How to choose a 3D printer

penright · Jan 21, 2019

There is the The Everything 3D Printer Thread and this one that got me into researching 3D printers 3D printed tool organizers

With lots of 3D printer threads out there, I am starting this one to narrow the focus on how to choose one and reviews on different ones. One thing this forum has never been afraid of is a healthy debate. Try not to turn the thread into an advertisement and get the thread shut down.

Just to get started, what specs are important? I copied from a $200 ish printer as a starting point.

Max. Printer Size: 220 * 220 * 250mm (about 8")
Printer Speed: 10-150mm/s
Nozzle Diameter: 0.4mm
Layer Thickness: 0.1-0.3mm
Printing Accuracy: 0.10mm
XY Axis Accuracy: 0.012mm
Z Axis Accuracy: 0.004mm
Nozzle Temperature: Max. 260°C
Hot Bed Temperature: 50-100°C
Recommend ABS Setting: Nozzle: 230 °C Hotbed: 80 °C
Recommend PLA Setting: Nozzle: 210 °C Hotbed: 50 °C

arnoldcp · Jan 21, 2019

I re-read this and I feel like I wrote an advertisement which wasn't really my intent. I am by no means an expert and it looks like there are many experts on GJ but I have a few observations.

Size: In general I haven't found anything that I need a bunch of Z height so my main dimensions for consideration are X-Y. I have not yet run into the limits of my 8.5"x8.5" machine. If you plan to print a lot of tool organizers that are larger than that, you may want to consider a larger build volume even if you sacrifice some Z.

Speed: While the machine I purchased can print fairly quickly, I find that to get strong parts and consistent layers I am printing at 60 mm/s with a 0.2mm layer height. Most of the items I print can be completed in 4-6 hours or less. Some of the more expensive machines can print quite fast and if you had a production shop you may want to consider a very fast machine. However, if you aren't going to printing tremendous volume the speed probably isn't a huge deal if you are patient.

Accuracy / Precision: you obviously want the most accurate printer you can get that fits your budget and intended use. If you plan to print tool organizers and other medium precision things then most printers available can do this with relative ease. If you plan to print high precision jigs, gearboxes, smaller parts, etc. You may need to consider some of the more accurate printers OR simply get a smaller nozzle and print at a reduced speed. My 0.02, if you are doing high precision work that even after tuning your machine and your slicer, you are not satisfied, you probably need to move to a Pro machine ala Stratasys or HP. I can consistently be within +/- 0.5 mm and better if I choose to slow the print down.

Materials: In my limited experience. PLA is easy to print. You don't need a heated bed and the bowden extruder is plenty precise. ABS is pretty finicky, I got some significant warping and gave up mainly because I was just playing around. PETG is supposed to be almost as easy to print as PLA and almost as strong as ABS, I haven't printed with it but they say a bowden extruder is okay.

Should you want to print specialty materials, ie flexible filaments, you may want to consider a direct drive extruder. Or you could always upgrade to one later. There are many kits.

Original Post:

I finally pulled the trigger on a 3D printer for our family a few months back. With respect to which of those items is important I can't tell you based on a large amount of experience or knowledge but after watching/reading a ton of reviews I ended up with a Creality Ender 3 Pro. I chose it for a couple reasons; price, availability, user base, upgrade potential.

Its been an excellent printer for me so far mainly because it has such a huge following. The first two weeks I had it, I printed nothing but upgrades for the printer. I have added auto bed leveling, flashed a bootloader and upgraded the firmware. I am in the process of getting OctoPi up and running as well as adding a second Z axis lead screw.

I didn't want to buy a super expensive printer and find that it wasn't as useful to me as I hoped so I started with the Ender 3. With each upgrade I saw what the upgraded parts were affecting and I was able to understand what mattered in terms of print quality and settings.

When I understood a little bit about the items affecting the precision I started spending time with calibration cubes and hole size gauges so I could fine tune the printer. It's now dialed in quite well and my slicer settings work great.

In the time I have had it, I have printed a lot of Christmas gifts, I have printed some organization items, I designed and printed a vertical docking station stand for my laptop. I am very happy with it and while it prints fine out of the box, if you spend some time fiddling with it, the machine punches well above it's weight class.

This won't be my last 3D printer but it was a very affordable and useful first printer.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Markromeo · Jan 21, 2019

I teach Engineering at the high school level (mostly CADD, and Intro to Engineering classes), I have have/had 8 different 3D printers, from $300 printers to $3500 printers. My .02, in list form below, from my experience.

