3D printer Upgrades

[Larry]

Just thought this might be a good place to show off our upgraded 3D printers.

I’ll start us off. I have a Creality Ender 3 V2

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Here is a stock Ender 3 V2 printer

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Here is my upgraded Ender 3 V2

I’ll start with the 3D printed upgades

3D printed handle
3D printed Z-axes adjustment knob
3D printed Z-axes rob stabilizer (can’t see is behind knob)
3D printed LED light strip holder
3D printed filament holder
3D printed clips to hold bowden tube to hotend power cables
3D printed stand for display (its now stand alone)
3d printed camera bed mount and PI camera case
3d printed mount for BL Touch
3D printed cover for BL Touch
3D printed mount for my Raspberry PI (back right of printer)

Now for the hardware upgrades

Dual gear all metal extruder
Capricorn Bowden tubing with better fittings for extruder and hot end
Micro Swiss all metal hot end
MK 8 Copper plated nozzle
Raspberry Pi 4 B (running Octoprint)
BL Touch 3.1 bed leveling sensor (best upgrade you can do in my opinion)
PEI coated spring steel sheet held in place with magnetic sticker (best build surface I’ve ever found, again in my opinion)

Also running Smith3d firmware to support the BL Touch sensor.

That’s pretty much it. I’m calling it the Ender 3 V2 Pro ?

If anyone wants to know where i got any of the 3D printed upgrades just ask.
If anyone wants a link to any of the hardware upgrades again just ask.

Please feel free to show off your printers upgrades in this tread.

Any other questions about any of the upgrades well by now you know what to do ?

[Larry]

Just added this tool holder to my collection of 3D printer upgrades

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[Ender5r]

Cool. I’m finding that a tool holder like the 1 you have & the 1 I have are quite handy.

[Larry]

@Ender5r

Cool. I’m finding that a tool holder like the 1 you have & the 1 I have are quite handy.

Yep I saw yours and started looking for one myself? Just wish it had a space for my Digital Calipers.

[Ender5r]

Ah, digital calipers. Mine wasn’t originally designed to hold them either. I cut out the bottom of the spot for the SD card USB adapter & I’m using it to hold the caliper. I didn’t really need a place to hold the adapter as I’m not using it. If I come across it again, I’ll probably toss it into 1 of the 2 storage drawers.

[Larry]

@Ender5r

Ah, digital calipers. Mine wasn’t originally designed to hold them either. I cut out the bottom of the spot for the SD card USB adapter & I’m using it to hold the caliper. I didn’t really need a place to hold the adapter as I’m not using it. If I come across it again, I’ll probably toss it into 1 of the 2 storage drawers.

The only time I use mine is when i upgrade the firmware on the printer. Might have to add a slot to mine and re-print it.

[mochalatte]

Sweet rig, Larry!

[Larry]

@Ender5r

Ah, digital calipers. Mine wasn’t originally designed to hold them either. I cut out the bottom of the spot for the SD card USB adapter & I’m using it to hold the caliper. I didn’t really need a place to hold the adapter as I’m not using it. If I come across it again, I’ll probably toss it into 1 of the 2 storage drawers.

Ok i modified the tool holder a bit to allow my digital calipers to set in place of the putty knife. Don’t ever use it anyway as the bed just lifts off and even big prints come off with just a slight bend of the spring steel sheet.

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[Larry]

@mochalatte

Sweet rig, Larry!

Thanks… ?

[Ender5r]

There ya go; a solution that makes sense for your situation – one of the main advantages of 3D printing.

[Geit]

@Larry

Just thought this might be a good place to show off our upgraded 3D printers.

I’ll start us off. I have a Creality Ender 3 V2
Here is my upgraded Ender 3 V2

Nicely done. Such tool storage systems never work for me. It takes a week and the tools a spread all over the place.

Did you insulated the heating bed, or was it insulated already? Makes a lot of difference in heating time and keeping the heat between prints.

My printers are tools, so I would loose any competition anyway. Messy all over the place with abs clue residue, curled fliament from nozzle cleaning and broken support pieces.

[Ender5r]

I can’t imagine what my wife would say if I left the print area like that.

[Larry]

@Geit

Nicely done. Such tool storage systems never work for me. It takes a week and the tools a spread all over the place.

Did you insulated the heating bed, or was it insulated already? Makes a lot of difference in heating time and keeping the heat between prints.

My printers are tools, so I would loose any competition anyway. Messy all over the place with abs clue residue, curled fliament from nozzle cleaning and broken support pieces.

No the bed isn’t insulated. But being only 235 X 235 mm it doesn’t take all that long to heat (about 2 min.) and seems to heat evenly according to my terminal camera. But i might add insulation at a later date. Seems to be able to keep the bed heated at the requested temp with no problems. When i changed out the bed i did a proper PID tune on it.

[Geit]

@Larry

No the bed isn’t insulated. But being only 235 X 235 mm it doesn’t take all that long to heat (about 2 min.) and seems to heat evenly according to my terminal camera. But i might add insulation at a later date. Seems to be able to keep the bed heated at the requested temp with no problems. When i changed out the bed i did a proper PID tune on it.

I remember the LED on the bed turning on every 10 seconds or so. Now the interval is much longer, meaning using far less energy. Also your bed is probably 24V already, so it consumes more energy in the same interval. Such insulation costs about 10-15 bucks and it worth any penny and the corners seem to be far better heated, too.

[Ender5r]

You’re saying a 24V bed uses more energy than a 12V bed. That is not my experience with electricity & electronics. The manufacturing plants I ran both used 550V AC power specifically to save energy costs over 220V or 110V. They also used 3-phase power over single phase for the same reason.

@Larry, didn’t you say you’re an EE? Can you chime in. My understanding is that, the more voltage you have, theless amperage you need. Hence, high-tension lines for mass transport of power.

[Larry]

@Ender5r

You’re saying a 24V bed uses more energy than a 12V bed. That is not my experience with electricity & electronics. The manufacturing plants I ran both used 550V AC power specifically to save energy costs over 220V or 110V. They also used 3-phase power over single phase for the same reason.

@Larry, didn’t you say you’re an EE? Can you chime in. My understanding is that, the more voltage you have, theless amperage you need. Hence, high-tension lines for mass transport of power.

If the total resistance of the transmission line leading from a power station to you is R and the city/town you’re in demands an average amount of power P. Then P=I*V . This makes the current drawn by the city/town is I=P/V and so the higher the transmission line voltage, the smaller the current. The line loss is given by P(loss)=I²R, or, substituting for I, P(loss) = P²R/V² Since P is fixed by demand, and R is as small as you can make it(with the big cable), line loss decreases strongly with increasing voltage(in the denominator). So smallest amount of current that you can use to deliver the power leads to the least amount of power loss. It may help to think of it as current causing ‘friction/heat’ which is lost on transmission.

From the formula P=VI, I=PV. So, if the voltage is high, current becomes low for same power. Now, H=I2RT, so lower the current, lower is the heat production. Mainly to reduce heat production, the voltage is increased.

To bad we don’t have super conductors mass produced yet or this could be made a lot safer. Maybe some day.

[Ender5r]

OK, that basically lines up with my experience. A master electrician told me in the 70s that that’s why 550V electrical lead wires can be thinner than 220V wires.

[Geit]

What I ment was that a 24V heating bed is usually heating much faster compared to a 12V bed. So the heating interval is of course shorter.

[Ender5r]

Could account for why you’re bed takes 20 min. to heat up?

[mochalatte]

@Geit

Did you insulated the heating bed, or was it insulated already?

Where would the insulation go? On the underside?