Ender 3 Pro

I think I got my Ender 3 Pro about a week before you. How are you liking yours? I've done a lot of messing about with mine, and feel I can generally get good prints, but it has taken some tinkering around. I think some of my "improvements" took me in the wrong direction. What slicer program are you using? I went with Cura, there are tons of settings to play with and figure out. Youtube has helped.

Rick

I'm loving the Ender 3 Pro, before getting it, I was prepared for hours and hours of tuning to get anything look anywhere close to decent, but it all went really smoothly, I mostly followed youtube videos from Makers Muse, Teaching Tech and watched some Filament Friday videos. As for the slicer I went with Cura, it's free, and at least for now, works great for me, I'm just starting to explore it and add plug-ins and stuff like that. I haven't set up OctoPrint yet, as for the other upgrades, one I really recommend is the filament guide, I used one that I found on Thingiverse, but designed my own adjustable one with bearings later.

I am currently printing a drag chain for the X gantry, and will do one for the bed as well and after that I will do the screen cover. I'm still playing around with the printer and doing some small upgrades, it's in my bedroom so I'm currently only printing with PLA but my plan is when I have it all set up so I can remotely monitor it, to make an enclosure for it and put into my garage, so I can print other stuff like PET-G and so on. Also as time goes on, I will probably be switching to an all metal hot end and upgrade the PTFE tube. Here are some of the prints I've done, some are from Thingiverse, some I designed myself, like the car suspension and the screwdrivers:

This is something I wanted to a long time, to convert my gas powered RC car to an electric, I printed out new wheels as well as motor mounts and some other components, it turned out pretty good.

This is just a screwdriver handle with few magnets on the inside to hold the metal part, I put a screw on cap on it to keep all of the things inside, I love love this thing.

One thing I also love a lot is the vase mode or in Cura, spiral contour for printing vases and planters. I printed out some for my mom and grandma, they love them!

I love the printer, it really opens up another world of possibilities for me when it comes to making stuff. How do you like yours for now? Also, have you tried any other materials except PLA, or PLA that glows in the dark, wood PLA? I'm curious to try out some new materials, and am also looking at options to upgrade it to a direct drive so I can print flexible materials.

Milos

It seems too fast and/or too cold the extrusion.

I have a question on the extruder. The plastic white tube )I never remember the technical name) driving the filament inside the extruder, should be fist inside until it touch the nozzle ?

Enrico

Thanks!

Most of those were before I figured out the hot end and tube. But yes, the tube needs to be tight against the nozzle and not move. The best way I've found to deal with it is in this youtube video,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tCxO17XZtw

He explains it better than I could, and after I did what he suggests it helped a lot.

Rick

Those are nice clean parts.

DAB

Very clean parts.

Now I want one.

DAB

Thanks!

Mine's an Ender 3 Pro. They take some tinkering with, and you can dump more than the purchase price back into them in upgrades and such, but it's been fun.

Rick

Thank you, Rick, good to know!

I have the same mechanism and extrude in my Mars by Elegoo but I had to change the nozzle, and when I opened the extruder I pulled out the tube but I forgot to check before where it should fit.

Enrico

What did you do to stop clogging? I got a new metallic blue PLA,  and it worked and printed great, but it started clogging for me, every single time, changed the nozzle, but that didn't help.

Those prints look really really good!

When I did the fix from that youtube video I posted it helped clear it up, haven't had a clog since. It isolates the ptfe tube in the hot end, so it can't pull back during retraction. From what I've seen and experienced the ptfe tube pulls back up into the hot end and causes a blob of plastic to collect that gunks up the filament path. Two ways it happens, is either the ptfe tube wasn't installed tight enough against the top of the nozzle, or even if it is, the movement of the ptfe tube in the connector at the top of the hot end causes it to be able to back out some. Does that make sense? The clog isn't actually in the nozzle, but right above it.

Rick

When I did the fix from that youtube video I posted it helped clear it up, haven't had a clog since. It isolates the ptfe tube in the hot end, so it can't pull back during retraction. From what I've seen and experienced the ptfe tube pulls back up into the hot end and causes a blob of plastic to collect that gunks up the filament path. Two ways it happens, is either the ptfe tube wasn't installed tight enough against the top of the nozzle, or even if it is, the movement of the ptfe tube in the connector at the top of the hot end causes it to be able to back out some. Does that make sense? The clog isn't actually in the nozzle, but right above it.

Rick

I understand what you mean, I'll give it a try, thanks.