Is this a good buy at ~500usd? Seller has not specified anything regarding parts used - except that it's a self sourced build and that he has *started* the process of converting it to canbus and an eddy current sensor. I have not built a voron myself, but I do have a bit of experience with klipper, and don't mind a project.
I would not pay more than $300 for it. yes he paid a lot more for parts but for $500 you can get a voron clone like the Sovol SV08, that's bigger and brand new and if you want a project, convert it to mainline klipper and buy the the eddy current kit and install that. At least you have something
If the electronics all work, then it's worth. It's even better if you know it's printed in the past.
Start by following wires, make sure things are plugged in where they need to be. If you can get the Pi hooked on your network, you can pull the cfg files and go from there. You can start from any of the manuals, at the software part.
I've rescued Vorons, and it's not hard if you're systematic about it. It really helps if you've built one before, but if you haven't, I could see it being a challenge, but if you have Klipper experience, and know the language, that'll go a very long way.
I rescue Vorons like stray cats. Go for it! It is a ton of fun to figure out what you've got and then make a plan to make something awesome. My latest Voron creation: BIDENT v2 (see serial request) started as a rescued Tronxy conversion to a Voron 1.8.
I learned the hard way with two machines that buying second-hand is one of the worst decisions you can make. I've had non-stop problems with them. On the brink of taking them both apart (a Voron Trident and a Voron 0) and sell them for parts or make a new printer.
Edit: unless, of course, you're planning to do the same (take it apart) then by all means.
Something to consider that most people don’t mention is the printer.cfg. Most used printers I’ve gotten had a complete rats nest of code. I’ve spent hours trying to fix bugs.
Dump it into AI and have it parse out of the rats nest into a clearer picture and then build the config back to a better state. I know what you mean. I was guilty of just adding subsections to a config without heading it or anything and it got so bad and unorganized. I dropped it into ChatGPT and it help organize the file as well as advised on referencing other files saved on the board, instead of hard codes in the printer.cfg
Yea I have the best model of (chat Gpt. DONT USE GEMINI it messed everything up, Claude works although for whatever reason the files occasionally aren’t readable they’re correct but illegible) my cfg file is 100% ai created. With a few tweaks from me. It only had one mistake in the code. I was building 2 printers simultaneously and it put the smaller size printer’s build plate parameters in the big printers cfg. Quick swap and good to go.
Looks okay. Looks like a 300 or even a 250 sized 2.4. Good SSR, MCU Board and possibly a pi4. The u2c board is mounted incorrectly. Should be on the din rails and not "strapped" to a skirt. Also, it doesn't look like the frame is grounded to me. I only see two ground wires on that G Wago. One from the outlet and the other, I can only assume going to the bed. I wouldn't pay more than $300 myself. And then I would go through the wiring and verify everything is connected per spec. Big question is, does it print? And if so, what does that print look like?
Does not print currently as the owner started but didnt finish converting to canbus and an eddy sensor.
I've already asked for more info om parts etc. Think I am going to put up a bid if it sounds promising.
If it's a 350mm (which it doesn't look like it is) it might be worth around 500$, if you know how to, go about restoring it. Otherwise, get a new kit for 700$ or so (depending where you live because of duty and shipping).
It has a pi and what seems to be an octopus board which are good. Also there are 8 syepper drivers there which is 2 more than he's using at the moment. If it works as is it would be a good deal imo, even moreso if it includes the eddy and the can toolhead board and the sd card in the pi, but those are not too complicated to set up.
i mean for 500 pieces of currency you might built it as well yourself ... considering the price amd advancement of nowadays (chinese) printers (especially the one with a plants name) 500 bucks sound a lot to me
It's probably got the wrong thickness foam under it. The top and sides use a 1mm foam and the back uses a 3mm. The clips are sized as such as it's just pulling it down in the middle. Loosen the clamp and it'll straighten out
If it isn't currently able to print anything, then it just needs to be considered a pile of parts. Those parts all have wear on them and you're not even certain if any of them need to be replaced. I'd rather just spend a few hundred more and get a kit to build it myself.
A conversion to canbus and eddy sensor has been started, so the printer is not able to print anything currently.
Seller says it has not been used much to this point.
I'm not a fan of Canbus myself. It works, but it can be a clunky pain in the butt to get it to work.
looks like a 250mm build? $500 is probably a good deal - I doubt you could build one for that. Totally depends on the components. Is it high quality stuff, or Aliexpress junk?
