With the flood of new Monoprice Maker Select (Wanhao i3 Clone) 3d printer owners, I thought I’d compile some advice/info I’ve given out over the past. I will be linking to other posts and Thingiverse to try to keep this shorter, but I’m hoping it will be a good starting point for all of you.My Background:I’m not a professional 3d printer at all. I’m a hobbyist printer who knew nothing about 3d printing when I got my MS in March of 2016. I call this out mainly because everything in this post comes from my experiences and discussions with other owners of the same printers.Nothing is set, and in the end what works best for you may not work what so ever for someone else. So please keep this in mind as you read information and suggestions here on reddit or anywhere else on the Internet.So, you’ve assembled your printer, what next:Assuming you read the directions, it will suggest that you print out one of the demo files on the SD card that came with your printer. It’s not a bad place to start! The most important thing here is leveling your bed. Within the settings, home your nozzle using the controls. Then using the controls, move the nozzle about 2” from the corner and slid a piece of standard printer paper under the nozzle, move up/down the bed until there’s just a slight amount of tension on the paper when sliding the paper around. Do this for the other 3 corner. Then do it again. Your bed should now be leveled and you’re ready to print. You’ll want to level your bed every few days/weeks. If you notice bad adhesion, it’s probably time to re-level.Now that you’ve printed a demo file and it came out pretty good (Or not at all in my case) what next?You can download files from Thingiverse (.stl files) but how do you print them? You need to load them into a slicer that creates a .gcode file which your printer uses to print. Cura comes with it though it’s called IIIP on your SD Card and it’s a pretty good start for a slicer. The hard part is modifying the settings tailored to your printer/environment. You can import the settings from one of the test files, which is the best place to start.Pro-Tip: The SD Card that comes with your printer is shit. I highly recommend using a different Micro-SD card.A more advanced slicer I recommend is Simplify3D, though it costs $150 (http://ift.tt/1Rhq4Bi).Your first real print:I printed the benchy which I think is a great place to start. Take multiple pictures of the final and post it in this sub (as I’m sure you’ve seen) to get feedback on any issues/imperfections. Also look at this diagnosis site to learn the terminology. Here’s a collection of other test prints you can do to help improve quality.Semi-Pro tip: Start with printing smaller files in the beginning before trying to print something hugeMods:I went a little overboard here and printed a ton of mods not necessary, but the first few I strongly encourage you to do are printing an air shroud (Replaces the black box/fan) and z-axis brace.Air Shrouds: The most commonly recommended is the DiiCooler If you have the v2.1 MS make sure to print the adapter. I personally now use this shroud so I can see the start of each print. Again, if you’ve got the v2.1 you need to print an adapter as well.Z-Axis Brace: http://ift.tt/2gVcQwj have a list of Mods on Thingivers as well.There are other mods/improvements I broke down with costs in another thread that may help such as printing on glass, part upgrades, etc: http://ift.tt/2fP67YY AdjustmentsPrint out and square your Z-axisDo an eStep CalibrationChange Acceleration and Jerk . This will help with Ghosting issues present on the default firmware.Filaments to buy:The Monoprice Maker Select uses 1.75mm filament and can print most types of plastics. I recommend starting with Hatchbox, it’s not the cheapest out there, but it’s easily accessible on Amazon and Prime 2-day shipping is always nice. There are three “common” types of filament:PLA – Best place to start for filament. ~200c nozzle tempABS – More complicated and warps easily if it doesn’t cool evenly. An enclosure is highly recommended to prevent gusts of cold air ruining your prints. ~230c nozzle tempPETG – Forgiving like PLA with better layer bonding and overall strong material. The issue is temps for nozzle are closinger to 240-250c. You have a PTFE tube in your hot end that has a melting point of about 240c. So I highly encourage you to upgrade to an all metal hot end (See my other mods/improvement links above for more info) before switching to ABS or PETGI’m not going into more detail here as there are a LOT of posts in this sub about different filament brands. In my opinion, just buy a roll of Hatchbox, and while you’re printing research other filaments.Tired of having to move the SD card from PC to Printer?Buy a RaspberryPi ($35). Download Octoprint and use this documentation on installing the image to the SD card. Once that’s done, plug the SD card into the RaspberryPi, plug it in and use the USB to Mini-USB cable to plug the RaspberryPi to your printer. As well, plug the RaspberryPi into your home network (Easier than having to set up Wireless, but that is also doable, just google connecting raspberry pi to wireless). It takes about 4-5 minutes for everything to get started up and run.I use Angry IP Scanner (Free) to locate what IP my RaspberryPi has, then just type that IP into my web browser. You’ll connect to your Pi, and start the configuration process for OctoPrint.When you get to connecting OctoPrint to the printer, use Baudrate: 115200. Click connect, and it should work. Now, just drag and drop your .gcode files to the page to upload. Select and set to print.Best part is one of your first functional prints can be a RaspberryPi case!Now, this is just entry level. If you know enough, set static IP and connect to your Pi from outside of your network and control your printer from anywhere in the world. (Warning – If you don’t set up proper security, other people will be able to access and abuse your printer)FAQ I’ve seenMy extruder wobbles During shipping, the polished steel rods that connect your extruder to the frame came lose. It’s good practice to check these to make sure they’re seated properly.I can’t get my bed level It’s possible that the aluminum plate was bent during shipping. You can also check this outHave any questions? Please ask and I’ll update the best I can. http://ift.tt/2gP6Ysi
