Creality 3D® Ender-3 V2 Upgraded 3D Printer Kit

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Lonsdaler
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Creality 3D® Ender-3 V2 Upgraded 3D Printer Kit

Post by Lonsdaler » Tue Sep 28, 2021 3:32 pm

Browsing for items not garden railway related I came upon this on the Banggood site. The price, at £169.71 with free shipping (from a UK warehouse, I think) seems like a bargain. But not being a 3d printerer :dontknow: I'm not best placed to judge!
link to printer
Phil

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Re: Creality 3D® Ender-3 V2 Upgraded 3D Printer Kit

Post by -steves- » Tue Sep 28, 2021 6:54 pm

That's a pretty good price I have to say, Creality are doing it for about £188 delivered, but they are doing the BLTouch kit with it for just an extra £35 which is extremely good.

Good prices to be had at the moment it appears.
The buck stops here .......

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Re: Creality 3D® Ender-3 V2 Upgraded 3D Printer Kit

Post by Lonsdaler » Tue Sep 28, 2021 11:29 pm

-steves- wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 6:54 pm That's a pretty good price I have to say, Creality are doing it for about £188 delivered, but they are doing the BLTouch kit with it for just an extra £35 which is extremely good.

Good prices to be had at the moment it appears.
Nevertheless, I am not going to be drawn down that route Steve :lol: I am happy to observe the trials and tribulations of you dedicated printer(er)s :lol:
Phil

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Re: Creality 3D® Ender-3 V2 Upgraded 3D Printer Kit

Post by GAP » Wed Sep 29, 2021 10:12 pm

Lonsdaler wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 11:29 pm
-steves- wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 6:54 pm That's a pretty good price I have to say, Creality are doing it for about £188 delivered, but they are doing the BLTouch kit with it for just an extra £35 which is extremely good.

Good prices to be had at the moment it appears.
Nevertheless, I am not going to be drawn down that route Steve :lol: I am happy to observe the trials and tribulations of you dedicated printer(er)s :lol:
I just took delivery of one and have been on a steep learning curve trying to get printing.
The BL Touch kit is on the radar.
Graeme
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Re: Creality 3D® Ender-3 V2 Upgraded 3D Printer Kit

Post by Lonsdaler » Thu Sep 30, 2021 12:44 pm

GAP wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 10:12 pm
Lonsdaler wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 11:29 pm
-steves- wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 6:54 pm That's a pretty good price I have to say, Creality are doing it for about £188 delivered, but they are doing the BLTouch kit with it for just an extra £35 which is extremely good.

Good prices to be had at the moment it appears.
Nevertheless, I am not going to be drawn down that route Steve :lol: I am happy to observe the trials and tribulations of you dedicated printer(er)s :lol:
I just took delivery of one and have been on a steep learning curve trying to get printing.
The BL Touch kit is on the radar.
I've been 'following' your exploits Graham, and feel your pain :?
Phil

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My Line - https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 41&t=11077

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Re: Creality 3D® Ender-3 V2 Upgraded 3D Printer Kit

Post by -steves- » Thu Sep 30, 2021 2:21 pm

GAP wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 10:12 pm
Lonsdaler wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 11:29 pm
-steves- wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 6:54 pm That's a pretty good price I have to say, Creality are doing it for about £188 delivered, but they are doing the BLTouch kit with it for just an extra £35 which is extremely good.

Good prices to be had at the moment it appears.
Nevertheless, I am not going to be drawn down that route Steve :lol: I am happy to observe the trials and tribulations of you dedicated printer(er)s :lol:
I just took delivery of one and have been on a steep learning curve trying to get printing.
The BL Touch kit is on the radar.
The BLTouch is yet another learning curve to add to those you are dealing with already.

Does it give a nice level bed, yes, most of the time, unless there is a hair (or anything else )underneath the probe while it does the probing, lol :lol:

Is it easy to install, yes, relatively if you get the right instructions.

Is it easy to upgrade the firmware, yes these days, it used to be a PITA when it was 8 bit and you was using a spare pin for the BLTouch, now with 32bit boards and dedicated BLTouch ports and self upgrading firmware direct from the SD Card, yeah, very straight forwards.