1st experience: Makerbot Replicator 5th gen.
This printer was my first ever shot at 3D printing, and this printer left a iffy taste in my mouth. We received one of the first runs of this model, and I'm pretty sure they weren't quite ready for release. We had the "smart" extruder replaced 3-4 times, in fact I have a brand new one sitting on my desk. It was hit or miss for reliability, print quality was solid, non heated bed led to some warping on large flat prints. Print volume was pretty large. Biggest problem with this printer was that I could never get the bed leveled correctly, it would run out of adjustment, we sent the entire printer back once, and they determined it was ok, and sent it back. Overall was a disappointment at $3k+

2nd experience: Afinia H480
This printer had some potential, biggest problem with this one was the operating software, I probably should have tried another slicing/printing software before giving up on it. It printed ABS pretty well, that was its biggest Pro.

3rd Flashforge Creator Pro
This is my workhorse, this printer is very reliable, easy to level, easy to use, easy to setup. It never clogs, and never really gives me a failed print. By far my favorite machine. Flashforge's software is easy to use, and I prefer it.

4th-8th Flashforge Finder
We purchased 5 Flashforge Finders, these are great little printers, no heated bed, but print PLA very reliably. We use for prototyping Robot parts almost daily and have found them to be pretty accurate. These are the cheapest of all of our printers, and honestly for the money, a really solid option.

One observation I've made in the last few years, the material you use is pretty important. We've had pretty good results with Makerbot's PLA and Hatchbox PLA.

I know I didn't include a ton of info on specific settings etc, but the above is my best honest opinion/review of MY experiences.

BoilermakerFan · Jan 21, 2019

penright said:
There is the The Everything 3D Printer Thread and this one that got me into researching 3D printers 3D printed tool organizers

With lots of 3D printer threads out there, I am starting this one to narrow the focus on how to choose one and reviews on different ones. One thing this forum has never been afraid of is a healthy debate. Try not to turn the thread into an advertisement and get the thread shut down.

Just to get started, what specs are important? I copied from a $200 ish printer as a starting point.

Max. Printer Size: 220 * 220 * 250mm (about 8")
Printer Speed: 10-150mm/s
Nozzle Diameter: 0.4mm
Layer Thickness: 0.1-0.3mm
Printing Accuracy: 0.10mm
XY Axis Accuracy: 0.012mm
Z Axis Accuracy: 0.004mm
Nozzle Temperature: Max. 260°C
Hot Bed Temperature: 50-100°C
Recommend ABS Setting: Nozzle: 230 °C Hotbed: 80 °C
Recommend PLA Setting: Nozzle: 210 °C Hotbed: 50 °C

Please understand that there are so many good to great printers out there that it can be difficult to narrow it down and personal opinions will weigh heavily into everyone's comments, mine included... but there are a few things that need to be addressed to help you boil it down

First and foremost, what is your budget? I know there are cheaper printers out there that can be fussed with to make good prints, but IMO the good printers start around $250 and up.

My first printer was a GeeeTech i3 ProB. This is a clone of the original Prusa Tech i3. It's a POS. My buddy bought it off eBay for $100 or so. He got frustrated with it and sold it to a friend who went out and bought a lot of replacement parts for it. Then he got frustrated with it... I bought it for the cost of the materials he had in it... Mostly spools of filament. I realized what's wrong with it, but I haven't fixed it yet. It's sitting on the floor in my basement storage area. I know what it needs and I have a plan for it later.

Then I bought a used genuine Prusa Mk2 from my local computer store. I've known the owner for 18 years. They quit using it when the guy who knew how to run it left and moved out of the area. They weren't getting good prints anymore. I picked it up for about $0.20 on the dollar. I had to reach out to Prusa for some help, then got it calibrated and adjusted properly. Not it prints PLA great but I'm having issues with getting the first layer to stick with PETG. Most of this and my plans are in the Everything 3D Printer thread... take the time to browse through the thread. Several guys have posted there about their printers and projects too...

Now back to your question... How to choose. If you want the absolutely easiest and surefire way to get great printed parts with the best support and setup, you can't go wrong with a genuine Prusa Mk3 fully assembled printer. It is absolutely the easiest way to get going and print good parts. And that has a steep cost. US$1K. I'm assuming you're looking for a lower cost solution though.

Therefore you have some homework. You need to jump on YouTube and check out a few of the top 3D printing channels. Watch their printer reviews. I'm not going to post links here, but I will give you a list of the ones I have felt have been the most helpful. The first five in bold italic are my personal top 5 in order:

Fugatech

3D Printing Nerd

Design Prototype Test

Teaching Tech

3DMN

Thomas Sanladerer

Maker's Muse

Nexi Tech

After you determine your budget, the next step is to determine how big a print volume do you need or want? The 220mm X 220mm X 250mm is sort of the defacto standard now since that is the size of the Prusa i3 and all of their clones. 300mm X 300mm X 400mm is also a common volume since that is the size of the original Creality3D CR-10 family.

