Would absolutely love some calibration guides for this! I have one and it works pretty well, but I'd like to get it more precise.

I have the ender 3V2, purchased off Amazon. The manual bed levelling was so frustrating I bought a CR touch probe and updated the firmware for that. Just that single upgrade had me running fairly well. I also ended up installing a second z axis drive because of a slight sag noticed (maybe 50 microns) when using the entire width of the build plate. Runs perfect now, no problems at all.

Honestly fixing and upgrading my Aquila X2 (Ender 3 V2 clone) has been a valuable experience since I now really know the machine inside and out. It may not be as nice as the Prusa but I know myself and a lot of others wouldn't have been able to afford to enter the hobby without the Ender and it's clones. :)

When I received my Ender 3 Pro Christmas 2019 I had absolutely no experience with or knowledge of 3d printers. It took about an hour to put it together but it seemed to me to work great right from the start. Bed leveling didn't bother me since I didn't know any better anyway. I love to tinker with stuff so I couldn't resist making upgrades and now its a lot different from the original but I like it a lot.

I would love an update video on how it's working for you now and your settings. I'm glad you bought this printer because I bought the same one on Prime day. They do make their own Auto bed leveling tool which was fairly cheap

I’d love to see your Cura settings specifically for the AR’s. Also tips and tricks once you get more and more experienced with the ender 3.

Late 2020, picked up my first printer which is an ender 3 pro refurbished from ebay. It was 140$ shipped so I took the plunge and its been chugging along well. Recently picked up a "customer return" Voxelab Aquila for 80$ shipped also from eBay. Hopefully its as good as the ender has been. Great video Tim.

I got the the Anycubic Vyper when it came out about a year ago. its very similar to the ender3. at about $250-$400 depending one where you buy it. Its by far my favorite printer. It has alllllll of the features you complained about, dual Z screws, auto leveling, gcode accepts pauses and changes and the rest. Its ease of use amazed me from day one.

Yes please to everything! I want to get into 3d printing but I'm not a computer person.

definitely interested in the calibration. i also have an ender 3 pro and have never calibrated steps per mm on the z axis.

I've owned an ender 3 since late 2018, and have since changed just about everything other than the frame and motors. direct drive extruder, microswiss hotend, skr mini e3 motherboard running marlin, touchscreen display, auto bed level, hero me cooling system, textured PEI magnetic build plate, and about a million random printed accessories and upgrades. while it seems like a lot, it would be very easy to buy an ender 3 and add some of these upgrades right off the bat, and this will give you the same great print quality and reliability a prusa for LasS MooNey. Although admittedly, it is a whole lot more convinient to build a printer that comes with these upgrades from the start.

Definitely would like to see a calibration video. Thanks Hoffman

Thank you for doing this - I found it very timely and informative and look forward to more testing, firmware upgrade, etc. As you learn more, it'll be interesting to see how you feel about it going forward.

Thank you, this is what I have

I got one and since then it's become the standard. It prints as good as the $5,000 printer from when I worked at a lab years back, just needs to be babied. It would be awesome if the prusa 3 was the standard, but at that price point it's not going to happen. What I mean by standard is it's what you can count on when people say they have a 3D printer. Like how when you say you have a paper printer, I assume it can handle an 8.5x11 sheet in black and color. Maybe it can do some other different paper sizes, but maybe not. If you design things for the 3D printing community and want them to get around, you need to design it with the capabilities of the ender 3 in mind. It's standard.

I have an Ender 3 Pro, technically it’s a 1.5 with the 4.2.2 main board, the $99 MicroCenter thing, and an Ender 3 Pro V2 with an added BLTouch off Amazon that was 3x that. The little $99 thing rocks. The V2 with a BLTouch is better but that plain Pro cranks, though it’s super basic. Swap our the firmware, problem is you’ll likely need a new board, display or both. It’s definitely a DIY style printer.

IMHO the best upgrade for these is direct drive extruders, bltouch, and a magnetic bed. Everything else is nice to have. Dual Z's aren't necessary but can help a little. On the larger Creality machines I think dual z is a must. If you're splurging, throw a bigtreetech board in it with trinamic stepper drivers. Some of the best features in klipper are pressure advance, resonance compensation, lots of bed leveling options, and z_tilt (auto level x-gantry). There's a ton of aftermarket models/support for these printers and with a bit of work moding and tuning your profiles, can print just as well if not better than a Prusa...

