authorized US Distributer. https://ultimate3dprintingstore.com/collections/brand-new-2017/products/upgraded-bearings-set-of-5

The first thing I did when I got mine was replace the stock extruder fan with a radial fan + a diiicooler link

I also printed a z-axis stabilizer

Upgrading the to an all metal hot end is also a solid choice

Getting a pei sheet and a piece of borosilicate glass for your build plate will help too.

Turn the bed up to 60-80C and peel it off. Then buy this $18 glass plate. Works like a charm & it's a night and day difference with a little glue stik action. Oh, and level your bed :)

I have this one, works great. A quick wipe of iso alcohol on the bed before a print does WONDERS. :)

https://www.amazon.com/Gulfcoast-Robotics-Borosilicate-Duplicator-Printers/dp/B07B2YLWF9/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3R1DVT6ST84HS&keywords=duplicator+i3+glass+bed&qid=1555892960&s=gateway&sprefix=duplicator+i3+glass%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-3

Bearings most likely. My Select Plus sounded exactly the same when I got it. Really scratchy, but still worked fine.

I decided to go nuts with the upgrades and put a new Y carriage on from Amazon. Figured I'd replace the bearings while I had it apart. It's been smooth since!

Got these bearings:
CTYRZCH 12Pcs LM8UU Linear Bearings for 3D Printer, RepRap Prusa Mendel DIY CNC Motion, Prusa Mendel, reprap(8mm x 15mm x 24mm) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CE4H5PC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_l2HAoWJvMaMg6

And this Y carriage:
RepRap Champion Y Carriage Plate Upgrade for Wanhao Duplicator i3 and Monoprice Maker Select V1, V2, V2.1 and Plus 3D printers https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUAMRN7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_2q6Hk7jXWW3EW

It technically doesnt add anymore cables, just puts a brick between the fan and the board.

https://www.amazon.com/BINZET-Converter-Regulator-Voltage-Transformer/dp/B00J3MHUWM/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1538683488&sr=8-10&keywords=24v+to+12v