The main "lower cost" brands that have the best support communities are Prusa, Creality, Wanhao, and TEVO in that order in my opinion with Prusa and Creality way ahead of the pack.

If I was going to recommend a $1K or less printer based on how they print out of the box, the size they print, the ease of getting help through communities, and the availability of upgrades they top machines are, from lowest cost to most expensive:

Creality3D Ender 3 / Ender 3 Pro / Ender 5

Creality3D CR-10 / CR-10S / CR-10 S4 / CR-10 S5

Prusa Mk2/Mk3

BoilermakerFan · Jan 21, 2019

My above post is focused on Cartesian style printers. Mostly because they tend to be the easiest for beginners and the easiest to tune for better quality prints.

If you are less concerned with the overall print finish and value speed more than the finish, then you can look at Delta style printers. Delta printers are FAST, at the expense of the prints finish compared to a Cartesian printer. IMO, for tool organizers and such, I don't really think the finish is as important as long as the part is strong. That said, I'm personally sticking with Cartesian style printers or CoreXY.

CoreXY is another level of complicated and expensive, but with that you gain amazing quality and high speed printing. However, the inexpensive ones are either not true CoreXY, print like ****, simply don't work, or they are DIY designs that still cost over $1K. So in this case I wouldn't recommend a CoreXY for a first or even second printer... Again, just my opinion.

penright · Jan 21, 2019

Lot's of good stuff to digest. My GJ buddies have never let me down.

arnoldcp said:
I re-read this and I feel like I wrote an advertisement which wasn't really my intent. I am by no means an expert and it looks like there are many experts on GJ but I have a few observations.

I don't think so. An honest review is what it is.

arnoldcp said:
I finally pulled the trigger on a 3D printer for our family a few months back. With respect to which of those items is important I can't tell you based on a large amount of experience or knowledge but after watching/reading a ton of reviews I ended up with a Creality Ender 3 Pro. I chose it for a couple reasons; price, availability, user base, upgrade potential.

I was looking at that model. If I have the right one, they are on sale right now for $239
Is this the right specs?
Ender 3 Pro Machine Parameter:
Modeling Technology: FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling）
Power Supply: Mean Well UL certified power supply
Printing Size: 220*220*250mm / 8.6x8.6x9.8 inches
Machine Size: 440*410*465mm / 17.3x16.1x18.3 inches
Package weight: 8.6kg / 19 lbs
Max Traveling Speed: 180mm/s
Filament: 1.75mm ABS/PLA,WOOD,FLEXIBLE,Carbon firber,PA....
Input: AC 100-265V 50-60Hz
Output: DC 24V 15A 360W
Layer Thickness: 0.1-0.4mm
Nozzle diameter: 0.4mm
Precision: ±0.1mm
File Format: STL, OBJ, G-Code
Working Mode: USB cable (included) online compatible or micro-SD (offline)
Max Nozzle Temperature: 255℃
Max Hot bed Temperature: 110℃

arnoldcp said:
This won't be my last 3D printer but it was a very affordable and useful first printer.

This is exactly how I am looking at it.

Markromeo said:
I teach Engineering at the high school level (mostly CADD, and Intro to Engineering classes), I have have/had 8 different 3D printers, from $300 printers to $3500 printers.

For my first printer, I wanted to stay under $300. But it is good to discuss all options for anyone else looking at this thread.

BoilermakerFan said:
First and foremost, what is your budget? I know there are cheaper printers out there that can be fussed with to make good prints, but IMO the good printers start around $250 and up.

As I said, I would like to stay under $300. If I know me, and I think I do, I will be upgrading in about a year.

BoilermakerFan said:
My first printer was a GeeeTech i3 ProB. This is a clone of the original Prusa Tech i3. It's a POS. My buddy bought it off eBay for $100 or so. He got frustrated with it and sold it to a friend who went out and bought a lot of replacement parts for it. Then he got frustrated with it... I bought it for the cost of the materials he had in it... Mostly spools of filament. I realized what's wrong with it, but I haven't fixed it yet. It's sitting on the floor in my basement storage area. I know what it needs and I have a plan for it later.

Good to know, that was one clone I was looking at.

BoilermakerFan said:
Most of this and my plans are in the Everything 3D Printer thread... take the time to browse through the thread. Several guys have posted there about their printers and projects too..

I definitely plan to go through it as I get time. Love this forums database of information.

BoilermakerFan said:
Now back to your question... I'm assuming you're looking for a lower cost solution though.

Yep!!!