Thanks for getting a Ender. Like you said, you have a make and model of printer that you like and it works well for you, and you still chose to get a Ender just because it’s a popular budget alternative. I have a Ender, but I haven’t taken the time to dial it in and get good with it. I’m very interested in future content on this machine as you learn about it.

This is the printer I have I never experienced the manual leveling too much because I used the blue touch addon

Thanks for the videos and support you provide!

Micro Center recently had a sale on the Ender 3 Pro for $99 for new customers.

Thank you. This is the information I've been looking for. Please follow up on your use of the the Ender 3

I was legit looking into getting into the 3D print scene, and looking at grabbing one of these to do it. Glad I came across this video

Thank you for this video and helping the ender 3 users. Upgrades that will put the ender 3 up to better quality print is a must content.

BL touch can help with leveling problem. Also a prusa guy here. Bought an ender because it's so cheap and it's impressive so far

Cr touch will help a lot with the auto leveling! It takes about 2 mins to probe everything but it’s well worth it! Many great designs thru the ender 3!

Nice, thanks for your thoughts. I'm thinking about getting one of these.

This is why Hoffman is awesome! He is willing to take the time to learn and test the printer most of use use even though he uses printers way above my pay grade. The ender3 V1 is a solid printer for the money, tuning 100% necessary and your first 20 prints will be upgrades for the printer its self but then you will have a machine that can last years constantly printing. You hit the nail on the head when it comes to bed leveling, I have a custom file that I use for bed leveling. Its 9 20mm squares with a 7 line skirt. the skirt lets you get the rough adjustments done then you see if the 9 squares all stick right to the bed.

I use an ender 3 v1, with a glass bed. It's fantastic. I've printed 2 of your lowers, using CHEP'S extra fast Cura profile. I can print a lower in about 13 hours. Getting a glass bed will give you a 100 percent flat surface and makes leveling easy

I just ordered the ender 3 V2 neo which comes 95% assembled has auto leveling and a magnetic spring metal build plates should be here in a couple days so I'm excited to get started as my last printer was junk and had endless first layer adhesion issues along with the standard chasing my tail trying to level the bed manually with a sheet of paper which I will probably use to get close on this machine and then allow the auto leveling function for the fine tuning

i run an Ender 3 V2 completely stock, glad to see your test prints looking like mine, somewhat good but not perfectly smooth, it works but most other FDM prints i see online have much smoother surfaces.

I’m curious to know what your go-to printer is? I’m guessing you’ve mentioned or shown that in the past but I’m relatively new to the channel. I wish other similar channels would focus more on the details of the actual printing. I absolutely LOVE Print Shoot Repeat’s channel and videos but it would rock if he would give us some more insight into the actual creation and the issues and solutions to the common pitfalls. Anyway thanks for you awesome vids @Hoffman Tactical! Very much love and appreciate it!

i love the Ender 3! its been a workhorse for me and prints CF-Nylon wonderfully.

The teaching tech git hub calibration page is a life saver.

definitely interested in more vids.

Buying the official glass bed really helped. Super strong adhesion to the bed. The surface is now really straight and the manual leveling while printing is really good. The paper method does not work. It would be nice to see your take on calibrating this little printer. Especially quantifying and fixing things like underextrusion, etc.

You should get a BL or CR touch for bed leveling. You can find them on Amazon for $40. It’s a simple add on that will level the bed for you. I also use an all metal hot end (micro Swiss) and an all metal extruder. Those along with a hardened nozzle, and a home built enclosure, I print Carbon Fiber Nylon all day very accurately for Automotive parts. So for just over $100 in add on’s the Ender 3 became a very capable awesome printer. Good luck with yours! And thanks for the videos. Once you get the new design worked out, I would like to print a full Carbon Fiber Nylon version for my first 3D print build. I have a spare barrel & bolt carrier group waiting.

