3D Printer Repair/ Hack
Da Vinci Jr 3D Printer Hack
2019
This is the first of and the earliest of my projects that I am posting here. For this project I found a broken da Vinci Jr. 1.0 3D Printer on craigslist for about $100. Using Craigslist and other online sites is how I find many of my project items and such. I look for broken electronics or other items I can use posted online for free or cheap in order to repair them or make them into something new to limit the amount of things going in the trash. I typically return these items to the owner for free if I repair them, but in this case I kept it for myself as I payed a decent amount for it.
Firstly, this printer had many issues when I bought it, all from firmware issues to mechanical parts breaking. Instead of attempting to fix everything I opted to replace everything and make my own system. I had already had experience with this as my first 3D printer was ordered from China with little to no instructions, so I had to analyze all the Merlin code and figure out how to put it together.
I replaced the motherboard with a MKS Gen 1 for which I rewired the motors and end-stops to. I eventually had to replace the end-stops for simple mechanical switches as the original ones were infrared and did not work with my controller. I also added a new display, power supply, cooling fan and hacked in some wires to use the existing hot end.
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Luckily I had some experience with the programming of G-code and Merlin for this project, as I had to essentially program my first 3D printer. The programming was however still extremely tedious, but after countless hours I had a printer that worked even better in some respects than my first one!