8/13/2019 – USED ENDER Printers back in stock! I’ve bought 3.. they help you fix ’em!
Ender 3 Pro $185.00 OBO!
Ender 3 $155.00 OBO!
Ender 5 $249.00 OBO!
CR-10 259.00 OBO!
REPLACE those bad XT60 Connectors before your Ender 3 catches fire! https://makersteve.com/2019/04/16/safety-first-replace-those-bad-xt60-connectors-ender-3-fix/
See how I stencil!
PSA: Upgrade your stock extruder to Plastic sooner rather than later:
See how here: https://makersteve.com/2019/03/19/a-tale-of-eight-enders-aluminum-extruder-upgrade/
Follow the link for the video for the Ender 3 Pro Build.
https://makersteve.com/2019/01/28/maker-steve-ultimate-guide-creality-ender-3-pro/
Created a video on YouTube that shows my build process (if there is one) and the upgrades I do out of the box.
Maker Steve Ender 3 Build Part 1
Maker Steve Ender 3 Build Part 2
Maker Steve Ender 3 Build Part 3
If you want to know what upgrades you need out of the box, they are located here:
https://makersteve.com/2018/10/23/a-tale-of-three-enders-bare-bones-upgrades-for-the-ender-3/
and you will want to read this:
Just finished another Ultimate Guide on building the Creality CR-10 or CR-10S and Which build surface to use?
You may also be interested this post if you have time.. it will be helpful
Maker Steve’s 3D Printing Rules to successful 3D Prints
Purchased 2 of these printers and figured I would post how it put it together in a walk-though. I have included some of my recommended MODs for an out of the box printer.
I purchased mine on Amazon with 2-day shipping via Prime
Gearbest has this same machine for only $179.00 until August 30th. That is a lot of printer for the money. Let’s begin…
Difficult: Easy
Price: $179.00 to $250.00
Time to complete: 2-3 hours (there will be some troubleshooting)
Print Area: 220x220x250mm (pretty good for the money.)
Features: Heated bed, Great Creality stability, Resume on power-failure, Flexible, Removable Print Surface, Ready to print!
Satisfaction: Complete!
The box!
All the goodies laid out. Well packaged.
Note the instruction manual. They tell you what parts and what screws for each step. While it generally tells you what to do, it doesn’t tell you what to do or what to do when things go wrong.. keep reading, I got you.
And the 2040 Aluminum Extrusion.. heavy duty.
All the parts and tool packs laid out, comes with basic maintenance kit, spatula and clippers!
Step one is to assemble the uprights of the frame… Screws go in through the bottom.
Lay the printer on it’s side, the power supply worked perfectly..
I highly recommend Locktite Blue Stick for all of the screws. Just a dab on the thread will do.
Insert the 2 screws from the bottom and tighten.
Flip it over and locktite the screws
Tighten the screws up and set it upright. Be careful as you handle the printer, the printhead is fragile.
Next you will install the power supply, ensure you are switch to 115V if you are in the United States..
NOTE: It comes set on 230V!
Next, you will install the control panel and the power supply.
I don’t like the silver screws on the front of an all black printer so I swapped them out from my assortment kit.
Mount the control panel with 2 screws.
Swap out a couple more black screws from the assortment kit.
Mount the power supply.
Rotate the printer to get to the left hand side and gather up the Z-endstop
Align the T-slot nuts so they line up with the extrusion slots.
Ensure the T-slots actually rotate from vertical to horizontal securing them in the extrusion frame.
Next we will mount the Z-axis motor.. with a caveat we will get to in a few minutes.
Install the lead screw.. I don’t recommend tightening yet.
MAKERSTEVE MOD: Installing Vibration Dampeners
Vibration Dampeners, silence your printer, and improve print quality by minimizing vibration from the motors. Generally speaking, they are only installed on the X and Y Axis. Not on the Z-Axis.
While I was able to install the vibration dampener on the X-axis, I could not on the Y, it was hitting the frame. I will come back to it because they are half as loud now.
Gently remove the facebook sticker.
Remove the motor housing, you will end up only using 2 screws when done.
Note how it all goes together.
Grab your vibration dampener
Remove the X-Axis motor and loosen the GT2 Timing Belt Pulley and raise it up about the distance of the thickness of the vibration dampener, roughly 6mm
Install the vibration dampener with 2 screws to the motor. Make sure you are not screwing into the threaded side of the dampener, yet.
