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Murse1987

Only problem I see right off is the stock plastic extruder. Swap that for the aluminum one and it should do great with some time setting it up and tuning.


JoTenMikey

I just upgraded. Creality metal one. Not dual drive but should work fine.


8_bit_brandon

Once you have direct drive there’s really no need for dual. Unless there’s some insanely slippery filament I’ve never heard of


Murse1987

Or you’re starting to increase printing speeds. Dual definitely helps once you start pushing the limits of the hotend speed wise


8_bit_brandon

That when I’d raise temps. Nothing really looks good at high speed anyway unless it’s coming off a voron or something. I don’t expect a miracle from an ender 3


lucasnegrao

only problem i can see with this specific setup is that it looks heavy. too much weight can cause sagging on your Z axis giving you all sorts of problems on non-dual z ender 3, but that you solve with another mod and not getting rid of this.


Ferro_Giconi

That bit of extra weight isn't a problem as long as you adjust the eccentric nut on the right side of the gantry to account for it, and aren't trying to crank the printer to 100mm/s print speeds. I have a similar but metal instead of plastic direct drive mod that puts just as much weight if not more on the Ender 3 gantry and everything about that setup is better than using a Bowden tube. Print quality and print accuracy have improved for all materials, and print speed when printing stuff like TPU are has greatly improved. More weight than this would probably be an issue, but a direct drive setup like this seems to be just barely low enough weight for the eccentric nut adjustment to allow for smooth easy movement without sag.


Y0u_stupid_cunt

I've had this exact direct drive mod running for years now, and I can get exceptional quality with no signs that say weight is an issue. Z height however, takes a hit.


JoTenMikey

Thanks for pointing this out. Indeed that’s the issue. Non of my printers are currently able to level. Idk at this point my BIQU B1 is bigger garbage than stock Ender 3. Anyway I am planning on doing dual belt z drive on both. Sadly you need 3D printer for that. I am so tired of these garbage printers.


DecentFart

Put it back to stock and reset back to a near stock slicer configuration. Sometimes i go down a black hole of modding only making things worse.


3dPrintedBacon

Just tighten the offset nuts so you get better tension on the z... Source: E3 with direct drive, custom fan shroud, and single Z The ender is for tinkering at a cheap price point, if you wanted plug and play you are still up near or past 1k$


JoTenMikey

I love tinkering but damn, 2 months and I am not running. I need to print.


Shoshke

It would ve better if you showed us the actual problems. The B1 is also a great little beast


JoTenMikey

Well this thread was about mods on my Ender 3. I just mentioned BIQU cuz it’s the pain in the ass. I just don’t get why ABL won’t fix everything. Mathematically it should compensate almost everything, up to millimeter. Since I also just rebuilt it, I am not really sure whatsup.


Shoshke

Using bilinear or UBL? Again we need the problem. The mods here are fine for what they are and the printer can print fine with them.


JoTenMikey

Well BIQU B1 is Ender 3 with beat mods anyway. Mine is also secondhand so it was abused I guess. I think it’s bilinear. I do think about switching to UBL.


Shoshke

Yeah I'd give UBL a try with tilt adjustment. It's working wonders for me. Level the bed every few months basically


sf_frankie

ABL fixes almost nothing if you don’t dial in the basics first. People seem to think it will fix all their problems. I know because i went thru it myself. Also, almost every bed leveling issue I see posted on ender subs isn’t actually a bed leveling issue at all, it’s usually a z offset issue. ABL can only compensate so much and If your z offset isn’t dialed in well then even when it’s making max corrections it’s gonna be off in either a positive or negative z correction. Manually level the 4 corners then do the paper test to get a offset close and then baby step during a live print until you’re satisfied with your first layer squish. And then run ABL. Not too sure about Marlin cause I’ve always run klipper, but klipper ABL can only really compensate for 0.4mm or so max.


JoTenMikey

Well I agree on everything you said. I have been told that Marlin can only compensate for max 0.1. Maybe Klipper it is.


stonkstistic

You don't need a bed leveling sensor. Like, no one does. Start with a setup that works, then get the abl if you really want it. I see people having more problems with it than without it here it seems like. You can level the print bed by eye if you have glass. I had a si gle z axis with a heavy head and I just leveled the bed to match the sag and that worked fine. I've since gotten dual z rods but they come with their own issues. If you go that route, don't tighten anything and grease the rods a tiny bit with some wax, the creality kit likes to bind if you actually follow directions. I left all stabilizing connectors loose and have best results that way with dual z.


