I want to get a 3d printer and the Wanhao Duplicator i3 looks like a good one to start. I want to use it to make flower pots of different designs. I have a couple of questions about it.

1 Since there is a size restriction on what you can print, is it possible to make parts of a larger model and somehow “weld” the pieces together?

2 If you want to print parts of an existing design, how do you get the dimensions from it? Is there some kind of 3d scanner?

3 Is there a big difference in the quality of printing between the v2.1 and the Plus?

Thanks

1.The common methods are to glue it, or add some locks to connect parts when 3d modeling.

If you cannot do 3d modeling, the best way may be buy a larger 3d printer. Because glue may not glue it firmly.

2.use 3d scanner, or download stl file online.

3.have no idea about wanhao.

This one is designed for starter. Yite ET-K1 build volume 8x8x8’’

I’m a 3d manufacturer, so if you gonna buy a 3d printer welcome to contact me.

whatsapp: +86 18676730349

email: zoe_et3dp@163.com

skype: zoe@et3dp.com

Hello. In September 2016 I purchased a Reprap Prusa i3 DIY kit 3d Printer from ebay for about £150. Came well packaged and took about 3 hours for myself and my teenage son to put together. There was a problem with the LCD display and Controller knob. Contacted seller who not only sent a new LCD / Controller board and cable but, They reimbursed us £10 as an apology (Some ebay sellers are very good). It turned out to be just the cable which when fitted the printer worked perfectly. Replaced the PCB and sheet of glass print bed with a £15 aluminium one that was a lot flatter (perfection). You don’t need to shell out a fortune as this little printer can print as good as both my £1,500 printers. You just have to make adjustments and get things lined up properly.

1. Even if you had a printer the size of your living room you would still need to print items in parts as the shape or dimensional strength requirements would make printing some items in one piece virtually impossible. You can (as mentioned) glue part together or even design the parts with interlocking tangs. My preferred method is to use a very cheap 3D Pen to weld the parts together and sand the seam down afterwards. This enables me to use the exact same filament for the join and makes it very strong.

2. There are quite a few options here: Buy a 3D scanner (starting around the £350 mark). Can be tricky if you computer is not very powerful. Use an old xbox kinnect and some of the many free open source downloadable software to run it (not as good as 3D scanner but gets you the rough shape). The next 2 methods are the ones I prefer: Measure the item using callipers a built it in Blender or Skechtup (both open source and free, Blender being the better one). Or using Blender take photos of the item from different angle and load them in as background to create you 3D over the top of.

3. As far as quality difference I can’t really say but! As I said before the print quality can be effected just as much by how you set the printer up as to how much the printer costs. As an analogy: A good artist can make a fantastic painting using buckets of mud and a wooden stick!!!

Hope some of these answer help. Good luck with your printing. Remember that youtube tutorials are your best friend when it come to Bender and 3D printing.

Regards

Dave

As far as I am aware, the only difference between the V2.1 and the plus is that the plus has the controller integrated into the frame and the V2.1 uses a separate control box