BoilermakerFan said:
After you determine your budget, the next step is to determine how big a print volume do you need or want? The 220mm X 220mm X 250mm is sort of the defacto standard now since that is the size of the Prusa i3 and all of their clones. 300mm X 300mm X 400mm is also a common volume since that is the size of the original Creality3D CR-10 family.

That is a tough spec. As I posted above, most seem to run around 8"x8". That Creality Ender-3 Pro at 17" x 16" at $239 seems too good to be true. And we all know happens when something seems too good to be true. But why would you not go with the biggest bed if all the other specs seem close to the 8" x 8"?

BoilermakerFan said:
My above post is focused on Cartesian style printers. Mostly because they tend to be the easiest for beginners and the easiest to tune for better quality prints.

From what I read so far, I agree. At least for me.

BoilermakerFan · Jan 21, 2019

penright said:
Lot's of good stuff to digest. My GJ buddies have never let me down.

I don't think so. An honest review is what it is.

I was looking at that model. If I have the right one, they are on sale right now for $239
Is this the right specs?
Ender 3 Pro Machine Parameter:
Modeling Technology: FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling）
Power Supply: Mean Well UL certified power supply
Printing Size: 220*220*250mm / 8.6x8.6x9.8 inches
Machine Size: 440*410*465mm / 17.3x16.1x18.3 inches
Package weight: 8.6kg / 19 lbs
Max Traveling Speed: 180mm/s
Filament: 1.75mm ABS/PLA,WOOD,FLEXIBLE,Carbon firber,PA....
Input: AC 100-265V 50-60Hz
Output: DC 24V 15A 360W
Layer Thickness: 0.1-0.4mm
Nozzle diameter: 0.4mm
Precision: ±0.1mm
File Format: STL, OBJ, G-Code
Working Mode: USB cable (included) online compatible or micro-SD (offline)
Max Nozzle Temperature: 255℃
Max Hot bed Temperature: 110℃

This is exactly how I am looking at it.

For my first printer, I wanted to stay under $300. But it is good to discuss all options for anyone else looking at this thread.

As I said, I would like to stay under $300. If I know me, and I think I do, I will be upgrading in about a year.

Good to know, that was one clone I was looking at.

I definitely plan to go through it as I get time. Love this forums database of information.

Yep!!!

That is a tough spec. As I posted above, most seem to run around 8"x8". That Creality Ender-3 Pro at 17" x 16" at $239 seems too good to be true. And we all know happens when something seems too good to be true. But why would you not go with the biggest bed if all the other specs seem close to the 8" x 8"?

From what I read so far, I agree. At least for me.

The 3D YT reviewers go back and forth on the Ender 3 / Ender 3 Pro... Some feel the extra money isn't worth it... to me, working for a national test lab that certifies power supplies, the Meanwell PS is definitely worth the extra money, but you can buy that exact PS for $35 and add it to the E3. The E3 Pro adds the aluminum extrusion to the Y axis. I believe that it is worth it.

I had planned to pick up the Ender 5. I planned to order it from Amazon this weekend. It was sold out. I could order it from China, but meh, and GearBest is a horrible company for support. I would avoid them like the plague. Too many big name guys have had issues with their support.

There are several GJ'ers with the Ender 3. All have been happy with them. I was going to order the E3 Pro, but then I saw the CR-10 Mini. I explained why I'm going with the CR-10 Mini over the E3 in my Everything 3D thread.

The general consensus on the Ender 3 is that it is far and away the best bang for the buck, and definitely the best 3D printer for under $300. All major web sites and YT reviews sing the same praise. I don't own one, but I have no problem recommending it. The CR-10 Mini is just it's big brother.

BoilermakerFan · Jan 21, 2019

penright said:
That is a tough spec. As I posted above, most seem to run around 8"x8". That Creality Ender-3 Pro at 17" x 16" at $239 seems too good to be true. And we all know happens when something seems too good to be true. But why would you not go with the biggest bed if all the other specs seem close to the 8" x 8"?

The Ender 3 Pro Printing Size is: 220*220*250mm / 8.6x8.6x9.8 inches

The 17" X 16" X 18" is the overall size of the printer.

The reason you may not go for the biggest printing volume for the dollar is the quality of the print and the quality of the machine... Sticking with Creality3D machines because they are proven to be good printers with great support communities, they price out as follows from Creality's web site along with their print volumes:

Ender 3: $200 (220mm*220mm*250mm)

Ender 3 Pro: $240 (220mm*220mm*250mm)

CR-10 Mini: $339 (300mm*220mm*300mm)

CR-20: $390 (220*220*250mm) <-- Basically a highly upgraded Ender 3 with PSU in the base

CR-10: $399 (300mm*300mm*400mm)

CR-10S: $455 (300mm*300mm*400mm) - Upgraded CR-10 with dual Z axis leadscrews standard.