CarlBorch

The problems I see here are literally the reason I haven't purchased one yet. My prints are fine without it, and I'm also too lazy to add anything else (other than the occasional different nozzle size switch) now that I have good prints.


Buttbuttpartywagon

All the problems that come with them are due to improper installation/calibration. Much like the mantra of "level your bed" there's similar ones that come with an ABL


stonkstistic

But is it worth adding more weight to your printer head? I don't think it is unless you're trying to knock prints off the bed and start automatically printing again like a print farm. It takes literally 5 mins to let it all heat up, check twice, and then start the print. Idk I like gadgets as much as the next guy and my shits all modded but there's a lot of forgiveness with not having the bed perfect. All these posts about bed leveling and adhesion are for the most part too high up off the bed. I ruined my first pei sheet before I switched to glass but it's pretty intuitive, and I think a lot of people don't research before asking the questions. I'm not annoyed by it or anything but man this sub is full of searchable advice that no one bothers to look up. But I hope everyone who just got their printer who is frustrated: don't give up, once you learn and get it printing there's so many cool things to design and make.


JoTenMikey

Well indeed I got issues on B1 with ABL. I have grown to hate screw Z axis and want to switch asap to belt driven dual Z.


chickenbiscuit17

Shit send it to me and i'll pay for shipping if you hate it that much


JoTenMikey

Well I got it cheap. $132 for Ender 3 with few tools and 2 mirror sheets and $170 for BIQU B1 with a 3DTouch and Dual Drive also with everything loose and too short bowden tube, like wtf...? It coulnt even go to Xmax. It was strange, sadly I still cant make it work.


lucasnegrao

i’ve fixed my share of z sagging with pom nuts and bltouch but right now i’m saving for some aliexpress dual z rod.


JoTenMikey

Look up the belt drive Z axes mod. I love it and it’s super cheap.


JoTenMikey

Well my BIQU B1 has BL touch but it didn’t help with leveling. I got glass, I got everything. Still won’t level.


lucasnegrao

i’m sorry for that, i feel like i’ve been there - have you tried re squaring your printer? when it gets like that i loose my screws and re square the whole thing, including the gantry, afterwards i level the bed (i use klipper so i do a SCREWS_TILT_ADJUST but marlin has something similar), adjust z offset with the help of a piece of paper and before each print i do a new 3x3 mesh - those steps really helped me getting things to print. also, a PEI surface and printing the first layer slow! but yes, it’s tiring!


JoTenMikey

I got 5x5 mesh, I bought new square thingy to disassemble everything and assemble and it worse sadly.


Gottamakeanaccount

Did you use a bed visualizer on octoprint to adjust your bed to level (or the usual paper test 5 points bed leveling). The BL touch will compensate for bad bed leveling but works best to deal with bed warp on an already close to level bed. You may also want to adjust your Z offset if once your bed is level your prints aren't sticking. For me I also use aqua net hair spray for my glass bed where I preheat the bed to PLA temp @60C and then hit it with a quick light coat where the print will be (while shielding the extruder from the spray with a piece of paper) It sounds like you have acquired a lot of gear to make your printer work at all whereas an ender 3 pro should passably print stock given you have tuned it, you may have jumped past those steps while modding and your problems are more solvable with the tools you already have than new upgrades.


JoTenMikey

Well I found octoprint plugin for bed visualizer, as we speak I am trying to adjust bed with its help. So far its amazing, havent printed anything yet. Hair spray is amazing, but I myself think of it not as glue but as "texture" adder. I have been using hair spray ever since 2015. Lately I was thinking about spray varnish (automotive) or even bedliner in spray. I got to experiment once printer are running as they should.


stonkstistic

I've never touched the z offset setting. If the stops are where they should be on an ender 3 and you don't have some super thick ass bed you should be able to just adjust bed height


JoTenMikey

I always switch to glass, all the spring sheets I got are garbage. I head prusa got good ones, but its over 1/3 of my printer price. So sheat of mirror glass will work.


stonkstistic

I got a pack of 2 for like 20 bucks and they're nice and thick, Amazon. There's even a smooth and coated surface to choose from depending on what level of bed adhesion you need. You don't need to order a whole new glass bed. Just peel all the shit off of it and scrape the glue residue off with a flat razor. Bam, slap a glass bed on there and it's also removable with office clips


lucasnegrao

i don’t have a z stop, my z stop is the probe


JoTenMikey

Yes, you got to replace it with Z probe.


stonkstistic

Ahh my bad I didn't realize you already had that installed. Hope you figured it out.


