3D print upgrades for ender 3 pro

The Best Creality Ender 3/Pro Upgrades and Mods – Creality 3D

The Ender 3 is an amazing 3D printer. For the money, it's hard to find one that will give you better prints right out of the box. However, it's far from perfect.

In this guide, I'll show you the top must-have upgrades and mods for the Ender 3 and Ender 3 Pro—both 3D-printable and purchased upgrades/mods.

A note on this guide:

In researching this guide, I found a lot of others with massive lists containing every upgrade and mod under the sun—unfortunately, many of those upgrades are pointless wastes of time and money. So, in this guide, I'll cut through the BS and cover the most impactful items that will give you better prints while also improving your overall printing experience.

• Upgrades and mods to 3D print
  
• Silent mainboard v1.1.5
• MeanWell power supply (PSU) upgrade
• Glass print bed
• BLTouch auto-leveling sensor
• LED strip
• Bed springs
• Metal feeder assembly
• Stepper motor dampers
• Direct Drive Extruder
• Firmware upgrade

Below are the top 3D-printable Ender 3 mods and upgrades you can perform. Tons of other printable mods exist, but this is the core list that will give you the best bang for your print time.

Board fan guard

Before you print anything else, print this mod. The location of the mainboard fan is directly beneath the build plate, meaning bits of filament can fall in and damage the fan or board. The model is available on Thingiverse.

Filament guide

This filament guide holds the filament away from the feeder, allowing for a more consistent feed rate and less skipping. It snaps directly into the side of the upper support.

Cable chain

This cable chain is a must-have for preventing dangerous cable snags when the bed moves along the Y-axis.

Display PCB cover

This simple screen cover protects your Ender 3 display's PCB (printed circuit board) from damage.

Bowden tube fitting fix

If your Bowden tube has popped out of place or if you're having print quality issues, you might want to print these pressure fitting shims that will prevent your Bowden tubes from shifting or popping out during printing.

Beeper silencer

You've probably noticed how loud the Ender 3 beeps when navigating the menu interface. This beep can level villages and knock satellites out of orbit. This 10-minute print mutes the beep quite a bit, getting rid of that annoyance and protecting our countrysides and space assets.

 If you're using a 3D printer enclosure, I recommend printing these mods using ABS or PETG filament; ambient enclosure temperatures can cause PLA to warp and deform over time.

There are two main sources of noise on your printer: 1) fans, and 2) the drivers (chips) that run your stepper motors. The "whirring" noise you associate with printing is caused by the cheap stepper motor drivers used on the stock Ender 3 board.

Enter the Creality Silent Mainboard (v1.1.5). This board directly replaces your existing Ender 3 mainboard, upgrading your printer to the silent TMC2208 stepper motor drivers. This is the biggest "sound" upgrade you can make. It reduces your printer's noise from approximately 48dB to 36dB, with the remaining sound coming from the Ender 3's fans (which can also be upgraded to quieter fans).

If I had to choose a single upgrade from this guide (other than OctoPrint), it would be this one. Combined with the MeanWell PSU upgrade also mentioned in this guide, I often forget my printer is running since it now generates so little noise.

Of course, in addition to decreasing noise, this board and its upgraded stepper motor drivers improve the quality of your prints.

There are several reasons to upgrade your Ender 3 to a MeanWell PSU including noise, safety, and even reducing bed-leveling issues.

Noise

Compared to the stock PSU whose fan runs continuously, the MeanWell PSU only runs when it needs to—usually less than 20% of the time. This means a much quieter printer, especially when paired with the silent board upgrade. This reason alone made the upgrade worth it to me. I work in the same room as my printer, so noise is a huge issue.

Safety

MeanWell PSUs use higher quality components than the cheap stock unit, providing cleaner power with fewer of the electrical spikes and sags that could pose a safety hazard.

Reduce auto-bed-leveling issues

If you're using an auto-leveling sensor such as the BLTouch or EZABL, the MeanWell PSU's consistent, clean power reduces issues related to power ripples and grounding.

Form factor

The MeanWell PSU is noticeably thinner than the stock unit, which is handy if you're using an enclosure and need to relocate it.

Which one to buy (and where)

The MeanWell LRS-3500-25 PSU is the correct 24V MeanWell power supply for the Ender 3, and this upgrade takes about 20 minutes to perform, excluding PSU housing print time.