CR-10 S4: $599 (400mm*400mm*400mm)

CR-10S Pro: $650 (300mm*300mm*400mm) - An upgraded CR-10S with PSU integrated into the base of the printer

CR-X Dual: $719 (300mm*300mm*400mm / 270mm*270mm*400mm) - Dual Extruder 10S Pro

CR-10 S5: $769 (500mm*500mm*500mm)

The bigger the printer, the more critical bed level and frame stability are to achieving great prints. Printing with the standard 0.4mm nozzle at a 0.20mm layer height, the big printers will take a lot longer to print a bigger object and they are more likely to have print quality issues the taller the object is. You can change to a bigger nozzle, say 0.8mm but then your layer height needs to go to 0.4mm to print faster and you'll have a print that isn't as smooth looking. Just a trade off. That's where you have to weigh the options and alternatives.

For a motorcycle fender that will be sanded and covered in CF, the 0.8mm nozzle at a 0.6mm layer height to print faster is fine if the layers are bonding properly. It's going to be sanded and covered up anyways. If I was printing a 400mm tall vase for a gift, I'd want the 0.4mm and 0.2mm height to get the best surface finish i could on the actual print.

arnoldcp · Jan 21, 2019

BoilermakerFan said:
The 3D YT reviewers go back and forth on the Ender 3 / Ender 3 Pro... Some feel the extra money isn't worth it... to me, working for a national test lab that certifies power supplies, the Meanwell PS is definitely worth the extra money, but you can buy that exact PS for $35 and add it to the E3. The E3 Pro adds the aluminum extrusion to the Y axis. I believe that it is worth it.

The general consensus on the Ender 3 is that it is far and away the best bang for the buck, and definitely the best 3D printer for under $300. All major web sites and YT reviews sing the same praise.

These are the exact reasons I chose the Ender 3 Pro. It was an upgraded version of the best bang for your buck printer. The pro to me was 100% worth it when I saw the cost of the phone supply alone was within $10 of the price delta between the 2. The bonus was the wider Y extrusion and the flexible bed. I paid $236 and ordered from a US seller on eBay.

My main YT folks for resources and how to's are;

CHEP - Filament Friday

Teaching Tech (already mentioned)

RCLifeon

Maker's Muse (his original review of the E3P was poor but he found out it was a combination of bad slicer settings and cheap filament.)

I am supremely happy with my choice.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

gtae07 · Jan 21, 2019

I got an Ender 3 with a glass bed. Very pleased with it, and pretty much right out of the box it printed better than the $7000 Makerbot at work ever did. With upgraded parts and all so far, I have less than $300 invested.

It’s been idle for a week as I’ve been busy with my airplane but I have more stuff to print soon.

AndyL · Jan 21, 2019

MakerBot is an integrated solution. It's for libraries and universities, where you buy it, buy the maintenance program and buy the auto reorder supplies.

The i3 clones are a great choice, but all have their issues. Just like the cr10 and it's clones.

Biggest thing for me is local support. If you need to wait 2-4 weeks for things to come from China... Ahem like a effin 7mm pneumatic fitting for JGAurora Bowden tubes...

Find out who near you has what, the ability to borrow a more experienced eye - can save kgs of filament of frustration.

Never start with a Delta. They're not beginner friendly in any way shape or form.

penright · Jan 23, 2019

I think I want the Creality Ender 3 Pro.
My question is where to buy it. One lesson learn, which I am glad before I pulled the trigger, there is www.creality3d.shop who claims to be the official site and they are not. Then there is www.creality3donline.com which claims to be the factory direct store. Are they?

From Amazon, there are Comgrow about $279, CCTree about $259, and Official Creality 3D Ender (are they?) about $259. Are they different printers, after double checking that they are all "PRO"? The Amazon ones are all prime so there are no shipping costs.

Starting to look like which printer may be easy compared to where to buy :lol_hitti

PCMusicGuy · Jan 23, 2019

I would either buy through Amazon or Ebay. I got my CR-10S from Ebay directly from Creality. Came from their warehouse in Kentucky.

Maybe look at the SainSmart Ender 3 on Amazon.

Gerald O · Jan 23, 2019

I've got the Creality CR-10. The large size means you won't outgrow it as easily. It can be easily upgraded to the 10S dual z-axis stepper later - son gave me the upgrade kit for christmas, but I really haven't tried anything yet that needs it. It's supposed to help with accuracy.
Lots of upgrades can actually be made by the printer itself.

