This is an Ender 3 Max. I did a previous video of an Ender 3 max but it was a beta unit,
pre-release I made a lot of suggestions and I think they listened. Because this
is a released version and it's got a lot of improvements that I like. Including
a lower price. I'll explain it all on today's Filament Friday.
Filament Friday is brought to you every week by the generous donations of these Patreon
supporters. I've been using the Ender 3 max beta unit in my shop and it's been printing really nice
but one of the complaints I had in my video about it was it had noisy drivers. It had
a version 4.2.2 board but it had the noisy drivers. Well they fixed that. This now has
a version 4.2.2 board with the silent drivers which is the same as what's on an Ender 3 v2.
So that is a huge improvement. Another thing they did, they fixed the firmware. The firmware
on this guy runs better than any other Ender 3 I've used. In fact, it recognizes the M0 pause
command so my original bed level g-code will run on this guy. It's too small if you run the Ender
3 version so I've modified it to fit the Ender 3 max and I'm going to release that on my website.
I'll put a link to it in the description below. That's a free download and now it'll move to each
adjustment knob, pause, and let you slide paper underneath it. And then you print the square,
multiple squares so you can level your bed. And I'll tell you what, this glass bed
is incredibly flat. So I got a good print the first time I ran it. One of the complaints I had
in the original one is there was a bracket, but the filament was rubbing right where you would
have a filament runout sensor. Well they put one on it. This has a filament runout sensor
and the firmware for it works really well. When it senses that the filament is run out or even
broken it'll automatically pause the print, move the head to the side, eject the existing filament,
and then it'll tell you to put new filament in. You press the knob and it'll feed that filament
in and purge it. And once you say continue, it'll go back to printing where it left off.
It really works well. Another thing they've added which I've never seen on any Ender 3 is an
anti-backlash nut. It's a spring-loaded nut, so that way when this thing is going
up and down like z-hop, it doesn't have any hysteresis. It comes back to the same spot.
That's kind of a handy thing. I haven't really tested it to see how useful it is
but that's a nice feature to add to this machine. Another improvement over Ender 3 on this machine
is a metal extruder. Now the beta unit had a metal extruder and I mistakenly said it was plastic.
It's metal on the beta and it's metal here. So you don't have to worry about that arm cracking like
a lot of Eendor 3's do because it's got a plastic arm. This thing is all aluminum, it's very solid
and the gear is actually screwed to the shaft it's not pressed on like some people have been
reporting. This one is screwed on so if you ever have to change the extruder you easily can and
change the gear. But it's very very solid, that's a nice feature that I don't see on any other Ender
3. Another thing that carried over from the Beta unit that I did like is it's got dual fans
on both sides of the hot end that way you get double cooling. You don't have to build
some special duct work, it does work pretty well especially for bridging. Another thing to include
with this printer is this pivoting arm for the filament. It's just like the CR6. You can print to
the side or you can move it at any angle including all the way to the back if you don't have space on
the side. So this is a nice feature that I only see on the CR6. This should be on every Ender 3.
This machine carries over the wider rail like the Ender 3 v2 or Ender 3 pro have to make it
more stable for the bed wheels. It also has a Meanwell power supply, the same as the Ender 3
pro or Ender 3 v2 although v2 you know sticks it inside the base. It's out here exposed. And one
other thing they do that I haven't seen in any Ender 3 is they've added the yellow heavy-duty
springs that a lot of people like and that supports this heavier bed. That beta unit,
I adjusted the bed maybe twice in all the time I've been printing with it. It held its level
very well. The machine has a standard display on it just like Ender or Ender 3 pro.
I don't really like the other Ender 3 v2 display. I like this better. It's called a dumb display but
it works really well. Overall this is a very solid Ender 3 plus it's big. You get a 300 by 300 build
area and 340 tall which is slightly smaller than a CR-10. CR-10 gives you, I think 400 millimeters
tall but the same x and y, 300 by 300. And it's an Ender 3. If you're familiar with Ender 3,
you're familiar with this machine. Now what I did in Cura is iI brought in an Ender 3 pro profile
and I just modified the bed size and the height so the x y and z, so that way I could use that
same profile and use all my Cura profiles. My CHEP Cura profiles, on this machine. And they
work really well. When I released that Ender 3 max beta video, they were listing the price on
their website as $399. That was pre-release. But I said in the video that is way too high. Well, the
actual release price has come down to $329 dollars for this guy. And I think that's a fair price. Now
you can get one of those Ender extender kits and make your Ender 3 into a big printer like this,
but you're gonna spend about that same amount of money and this one comes with added features
your Ender 3 wouldn't have. Such as the filament runout sensor, the metal extruder, the dual fans,
the silent drivers on a 32-bit board. This is just a fantastic machine for $329 dollars. It's a great
upgrade if you have an Ender 3 right now. And say you bought that one I suggested in the last video,
that 8-bit version with the silent drivers to get you started, when you're ready to go to that next
step and get a second printer and a bigger printer, I think this is a great next step.
$329 dollar Ender 3 max. In fact I prefer this over my cr-10s now because it's 24 volt. It's
all in one. Doesn't have the separate box. And it prints just as good as my Ender 3s. They fixed any
issues that I had with ringing in the prints. I'm not seeing it anymore. So they dialed that in. The
acceleration numbers and everything else in the firmware. This is a fantastic printer. I've been
really happy with the beta unit and this thing is actually printing better. The only complaint
I have with this machine, and it carried over from the beta unit because I complained about it there,
is the z mount switch is mounted with two fixed screws into the rail. You can't adjust the height.
So what I did was replace those screws on the beta unit with two shorter screws and two t-nuts
just like any Ender 3 has. So I can adjust it to different heights.
This they carried over. I don't know why this should be two t-nuts or at least put slots in the
brackets so you can slide this thing up and down. I guess you could 3d print a new bracket that
would do that. The easiest thing is two screws and two t-nuts. That is my only complaint. So you can
get this for $329 direct from Creality. I think it's $328 at banggood so not much of a savings.
Or you can get it from amazon if you have prime free shipping, I think it's about 20 more like
$349. So you can get it from several places. It uses the same parts, the same hot end, the same
everything as your Ender 3. So if you've got spare parts for your Ender 3, you can use them on this.
If you need to buy replacement parts, you can get them pretty much anywhere. So I think it's a great
upgrade. A great next step. But what do you guys think? Let me know in the comments below. If you
like what I'm doing here maybe check out some of the other videos popping up. And if nothing
else click on that CHEP logo and subscribe. I'll see you next time right here at Filament Friday.