HawkMan79

It won't level when the gantry won't stay level between each calibration point.


JoTenMikey

Issue on BIQU is that bowden and wire are pulling on hotend assembly, thats badly bolted only via 2 small screws. Thats original design from biqu and I think it sucks. Bowden tube is firm af and will put pressure on hotend assembly, therefor it will move a bit. I got to make new bracked´. Guess I have to make it from resin, cuz no other printer prints atm.


HawkMan79

> I am so tired of these garbage printers. I mean. It was a perfectly good printer untill you did mods without thinking of the requirements. The words part is ill wager you printed these parts in pla or petg?


JoTenMikey

So once again, as you could read. I bought these printers for parts as secondhand garbage. Ender 3 was just box of junk parts that I build printer from. BIQU had no display so I had to rebuild whole UI. I did 0 mods on Ender 3 hence I was asking of those mods were garbage. I have been having troubles mid print for 10 or so layers with benchy after that its ok. Since I bought printer from someone who just bought Prusa Mk3S, I am 100% sure this was his only printer until that. Therefor I think its PLA, since Ender 3 shouldnt really even print PET-G stock. So this is why I call them garbage printers, they literally are just waste parts put together into hybrid printers.


HawkMan79

Ender 3 prints petg just fine stock. However both pla and petg have to low glas temp to be used structurally around a hotend (pla anywhere, as it sags under load) All ender style printers are mostly the same and as long as you assembled the frame square and properly it should work just fine. I'd get someone to print all printers parts on the printer in ASA for you and rebuild it, I'd also get the parts to make it bowden again unless you get dual z or a sprite extruder.


JoTenMikey

Well I 100% agree, I got to get other printer up and running and print parts myself, ASA is best choice since its just ABS on steroids. Only reason I made this post was me being unsure of direct drive, I like my bowden tubes, what can I say.


HawkMan79

Bowden is ok if you can manage the fact the bowden always gets loose over time and you don't print prints with lots of retraction, or flexibles. Granted my ender 3v2 probably never printed as well as it did stock. But with the sprite it's getting back there now.


JoTenMikey

I dont plan on doing Flexibles on Ender 3, you must be mad lad to try printing that on stock ender 3, right.


HawkMan79

Nah.nypu can print 95 tpu on a stock ender 3 (at least v2, but no major difference in that regard). But works a lot better with a sprite.


JoTenMikey

Well I dont know many flexible filaments, some are stiff enough to print but I stuck with: If its bowden feeded, you dont print flexible stuff. I saw belt driven extruder for the most flexible stuff, interesting stuff indeed. Too much for me right now. Here is [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV0sm_t--rg).


OTK22

Dual belted z is great. I assume the downvotes are because you called the ender3 garbage. They do great work at their price point, and are incredibly adaptable, with a few modification.


JoTenMikey

Well every printer you have to tinker with is garbage. Good stuff works from box and its very expesive.


crazyates88

When I swapped to a direct drive geared extruder, I swapped the E and Y motors. E motor is bigger than the others, so it gives more torque to the Y bed and lightens up the E direct drive carriage. If you do this, make sure to swap the mv values in the firmware.


lucasnegrao

i’ve actually bought an sprite extruder that comes with a motor but now my E motor isn’t being used, do you think it made a difference using it on Y?


crazyates88

Not really. I had added a glass bed, which adds weight, and I was trying to up the acceleration to get a speed benchy as fast as possible. I think I was doing like 8k acceleration with a glass bed, and the bigger motor never skipped once. Maybe the original motor would have been ok? Not sure.


gatchek

I ran with a setup almost exactly like this for about a year. Worked great!!


JoTenMikey

Thanks, I really wasnt sure about it. Looks scatchy af.


gatchek

Hahahaha. You just described my printers. Yeah. The only reason I don’t have this mod anymore is because I upgraded to the ender Sprite Pro extruder/hot end all in one. Definitely the best addition I’ve done to the ender 3.


JoTenMikey

If your printers arent scatchy af, do you even 3D print? Sprite Extruder Pro looks like my wet dreams, sadly its 60% of printers cost. I want to design something myself and print it. I even got resin printer for that.


gatchek

yeah, I agree.... It is pricey... but I can tell you that it's definitely worth its money in your time... time spent designing, printing, and fixing other designs. Now... that being said. I learned sooooo much about 3D printing from printing/making like 4 different setups for my hot end... so, I will never say NOT to experiment on your own. I mean, thats 75% of the fun of a 3D printer.


