Improve the Monoprice Maker Ultimate (or Wanhao Duplicator 6), and turn it into an Ultimaker 2+ | Updated September 22, 2021
The modification process is broken into a few sections:
Part 1: Review of the printer
Part 2: Gantry repair and case modification
Part 3: Alignment of original Gantry
Upcoming:
Part 4: Install the Ultimaker Print Head (I’m making a new PCB, so no permanent modifications are needed on the board or ribbon cables)
Part 5: Install an Ultimaker Bed
Part 1 – Review of the original Monoprice Maker Ultimate printer
Part 2 – Modify the Gantry to allow Ultimaker-style removal and replacement of the 8mm rods
Hi there!! Project definitely looks exciting, I am curious to know how it all went for you? I am currently the owner of a Monoprice Maker Ultimate and so far have been mostly satisfied with its performance. It is, in my humble opinion a fairly solid machine and took only a couple of mods to get its performance up to snuff however as of recently I have been experiencing many problems with certain prints that I believe are most likely tied to the extruder setup (worn gear, driver failure, etc….). This coupled with my longtime wish that this machine had dual extrusion (if only for easier removable supports) has me very curious about trying this mod.
Just was wondering if you had much success or whether you would now advise against this?!? Also do you happen to have any more info, pics to go along with this project? Are the replacement of the guide rods necessary to accommodate dual extruders alone?
Sorry for the million&1 questions but you peaked my interest here with this project.
Thx in advance,
Dean
I’ll get far more detailed on the process soon, and explain the changes I made to fix the gantry and to upgrade the extruder. The dual olsson setup works well (and a single olsson is spectacular), but it’s difficult to control oozing on the idle nozzle. I’m swapping the extruder parts to a dual filament, single nozzle setup. This project is on the back burner though until I get the last of the PSPi boards shipped, so it’ll be a month or two before I can continue it and better explain the process.
I’ll be sure 2 stay tuned..! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍
Just saw this, I am very interested.. my unit has had a lot of hours and a rebuild with improvement would be great.. Thank you
Nice one dude! I was looking to create a custom bowden head setup for the stock Wanhao Duplicator gantry. Bought the Duplicator 6 Plus version a while ago but almost replaced all of it’s ‘Plus’ for better quality features.
I really would like to start on this project myself. Do you have your 3D printable files shared somewhere? Like all the brackets and stuff.
Thanks for sharing with the community!
Thanks for checking out the project. I’ll post all the bracket files soon.
Please do! Really looking forward to your designs. I already ordered my parts to start the conversion myself. I really like the prospect of having dual extrusion.
Any update on sharing those designs? I made some files myself so far, but would be great to also see your designs and see if I can use those as well.
Can you post info on how you wired in the trigorilla?
Yeah. It’s pretty far down on the to-do list, so it might be as bit.
This will probably be a two-part guide. One section for single extrusion with the original board, one section for dual with the trigorilla or something similar.
So I sell a titanium all metal hot end conversion for $17 that uses the stock heatsink but converts to 6mm blocks so you can use e3d v6 or volcano blocks and the vast selection of 6mm nozzles. Might be worth considering given how badly the stock heating block is made…
Where do you sell this?
Hey othermod,
Just in case you’ve missed this – Ultimaker 2 – E3D V6 blower print head (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3963465).
Looks promising and, I believe, could compliment your great project.
Best regards,
Alex
Hello, amazing project!!! Have you tried implementing the community mods for dual extrusion (Mark2 and DXU)? I bought the Monoprice Maker Ultimate because I like Ultimakers but can’t afford them (I also have a Vertex k8400, but it is not based on Ultimaker hardware). I didn’t know the Monoprice was actually a modded Ultimaker clone. I haven’t had much time using it, but I like the idea of reverting it back to the original. I was going to try to implement the DXU for the Vertex, I already ordered the specific hardware for it from Aliexpress, but covid got in the way. Now my plans changed, makes more sense to do this on the monoprice since I won’t have to design anything myself. I wonder if it is possible to add another stepper to the Wanhao motherboard or if I have to get a new motherboard. I will stay tuned on your updates.
I am doing the same thing to my d6 and having some trouble.
1) Could you please please post the STL files for the alignment tools? Specifically the 8mm rod one for the pillow bearings. These are a nightmare.
2) What length rods did you end up using?