Use two screws to attached the motor housing back the the extruder assembly.
Put the sticker back on.
Next gather up the parts to assemble the X-axis arm. The extruder assembly is bolted to the arm using 2 screws.
User your allen wrench inserted through the holes.
NOTE: these are not high quality allen wrenches, if you use the long end, it will strip. As a rule, use the long end to snug screws, use the short end to torque screws.
Ok, this part gets a little complicated, but we can get through it.
You need to roll the printhead carriage onto the aluminum extrusion, look close at the pictures above and below.
You will need to loosen the eccentric nut on the single roller of the print head, if this is your first run at eccentric nuts, they aren’t normal nuts, they are offset and tighten or loosen the roller as they are rotated.
You will need to rotate it to loosen it to get it on the extrusion.
Install on the extrusion by rolling the rubber wheels onto the grooves in the middle.
And snug back up the eccentric nut.
Next, grab the belt and the end pulley.
And an Otterpop
Now get back to work..
Line up the T-slot nuts..
Attach the end pulley.. and tighten the bolts ensuring the T-slot nuts turn and engage.
Next grab your belt and feed it through the Z-motor pulley, teeth down.
Slide the belt into the slot on the print head, don’t waste to much usable belt here.
Loosen that eccentric nut again.
Slide the belt under the rollers on the print head assembly with the extra space provided by the loosened eccentric nut.
That’s one roller .. and two.. you can roll the print head as needed.
Wrap the belt around the end and connect the the print head’s underside.
See em both here…
Tighten the end pulley and then tighten the screws. It’s tricky but doable with only two hands.
Slide the entire X-axis assembly down the top two towers of the frame. If it is too tight, both sides of the X-axis assembly have eccentric nuts.
The lead screw has to line up with the threaded brass fitting shown at the top of the picture below.
Other side, too tight, eccentric nut (pictured in the middle of the screen).
Line the lead screw up with the brass threaded fitting.
Loosed the brass threaded fitting as needed
Feed the lead screw through to the coupler on the Z-motor.. it should slide up and down freely. Mine did not so I had to shim it. See how I did it here.. https://makersteve.com/2018/08/24/ender-3-z-axis-binding-fix-bring-a-basic-stringing-test/
You’ll know you have the problem, because your Z-axis won’t move and it will make a lot of noise. The one shown below is no good, so I had to shim the motor.
Measure the distance at the bottom…
And top..
They should be very close
Throw a little White Lithium Grease on there.. because, you’ll need it.
Tighten your lead screw coupler.
Check your print surface for level using your DXL360S Dual Axis Digital Level, with Kung-fu Grip and rechargeable battery – pretty close for an old table…
And your X-axis Arm.. Adjust eccentric nuts on either side to get just the right bit of level.
Get your screws for the top frame. This piece can be install upside down, one side is routed out for the screw heads, it is the top.
Lube ’em up with locktite and tighten them up. Snug each one then tighten them inside to outside, alternating screws.
Get your filament spool holder parts and end caps.
Install, with locktite on the screws.
SOOO CLOSE, hang in there….
Plug in the Z-axis endstop
Plug in the control panel cable to EXP3, the closest one to the middle of the printer.
Connect the power supply to the control box.
Plug in the X Endstop
Plug in the Extruder to E and the X to the X-axis motor. 
Plug in Z to the Z-axis motor
Attach the PTFE Tubing to the extruder
Check the power supply is set to 115V, one more time!
NOTE!!!! Spin the Z coupler down the Z-endstop or your printer will not know where the bottom is when you turn it on.
Then plug in the power cord to the power supply and the wall and power it up!
And now you should have a working Ender 3!
Manually test your X, Y and Z, Extruder, Fan and headbed. Make sure they all work as expected.
Next, get your Octoprint up and going.. see here https://makersteve.com/octoprint/
And configure Cura!
First print is A-OK.. the removable, flexible bed is a plus!
Get your son to build the second one..
Now get to work!
There is a ton of other useful stuff on Makersteve.com and more coming every week.
Be sure to check out my Ultimate guide to troubleshooting underextrusion, ripples, waves and stringing in 3D printers
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Thanks Steve
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