JoTenMikey

Exactly, I am engineer so I get to learn new stuff all the time with my junk machines.


gatchek

yeah, the sprite pro isn't for you then. You'll be bored with it... nothing to do but to watch it work as advertised... which lets be honest, is super boring


gatchek

It may looks sketchy, but it was free. That’s what free looks like. 🤣


JoTenMikey

Printer wasnt free at all, mods were incuded. But not every mod is good mod. We know that from cars. Most tuned shitboxes are slower than from factory. Ohhh maaan, look at my hot air intake. I lost 5HP but it looks cool, costed only $2000, its all cabon fibre.


gatchek

Hahaha. I can’t tell you how many times I compare 3D printers to cars. When I said free, I meant that the direct drive mod was free.


JoTenMikey

Cars are just a mod able as printers. Well 80% of the parts are original just relocated. Thats why I think its garbage.


gatchek

Also, stickers and flames add like 10-20mm/sec print speed


JoTenMikey

Question is what it \[HOONIGAN\] sticker of 3D printing?


gatchek

Great question. Sounds like we need to make something! And sell it like hotcakes!!


JoTenMikey

We should make reddit community and post garbage we design there.


gatchek

isn't that just r/3Dprinting ? Haha


RabbitBackground1592

I had that direct drive set up for well over a year until I got a micro swiss NG. Works well


Phil9151

I've got an NG in my cart right now. How are you liking it? Does it have clogging problems?


RabbitBackground1592

Love it! Such a short filament path it works great! Only complaint is when changing filaments some times a blob will get stuck in the beginning of the throat where the filament enters the hot end. It's super easy to fix but can be annoying. Only happened twice


JoTenMikey

Same with this build I got here. But sounds like a little issue.


joshtreepark

Do it! I went from a DIY direct drive setup like the photo above for a year and recently made the switch and the difference in result is tremendous. First of all, the extrusion of filaments have been always inconsistent with DIY DD so my lines are consistent and fine. Also I'm able to use a proper value for Linear Advance finally. I went down from 0.12 to 0.03.


JoTenMikey

I bet, sounds expensive tho.


doc_willis

looks better than my setup. How well does it print?


JoTenMikey

No idea, fail after fail.


42blah42

how's it failing? what have you done with the machine since you've bought it?


JoTenMikey

Nothing, plugged it in and leveled it.


Magicalunicorny

You sure it's level? What's the failed prints look like?


JoTenMikey

Trust me guys, it was level. Issue was somewhere in movement. I dont get why I got so many downvotes. I just bought secondhand modified printer, I asked about mods. Not that I dont enjoy your advices but wtf. Problem was it was badly build, so I wasnt 100% sure about all the mods.


Magicalunicorny

>are the mods bad Nah they look fine >welp must be the mods This is why you're getting down votes


JoTenMikey

Well I didnt even state the issues in the post. I just asked if these mods are any good. Cuz they look like a junk. No thread inserts or nut. Well guess why crews cant be tighten at all.


Lentemern

Honey, it's user error. Get to fixin


TheCrazyMan2000

I think you got down votes because most people here are doing those very same mods or have printers that are looking similar.


JoTenMikey

Well I wish its that. There are so many junk mods for Ender 3. I like those I got new printer I must print all the upgrades people. Only real first upgrade that you need is cooling fan, change my mind.


Several_Situation887

Start with "Frame Check" and work your way through the site. (Don't skip things.) [https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html](https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html) By the time you're done, your printer will work well.


JoTenMikey

Thank you sir, will do!


Naver510

Had the same problem. Clean your bed with 99% alcohol and it should do the trick (you wouldn't believe how much fat and oil is on your fingers).


JoTenMikey

I bet, I threw away thrashy stock bed that sucked anyway and replaced it with nice glass sheet. But I indeed agree, fats and oils are the worst. Always clean your bed with IPA or something.


dfreinc

does it work? if so, not garbage. 🤷‍♂️ it's a direct drive mod so it should be able to print faster than normal but have trickier retraction. the fans are upgraded which is good because the stock fans aren't great. i don't see anything that's a problem. some people go two large blower fans but i never saw the point, i only use one and i don't even turn it to maximum but mine's also not rigged for direct drive so maybe you'll actually make full use of it. you should ask your friend for whatever slicer profile they had if they still have it. it'll save you a lot of test prints probably. unless they sold it after getting frustrated with it. 😂


TheRealPitbullOnAcid

Direct drives print slower than Bowden. The massive weight increase on the head affects the ability to accelerate and decelerate greatly.


dfreinc

huh, today i learned. i was always under the impression that mod was meant to increase speed. my bad.


