Why Upgrade? - Lob0426/Adaptrboard GitHub Wiki

So why would you upgrade such old machines. The Newest Printrbots were made in 2018. The oldest were in 2012. But the majority were produced between 2014 to 2018. Many of the earlier models were made with plywood bodies, but even then many are still printing away today. Those made later were metal bodies and very sturdily built machines. The Metal Plus, Simple Metal and Play are well built and well designed 3D printers. All of them were known to have advanced design and features for their day. All of them printed very well and advancements in their Hotend, UBIS (By Carl Ubis) made them print even better. But many are still running the earlier Ceramic UBIS.

My 3D printing adventures started with a Printrbot Simple Metal with Heated Bed. It had the Ceramic UBIS, F5 printrboard and the V2 extruder. It came with the Z height already calibrated and printed right out of the box. Most 3D printers did not print right out of the box at this time, they had to have the bed leveled. Bed Leveling was probably the best feature of these Pritrbots. It is the bane of most new users to 3D Printing, along with learning the proper first layer. This Printer is truly all metal. There were very few plastic parts and what were plastic were machined Delrin. This printer still has the Original Board, UBIS and Heated bed and prints as well as it ever did. Not many of it's "in price range" competitors can say this. The only thing added on this was a carrying handle (Earlier model did not come with this) and spool holder plus a printed fan duct.

So why upgrade this printer? It's still working! There have been a number of advancements in 3D printers that can, and will, benefit These older machines. The first is a move to 32bit Control Boards. Some better Hotends have been built. Advancements in Stepper Drivers are there. Advancements in Leadscrews are out there.

Motherboards:

32bit Boards have faster and more advanced CPU (Central Processing Units) that can calculate movements faster and with more detail. Where the benefit is mostly seen is in Acceleration/Deceleration and Jerk control. These boards get the steppers up to speed faster and smoother than the older boards can. A detail that is even more important is having more FLASH storage for advancements in Firmware. The old 128Kb is way to tight to be able to activate all the new features in Marlin. It can be done, but there are tradeoffs to keep within the size limits. 256Kb is much better and some have 512Kb. Add to this higher processor speeds, More RAM and other benefits and it is just better to go to an upgrade board.

"The advantages of a 32 bit controller can be summed up as follows: Speed – 8-bit controllers slow down the hotend dramatically when calculating curves and arcs.

Resolution – slicers will compensate for slow and complex calculations by reducing resolution, so as not to introduce over-extrusion and zits.

Acceleration – appropriate centripetal/radial acceleration cannot be appropriately calculated, introducing a multitude of issues on curves and small segments, including a “lowest common denominator” default speed of 40mm/s or less on complex perimeters.

Print Quality – better motion planning on a higher-speed processor can produce better quality prints, faster.

Reduced noise – the stepper interrupt on 8 bit processors can bottleneck the processor, so firmware will often compensate with step doubling, which causes louder and rougher motor motion.

Avoiding firmware problems – Many software-based hacks have been created to compensate for the lack of hardware floating point in 8 bit processors. Firmware updates can completely bog down an 8 bit processor if they have not been tested under a variety of conditions."

The main reason to upgrade The Board is it isn't working, it is out of date or you want to added safety. Many of the Printrboards have gone down due to the Micro USB connector snapping off the board. Or you want to update firmware and it is a real pain. Another is you want new features or hardware that is not supported by the original Board.

Stepper Drivers:

Stepper Drivers for the steppers have advanced as well. They are quieter. More reliable and incorporate features not found in earlier driver. Features such as Sensorless homing. This means you can home a machine without having switches (less wiring). They also have "Stall Guard", they can sense when they have become stalled and will shutdown to protect themselves and the printer. They also run with less energy than older steppers. I noticed my steppers run much cooler with the newer drivers too. Oh, Did I mention they are Quieter! These are listed separately because many upgrade boards have replaceable Steppers. This allows you to choose which Stepper Drivers you wish to use. Many have decide they just do not need a noisy printer. Many upgrade just to get piece and quiet.

Hotends:

There have been advances in Hotends since these machines were last produced. That said, there is nothing wrong with the UBIS 13S. It is up to modern standards and performs very well. Probably it's main issue is availability and cost. Though ubishotends.com is selling these hotends direct now, they are often out of stock. Parts are available but not listed on the site. But if you have a working 13's I would stay with it. A popular alternative is the E3D V6. There is a printable adapter that allows it to install into the Printrbot V1 and V2 extruders. It does require a firmware change to set the proper PID's for it to operate at it's best. And I have seen others used as well. I designed, but have not tested as yet, an adapter to use a CR10 12V Hotend on a Printrbot. Much the same deal as installing an E3D V6. Most of the advancements are in reliability, less clogs. If you still have a Ceramic UBIS you will find that the newer hotends drool less, heat up faster. Also more even temperature during printing. Costs have also come down somewhat.

Extruders:

I have seen some extruders fitted to the printrbots, The Bondtech's seem to be popular and I am sure there have been others. But the stock extruder works real well. The V2 handles flexibles well. But it can limit you to which Hotends you can use. Many can be adapted to the stock extruder just like the E3DV6 by creating and adapter. Then you have in many cases to roll your own firmware to make it operate. Hopefully the V2 extruder or a newer one will be available as parts.

Z Screw:

Many of the Printrbots came with an ACME Screw 1/4" X 16. There are better options out there that allow better resolutions, accurate operation and better quality. Many switch to T8mm X 2mm (single lead) or T8mm X 4mm, (2 lead) T8mm x 8mm (4 lead), These are popular right now and the 4 lead (T8 X 8) were upgrades available from Printrbot near the end. BUT, Many printed very well with the stock leadscrew. My Simple Metal did not have any issues from the leadscrew. Now my Play has not been so lucky. Part of this is that my Play was a Makers Kit Edition, that was then a Play Upgrade Kit. That leadscrew just never seemed to run straight. Also there is a choice of Leadscrew Nuts out there from Brass to Delrin or POM and anti backlash versions with springs or adjustable clamps. Make sure you get what you wanted as it is hard to tell the difference between a T8-2, T8-4 or a T8-8 just by looking at them. The pitch looks exactly the same but the nuts from each will not fit the others.

Build plate, Bed:

Another thing to upgrade is the Build plate or bed. Blue Tape, PEI sheets, Kapton sheets/tape Buildtak,,,,. There are a number of build surfaces available out there. Most of the latest are removable build surfaces that allow easy part removal. But lets face it we are all tired of Blue Tape and Alcohol. I chose the Ender 3/5 plastic removeable magnetic build surface. A little hairspray and it is good for a number of prints. The down side it was too thick to work with the original Printrbot Inductive probe. I upgraded to a 18mm, 8mm detection range, inductive probe and now have seen the last of Blue Tape! Many addressed these issues long ago, but if you haven't it might be time to throw it on the upgrade list!

Printrbot printers were an investment in a high quality lower cost 3D Printers. And that investment can be extended by performing upgrades. Add an advanced Motherboard as a starting point. This will quiet down your printer, give it a firmware update path into the future and give new safety features such as thermal runaway protection. Really the most bang for the buck. While you are at it refurbish it, clean and inspect it. Then look at the next most important thing, the Hotend. Bring it up to at least a UBIS 13's, which is next to a plug and play install. Once you have those important upgrades then decide what is needed next, if anything.