Upgrading an Old Printer to (Almost) Match Modern CoreXY Printers

I’ve always been fascinated with 3D Printing as a technology, but it was never really accessible to me due to the high cost. After starting SUTD and being provided with a 3D printer to use for school projects, I was properly enamored.

In December 2022, I spent weeks doing research into the different tools, software and models of 3D printers. I learnt that 3D printing technology had progressed really quickly over the last couple of years, and a printer even 3 years old could be close to obsolete. However, instead of spending $1000 to buy the latest and greatest models, I decided to buy a 3 year old printer off a friend for $200 and then upgraded it with open-source hardware and software and some of my own designs to match the performance of modern models!

Over the course of several weeks, I upgraded the following:

• Moved the filament spool to the side and designed a filament guide to reduce wobbling and enable higher print qualities at high speeds.
• This was later upgraded to a filament dryer to combat Singapore’s high humidity.
• A “reverse bowden” filament guide was added to further improve filament movement.
• Upgraded the cooling fan with an open-source design and a bigger fan to support faster printing
• Upgraded the nozzle to a high flow nozzle to enable greater material flow for fast printing
• Added a bed probe for high-precision bed auto-levelling for higher quality prints
• Setup a single-board computer (SBC) and camera with Linux and an open-source 3D printer firmware that has features to enable faster printing.
• Created a networking setup that enables secure and convenient remote monitoring and control of the machine from both a web interface and Telegram bot

In total, I spent $130 on upgrades and was able to match the speeds and quality of the latest printers!