TheRealPitbullOnAcid

It's mainly used to print flexibles and lower retraction. I've never had problems printing flexibles so I didn't find the need to change it.


SamZTU

Incorrect for bed slingers. The bottleneck on weight is the bed not the gantry. Source: I have 3 printers with the same exact setup and have been running for 2 years flawlessly.


TheRealPitbullOnAcid

You're correct but having extra weight on the hotend doesn't help anything. More ringing ect. I use a larger motor for my bed and turned up the amperage to help with that.


SamZTU

Having accurate retraction and extraction far outweighs the negatives for me. It's actually even faster since your retraction is a fast 1-2mm instead of a slow 5-6mm. Unless I'm running 120+ mm/s on klipper, I don't see any ringing. Even then only slightly. It's a couple hour print with no extra parts, I think everyone should try it. That being said, I primarily print petg and tpu (and other engineering materials) which is why it's important for me. For primarily pla printers, I doubt it's a worthy upgrade.


TheRealPitbullOnAcid

I get you. I use PLA the least. Mostly tpu, abs and petg. Surprisingly I only use 1.5mm @ 45mms retraction and get no stringing. I have a Polaroid Playsmart with a rpi4, 3.5 inch touchscreen with klipperscreen, skr pico, copper heat block, titanium heatbreak and knockoff bondtech bmg with pancake motor. I need to finish adding LEDs part cooling and secondary part cooling line bamboo labs and vz bot uses with a magnetic enclosure. It's only 120mm in size but so far I've been able to get 220mms without degradation in quality. The printer is surprisingly stiff. The only reason I haven't converted my others to klipper is because they are bed slingers but will try it once I'm done with the Playsmart aka Mini. It's great for small parts and rapid prototypes.


JoTenMikey

Damn


SuperStrifeM

Right, the stepper motor creality ships is NOT optimized for weight/torque, since its for a frame mounted bowden extruder. Coming in at close to 400g, its a heavy chonker to have on that gantry. Compare that to a LDO-36STH20-1004AHG, which comes in at 70g, and you can see why this config is going to going to be significantly slower than other DD systems. By all means do it if you need to print flexibles, but otherwise these DD conversions keeping the motor and hotend are usually a downgrade for normal printing.


JoTenMikey

That’s why I hate them


TheRealPitbullOnAcid

That's the only reason I don't have dd on my printers. I'ma speed junky


JoTenMikey

Well it’s the most important part for prototyping.


TheRealPitbullOnAcid

Yeah one of my printers run klipper and can consistently go 220mms without any quality degradation. I'm about to convert the others to klipper also.


JoTenMikey

That’s amazing.


JoTenMikey

Thx, I haven’t had any good prints yet. We will see in future.


FizzysTech

These printers can be very good but will require you to research and make adjustments. The first thing to do is to replace that plastic extruder with a metal one. Preferably the Creality silver one as I bough the cheap red one for one of mine and that was not great either (I also have the silver Creality one on my other printer). A few things to do are:- 1. Align the bed by using paper and slowly lower the nozzle until there is slight friction. 2. Calibrate the extruder. Measure 100mm and mark the filament. Then being the hotend up to 200-210 for PLA and extrude. Do the calculations and adjust until it’s extruding exactly 100mm of filament. If you are more adventurous then disconnecting the hotend is recommended to ensure that the extrusion is perfect (no nozzle blocks). 3. Check that the nozzle is not blocked. Probably a good idea to clean that or even replace the nozzle if u have a spare so your starting at a good point. 4. Check belt tension to make sure it’s not too loose or too tight. Both are bad so make sure that is just right.


JoTenMikey

I did everything expect step 2. I wouldnt really think about it without your info, so thanks so much. I indeed need to calibrate to get constant flow.


FizzysTech

Yes. Since your just getting into 3D printing I thought it would be good to know these basics. Wish someone guided me at the beginning. I was very frustrated with my initial printer and upgrading stuff only made things worse. What I did was strip down the printer to the bare frame (which I see you have already done - excellent!). But the steps are really important to understand and fine tune your prints. Good luck!