BoilermakerFan · Jan 23, 2019

penright said:
I think I want the Creality Ender 3 Pro.
My question is where to buy it. One lesson learn, which I am glad before I pulled the trigger, there is www.creality3d.shop who claims to be the official site and they are not. Then there is www.creality3donline.com which claims to be the factory direct store. Are they?

From Amazon, there are Comgrow about $279, CCTree about $259, and Official Creality 3D Ender (are they?) about $259. Are they different printers, after double checking that they are all "PRO"? The Amazon ones are all prime so there are no shipping costs.

Starting to look like which printer may be easy compared to where to buy

I can't speak from personal experience with any of those, but 56safari bought the Comgrow Ender 5 off Amazon. He received it quickly and it's working great for him.

I found these two US based sites:

Tiny Machines 3D was from an affiliate link off YT in one of the guys I follow, but I can't remember which one.

https://tiny-machines-3d.myshopify.com/products/ender-3-pro-3d-printer

Tiny Machines is waiting for their E3Pro units to arrive, but they do inspect them when they arrive. They don't have the E5 listed at all...

3D Printers Online is based out of AZ and they give you the option to select the USA warehouse for the Ender 3 Pro:

https://www.3dprintersonlinestore.com/creality-ender3pro-3d-printer

I haven't researched the BBB or Googled about either one yet. You can contact 3D printers online and see if they have the E3Pro in stock in the US.

3DPO has the Ender 5 listed, but they only offer the standard version instead of the version with the BL Touch and TMC drivers so I'm not ordering from them.

nitroracer20 · Jan 23, 2019

Arnold - been in the market on and off for a long while. This Creality Ender 3 Pro sounds like i cant go wrong. What else does one need aside from extrusion material?

Is printing as intuitive as syncing up with a cad software? Would sketchup work? Does the printer come with its own cad software? Are All electronics included - plug and play? - aside from assembly obviously?

BoilermakerFan · Jan 23, 2019

After you buy and assemble the printer, you'll need filament to print with.

PLA is the easiest to use. MatterHackers, Hatchbox, and eSun are 3 very popular and good brands.

The files for the printer are "sliced" then exported as Gcode. You can use Fusion360 for free to design your own objects, save them as STL files, then open the STLs in a slicer program.

Cura and Slic3r are the two most free slicers. Simplify3D is one that is very powerful but you have to buy it.

After the object is "sliced" you export the Gcode to a SD card or print directly over USB/WiFi to the printer.

When you buy a printer they usually include a SD card with manuals, a slicer program, and files pre-loaded to print for test prints.

I'd recommend heading to Thingiverse for things to print to get some experience with the printer and slicer before diving in too deep into Fusion360.

AndyL · Jan 23, 2019

Buy spare nozzles and fans with the machine.

You will kill off nozzles semi regularly. They're less than a dollar each - just order a handfull in a variety of sizes

The fans don't last long, about a month for me when they're on 24/7, print cooling can actually be less depending on material / rpm it's running at. Save yourself.the headache and just have spares for the hot end and part cooling fans.

Pla is easy to print but it's also biodegradable, PETG is the intermediate level, it's what your coke/Pepsi bottle is made from. I actually find it easier than pla now for whatever reason, just dialed in I guess.

penright · Jan 24, 2019

According to this ad, it has been upgraded to a MK-10 extruder. How can you tell?
[Edit] I found this article. https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting..._extruder_on_ender_3/?st=JQL9ECYI&sh=c881f296
Is it right?
[/Edit]
[Edit1]
I am throwing this thread into the mix. It helped me understand terminology. It also showed that I need to google 3D printer terminology.
https://www.matterhackers.com/artic...-on-an-essential-component-of-your-3d-printer
[/Edit1]

The price is great and shipped from the US.
No reviews, the seller has little over 9,000 positives and almost 150 negatives.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Creality-E...2950c77:g:DooAAOSwZ~dcPTOb:rk:7:pf:0&LH_BIN=1

Thoughts?

While I am asking, so far my research says that brands are not as important for PLA filament. I found this un-branded 1K for about $15.50
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Creality-E...0X220X250mm-Lot/273662285995?var=573152012054

This seller does not have 200 reviews. I guess it worth the risk for one and see what happens. My issue, besides having not bought a printer yet, is if there are issues, how would I know if it was me or the filament. I guess I could with the little bit that comes with the kit to compare with.

BoilermakerFan · Jan 24, 2019

The extruder on the E3Pro is plastic. The extruder is just the part that is bolted on to the stepper motor. Upgrading it is easy. Creality has an all metal upgrade for about $20. You can also 3D print upgrade extruders. There is another all metal upgrade that I ran across for $35. I'll have to find it again... The top of the line extruder upgrade is a BondTech, but it's over $100.

I believe the hot end is the MK10 style which take a little bigger nozzle (6mm vs 5mm thread). The MicroSwiss hot end is a bolt on upgrade.

