I enjoy tinkering and doing hands-on projects, so I’ve been looking more into upgrade options recently. While browsing around, I came across a Prusa MINI+ Dual Z-axis upgrade kit on Printables, with a full parts list and an assembly video. It caught my attention mostly because I’ve been enjoying DIY projects lately.
There’s not a lot left from the original Ender 5.
I kept the frame and the steppers, belts and lead screw.
The wheel are replaced by MGN rails. The mainboard is now an Octopus v1.1. The print head is replaced with an E3D toolchanger with E3D v6 hotends, direct driven with TBG-Lite extruders. The toolchanger does bed levelling with a simple endstop mounted to the toolchanger in a way that it can reach the bed if all tools are parked.
The only remaining hardware issue is that I’d like to have a second Z motor.
I don’t really consider my printer an Ender 5. It’s more of a Ender-of-Theseus. It’s basically a DIY design built on top of an existing frame.
But the real issue is software tuning. It’s just so complicated and time intensive to tune all the dozens of parameters (speed, acceleration, linear advance, retraction, input shaping, auto bed levelling, tool offsets, …).
Modern budget printers like the A1 are so amazingly good that matching their out-of-the-box performance and calibration takes a huge amount of time if it even is possible.
I easily spent 100+h reconstructing and tuning my printer, troubleshooting problems so obscure that I couldn’t find anyone on the internet who talked about them before. Been working on this printer for about 4 years or so.
And the other day a friend of mine who received his A1 a week ago shows me the perfect quality multicolor prints that his cheapo A1 did after half an hour or so of setup.
same and it prints ok but i dont have the time to tune it further and tune all my filaments
Same here. I really should spend a few hours to finalize the tuning, but it prints ok enough that it’s not really worth doing it.
I agree with this.
That said, if the person who is asking for recommendations loves to build, then a half DIY printer is a good option. Something like a Voron which can be built “to stock” or modified as desired. I just got a 2.4r2 up and running. The software tuning wasn’t bad thanks to SuperSlic3r and the default profiles.
But if the person just wants a printer? Yeah, I’d direct them to one the more finished products available now like a Bambu or the Elegoo Centauri Carbon.
Yeah, fair, I just wanted to make sure nobody has wrong expectations. Back when the Prusa Mini was new, off-the-shelf printers were much worse than they are today, and DIYing a printer could actually be a good deal if the goal was to have a good printer (and not specifically something to tinker with).
Nowadays, if you DIY a printer it’s going to be more expensive while performing worse than an off-the-shelf printer.
I think in most cases that’s true. I basically never recommend anything that needs major assembly. I don’t think the average person wants a hobby, just a way to make things they see online. And that’s totally fair. I wanted the hobby.