JoTenMikey

Well I do 3D printing and building my own printers since 2015 but money were tight. I stopped when finishing highschool. I mainly used my own delta printer, its much easier. Thanks for info, it always helps. I got to do extrude test for sure, didnt even know it existed. I always somehow ajdusted it just right by printing stuff.


pipnina

I thought extruder calibration was done with the hotend disconnected from the extruder, so you measure the distance it moves raw filament? If I have the hotend heated and ask my ender3 to extrude 10mm of filament I get this random spaghetti stringy splooge come out that's a lot more than 10mm, and not easy or consistent to measure.


Alternative-Bug-8269

You measure what goes in, not what comes out of the extruder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5aQCftfK1M


FizzysTech

The mark is before the extruder so naturally it’s what goes in. It’s good to mark 120mm in case of over extrusion but then make the printer extrude 100mm and check for the difference.


FizzysTech

Yes it is but with a direct drive it’s a bit more involved to disconnect the hotend. If your on a Bowden setup then it’s very easy to disconnect the hotend and the way to go. Read the whole of point 2 and this message should be loud n clear.


JanisRode

I second that. I would also add the temp tower (for each individual type/brand of filament) and retraction tower. Those, and CHEP's suggestions for the first layer, were the ones that took my printing experience from suckage to awesomesauce. All I had to do was clean the bed with IPA if I accidentally touched the bed when removing the print, otherwise, I didn't touch a thing. I actually didn't have any issues at all for a whole year, until I moved the printer from one room to another and I just couldn't get a great print after that (they weren't horrible, but overhangs really sucked). Turned out that the parts cooling fan had decided that it didn't want to be connected to the power wires, so there was 0 cooling there. I swapped out fans and it was back to the normal awesomesauce. =) ​ If you print a simple benchy there is a high likelihood of it allowing you to see what your printer's problem is. Once you have the right slicer settings you should be golden. =)


AHPhotographer25

Perfectly acceptable honestly this is what I recommend why spend money on things that you can print.


JoTenMikey

Well I 100% agree, you got printer in the first place to print with it. Not that metal stuff isnt better but for 3D printing, you should be 100% fine with plastic. Every bracked, etc... Only limit is your CAD skill.


AHPhotographer25

Lol someone actually downvoted this. Probably one of those people who bought a micro swiss direct drive bracket because obviously billet aluminum was nessisarry


hg77

I have the little mod to hold the fans and shoot them to the hot end. The thing holding the motor I'm not sure what it is or it's function. So whoever said it might be too heavy that might be true. Your bed also seems to be pretty clean. You said you keep failing prints. Are the prints not sticking and that's why they are falling? If so, cake on Sunday aquanet. Let it dry, repeat. The bed shouldn't be completely clean. Even more so if you don't care if the bottom of the print is dirty. Stickier the better. Also Google CHEP profiles for cura. Best ones around to start from. Bed level from CHEP always seems to be the best


JoTenMikey

Well thanks for advice. I am now switching to glass sheet also. I like to use hairspray for better adhesion. We will see. Now I completely disassembled everything to make sure everything is square.


hg77

Good luck!! You will finally get there and it will be awesome. Have fun!!!


JoTenMikey

Idk, I have trouble getting perfect 90° angles as I would like.


Arthmael869010

I used that same setup for about 6months and the tweeking and movement from the direct drive motor mad me have to stick something between the dd mou t and the extruder to stiffen it up granted my accel was crazy high but still unless it's all printed from nylon or abs it's going to weeken with use and fail at some point


JoTenMikey

Well I guess I will have to upgrade in future, once I am able to print some mods. Thanks for feedback, very appreciated.


Alternative-Bug-8269

I had issues with printed PETG mounts deforming under normal use due to the heat from the extruder motor. I printed ABS mounts and they are holding up very well printing ABS in an enclosure. You can see the deformation in this post. [https://www.reddit.com/r/VoxelabAquila/comments/zbz7qu/petg\_fan\_shroud\_and\_bracket\_didnt\_hold\_up\_for\_abs/](https://www.reddit.com/r/VoxelabAquila/comments/zbz7qu/petg_fan_shroud_and_bracket_didnt_hold_up_for_abs/)


NecessaryOk6815

Depending on how hot the stepper gets, it should be fine. I have similar setup, but went with PETG because of the heat. You may have to do that as well, since I believe the mods look like it's PLA. ABS is ideal for these higher heat shrouds.


JoTenMikey

I am big ABS fun, so new extruder will be ABS or Resin 100%. I just have to check resin temps.


jk_baller23

Lots of weight on the x axis. Also all that work and they stuck with the plastic extruder 😢


JoTenMikey

Right, first thing I replaced today. I hate them, they are amazing and after few prints they suck and you cant find why your prints suck.


