Balco (Wanhao i3) with a 5.2c mainboard

3D Printing 3D Printers
1

Hi there,

I’ve just bought myself a Balco 3D printer for Christmas from Aldi. (rebranded wanhao i3 plus)
I had a look inside to see if it was possible to upgrade to a self leveling using the BLTouch.

I couldn’t see any labels for a z-probe and also main board version is v5.2c. (Not the normal 5.1 or 5.4 for the mk2)

Does anyone have any info on attaching a probe to this board? As I can’t seem to find any reference to it on he web.

Thanks

2

Goodmorning,

unfortunately this isn’t possible.
Normally you need to upgrade to another mainboard.
You can try to fake it on the Z endstop but that way it isn’t possible to actually use auto bed leveling.

cheers.

3

Ok thanks,

Is it possible to switch the board out to either the 5.1 or 5.4 boards? And is it just a straight swap?

Thanks again

4

I don’t know anything about those boards. I swapped my Wanhao duplicator I3 main board for a Arduino DUE with RADDS 1.6 (for 3 extruders). that’s always possible.
You also could swap it out for a ramps setup, but if this is your first printer and only printer i wouldn’t advise it.

If you do proceed I strongly advise you to actually print everything beforehand because you need extra parts, also print spare parts for it.