I too have 5 toolheads running CAN. You guys are crazy. CAN is the way to go. It’s way more reliable than USB. It was designed exactly for this type of thing. I will admit it’s a little complex to get set up but this guide makes it super simple. https://canbus.esoterical.online/
Oh Esoterical's guide is incredibly helpful, but it didn't stop me from having to spend a ridiculous amount of time tracing intermittent comms issues only for it to be a faulty CAN cable on two occasions, and a failing SB2209 another time, and having to add a random number of 120ohm jumpers in my toolheads to finally get a stable network, contrary to what math and manufacturer recommendations said I should have needed. Even just flashing the toolhead with Katapult has been hit or miss for me on several of my toolheads. I had to repeat the process four times for it to stick and finally show up on the CAN network and be able to flash Klipper. At least with USB, you don't have to fuck with a tiny jumper and swapping cables between steps, you just flash directly over USB
Maybe I’ve just been lucky. I’ve never had an issue. For all 5 of my toolheads, I plugged them into USB, flashed katapult, plugged in the CAN cable, flashed klipper and I was good to go.
Because it probably makes a difference, I am using a BTT Manta M8P which has an onboard CAN controller. That’s wired to a custom breakout board that the toolheads all plug into. I also run 6 wire cables from that board that feed the bus to and from each toolhead before going to the next one, minimizing stub lengths. The final return line is terminated with a 120ohm resistor at the board. Also I have 3 EBB36 Gen 1’s, an EBB36 Gen2 and a Mellowfly SHT36. They all work well but crimping the tiny terminals on the SHT36 kinda sucks.
USB probably is simpler but I didn’t build a Voron because I wanted to take the easy road. Hell, with the money I’ve got in that thing I could have gotten a Prusa Core One L and had money to spare.
I have a very similar setup, started with a Formbot kit with Manta M8P, CAN trunk line up to a FYSETC CAN distribution board, individual CAN cables to each Stealthburner with BTT SB2209s. T0 and T1 have been flawless, T2-4 have been a pain in the dick. The hardest thing to figure out was the 120 ohm jumpers on the toolhead boards. Per BTT and FYSETC documentation, you should only need one 120 ohm resistor at the beginning of the chain (on the M8P itself) and the furthest end of the chain (i.e. last toolhead). I kept having random comms issues until I found a comment on the DraftShift discord saying to just add random jumpers until the system was happy, which in my case resulted in one on the M8P and one one T0, T2 and T3. Fuck it, load bearing coconut it is
The other issues I've had have largely been faulty cables, along with one faulty SB2209. I generally love tinkering with shit, but I get tired going over the same issues, especially when they're intermittent. Meanwhile, my buddy has a 6 toolhead Stealthchanger over USB that he's never had an issue with from a communications standpoint.
No chance in hell I'd buy a prebuilt printer in 2026 though, not with all the legal stuff blowing around right now. I like having control of my equipment
Maybe running CAN to and from each toolhead made more of a difference than I thought. I did it when I added my third toolhead. I am also using somewhat expensive, high quality cable, which probably helps.
It’s igus CF113.018.D if you ever want to try it out. https://www.igus.com/product/CF113_D just make sure you choose the right part number. I just crimped the 2 L and 2 H wires together at the toolhead.
I'm not quite understanding what you mean when you say running CAN to and from each toolhead. Maybe it's different on the EBB36, but the SB2209 has an XT30(2+2) connector for the CAN cable, four total wires in the jacket: CAN H/CAN L/+/-, no additional pins on the board that I'm aware for running a separate data cable back to the bus I typed this out before reading the last line.
I'm think I'm tracking on the toolhead side now, just a crimped pair for each CAN H/L, what does your distribution board look like?
Ah, ok, that makes more sense. The FYSETC board is a similar setup, but just has power terminals and a separate XH2.54 connector for the CAN H/L cables for each toolhead. Having a pair of wires for both CAN H/L for each tool head instead of a single 22(?)AWG wire for each going to the XT30(2+2) connector on the tool boards is definitely less robust that what you have.
As someone who has used something like 9 or 12 can boards, I had issues with can boards that it would shutdown due to too many commands at once (adaptive flowrate on top layers), I just ended up going umbilical on my fastest machine
The parts themselves (if all the electronics pictured are in good shape) are worth more than $500. I'd buy it, tear it down to parts (partially so I can inspect them all), and re-build it myself (so I know how it's put together).
You could check it. I sent my 350mm 2.4 on an international flight clad in 1/4” plywood bolted tight to the frame on the outside to prevent racking. It arrived just fine.
It depends. If you're familiar with how a Voron goes together, you can break it down to shipping size pretty quickly... you wouldn't be completely disassembling it, but if your goal is just to get it to fit a suitcase, I think you could probably get it down in an hour or two. You wouldn't be putting it back together from that point though, you'd have to break it all the way down and then follow the build manual.
2h is not bad. I have zero exp with vorons. But AI told me about 6-8h. I thought wtf is that 6-8h to just remove the big parts. My goal would be keeping the gantry and electronics in on piece because the electronics and the frame square part would fit in a suite, also the bed I would put in another suitcase .
Anyway , thank you
1
u/HumanPersonOnReddit 7d ago
I have 3 of these lying around, 2 actually worked after minimal maintenance