MakerGear Forum

I have an M2 REV E printer that I purchased in 2016. This thing is almost a decade old and still going strong, but I have been reading about things like board upgrades and Klipper.
Frankly, all of that is new to me.
I have been considering getting a Bambu printer for around 700.00, a lot less than what I purchased this M2 for, but since I do not really want to abandon the M2 and I really don't have room for two 3D printers, I started wondering what I can do for around 700.00 to upgrade the M2 I have.
And should I?
That is what led me to discussions about controller boards and Klipper and also how the M3 is the latest Makergear product, which at 2k is more than I want to spend on another 3D printer.
So what is the current state of doing M2 upgrades? What can be done? What options are available at a reasonable cost? And what is Klipper?

I also have an M2E. The one upgrade I think is really worthwhile is to get a controller with Linear Advance. This is supposed to give a big improvement in print quality. To use the existing hardware, you need to update the firmware to Marlin 2.x.

I haven't done firmware programming in about 40 years, so the tools & techniques required present a bit of a learning curve. I have a firmware version that should work, except the pre-compiled version runs all my motors backwards. I have the source code, and have located where to change the motor directions, but that means compiling the edited code, and I just haven't had time to figure that process out. It has become a higher priority because I need to print a bunch of models using PCTG, which oozes like crazy. Supposedly Linear Advance should make a big difference, and is strongly recommended by the filament folks.

You may be able to get around all that with Klipper, but that is a whole other can of worms. It requires an additional box to house the single-board computer it runs on, and I have no idea how you interface it with the existing printer hardware.

The one other upgrade that would be nice is any improvement in bed leveling. The M2E is built like a battle ship, and doesn't need re-leveling often, but it's a pretty tedious process. I believe people have added BL Touch or CR Touch sensors to their printers, but I have no idea how easy it is to deal with the software end of things.

Sounds like too much trouble. Easier to buy a new Bambu.