Hi I have been using the wanhao duplicator I3 V2 for about a year. There are some things to consider about the I3. First of all, I am happy with my printer, however I have spent countless hours upgrading/fixing it. Some things necessary, some things just because I could. This has been a great way to learn about 3D-printing but if you don’t plan on spending a few hours now and then on it, it might be better to buy a more expensive one. About the I3+, if you are planning on printing Abs (low weight, high strength but not super-rigid) an enclosure for the printer is recommended. Since the electronics are placed in the printer, an enclosure MAY cause the electronics to overheat. Not saying you can’t print abs without an enclosure but it helps a lot! Also if you plan on printing PETG or even polycarbonate you will need to buy an all metal hotend. This is just my thoughts based on my experience with the I3 v2. Don’t want to disencourage you. 3D-printing is really fun. There is a lot of info about the I3:s on the internet so if you run into a problem you should have no trouble finding a solution online. I am using Fusion 360 witch is very powerful but may be a little hard if you are new to CAD. I use CURA for slicing and love it. I am always printing via SD-card and have never felt the need to learn G-code. The I3 v2 is not intended to print via USB but it can be done with some effort (did it once when I damaged my SD-card) Don’t know about the I3plus. Hope this helps!
Have you checked if your idler pulleys are good? On my Y-axis, the bearing inside the pulley was loose and caused such issues. Also I have seen on forums that you may need to tighten the timing pulley that is screwed on the X and Y-axis steppers. But I still get some ringing when I go faster than 25mm/sec on outer walls.
If you choose to go with Wanhao, the first thing you want to do is make the proper repairs to the main board to cut down on the risk of fire. Wanhao has been cutting corners when it comes to the connectors used for the power connections on the board and it has resulted in many fires. There are instructions on what needs to be done in many places. It basically involves either changing out the connectors or soldering directly to the board. If you value life and property, I would address this issue before doing any of the other upgrades to this printer.
Has that been reported for the i3 Plus? It has an updated board from the i3 v2.1 Another fire warning deals with the springs that can scrape into the heater plate and cause shorts/fires. They sent out fiber washers for that issue.
Yes, I have checked the idler pulleys. It was also loose for my y-axis and I tightened it. The others are good though. I’ve reduced the ringing effects to mostly the y-axis. I’ll do the z-brace fix later on which should get the ringing/ghosting down to a minimum. For the price of the i3 Plus I can’t complain too much though. It works very well and modding it is pretty easy.
The hardware kit looks pretty good. It just needs the modified parts to work on the i3 Plus. Which I saw on thingiverse. I’ll have to brace mine soon.
As far as I know it includes all boards that have the plug in connectors. My understanding is that all new boards from Wanhao (including the Plus) have went to the screw terminal connections.
Ok, good to know. I bought my Plus when they were just starting to sell them.
I have a Wanhao Duplicator I3 plus. The printer has been solid but is not the easiest printer to setup. You will need to make some mods to the printer and download and print some alignment tools for the z-axis to keep it running. I installed a glass bed on my printer. There are plenty of youtube videos on how to do this. I would recommend Simplify3D as your slicer. I would recommend using Octoprint as your printer interface. I am running the Octopi version on a raspberry pi with a logitech camera and it runs wonderfully including a web interface that shows the print progress and the g-code executing. The print quality of this printer is not nearly as good as my Makergear M2s that I use but it makes an acceptable print.
Thanks everyone for the responses. I have been playing with Fushion 360 and so far I like it. Is there a big difference between monoprice and Wanhao? From what I could find online they seem to be the exact same machine. Is it worth it to save the money and go with the Monoprice version? If I go with the I3 am I going to have to do the mosfet mod to keep it from catching on fire or has that been addressed? I don’t mind tinkering with things I just want to know what needs to be done for safety as apposed to fun.
Thanks Krank
Where would be a good place to purchase the Wanhao from? Wanhaousa? I see I can order mono from Amazon. I have prime so that would help. Decisions decision.
I ordered mine from Wanhaousa and they’ve had some good customer support. I just looked at their page and it says that they have upgraded the heat bed mosfet. So hopefully no smoke coming out of it. Mine doesn’t have that upgrade but it hasn’t smoked yet.
I just pulled the trigger on the Wanhao I3 from wanhaousa. Thanks for the help. I am sure you will be hearing from me in the future. I end up going with this one just because of all of the online support for it. I am new to all this so I will need all the support I can get.
thanks again Krank
A good thing to check once you get it, is the reference voltage (vref) for all the stepper motors. Mine were set too high for the extruder and x/y stepper motors. It caused my extruder stepper to overheat and made the steppers noisy. Now with a lower vref everything is staying cool, working great and I can barley hear the motors. There’s some good tutorials on youtube about setting the vref.
Thanks for the tip on the steppers. I will check that once it arrives.
krank
Other than the name on the printer and box there is no difference between the Wanhao and the Monoprice. Wanhao makes them. If you can get the same printer from Monoprice for less money, you aren’t missing anything.
The MOSFET mod is one way people have been addressing the problems with the Wanhao board. Others are replacing the connectors or just bypassing the connectors altogether and soldering directly to the board. Using a separate MOSFET from the board is probably the safest option but it has more work and expense than the others. How you decide to fix the problem will be up to your judgement.
The only way to know if the printer you get has the latest board with the screw terminals is to look inside. Keep in mind that the boards with the screw terminals are new and haven’t proven themselves one way or the other. In theory the screw terminals should alleviate the problem but Wanhao’s history with fire hazards has not been good.
Let us know how that goes. I have seen some reports on other forums lately about huge delays with wanhaousa. Hopefully that won’t be an issue with you but it’s always good to have the latest reports. Good luck to you.
so I cancelled the order from wanhao as I am not a very patient person and ordered the Mono I3 from amazon. Saved me some money and a little sanity with my lack of patients. Thanks for the info on the long delays that would have killed me and possibly a few others . lol