Hello, 3D Printing Friends! Today on The BV3D Channel, we'll take a look at five
simple, snap-on upgrades for the Ender 3 and Ender 3 Pro 3D printers,
that YOU can print yourself! Stick around and we'll get into it, right after this.
I'm Bryan, and you... are watching BV3D!
Hi! Welcome back!
You know, the Creality Ender 3 and Ender 3 Pro 3D printers continue to
be popular, low cost options, giving a lot of people a way to get into 3D printing
without spending a lot of money all at once. When you get a new printer, and you
get used to the way it works, you'll start to notice little things here and
there that could use some improvement. And that's one of the great things about
3D printers. They can print upgrades for themselves.
So today, we're taking a look at five simple snap-on upgrades for the Ender 3
and Ender 3 Pro 3D printers, which you can print yourself. And when I
say these are snap-on upgrades I mean it. No tools are needed. Just print it out,
snap them on, and you're done. I found all of these on Thingiverse, and there's a
link in the description for each one of them. Now I'm gonna do this kind of like
a "top 5 countdown," but they're not really in any particular order. OK. Ready? Go!
Starting at Number 5, Collet Clips for the Bowden tube fittings. The Bowden tube
is the hollow teflon tube which guides the filament from the extruder stepper
motor all the way to the nozzle. It's held in place by these pneumatic
fittings that are supposed to grip the tube and keep it from sliding back and
forth. And you're supposed to be able to release them by pressing down on this
little collar. But on my printer, at the extruder side of things, the little collar
didn't stay popped out like it should, and this let the Bowden tube slide back
and forth a little bit. It may not seem like a big deal, but when the Bowden tube
is able to slide around like that, it affects the printers ability to feed and
retract filament. And THAT can have an adverse effect on print quality.
I even replaced the fitting with the spare that came with the printer, but
that did the same thing. So I put a zip tie on it. And while that worked, the fit
wasn't perfect, and it certainly wasn't a clean look. But that's not a problem any
longer. I've taken care of it with this little gem: a printable collet clip by
Sue3DDesigns on Thingiverse. These are available in sizes ranging from 1mm
to 2.5mm, in 0.25mm increments. They're
small, so they print quickly. One of the files in the bundle contains all of the
parts laid out in a row, but don't use that one. For whatever reason, most of the
parts are floating just above the bed. It's better to grab all of
the individual ones, throw them in your slicer, and let it arrange them. So if
you're having the same problem I was, this should fix it. You can take a guess
at what size you need, but I say just print a batch, one of each size, and try
progressively larger sizes until you get a snug fit.
On to Number 4: The Extruder Knob.
On my direct-drive printers, it's easy to load filament, because the path
from the stepper motor down to the business end of things is pretty darn
short. On a Bowden system, where the stepper motor is distant from the parts
that get hot, you've got a fair amount of distance to cover. Plus there's some
added resistance because of friction inside the tube. Yes, even though the tube is Teflon.
The solution is clear: put a knob on the stepper motor, so you can feed
filament by turning the knob. Okay, so this isn't much of an issue when you're
actually loading filament. You probably won't use the knob for that. You can just
pinch the loading lever and push the filament by hand. And push the filament
by hand. And push the filament by hand. And push the filament by hand. But once
you've got the filament going down into the nozzle, especially if you're trying
to purge one color out before using a new color, you'll appreciate being able
to turn this knob to do that. Now, you won't be able to turn it when the
stepper motor is energized, but most of the time when the printer isn't actively
printing, the motors aren't powered up. That's why you can push the bed back
and forth, and move the X carriage left and right. The same is true for the
extruder stepper motor. So heat your nozzle, pull out your old filament,
push in your new filament, and turn the knob to purge it out. Super easy. This one
in particular, by Thingiverse user Schtimpy, has a little divot for your finger, so
you can spin it fairly quickly. But if you don't care for the look of this one,
just search on Thingiverse for "extruder knob," and marvel at the astonishing
variety of them. Then, pick one you like, and print it out!