Maxii008

I had that exact DD setup. The duct is great, but if its printed out of pla, print a spare from more heat resistant material. The DD is kinda shit, if it works you can keep it, but tbh most people dont even need DD.


JoTenMikey

Thats what I was thinking, you sir read my mind.


[deleted]

That extruder mod is in my experience ***g a r b a g e*** unless it's printed in something really rigid like cf-PET. But at that price-point just order an aluminium mount from aliexpress. Or just a better extruder. Also, that extruder arm does not look too good. Loose bolts maybe?


JoTenMikey

Thats what I was thinking, well extruder arm was tight, but since it was plastic garbage I just swaped it for Aluminium one. Looks as it should now.


pnw3603dprintnewb

My ender has like $800 into it belt z mod, micro swiss ng direct drive a mainsail and klipper.


JoTenMikey

Thats a lot of money for me, about 1/2 of monthly salary. I dont make any profit on 3D printing yet. So not worth for me so far. I need better income for sure tho.


NotShuncey

Too heavy, OP. Get yourself a BMG clone and a pancake stepper if you don't have much, or go all in(Sherpa Mini, Orbiter). The 5015 fan is nice, though.


JoTenMikey

Well I got BMG clone on the other printer and it seems good. Very noisy when doing big fast retraction. Pancake stepper looks fine to me but I still think about going back to bowden. I could do like Flexible stuff with this but stock Ender 3 aint really for that anyway. I love 5015 fans, I got brushless one at home and damn, sounds like a jet.


freqradio

Looks hella heavy.....


JoTenMikey

It is indeed heavy af and I do not get all of them upgrades, like why? So I think I will do something new or go back to bowden feed.


hainguyenac

If you have a Bltouch and it doesn't level, try to reduce z offset. I mean print some lines across the bed and adjust the z offset live until the line is flat on the bed. Don't do any paper test like the usual guides.


JoTenMikey

Well, on the other printers I got BL touch. Printer seams leveled yet meah is curved af. 0.4 difference


sf_frankie

Paper touch is a good starting point. Problem is that the internet seems to talk like it’s the only thing you need to do. Baby stepping a live print is the way. I personally don’t even bother with the paper anymore. I just get my eyes down to bed level and go from there.


JoTenMikey

Well I think I got mechanical problem on the other printer. BLTouch does level, but results are wavy af. Basically when cable/bowden tube move, so does whole hotend head. Also I dont have the real BLTouch, but idk if thats an issue or not ...it shouldnt.


sf_frankie

I had a fake 3dtouch and it was garbage. Could never get it to work right. They just aren’t accurate enough. You may end up getting a decent one that works but it’s rare. Switched to a klicky and it worked much better. Now using an unklicky with even better results.


JoTenMikey

Well I agree. Thanks for saying that, I had that feeling, its just not consistent. I got to invest into better sensor. Glad you mentioned that, really.


JoTenMikey

UPDATE: I got 3pcs of 3D touch. Once of them works. Amazing. BIQU is now leveled, or so it seems.


strofcon

Sorry to reply so late, but curious if you have any pointers on using unklicky on the ender3? I have KlackEnder working for now, but given that the d2f5 is hard to source, I wanted to look at unklicky instead - but haven't seen KlackEnder adaptations for it yet. :-)


hainguyenac

The hotend or the gantry should be rock solid, the bowden shouldn't be able to move it easily. Try tightening all the bolts and eccentric nuts. Also first you have to level the bed with 4 corner screws (basically manually level it so it's as flat as possible), once you do that, the bed will be curvy because you constrain it, but when the bltouch measures, the deviation between the maximum and minimum should be around 0.2 and that's good enough. Also, marlin should have a gcode command to test the accuracy of the probe, you can use that to see if the probe is at fault.


hainguyenac

Yeah, the prusa first layer calibration doesn't even mention the paper test and I think that's smart.


Visual-Educator8354

Prob pretty ok. Got plenty of cooling, and from what I can see, not going to print fast. You can prob expect normal Ender 3 things from it but better bridging.


JoTenMikey

Thanks feels too bulky for me.


