The AO-101 arrived from Facebook Marketplace for $50. Missing the power supply, caked in old PLA, and running firmware from 2013. But the frame is solid aluminium extrusion and the motors still turn. That’s all I need.
The plan: keep the 3mm filament path (because I have 12 rolls of the stuff), swap to an E3DV6 hotend, add a seesaw bed levelling mod, mount the whole thing to an MDF baseboard, and convert to Klipper.
This is the first build in what I’m calling the restomod series — taking vintage RepRap printers and modernising them with 2025 knowledge while keeping their original character.
More to come once the E3DV6 arrives.