Wanhao Duplicator i3

The Wanhao Duplicator i3 V2.1 is a great 3D Printer that has an excellent community and customer support. I have had great trouble finding a good, reliable 3d printer for a while when I found this one. This printer is a bit difficult to get out of the box, but then it is only a few screws before you can start printing. The print quality is very good (I used Cura as my slicer for this, other slicers may have varied results), but things can get unpleasant if you try to print too fast. 

My print bed was bowed, but the Wanhao website (if ordered from there) offers free parts replacement for a year. I have let them know and they have shipped a new bed to replace the current one with only a few emails. 

One thing to note is that it is not easy to print flexible materials. I had to print an upgrade from thingiverse, and now I am able to use flexible filaments. This printer is very upgrade-able, and chances are that if you have a problem, someone made something to fix it.

This is my first printer. Bought it because it came nearly fully assembled, the large community and of course the relative low price. Setting it up was very simple and it ran the first print within the hour.  

For me the best results are with PLA. PETG and ABS are  a bit of a challenge. That seems to be a general experience not Duplicator specific.

Numerous mods are available but i have done none, except for replacing the coolers to more silent ones to (successfully) decrease the sound levels and adding an orangepi with octoprint.

No regrets, happy to have the printer and enjoy to be able to 3D print anything. Looking back the past 6 months i now realise how many items i have printed that we use daily and ho much i have learned designing 3D items. Would buy the same printer if i need to.

for a basic model, it is a workhorse printer. Not terribly fussy and easy to maintain.

I really enjoy using my Wanhao Duplicator i3  HOWEVER  I can never leave anything alone...  so I highly modified mine  :-) I replaced the control board with an Azteeg X3 I designed a custom mount to use a Bowden  E3D  Chimera dual nozzle head.

I am using 2X   E3D  TITAN extruders ! ( these are AWESOME !!! )

I modified my custom designed mount to utilize the BL-TOUCH  autoleveling sensor I solid mounted my heated bed  ( no more screw adjustments since I have autoleveling now)

every single print is perfect now.  first layer adhesion is super consistent every time.

here is an early YouTube vid of my autoprobe working  

I am now using my second Wanhao Duplicator i3.  The first one worked so well that, when I buggered it up, I bought a second one.  Being a 90 yo neophyte to 3D printing, and not as quick to learn as in my youth,  this is testimony to the simplicity of  learning to use this machine.  I would recommend it to anyone interested in 3D printing.

Wouldn't recommend for person first starting out with 3d printing. 

After some modifications the printer is operating stably and efficiently. Weak heated bed. It can be repaired by yourself.

This version of the Wanhao Duplicator i3 came with all the latest upgrades. It had thumb wheels for the heated bed and the upgraded bearings. Unfortunately the PCB burnt out after only a few prints, but the local agent replaced both PCB and power supply very quickly. 

I like the fact there is a big community with many mods for this printer. I printed stands for the control unit and spacers for the heated bed springs. I will print the 120 mm fan adaptor housing, Z axis mod and I'm thinking about printing the Diiicooler mod as well.

Things I have found out about the printer:

Bed adhesion can be problematic on the BuildTak material. I use a 200 grit emery/ sand paper and clean with a 70% isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) this helps when poor adhesion occurs, plus using Brim and / or Raft in Cura as well.

Bed levelling must be done before every print, I mean EVERY print, even if printing one file after the other.

There is a rather steep learning curve with this printer and 3D printing in general, but there is an active community on the internet that can help.

It is need very much modofications.

I really like this printer. You can modify and improve parts and experiment with many different filaments. good build and overall great value for money. It is not plug and play, but that fits me.