Monday 11 May 2020

Ender 3 Pro Beginners Guide - Part 1: Assembly, Extruder Calibration & Heat Tower Test

Ender 3 pro is listed as one of the best budget printers, so i decided to buy one. I could not find a one place that writes everything about what to do, what to tune so i decided to put everything i learned in one place. Let's start: 


Assembly. 

Since Ender3 is half assembled, you need to assemble the parts first. If you assemble your printer the way it should be (not to tight, not too lose ....), you will have less quality problems with your prints.This is the most important part!!!. I do suggest the youtube video for assembly: 




I advise you to buy at least 3 things with your printer and install them from the first day: 
  • TL smoothers for X and Y axis (below video shows how to install it, and how it improves your prints, if you are using the standart creality control board)

  • Metal extruder (since original plastic one errodes with time)

  • A good quality filament (not a black one, you would use many for printable upgrades, and a colorful one looks good on the printer)
  • Capricorn PTFE Tubing (if you will not upgrade to direct-drive immediatly - wtf is direct drive?)

Extruder Calibration 

Before printing anything, i would suggest you to tune your extruder first.
  • Over-extruding, under extruding adjust: Does your printer extrudes the exact lenght you tell it to. 
  • Flow-rate adjust: Walls of your prints are at right thickness ? 
 It is really easy  to configure, i suggest you to watch the video below: 



Cura Slicer Settings and Test Print 

You could now start printing. I use Cura slicing software. Slicer settings change your print quality too much and for a starter it is not easy to understand all those configurations. First use standart cura settings and print a calibration cube. And then use one of Cheps Creality compatible profiles and see the result again:

https://www.chepclub.com/cura-profiles.html  Chep's web page - downloadable profiles.

Chep's profile uses 6mm retraction, it is for people that uses Ender3 with standart bowden setup. If you upgrade to direct-drive or already enabled linear-advance, you need to change the retraction settings. 

In another part i will try to gather information about slicer settings. But to increase quality and stability, ender 3 needs printable upgrades first. 

Heat Tower Test
Each brand and filament type has different characteristics and you need to find the right temperature. and your thermistor might show the temperature a bit wrong. So print a heat-tower and understand the best temperature. For me it was 210C for PLA. 

Cura - go to Extensions, post processing,Modify G-Code
Add Script ChangeAtZ 5.1.1 for each layer to change temperature


Change Height value and Change Extruder 1 Temp to the values below

Height = 1.6
Temp: 235

Height = 11.6
Temp: 230

Height = 21.6
Temp: 225

Height = 31.6
Temp: 220

Height = 41.6
Temp: 215

Height = 51.6
Temp: 210

Height = 61.6
Temp = 205

Height = 71.6
Temp: 200

Height 81.6
Temp: 195

You could watch the heat-tower part of teaching tech video: 
https://youtu.be/3yIebnVjADM?t=266

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