Don't forget it is for helping to give a level bed, you still need to level the bed manually to start with and you will still need to set the Z offset precisely :thumbup:

Are they worth it, absolutely yes IMHO :thumbleft:
The buck stops here .......

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Re: Creality 3D® Ender-3 V2 Upgraded 3D Printer Kit

Post by ge_rik » Fri Oct 01, 2021 6:01 pm

Hi Graeme
It certainly sounds as if you've had a few trials and tribulations to contend with. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel and once you have got everything set up and running it should be relatively straightforward to keep it running. With my main printer, I've had to do very little once it was set up. Just change the filament once in a while and occasionally tighten the belts and tweak the bed level ever so slightly.

My cheapo printer is a different kettle of fish though. It's a bit like a needy child or pet. Just when it seems to have settled, it throws a wobbly and I have to nurture, cajole, persuade and then give it a fair bit of TLC.

You should be OK with your Ender 3, though. They're fairly bullet-proof!

Rik
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Re: Creality 3D® Ender-3 V2 Upgraded 3D Printer Kit

Post by janniesophia » Wed May 25, 2022 8:45 am

I posted this in another channel along with Dr. Vax 4/23 printer comparison. I thought it might be better to post it at this place under discussion...

I wish to purchase my first 3D printer. I have several hobbies and like to make things. My objective with 3D printing is to create tools, fixtures and storage for my other interests: Woodturning, Book Binding, papercrafts, and photography. This means that I want to learn as much as I can about 3D printing, but I don't think 3D printing is a hobby for me in and of itself. Hopefully that makes sense.

I am thinking through two options: Ender 3 V2 and the Prusa MK3. Seems odd at two ends of the spectrum and I would appreciate input on criteria or questions that I should consider before pulling the trigger.

First, I want to go with this kit, regardless of purchase, so I know how to repair or upgrade it if needed. Either printer fits in the budget, which I want to keep below $1000.

Prusa: Seems easiest to calibrate and manage, faster printer, good support, but has long assembly time. Cost is high, but if I get to good prints easily so I can produce things and spend the time with other hobbies, that is a plus.

Ender: Cost is a huge advantage, and the comments on the end products, once tuned would fit my needs. Although I can afford either, I would feel like I overbought with the Prusa if this printer can do the job. I have fallen a little victim to all the postings on FB, YT, etc, showing all the start up problems. I am a bit put off if I have to spend a lot of time fiddling at start up and then continually as I printed. Rationally, if i have to spend 8 plus hours on assembling the Prusa, and in 8 hours can build and tune an Ender to get to a similar result, then I would go the Ender route. Plus my local Microcenter stocks them - and i love instant gratification.

I summary, i am interested in thoughts on two questions:

Do i make too much of the effort required to tune and maintain an Ender? Related, after tuning the base model, is there a first upgrade that gives me the most value for ease of use? What is your experience on what was required. Are there resources on best practices for tuning and maintenance.
Are there other questions i should be asking myself to weigh the pros and cons of this purchase? The decision is mine, but i value any opportunity to learn from those that debated, purchased, and learned from using the printer.
Thank you.

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Re: Creality 3D® Ender-3 V2 Upgraded 3D Printer Kit

Post by philipy » Wed May 25, 2022 1:07 pm

Creality do loads of variations on their machines, as you probably know. I was in a not disimilar situation to you a few months ago when I neede to replace my defunct QidiTech1, and in the end I went for a Creality CR20 Pro, simply because of its physical dimensions - I needed it to fit in a particular location and the Ender 3 was too tall. I wrote up my trials and tribulations at
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... ty#p167738

I did briefly consider Prusa but eventually decided that the kit construction and cost weren't worth it.
I've been very happy with it so far, although I don't like the fiddle involved in changing filament, my old Qidi was much simpler in this respect even it was 3 years old! I would say that getting a BLTouch levelling device is worth it on the Creality machines ( don't know about Prusa), either if included or as a Day2 add-on.

Whichever machine you go for, the more fundemental issue may be your drawing ability and what drawing software you use. We have debated that on here many times and there is no hard and fast answer as to which is best, but there is a steep learning curve whichever you choose.
Philip

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