I’m thinking about buying a 3D printer for creating cosplay props like helmets and armor pieces (only once I figure things out, I’ll start small of course) among other things and since there is a sale on the Ender 3 V3 series and they seem to be well received I figured that it would make sense to buy one. Having done some research, it seems like the regular V3 with it’s 220x220x250mm build volume is too small for what I’m planning to do. Though splitting some parts will of course still be required, from what I could gather the V3 Plus better matches the recommended build volume having one of 300x300x330mm. The sale puts it at about the original price of the regular V3 which works for my budget.
I’d love to hear some thoughts on this, since my knowledge is limited as well as theoretical and the quality of internet sources varies quite heavily.
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Creality is good because they brought an entry level 3d printer to market for an affordable price, and people like me got into the hobby because of that. The price point shows in the parts they use to assemble it. I’ve clocked countless hours learning how to correct failures, and upgrade the cheap parts for better, more reliable parts, add features, modify and flash firmware.
Five and a half years ago I bought that ender 3 pro. I think it was around $250 USD. I probably spent over $300 more upgrading it and replacing parts. In retrospect I shouldn’t have cheaped out, but that’s the conclusion I came to. I no longer want to waste time fixing the printer. If I walk away and don’t print anything for weeks/months at a time I’d like to have confidence when I fire it up it’s going to work.
I ordered a Prusa MK4S about a month ago which was the top-end hobbyist printer back then, and I am blown away by the difference. Prusa may not be the top at the moment, but the quality and support is there.
I recommend that unless you have the free time, you’re willing to tinker, and are not easily frustrated, you should look into a higher quality brand.
Agreed on the Ender 3’s needing some tinkering. My wife got me the Ender 3 V2 a couple of years ago for Christmas and I like it a lot, but I spend more time troubleshooting it than actually printing stuff.
I like to tinker, but the Ender 3 V2 takes advantage of that fact.
Any recommendations on part upgrades? I’ve upgraded the nozzle and the extruder on mine (the stock, plastic extruder cracked badly last year and I replaced it with a full metal one), but it is still very unreliable. Prints are always failing due to adhesion issues even if I use aftermarket adhesives like MagiGoo on the build plate.
Best upgrades for me was the following in order of overall impact
Klipper
BTT Skr mini e3v3 board
Silicon bed spacers
Klackender mod by KevinAkaSam
G10 build plate
Orbiter extruder and dragonfly hotend for direct drive
Belted Z mod by KevinAkaSamMore recent EBB36 canbus for the tool head mainly because it frees up some ports on the control board for other things like my Nevermore.
For overall quality and reliability the following have the biggest impact.
Ensuring the physical frame is as square as possible. As well as adjusting and shimming things such as folded aluminum foil under the Z extrusions to get them square with the base.
The board and Klipper are huge since it makes it easier to use the klack probe (Klicky for ender) and the silicone spacers allow me to dial in the screws with adjust_screws.
And skew correction because my X gantry is twisted (tested that on granite counter top) and after I’ve done everything else to ensure it’s physically right i still had to work around some of it with software.
Now I can just fire it up and print PLA, ABS (it’s in a grow tent enclosure), PETG and TPU without any issue.
The g10 plate works great with all of them, Klipper can compensate for any warping, build offset as long as the screws are properly adjusted (which I test every couple of months or after I’ve had a print that really didn’t want to come off.
I’m building a trident myself right now and I’m using the “Frankender” to do it with really great quality results.
Thanks a lot! I’ll look into the upgrades you mentioned and try my luck. Here’s hoping I can get it back up and running without too much work
The best upgrade I made for the Ender 3 for adhesion was a PEI coated build plate. I don’t know the specs of the V2, but the brand I went with was “Wham Bam Systems” mine didn’t have a magnetic bed so I had to purchase the kit with the magnetic plate, and stainless steel PEI coated build surface. It was nice being able to pull off the plate and pop prints off of it. Be careful printing PETG on PEI it can fuse to the PEI
If the V2 has some sort of leveling system make sure it’s working correctly or the PEI sheet isn’t really going to help. Mine did not. I had so many failures where the print head crashed into the sheet and gouged it. The Z end stop wasn’t the best. I added a BLTouch probe and flashed the firmware and it got much better.
Thanks a bunch; I’ll check out the PEI coated build plate.
I’ve contemplated getting the BLTouch probe for auto-leveling, but I don’t think bed leveling is the root of the issue; I’ve leveled the darn thing about a thousand times by now
I will second Mellow, the Ender 3 series is a great entry level printer for tinkerers and hobbits but it requires lots of upgrades and maintenance to turn into a quality fast printer if your goal is to work with the printed items and not the printer.
I like to tinker so that was fine with me, and when I got around to buying a big boy printer I got a Voron 350mm v2.4r2 because its a printer you build yourself. Going from an entry level printer to a $1200 printer is night and day. The features, functionality, quality, and for me most importantly the speed have been game changers.
Since you want to print Cosplay im going to assume you dont want to tinker constantly with the printer, and you dont want to be dealing with failed prints all the time.
If that is the case I would say spend what your time is really worth to you and for your hobby and get a higher end high quality printer. Enjoy the parts you print, not fighting with the printer.
Like others have commented, I think I spend more time tinkering or troubleshooting my Ender 3 than actually printing. I’ve had a lot of fun but it wouldn’t be my first choice.
I think I would look at the Prusa or Bamboo printers as they seem to work better out of the box.
I’m mostly focused on an msla printer these days though.
PrusaXL might be great for this. I don’t even know how much it costs, but I’m sure it’s a hell of lot. Unfortunately I think any large format 3d printer is going to be either expensive or a headache. Large scale though is really what you would want for your particular needs though.