There are tons of different build plate surfaces out there: metal, magnetic, BuildTak, painter's tape, and tons more. But after printing for many years on several different printers, I've always had the best experience with glass.

Glass beds are supremely flat, fixing the all-too-common "warped Ender 3 bed" issue that many of us experience. Glass beds also save on prep time, are easy to clean, and offer effortless print removal with a semi-glossy print finish.

Choosing a bed

I wrote a comprehensive guide to 3D printing on a glass bed if you'd like to dive into the details. tl;dr; Choose a thin borosilicate glass bed, and adhere it directly to the existing build plate using small binder clips. This 235x235mm glass bed is the one I recommend for the Ender 3.

Bed leveling the Ender series 3D printers is key to the perfect first layer and overall print quality. Unfortunately, it's also one of the most annoying "chores" in 3D printing. Just when things are going well, you realize you forgot to relevel your bed and things look terrible.

But what if a simple sensor, installed in just 45 minutes, could automatically level your bed for you every time? That's what BLTouch does.

How BLTouch works

BLTouch uses a small probe to build a mesh of points at the beginning of each print to determine exactly how unlevel (or warped) your bed is, and in which directions. It then takes that into account when performing a print, altering each GCODE instruction as needed to account for the imperfect build surface.

The process

Here's a breakdown of what goes into this upgrade:

Hardware: The probe mounts next to your print head assembly and connects to the existing Ender 3 mainboard.

Software: A slight firmware modification is needed to allow BLTouch to work.

Slicer/OctoPrint: You'll need to insert a few lines into your slicer (and OctoPrint, if equipped) so that each GCODE file you generate will include some BLTouch instructions at the top.

This Instructables guide does a good job of explaining how to do this on the CR-10, though the process is similar for the Ender 3.

Which one to buy (and where)

I recommend this BLTouch sensor (V3.1 or newer) since older versions won't work with newer Marlin firmware.

Proper print illumination allows you to identify issues with your prints early—it's also nice to be able to see what's happening clearly. There are tons of methods for adding an LED strip to your 3D printer. I prefer one that places the light source as high as possible in order to illuminate the entire print bed, not just the current print area.

I wrote a comprehensive guide on adding an LED strip to your 3D printer, featuring the Ender 3 specifically. Using the method outlined there, you can even power your LED strip directly from your Ender 3 by regulating the voltage using this buck converter in conjunction with this XT60 splitter cable.

Your bed springs might seem like an insignificant part of your 3D printer, but they're actually quite important to bed leveling and stability.

The stock Ender 3 bed springs are terrible and can lead to print issues and frequent bed leveling. These issues are largely caused by:

The cheap metal used to manufacture the springs, and

The rounded design of the springs themselves

In fact, if you compare the stock and upgraded springs side by side, you can see only the upgraded ones feature a flat surface on the top and bottom. This leads to less shifting compared to the stock springs.

Upgraded Ender 3 springs take minutes to install and mean less frequent bed leveling between prints. This upgrade costs about $10, making it one of the least expensive Ender 3 upgrades out there.

The plastic metal feeder assembly on the Ender 3 leaves something to be desired, and improper tension can even cause feeder gear skips, leaving gaps in the layers of your print. Installing an all-metal feeder assembly such as this one will add durability and stability to your printer.

Yet another noise mod—adding these dampers to your X- and Y-axis stepper motors decreases the noise they generate by 5-10dB. This is a simple, inexpensive mod with a measurable noise reduction impact.

• All-metal case, sturdy and wearable
• Direct extruding, more precise feed-in
• Compatible with more filament. such as TPU, PLA, ABS, etc
• Easy to install and use
• Suitable for Ender-3 Series
• Output voltage: 24V

• Get the latest Firmware

SOURCE: howchoo.com

Ender 3 Upgrades: The 11 Best Free & Paid Upgrades 2022

If you’re just getting started with 3D printers, Creality’s Ender 3 series is well worth a look, and has plenty of upgrades available — both paid and open-source — so there’s a way to modify your 3D printer to suit any budget.

3D printer modification may seem like a daunting task for beginners, but it’s much simpler than many would assume. There are plenty of upgrades for the Ender 3 available and many of them are far less expensive than you’d think — and there are many you can print yourself at home.

Starting small is sensible, especially as a first-time modifier. Using smaller, simpler modifications not only ease you in, but also give you the freedom to expand as you get more comfortable with upgrading your Ender 3.

The Creality Ender 3 – Why is it a Good Choice for Upgrades?