I would agree that in general the brand of PLA filament doesn't matter, but you can run into issues with the really inexpensive stuff's quality control. Their OD may vary more and their winding on the spool may not be as neat. You might have an issue where the filament binds on the spool so it can't unwind. The three brands I recommend are very high quality filament. It just helps rule out any potential for trouble when you are first starting out.

After you get experience and are confident with the printer, then you can use cheaper material or more expensive material depending on what you plan to do with the end part. Joel, the 3D Printing Nerd, tested the strength of various brands with a shelf bracket he designed. Polyalchemy Elixir is a modified PLA that has really cool visual properties, but it was also very strong and didn't shatter when it failed like most PLAs he tested. There are also heat treatable PLAs that can be annealed after the parts are finished to make them stronger and more temperature resistant, but they do change dimensions slightly after annealing.

I have two spools of no name generic PLA that came off eBay. They were purchased by the previous owner of my GeeeTech i3 ProB printer. They run fine on my Prusa and in my son's infill test science fair experiment, we saw no difference in their strength over the name brands. The results with the one generic sample were so high that I even reprinted 3 other infill patterns in the same generic material to see if that generic was somehow stronger than the others. It wasn't, but it also wasn't any weaker.

Regarding the link to the eBay seller of the E3Pro... in general, the printer should be fine and print well after assembly. The advantage of buying from Amazon over eBay is the ease of returning it and getting a refund if for reason you have issues or get a rare lemon. Generally the same can be said for the US dealers selling online, but that's not always the case.

If it was my money and I was trying to stay on the tightest budget I could, but get the best print quality/ease of use I could for my dollar... I would buy the Creality or other all metal extruder upgrade for $20-$35, upgrade the bowden tube to Capricorn, add the MicroSwiss hotend, add a genuine BL Touch auto bed level upgrade, and then try a few different build surface upgrades.

Personally, I'm still waffling between the Ender 3 Pro, the Ender 5 with upgraded TMC steppers/BL touch, and the CR-10 Mini. The CR-10 Mini was the way I was going to go, but the bed is an odd size so there aren't many upgrade options available. I also discovered that there is a model of the RailCore II with a 250mm square bed that I can build at a 600mm Z height. That model RailCore will fit into my enclosure, so now I'm back to putting the Ender 3 Pro or Ender 5 at the top of my purchase list and building my RailCore sooner than later. I wouldn't upgrade my Ender nearly as much as originally planned, but save the funds to be put towards the RailCore.

penright · Jan 24, 2019

Just pulled the trigger on the 3Pro

BoilermakerFan · Jan 24, 2019

Nice! Off eBay or Amazon?

penright · Jan 24, 2019

BoilermakerFan said:
Nice! Off eBay or Amazon?

I did eBay for $231 from usbkits. It is shipped out of NJ.

We will see, either :lol_hitti

or

I got a question, but it's not related to purchasing, so I jump to your other thread.

danscobra6 · Jan 30, 2019

penright said:
I think I want the Creality Ender 3 Pro.
My question is where to buy it. One lesson learn, which I am glad before I pulled the trigger, there is www.creality3d.shop who claims to be the official site and they are not. Then there is www.creality3donline.com which claims to be the factory direct store. Are they?

www.creality3d.shop is where I ordered the ender pro on the 27th and it will be here today the 30th. On sale for 229.00 and at checkout it took another 10.00 off.
Watched a bunch of videos and for the price it's hard to beat. I did email the
company first to make sure it shipped from US.
Cura and Fusion 360 already loaded.

niget2002 · Jan 30, 2019

I guess I'm a little late on this...

I started with a Geeetech Aluminum. What I learned is to read a lot of reviews on whichever one you choose... and then assume that anything/everything that someone else had to replace, you will too. All of the smooth rods on my printer were slightly bent or over/under sized. I ended up buying a full set of hardened steel rods off of amazon and replaced all of them. I also ended up replacing the main control board with an aftermarket one.

What I like about the prusa clones is that they're all interchangeable to some extent. My printer is but a shadow of what it looked like when I originally bought/built it. It took me over a month to get my first successful print and another month or two to get repeatable useable prints. Once I had it up and stable, I haven't messed with the hardware since (with the exception of replacing nozzles).

If yours doesn't have a web-based gui to control it, take a look at octoprint. I run octoprint on a pi 3. From my desk, I can turn on the printer (using a wifi outlet), upload a print, and start it (assuming PLA is already hooked up).

I use Simplify3d for my slicer. I started off using the others, but always seemed to have to bounce back and forth between both cura and slic3r depending on what I was trying to slice. I tried simplify3d and haven't used anything else since. I will be honest, I hear some of the latest versions of the others have come a long way and are much better. I just have a very good workflow now and I stick with what I know.

