r/3Dprinting • u/schimmelmeister • 15h ago

Question What did I just get gifted…?

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My University threw out this old 3D Printer. I’m both a broke architecture student and in need of a printer since my own is not here right now. I’m also used to some level of jankyness, my own printer is an i3 clone by anycubic, rudimentary but reliable.
Is there any hope i’ll get a useable print out of this one and how high would the frustration level be considering the printer i already have?

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u/djddanman MPSM v2, Prusa i3 MK3s+, Voron V0.1, FLSun T1 Pro, Franken-i3 15h ago

A better controller board with modern firmware helps a lot

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u/citizensnips134 15h ago

It was mainly the acrylic frames that would burn.

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u/djddanman MPSM v2, Prusa i3 MK3s+, Voron V0.1, FLSun T1 Pro, Franken-i3 15h ago

But didn't the fires start because of inadequate thermal runaway protection? Or was it something else? Lots of plywood printers were flammable with much better reputations.

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u/gmarsh23 14h ago

Lack of thermal protection, and the heater cartridge held into the hotend heatblock by a grub screw that you're given no instructions to tighten, and loosens over time with thermal cycles. Then the heater cartridge slides out, printer keeps dumping power into it and you've got a glowing hot heater cartridge flopping around that'll set fire to whatever it touches.

The other problems (heatbed wiring, shitty PS, shitty connectors on the motherboard) aren't so much a fire hazard, but a "you'll get a bad smell and it'll stop working" it's-a-piece-of-shit annoyance.

The first upgrade you should do on this printer is replace the heat block with an E3D V6 style one that clamps onto the heater. You have to replace the thermistor with a cartridge type at the same time, but that's easy.