You should check out the extender kits to give it some more use in your shop you can get the build volume to 400x400x500

Definitely would love to see more videos about your experience and settings on the ender3!!!

I wish I would have spent a bit more on one that could print with stronger material. Also even with a glass plate I can't level it correctly because the bed is slightly warped in the center.

More vids on the Ender please... I've got one, have been trying to get it dialed in, and I think I just need insight from someone who's familiar with 3dp in general

the ender 3 pro and the ender v2 do have the bottom rail kinda fixed (wider), and for the enders i like to do Capricorn tube and fittings, silicone bed bushings, a dual gear extruder (i use the 138 value suggested by microswiss that it copies and dial flow later), a bullseye fan duct (print esun abs+) for easier leveling and better cooling, and then hotend you can go for the dragonfly bms or the slice heat brake. also, upgrading to the tiny machines firmware is a great idea as it is much nicer. passed that most of the upgrades are a good idea to print, and a roller stand/drybox are a better way to store the filament. with those upgrades it adds roughly $80-160 to the printer, and with the pro that ends up at a $350 printer or so that is easily capable of reaching prusa levels of usability. I do prefer the glass bed as it does help the leveling a lot, and if you remove the bed, remove the print, and then replace the bed it can go for quite a while before re leveling as your POM wheels on the bottom track and the top track might need tightening first.

The glass beds sold by Creality are pretty darn flat.

I manually move the nozzle to a corner and lower the x to 0 on top of a paper, to push down the table, and tighten the screw until the paper just slides out. Repeat on all corners until no changes are made. Usually takes 5-10 min. Upgraded springs and screws are mandatory. I'm disappointed that they ship with springs that are too small and slippery knobs.

My creality severely under extrudes. A video on calibration would be very helpful

I got an ended 3 pro earlier this year and it has been a good machine to dip my toes in with, but one of the most frustrating things about it is the pisspore construction of the dang thing. Unfortunately my bed came with a warp in it, so it is an absolute nightmare getting it to level properly.

Ender 3 V2, bed leveling was an absolute pain for me, but I got it working. I just picked up the auto-level upgrade, but haven't installed it yet. And I probably need to upgrade my firmware to the Marlin stuff that CHEP talks about. There's another guy that gets really detailed about it, but I forget his name. I think I saved the video somewhere.

I'd love to see more videos on the c3 v1 It does give great prints, it's a fight and it does take time to get it there You can pause the filament by using the firmware(to change filament n such), I believe it's called the stop function and not pause though You also *HAVE* to upgrade the board to a 64 but board The build quality might seem low, but IMO the cost savings and the easy aftermarket parts you can print or buy, are easier to install I'd be interested to see how you feel about it after some time, as that machine despite seeming cheap, ends up being surprisingly rugged...

Recommend upgrades. Big tree tech skr mini 2.0 with bl touch. Ezr struder from see me cnc. Allows you to print flexible tpu with bowden system. And is all around a good upgrade. Also a pei bed and you will have a damn good printer

Mine took a while to dial in once it was it printed well for about a year. Then it started to break down. One motor here a motor there. Extruded then finally the mother board

Love my Ender 3 pro I only have been printing for 2 years, but I am it is my learning machine and makes some fun prints.

The best thing about prusa printers, at least the MK3 line, is their proven dependability and being able to just hit print and walk away, then always coming back to a successful print. My MK3s has thousands of hours and over 20 miles of printed filament through it. Ive never had to replace or fix a part of the printer. No broken extruders, hot ends, belts, etc. And it still holds +-.0003" tolerances like it did when new. If you're just a hobbyist and don't rely on your printer to make money, an ender is fine. I couldn't justify the $1k on a prusa when all it would be used for it to print random things whenever. But for those running a business, or relying on dependable printers to make money, the MK3 just can't be beat.

Please do a how to calibration video!!

The only thing stock on my ender is the frame and bed. Built plate extruder board all swapped out.

I have the Ender 3v2 and Tim you're right on point about many of the Ender flaws. Firstly you MUST upgrade to the Jyers firmware, it just makes life easier. You mentioned updating the firmware to be difficult but I assure you it's not. Download-put on SD card- restart machine, it literally takes 10 seconds. Second upgrade would be a metal extruder even a cheap amazon knockoff will work fine. Finally either the CR or BL touch is a must with solid bed mounts, again just makes life easier. I would love to see more videos of you working with this machine in the future. Thanks man!