Hopefully you have some type of CAD/CAM background... I recently switched from Inventor to Fusion360.

What's really fun... once you get the 3d printer dialed in... take a look at the MPCNC by V1engineering. Then you can 3d print your own CNC machine:

https://www.v1engineering.com

stioc · Jan 31, 2019

So I figure penright put in the hard work of researching the current options so Ender Pro 3 is the way to go in that price range? Speaking of which I see several EPro3s on Amazon some with an extra widget etc. @penright got a link for which exact one you ordered, that's a good price.

penright · Jan 31, 2019

stioc said:
So I figure penright put in the hard work of researching the current options so Ender Pro 3 is the way to go in that price range? Speaking of which I see several EPro3s on Amazon some with an extra widget etc. @penright got a link for which exact one you ordered, that's a good price.

Forgive me, i am on my phone.
For me price, i went with the pro, but the mini 10 was close. I might get a mini once get better with 3D printing in general.

stioc · Feb 1, 2019

@penright, thanks. I see a few different variations of ender Pro on Amazon, some seem to have a few add ons? are those the way to go? Otherwise this seems to be the official one?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BR3F9N6/?tag=atomicindus08-20

BoilermakerFan · Feb 2, 2019

I'll weigh in on the E3Pro and the CR10 Mini...

I really thought I was set on the Mini... BUT it has a couple of negatives... First is the odd sized bed. Nobody makes an upgrade. The closest I found was a 200mm x 300mm. Nobody has build surfaces for it, at least not the good ones so you have to buy a 300x300 and cut it down. The second strike is that it's still a 12V system so that big bed will take a lot longer to heat up.

I was choosing the Mini because it would fit in my cabinet. But then I realized the RailCore II 250ZL can be crossed with the 300ZLT to make a 250x250x600mm build volume and the base dimensions of the 250ZL fit in my cabinet. So the Mini is out.

Better off going with a regular CR10S if you want bigger build volume or the E3Pro for lower cost.

The Ender5 is a great middle ground but closer in cost to the CR10S.

The E3Pro has a couple options, both can be added later. First is the BL Touch for bed tramming. Second are the TMC stepper drivers for much quieter operation. I'd grab a standard E3Pro or the one with the BL Touch to start if you find one in stock. Then add the better stepper drivers later.

I'm going to get an Ender 5 to get used to the CoreXY style and use it to print the parts for my RailCore. The other one I just came across is the Ortur-4. I'm looking for reviews, but it has some intriguing features for the price. Not sure I want to be a Guinea pig for it though.

penright · Feb 2, 2019

stioc said:
@penright, thanks. I see a few different variations of ender Pro on Amazon, some seem to have a few add ons? are those the way to go? Otherwise this seems to be the official one?

Sorry, it took so long to get back and thanks @BoilermakerFan jump in any time.

@stoic I hear and saw your confusion. Not sure if I can answer with expert knowledge, all I can say is what I did. First, you need to familiarise yourself with the difference between the 3 and the 3 Pro. I will say they point out different options and it makes the item look difference. For example the hot end, some ads say upgraded to a mk something. Well, it's standard on the 3 Pro and it just the difference in nozzle threads.

I wasn't worried about shipping time, so I went with the best seller reviews for the cheapest price.

This is the one I bought https://www.ebay.com/itm/Creality-Ender-3-Pro-DIY-3D-Printer-Upgraded-MK-10-Extruder-Metal-Frame-Large/132918873207?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

As of this, morning it is still $232 free shipping. It shipped from NJ. One other note, it shipps requiring a signture. For me, I have to have UPS hold it at the CC since there was no one at home to sign for it. I noticed it and made the change, it did not change the delivery date.

I have some unboxing pictures that I will post later. I debating if that fits in this thread, I wanted to keep it small and relevant to buying. I can make an argument about a review as going either way. If I do put it in the Everything 3D, I will come back and edit this post with the link.

[edit]
I did post in the Everything 3D thread. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7697187&postcount=364
[/edit]

stioc · Feb 3, 2019

Thanks for the detailed info guys, much appreciated!

sonali31 · Feb 4, 2019

Before you select the correct 3D printer for your needs there are some questions you need to answer:
1. What is your budget?
2. What size prints do you need to make?
3. What materials do you need to print?
4. Do you have a specific filament size you need to work with? (eg. already have 3mm filament printers)
5. What is the intended purpose of these prints?
wish to be in building, configuring, upgrading and maintaining the printer?

6. How important is real time customer service via telephone/chat/on-site, etc?

How to choose a 3D printer

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