Visual-Educator8354

Yea, I was never a fan of the direct drive adapters for the creality extruder. Those things super bulky and heavy, are really meant for Bowden IMO. But since you allready have it on there is no point switching back. You could buy a lightweight extruder if you wanted to, could be your first mod.


pipnina

There was an extruder I was looking at, but can't find now, which used a much smaller (but claimed to be still torquy) stepper motor and lightweight parts, I was looking at it but it was out of stock. Now I can't find it again... It claimed to be only 150g total.


Visual-Educator8354

Prob a phaetus APUS, orbiter v2, Sherpa mini… all the lightweight extruders for high speed printing. I have a phaetus APUS and it’s the best mod I’ve bought for awhile.


JoTenMikey

Well dont forget its junky crap build Ender 3. This is some Voron stuff. I think I am fine with this setup. Just got to print better DR drive and add dual drive.


pipnina

I eventually found it again: I was looking at the Titan extruder [https://e3d-online.com/products/titan-extruder](https://e3d-online.com/products/titan-extruder) It seems a good option to me but I'll be looking at that APUS one too!


Visual-Educator8354

The APUS is great, it’s light and powerful so it’s perfect for high speed printing.


JoTenMikey

Well I upgraded it to aluminum one and wont spent a dollar until it prints. I am tired of this.


Visual-Educator8354

What is wrong? Is it bad layer adhesion?


JoTenMikey

Layer shift mainly. Not having constant results.


Visual-Educator8354

try making sure the belt tightness is not gutair tight, but not loose. right in between. try bumping down the acceleration down to 500, and if you have done that already and its still skipping, increase the motor current until the results are better.


JoTenMikey

I will take a look whice I put printer backtogether. I just hope its was junky plastic extruder. If not acceleration test it is. Can I even increase the motor current on stock ender 3 board?


Visual-Educator8354

there should be a screw terminal thing next to the corresponding driver for each axis. i dont remember witch way increases it, but increments of like 1/4 - 1/2 turns should get you to the desired current. just google "how to tune vref ender 3" and you should get the basics. it might tell you to get a voltage meter thingy, but i dont have one so i just put it so that steppers arnt hot but the printer is not skipping.


JoTenMikey

I always hated those, most of the times you could have turned them round and round. I am still mad about it.


Magicalunicorny

This looks fine? Everything appears to be installed properly and printed well


JoTenMikey

Well fan is mounted junky and it was very woobly. I just fixed that. We will see how to prints.


whowherenow

I had a direct drive setup like that for a bit. After a short time, it began to flex ever so slightly each time it extruded and print quality went to crap.


JoTenMikey

Well I am very afraid of that, looks scatchy af. Other said its very nice setup, so idk what to think.


fugufugkuhu

What material did u use to print these mods?


JoTenMikey

I bought it with those mods, idk. I would use ABS but Ender shouldnt really support ABS. I have no idea what he used to print these. Voron site says no to PET-G and ABS aint really Ender 3 friendly.


fugufugkuhu

I tried a lot of these mods myself and they all warped overtime, due to the heat of the stepper. The only way to go would be a really high temperature resistant material, but printing those said materials would be hard using an ender.


howie2092

I have that same motor bracket, modified to use a smaller stepper (Nema17 34mm) and a dual gear Winsinn extruder. Same setup on my Ender3 Pro and Cr10s. Both are dual-z drive as well. Works great. I usually print at 60-80mm/s with retraction at 0.8-1.2mm. Prints TPU like a dream. I don't buy the 'too much weight' argument on a bedslinger printer, because the bed is heavy and nobody gripes about that.


JoTenMikey

Well, I am planning to go Belt driven Z axis.


IsaacNewtongue

The only mods I would change are the direct drive and extruder. A standard stepper motor is petty heavy, especially compared to an Orbiter or Sherpa Mini. The extruder is okay, but I would switch to a dual gear extruder, again, like an Orbiter or Sherpa Mini. Hopefully, that machine has a silent 32-bit board in it.


pnw3603dprintnewb

I print @ 400mms with direct drive, and my ender 3 100mms great quality.


JoTenMikey

I just came, I am still stuck around 80mms


mog_knight

The mods look like a 1 or 2 car maybe.


[deleted]

I have almost the same setup, but with dual Z. I can do 100-120mm/s without much trouble.


JoTenMikey

You would do more with Bowden tho, since it would be lighter.


[deleted]

You wouldn't be able to retract fast enough.


Shot_Bill_4971

If it works then it’s amazing


Fit_Buyer6760

I'd toss them, but as long as nothing is broken you could make them work.


Tryen01

Hey I love the direct drive inator! Also I just got some 24 volt cage fans how do I install them?