Ender 3 V2 - Upgrades?

[THRobinson]

Hey guys, looking to get my first 3D printer and decided on the Creality Ender 3 V2, mostly because a big community of users for it so if need help, parts, upgrades... probably easier to get. I wanted auto-levelling but seems to almost double the price.

Anyways... about $103 off on Amazon.ca + $60 off coupon. Time to pull the trigger.

Anything I should know? Watch out for? and are there any upgrades I should look at getting before I assemble it? Obviously, not 3D printed upgrades, but I see a lot of upgrade kits on Amazon, not sure if needed or not... but if there's something that's a must and saves me time dismantling the machine after assembled, I'd rather install it from the start.

Thanks.

 

[danmitch1]

I personally think you should use it and learn it as a stock machine before adding "upgrades".
But then of course, upgrades like tool holders or wire chains or anything that doesnt directly effect printing I would do for practice.

 

[sswilson]

The only upgrade I'd consider "essential" (assuming you're getting a V2 with upgraded motherboard and not an original E3) would be a bltouch.

Even if you do decide to grab an auto-leveling upgrade, I'll second danmitch1's recommendation to play with the printer at stock for a while before installing it. Learning how to get a good manual level (including proper Z height) will help you understand what's going on if you start to lose adhesion after you've installed the auto-leveller.

Other than that.... yeah, I burnt through a couple of rolls worth of filament on mods (tool holders, drawers, etc...) for my V1 E3 which went a long way towards helping me learn the machine.

(This was my journey down the rabbit hole.... ).

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Just finished ordering myself an Ender 3X 3D printer and I'm wondering if anybody has any tips for me before it arrives (probably sometime in the new year I'd guess). The "X" version got the nod because it already comes with a glass printing surface (my understanding is that this is pretty much...

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[Izerous]

With the Aquila (a clone) so far I have done the following.

3dtouch (bltouch clone): I love this thing I never buy another printer without doing this

PEI plates: not sold on this for pla yet, heats up faster prints come off easier than glass but pla doesn't always want to bind and tempted to use glue stick in some cases still like I was with the glass

Capricorn tubing: honestly leave the tubing stock up til you run into an issue then replace it at that point.

Aluminum bed knobs: they were shiny and red and came in a kit of other parts. Completely unnecessary.

Stiffer bed springs with flat spots: I think these do accompany the auto leveling sensor nicely. Others will suggest solid spacers instead.

Z-axis lead screw that comes apart: I like this saved me from some damage messing with the auto leveling. Prevents the nozzle from crashing into the bed with any force.

Custom firmware: a must to go with auto leveling

Octoprint: if you have a spare rPi laying around this is actually a really nice thing. Being able to send prints wordlessly from cura with messing with the SD card sure is nice

BMG: a lot of little artifacts I was seeing with the stock extruder and with the aluminum single gear I picked up went away with the BMG and problems with filament getting chewed on retration heavy models went away.

The printed cable chains fell apart but pieces of it were useful. The mounted toolbox was handy but started getting in the way. Slot cover i thought were silly but wow a lot of crud starts to build up in the channels and I'll likely print a set.


I keep finding weak points etc and then it breaks and I address the single problem and get as much printing as I can out of it till it fails again then I fix that weak point.

Runout sensor caused a short circuit so I'm not using it.

Not sure what the hot end fan is like compared to the Aquila but mine was loud. Swapping the fan makes it so much more manageable. It was the same for the mainboard fan.

 

[THRobinson]

@Izerous wow, that looks like a lot of upgrades... basically the whole computer.

The one I am looking at seems to come with a few upgrades already, and when you order I think you get the choice of filament or wifi module, for which I'll take the filament... I have a laptop setup specifically for the 3018 CNC I bought last summer, I'll assume it's good enough to send data to the printer with via USB....

... can it do that? I know there's wifi, and sdcards... can I connect direct to a laptop to send the info like I do with the 3018-CNC?

I have an older but still really decent desktop I'm using for Fusion360. I figured design on here, send the files to the laptop via a shared network drive.

 

[Izerous]

With octoprint you click a print button right in cure and it starts the printer even more streamlined than what your talking about. But pretty sure you can install it on anything doesn't need to be a raspberrypi just a pre-made image already exists making it really easy.

The Aquila is nearly identical to the ender 3 v2 yet it was $100 cheaper. I have spent about $140 on most things excluding filament. So an ender 3 v2 in similar state would be ~$140 on top of the msrp

 

[THRobinson]

@Izerous well, not sure how much is upgraded but the reseller for the Ender3 claims to have upgraded a few minor parts already. It was $103 off and a $60 coupon, and choice of Wifi module or 1kg roll of filament. Seemed like a good deal (I hope) so pulled the trigger.

LINK

 

[Izerous]

The Aquila shipped was less than that. The Capricorn tubing is under $20 value and probably doesn't come pre-installed based on the photos. The extra nozzles are supper cheap like a few dollars.

Everything else in the listing I'm pretty sure is standard for the V2 and isn't actually an upgrade based on buying a v2 from anywhere else..

 

[THRobinson]

Well... after a few days of play I will say, I disagree with the entire notion of using it stock to learn first before upgrades. The springs really suck on this, and I've spent so much time levelling it between test prints because it seems to work for a print then it's out of level again.

The rest, no real issues yet... definitely needs springs.

Real issue I have though is that the filament doesn't feed through properly and can't see where it's wrong. Filament misses the hole by 1-2mm. I cut on an angle but doesn't matter given the distance it misses by. I use an xacto blade to gently push down the filament until it hits the hole. Seems fine after that but, some alignment issues for sure. If the material were thicker, I'd drill in a bit, add a 45' taper aiming into the hole like there should be to guide the filament in.

Other issue I'm starting a new thread for.

 

[Izerous]

Even the stock Aquila springs i didn't need to mess with it every other print. However I started with them really tight. If you start with them on the loose side you will be more prone to problems.

Your extruder alignment issue just sounds strange, you can adjust the drive gear easily enough but depending on how the extruder is not sure how easy it would be to adjust the idler pulley height.