Great content!! I still learn something new every time i watch your channel. As basic as it is. The only problem I have is being a poor. I cannot even afford a basic Ender 3 platform. if I could, I am sure it would be a learning curve but doable. Maybe one day my luck will change, and I can get into 3d printing, so I can save money on my addicting gun habit, that I cannot afford to do either. It suck being old and broke, also looking back on my life, and realising how much of it I pissed away and waisted when I could have done bigger and better things

Yes, do more videos on this printer.

ender 3 pro v2 here... yeah please do more vids on settings and slicer etc... thanks✌🏻

I upgraded my E3Pro to a direct drive. Prints much better and prints TPU now. Also a dual gear extruder. I'm +1 on seeing a calibration video. I've never calibrated mine. Printed a few lowers and other parts.

The Pro and V2 have a double rail that the bed runs on.

Yo if you still have your ender 3, you should do a video on the calculations to calibrate the steps/mm

1. OMG cat lol 2. First thing to i upgraded on my E3pro was the extruder to all metal one. Also the bed springs and knobs were upgraded, these seem to help alot. But the best upgrade IMO was the glass bed. I would like to see a calibration vid on this. PSR has a great one to use as a beginning point.

I added a cheap Chinese auto bed leveler, and updated the fw on mine. I have a all metal hotend, but because PLA+ prints so well on it already I haven't installed it yet. My biggest complaint is the brass extruder sprocket is deceptively easy to wear out, but for my first printer it has been rewarding to use.

on the ender 3 v2 the commands are saved on the sd card, so if you swap sd cards the settings wont save. I didn't know that at the start and got bad prints because of it.

If you can make a video on axis calibration that would be great.

pls do a calibration video

I love my Biqu B1. It's been ol' reliable so far. I've only had one issue with it and from what I've read online it seems to be a pretty common complaint but at least it's an easy fix and that's the side fan being noisy and whiney. It's advertised as a silent printer but apparently the side fan that comes on it is either cheap or they're on it's last leg. I just put up with it until the fan went out completely and started to make a loud sound. I bought a replacement 3 pack from amazon for super cheap, replaced the fan, and I regret not doing it sooner. It's totally silent now. I can actually sleep with it being 10 ft away from me. Manual bed leveling is a pain but I've gotten used to it and feel like I have it down pretty well now. I picked up a BL touch ABL sensor since the B1 is BL touch ready. Haven't bothered to install it yet though. I highly recommend the Biqu B1. It's a great out of the box printer if you don't mind assembling it. I usually print esun PLA+ at 215C, and I could be wrong but I think the B1 has an all metal hotend assembly and can get up to 260C out of the box but don't hold me to that. I'm probably going to do the H2 upgrade on it so I can print CF Nylon at 270C. If I'm not mistaken, I think that's all it needs. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, you need an H2 assembly on the B1 to be able to print CF Nylon?

I bought my Ender 3 Pro recently, like you said software it's a problem but was pretty easy to change. I download custom Marlin version for my board revision thanks to the great community (4.2.2 no silent drivers 32 bits) and uploaded via microSD. I also have direct extruder mount, custom cooling fan ducts for 5015 blower, and drawers, all of the mods printed in ABS-PETG using the printer without spending additional money. I still using Cura Slicer with "CHEP Cura Profiles" without tweaks or anything print everything with a impressive quality.

Bone stock ender 3 can leave a bit to be desired. When I bought mine, I was comparing it to my, (at the time), $1000 Qidi X-pro. After printing a few upgrades like a belt tensioner, fan ducts, etc, adding things like a glass bed, touch probe, motor smoothers, better firmware, I prefer it over the more expensive printer. It has a nice build volume and can be highly customizable. So while being a pain to get tuned and upgraded, once it's ready to go I can say it is a fantastic printer for the money.

The settings are being saved to the SD card, do you have a card in the machine when you save the settings? I found this out the hard way by formatting my card and losing my calibrated steps.

