Got my first 3D printer in October 2023 bought secondhand, was completely stock other than a BL touch, got straight into upgrading it and so far heres my current set up:
Ender 3 Max
Creality 4.2.2 with TMC2208/HR4998 steppers
Genuine BL-Touch Smart v3.1

So far i’ve added:
Raspberry Pi 3B via direct serial running Octoklipper.
Old Samsung Tablet to replace stock LCD.

Built a magnetic mount to hold the tablet in place of the factory LCD.
Fabricated a heavy duty self leveling steel frame stand.
Double bolted the printer to the stand on 4 corners as well as the 2 vertical supports.

Planned upgrades to come:
Mounting MPU-9150 to calibrate input shaping
Mounting old samsung phone to use as a webcam

I know at first glance this all might seem extremely overkill for an ender 3 but everything I’ve done so far and plan to do is all from spare parts and equipment I already had sitting unused in storage prior to purchasing the printer. Naturally after buying the printer and finding out all of the major improvements I could do to it with only gear I had on hand, I excitedly cancelled my first print that was taking too long and got to work.

I’m sure there will be many who still disagree with the level of effort whether I had the parts on hand or not, but in my eyes, the tinkering and the learning process IS the fun part for me, I primarily plan to use the 3D printer as another tool in my workshop as a time saver for light duty parts and prototyping. If it does end up proving its value after the upgrades, I might have to make some room in the beer fund bambu labs down the line.

1/11/2023