I Just Purchased a Ender 3 Pro and I have some questions about upgrades....

[Konungr]

Hi everyone,

So upon several recommendation I just purchased a Ender 3 Pro.

And with that I was doing some research into the upgrades that people claim are must haves and should get eventuallys but I have some questions that I am hoping I can find some answers to here.

So I figure to start I should say what I did get.

-I got the glass print bed with the printer directly from the manufacturer. I read that with the glass print bed I would not need to worry about warping or distortion in the print bed so auto leveling wouldn't be AS big of a need (though I do intend to look into some kind of auto leveler in the future). Also apparently it eliminates the need for tape/glue? Confirmation?

-I also got the all aluminum extruder

-The capricorn bowden tube.

-A set of nozzles that includes 2x .1 2x .2 2x.6 2x.8 2x1.0 and 10x .4 nozzles (I intend to mostly print miniatures and after doing some reading I determined that the .2 and .1 nozzles would be good some some things I may want to do while the .8 and 1.0 would be better for some of the larger structural things I may want to print that have nothing to do with models and .4s would likely be best for most things in general).

- The upgraded springs for the print bed.


All pretty easy to just install when I am putting the thing together.

So whats giving me hang ups is mostly the Mainboard and upgrades that relate to it. In some places I saw that any newer produced/shipped out machine (mine) should come with the latest mainboard (The 1.1.5 silent Mainboard) and I tried to contact the company to get clarification but no answer yet.

So here are some questions...

First, lets say it DOES come with the silent mainboard.

1) How useful are TL Smoothers then? I have never seen anyone in any video I am watching with the silent board and TL Smoothers while every 1.1.4 has them as must have upgrades. This would determine what I do if it does not ship with the 1.1.5.

2) How useful are the Stepper Dampers? If the Mainboard configuration is already taking care of a lot of the noise are the stepper dampers going to improve print quality still?

Then lets say it comes with the 1.1.4. Then the smoothers are a cheap upgrade but maybe that money is better put towards a mainboard upgrade, at which point maybe I should be getting the MKS Gen L for when I want to start adding more things to the printer since it comes with more expansion slots? Again, Stepper Dampers?


All and any help would be really appreciated. The single physical upgrades are easy to get my head around at this point because they are an upgrade more or less in isolation. But these other upgrades that may be redundant or doing the same job and more is giving me hang ups on compatibility and/or redundancy.

[airscapes]

Can't really help you but can you explain to an old Auto Mechanic who is now a Unix system admin, what the logic is behind buying something new that needs so much work done to it to function well?

Would it not have been better to buy a product that works out of the box without the need of "Upgrades"?

Couldn't you just cancel the order since the manufacture does not respond to your query, why buy something that has no support?

I wish you luck with your project, seems like you will need it!

[curious aardvark]

yeah you could just have bought something better, for less money that didn't need uopgrading so much out of the box.

Anyone recommending ender series printers need locking up.

Okay, what it does need is: converting to directdrive extruder, adding a second z-motor (assuming the pro still has just the one). And some side support rails would be a good idea too.
Sounds like you've already replaced everything else :-)

Also if you primarily intend to print miniatures, why not just get a cheap resin printer ?
Why get a large print volume machine that keaves the factory needing all it's original parts replaced ?

I wish you luck - but most people who buy ender printers do seem to regret it.

[Konungr]

The Ender 3 pro has a very good print quality (reportedly) out of the box for 220.00 (apparently closer to a 500.00 printer). With a few 8.00-15.00 upgrades it prints like it's a 1000.00 printer (again, from everything I have read about it. I don't have enough experience to say any of this for sure.). All the reviews and such I have been reading along with video reviews and guides and all that say it's one of the best printers out there for the cost for a starter printer. The customization options and upgrades are even considered a feature by some because it gets new people familiar with the functions and components easily along with a rail system for the entire frame that makes printed components and upgrades easy to make and install.

Basically cost/effort is well worth the quality you get out of it.

I have not given the manufacturer much time to respond yet. I was just pursuing other avenues of information while I waited.

As for a resin printer, the material is more expensive, requires better/more ventilation considerations, and PPE/stations for post processing the resin. Basically a "traditional" filament printer is no where near the hassle.




Any feedback for the questions I have? Even just the Tempered Glass print bed. Is it true that you don't need tape/hairspray/glue on a glass print bed?

[airscapes]

The Ender 3 pro has a very good print quality (reportedly) out of the box for 220.00 (apparently closer to a 500.00 printer). With a few 8.00-15.00 upgrades it prints like it's a 1000.00 printer (again, from everything I have read about it. I don't have enough experience to say any of this for sure.). All the reviews and such I have been reading along with video reviews and guides and all that say it's one of the best printers out there for the cost for a starter printer. The customization options and upgrades are even considered a feature by some because it gets new people familiar with the functions and components easily along with a rail system for the entire frame that makes printed components and upgrades easy to make and install.

Basically cost/effort is well worth the quality you get out of it.

I have not given the manufacturer much time to respond yet. I was just pursuing other avenues of information while I waited.

As for a resin printer, the material is more expensive, requires better/more ventilation considerations, and PPE/stations for post processing the resin. Basically a "traditional" filament printer is no where near the hassle.




Any feedback for the questions I have? Even just the Tempered Glass print bed. Is it true that you don't need tape/hairspray/glue on a glass print bed?

My printer came with a Borosilicate glass plate laminated with polymide tape. Plain glass can work with PLA but I prefer the tape to the plan glass, I know my print will stick be it ABS PLA PETG Nylon etc.

[curious aardvark]

straight glass will most likely need some kind of better surface to be reliable.
A cheap self adhesive sheet of pei is a good option.

The reason I'm so against creality and the ender series in particular - is that in the last two years, we have had more people with problems with ender3 printers on this forum - than ALL OTHER PRINTERS COMBINED.
Look at it this way. Josef prusa designed the I3 with dual z motors, direct drive extruder and side supports bed rails. Creality disgarded all those to save money, and it has resulted in a design with an awful lot of built in problems. This is not helped by their using dirt cheap components and having a virtually non-existent user support.

For every you-tuber who's rebuilt their ender, there are hundreds of poor souls out there who are just lost and have no clue how the make the damn thing work.
And it really annoys me that there are people out there recommending these things for first time 3d printer users.