I've been getting it done with my ender. I think for entry level you can't really beat it. It does require some extra work up front to get it going but it is very capable if you put in the work. I have yet to do any kind of e steps calibration and so far my prints have been pretty good. Once the one on my bed is done maybe I'll look in to checking that stuff.

Im all for a calibration videos!

The ender is a good first printer you get to learn about it and upgrade it. If you're deep into printing I would suggest spending more money or building a voron

I’ve been printing with an E3 Pro, seems good so far. I’m thinking about trying to print a handgun so I’ll let you know how that goes.

Just picked mine up too

Where can we reach out to you about ender 3 experiences with your files? I have some questions

On my Ender 5, once I got a glass bed, and the springs upgraded and leveled the bed, I haven’t had to ever re-level it unless I took the glass bed off. I have gone 30+ prints without touching the bed leveling. But yes you have to learn how and calibrate them, once you do personally I have had no issues with PLA/PLA+.

That is like comparing my new R1 to a honda 90. For $100 you don't get the good bits.

I like my own ender 3 v2, but it's had a hell of a learning curve to get it going and even now I've not been getting the best results.

If you use Jyers UI you can save to eeprom, otherwise the factory firmware saves specs like steps/mm to the SD card.

You need need need to update your printers firmware. I've seen so many printers running marking 1.0.1 when marlin is on 2.1.X right now. This adds a lot of missing features and adds important things like thermal runaway protection.

Elegoo Neptune 3. $210 on their website and it has auto leveling. Phenomenal printer.

Yeah the bed leveling is annoying and after a month you’ll have to fix it again (although its not so bad making the minor fixes). Unfortunately, the bed leveling devices for the enders manage to be more annoying than just doing it manually.

Sbould have got s anycubic viper dual lead screws and auto bed leveling with a petg surface for 250 i aot a v2 for 280 and spent another 250 in upgrades I love my anycubis kobra max its great

Currently have the Ender 5 Plus, I find it fills some of the drawbacks of the ender 3 of any model might be worth looking into and still cheaper than the Prusa printers

Try out the Ender 3 S1 with the hotend upgrade & silicone bed springs - it's possibly the best 3D FDM printer on the market for the money very consistent

i hated my cr touch upgrade cant get the z offset to work, dont recommend, its been 3 days since i got it and i cant fix it

Jyers firmware will give you pause and filament exchange options. Of course you going from a Porsche to a Ford Pinto going from Prusa to ender 3.

Got your wires criss crossing with your Boden tube.

Bltouch ,jyers firmware ,cheap red dual gear extruder with Capricorn blue Bowden tube, magnetic pei steel bed. After that it should print trouble free haha it’s a bitch but it cost like a good $100 and four hours to get one setup nice . If you get the voxelab Aquila it’s like a ender clone that is only like $160 on Amazon so for $270 ish you can have a plug n play ender printer the bl touch is most important upgrade that and having a 5x5 mesh before each print

Re-flashing the firmware is absolutely essential on the Ender - the ancient, and diddled to brand it as theirs version that they ship with is hopeless.

If any one lives near a Microcenter, you can grab a Ender 3 Pro for $100 with a coupon... Just need to add a filament sensor and a CR touch for fairly carefree printing. Non-techies should consider the jyers or professional firmware with an auto bed leveling solution. If you are comfortable with configuring a raspberry pi, consider running klipper (using Mainsail or DWC2 or Fluidd)... you will lose your screen functionality but gain a web interface that you can print from.

What are your slicer settings for the benchy in Prusa? I'm still trying to dial mine in. On the Ender 3 S1, getting e-steps dialed in and bed leveled is a nightmare.

A lot of that is simply the trade-off between cost and performance. Some of it, though, like the firmware, is a big headscrarcher.

3:21 (Bottom Left) - Only timestamp that really matters in the video. "I NEED A NAME! GIVE ME A NAME!"

The Ender 5 is where the value is to me personally as a XYZ cube style printer.

You should review the ender 3 s1 pro self leveling bed

I put a cr touch on my ender 3 v2

Looking into getting my son a 3d printer.

please do a calibration video