Worth it
Best investment I've made in quite a while. I did not know much about how to use a 3d printer, so was intimidated to run it at first. I figured after the assembly, I should do some more research take some classes perhaps...but I took a shot and it's been running these past couple of weeks without much of a pause. So it's not as difficult as it may seem. Try a little this, a little that, and with utilizing the wealth of information online, it's actually very enjoyable to use and good tool I can foresee most homes and businesses eventually having.
I chose the Ender 3 over other machines, even the Ender 3 pro, because there is a huge community of people using this and so there's an answer for any issue that might crop up and with the work they've put in-and that the Creality company has put in- there are a good number of upgrades for this machine. I've purchased or printed most of them already and I'll say it's a good idea to just plan on getting those when purchasing this. They are not completely necessary though, so if you're low on funds, this thing will still do a great job.
I sprung for the all metal extruder, the yellow thicker springs and the glass bed that clamps on top of the stock metal one.
I still have to hook on the dampers for the motors and the BLtouch for easier bed leveling. I've printed out the cable chain so that it doesn't snag onto the hot bed as it's moving around. I look to print out a different vent system for the hot end.
There are other upgrades but these ones are a few fairly easy fairly cheap.
Some issues brought up online I did not have with this one I purchased. Some said they received a warped hot bed. The one I got was perfect. Some had issues with the cable connector to power supply. The one I got was perfect. I think some of those people may have been moving the bed around a lot, creating electricity in the motors, which backfed into the power supply. Best bet is to either keep the bed all the way back after a print and bring cautious not to move the bed around like a maniac when scraping off the print...or just unclipping the top and removing the print that way.
I'll admit, the 3d printer tech is not exactly easy for the average mainstream "consumer", but this particular machine makes it to be within virtually anyone's ability to be able to buy, to setup and to master. Especially if you were able to read this entire write-up.
Anyways, YouTube, instructables, and thingiverse are great resources of info and for free downloadable prints. I just downloaded the 'Cura' program, set up my default printer as a cr10 and changed the bed size. Open a file you find, and save it somewhere. It naturally becomes a "gcode" file. That's the slicer. It translates the 3d model you or another person makes into something your particular machine understands. Tells the motors what to do.
Honestly, most everything after that is details. Lots of neat things to learn and make. I've actually printed out a MPCNC and I'm just about finished with that. I might print out a couple of REPRAP machines and who knows what else?!
Hope you get the chance to enjoy this as I am and hope I've helped you a little today.
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