Wanting to join the 3D Printer Gang w/ an Ender 3 or 5

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SlvrDragon50

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 28, 2013
Messages
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I'm finding a lot more use for 3D printing now with Thingiverse having such a wide selection of prints available. I used to print at my school's campus, but I think a printer would pay off quite quickly considering their markup on services. I'm currently stuck between getting an Ender 3 Pro/V2 and upgrading the board to an SKR, glass bed, and all the other basic upgrades or coughing up a bit extra and getting an Ender 5. It seems like either way, I will need to get the SKR board since I want to run a bltouch and Octoprint. Any suggestions to go one or the other?
 
Hmm, interesting. I am partly drawn to the idea of modifications so that is something that the Ender appeals to me. I did a quick search, and it seems like the Sovol SV01 is still missing quite a few things that I would have to replace like silent steppers and/or a 32bit board and maybe the extruder?

I guess the biggest thing I am trying to better understand is the extrusion frame design. I've read that the box design of the Ender 5 can improve print quality quite a bit? Or is that more in theory? I also saw that the Ender 5's bed doesn't move which should also improve the quality which quite a few people seem to say is noticeable. The price difference is definitely quite large though. If I drive up to Chicago, I can get an open box Ender 3 Pro for $160, and the $160 difference can get lot of filament and upgrades.
 
My boss dug it for the direct drive, auto leveling, and his had the Creality 2.2 board (silent one with the steppers).

Not sure about the box design for Ender5 quality or not. Pretty sure there's a handful of videos on youtube that you could peep on.

The Ender5 bed does move - just up and down.

I ultimately have been happy with the Ender3 pro I have. Got the 25 'parts pack' and SKR board and that was about the extent of the upgrades. Hadn't had a major need to go direct drive or glass plate.
 
4 post units are alot more stable then the two post ones and it shows in the print quality. I had a Ender 5 Pro and i ran it pretty hard and got it up to 150mm/s. That is not something that a Ender 3 will be able to do without negative affect on the print.

BLTouch is cheap but its a waste. You can level a print bed manually just as quick with a set of feeler gauges.

The plan for mine was a Mosquito hot end, linear rails and a bondtech DD extruder but I sold mine to a friend who has like 13 printers now and is making alot of side money printing custom masks 24/7. Im waiting for the next wave of new printers to release to pick one up.
 
modi123 said:
My boss dug it for the direct drive, auto leveling, and his had the Creality 2.2 board (silent one with the steppers).

Not sure about the box design for Ender5 quality or not. Pretty sure there's a handful of videos on youtube that you could peep on.

The Ender5 bed does move - just up and down.

I ultimately have been happy with the Ender3 pro I have. Got the 25 'parts pack' and SKR board and that was about the extent of the upgrades. Hadn't had a major need to go direct drive or glass plate.
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Glad to hear that. It seems like the SKR board is still better than the Creality 2.2 silent board so I am inclined to replace it no matter what board comes with the Creality stock. But yea, I'm not sure if this is going to be another thing where I impulsively buy it and then forget about it after some time.

German Muscle said:
4 post units are alot more stable then the two post ones and it shows in the print quality. I had a Ender 5 Pro and i ran it pretty hard and got it up to 150mm/s. That is not something that a Ender 3 will be able to do without negative affect on the print.

BLTouch is cheap but its a waste. You can level a print bed manually just as quick with a set of feeler gauges.

The plan for mine was a Mosquito hot end, linear rails and a bondtech DD extruder but I sold mine to a friend who has like 13 printers now and is making alot of side money printing custom masks 24/7. Im waiting for the next wave of new printers to release to pick one up.
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That's great to hear. I wish I considered 3D Printers last year when they were a bit cheaper, I saw the Ender 5 was $245 last year around this time :( Any chance you can tell me why you went with the 5 Pro instead of the 5? Also good to hear someone actually say the BLTouch is a waste, I've just heard nonstop praise for it, but leveling seemed to be reasonably simple. I'm tempted to just wait for Black Friday since it's not that far away, and I don't have any pressing print needs. Not to mention the CR6 SE release might pushed prices down a bit more.
 
SlvrDragon50 said:
That's great to hear. I wish I considered 3D Printers last year when they were a bit cheaper, I saw the Ender 5 was $245 last year around this time :( Any chance you can tell me why you went with the 5 Pro instead of the 5? Also good to hear someone actually say the BLTouch is a waste, I've just heard nonstop praise for it, but leveling seemed to be reasonably simple. I'm tempted to just wait for Black Friday since it's not that far away, and I don't have any pressing print needs. Not to mention the CR6 SE release might pushed prices down a bit more.
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The pro version came with an all metal extruder upgrade, Capricorn PTFE bowden tube, and had the latest Creality board that made the motors silent.
 
German Muscle said:
The pro version came with an all metal extruder upgrade, Capricorn PTFE bowden tube, and had the latest Creality board that made the motors silent.
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Awesome thanks. Sounds like I just need to price out upgrades then. Did yours come with the older Meanwell PSU or the inhouse branded one? Curious if it really does need to be replaced or if it's just people obsessing over a removed feature.
 
SlvrDragon50 said:
Awesome thanks. Sounds like I just need to price out upgrades then. Did yours come with the older Meanwell PSU or the inhouse branded one? Curious if it really does need to be replaced or if it's just people obsessing over a removed feature.
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I never took mine apart to see the label. It was sufficient for what i used it for. I ran it pretty hard. 95C bed temps and 245 hotend and it kept up. Mine was whatever one came from Creality directly.
 
Anyone here happen to have any experience with the Artillery Sidewinder X1? Looks pretty impressive. It's on sale at Gearbest right now for $350, and it looks like I wouldn't really have to do any modifications to it for it to get going well. Only downside is the ribbon cable use.
 
SlvrDragon50 said:
Anyone here happen to have any experience with the Artillery Sidewinder X1? Looks pretty impressive. It's on sale at Gearbest right now for $350, and it looks like I wouldn't really have to do any modifications to it for it to get going well. Only downside is the ribbon cable use.
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According to the YT video reviews I have seen of the Sidewinder X1 is that once you got it all dialed in its a very good printer. Getting it dialed in though is the key but that can be said of any printer.
 
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