And now Number 3: Cable Clips for the Wires.
Something that bothers me about the Ender 3 and Ender 3 Pro
is the way the wiring from one part of the printer to another is just kind
of... there. For instance the wires from the power supply to the electronics box just
kind of sag down in between the two. The wires for the Y stepper motor and
the Y end stop switch are free to move about the cabin. The bed wires and the
wires up to the extruder could use a little help, and the ribbon cable for the
display just lets it all hang out. Quite often, picking up the printer to
move it from one place to another, or even just to slightly reposition it, means
having to grab a handful of cables and pull them out from underneath the
printer's frame. It's time to clean up our act! And for that, we'll use these cable
clips by Thingiverse users Leo_N. These are great. They have little curved tabs
on them that make it easy to snap them on and remove them if necessary. And there are
three different kinds. This one has a tab to hold a ribbon cable in place, and we
can use this to keep the display's ribbon cable close to the frame. This one is
designed to keep the power supply's wiring under control, and this last one...
Well, it's essentially the same part, but with a couple of little holes so you can
feed a zip tie through it. And THAT is useful for the mesh covered cable
bundles coming out of the back of the electronics box. Print three of each, and
you'll have enough to neaten up your printer's wiring. The three with the
ribbon cable clip will go on the front. Two keep the ribbon cable close to the
cross member, and one keeps it close to the right side of the frame. Around back,
use one of the power cable clips on the side with the power supply, and then use
the other two to keep the power cables attached to the crossmember. Finally, you
can use two of the zip tie-enabled clips on the electronics side of the printer to
keep the mesh cable bundles under control, and use the last one to keep the
Y-axis stepper motor cable and end stop switch attached to the cross member.
So once you download this one, you can print, clip and zip... tie your printer's cables in
a neat manner.
On to Number 2: Dampener Feet.
One of the things about 3D printers at the low end of the price scale is they tend
to be loud when they're printing. Not just because of the stepper motor
drivers causing the motors to be loud, but also because a lot of the vibration
from the printer's various moving parts can be transmitted from the printer's
feet into the table that's resting on. And the tabletop can act as a sounding
board, amplifying the noise. Sometimes, this vibration can even show up on the
surface of your prints as ringing or ghosting. But these vibration dampener
feet help to solve that. They absorb some of that vibration, preventing it
from being transmitted to whatever surface your printer is on. They may also
help a little bit with ringing or ghosting, because they absorb some of the
energy when the printer changes direction. Now I use the word MAY because
I haven't done A/B testing to see whether or not this actually does
improve print quality, but in my mind it makes sense.
Mostly I'm using this to quiet things down a little bit, but the potential for
print quality improvement is... a plus.
So these feet print as two pieces, and they snap together.
They've even got little places for peel-and-stick rubber feet, if you've got
some, although I'll tell you that the ones that I had laying around have been
completely compressed by the weight of the printer. Once you've got them snapped
together, they snap on to the frame, right over the existing rubber foot pads. And
the clips keep them attached, even if you pick up and move the printer.
Now apparently, there are two different thicknesses of the rubber feet between
the Ender 3 and the Ender 3 Pro, so I have links to both versions by
Thingiverse users MHprints and shadowpanther in the description.
I recommend printing just one of the parts that snaps onto the frame to test for fit,
before committing to printing an entire build plate of them. It'll be time well spent.
And finally, Number 1: A Snap-on Back Cover for the Control Panel.
Here's another thing that bothers me about the Ender 3 and Ender 3 Pro.
The circuit board for the control panel screen is exposed at the back. I mean I
get that Creality might want to save a bit of money on the printer, but it just
seems silly to have that board exposed like that. Now there are a lot of
different back covers available on Thingiverse, but almost all of them seem
to require that you unscrew the control panel from the front of the printer, and
then unscrew the display board from the control panel, and then screw the board
and the back cover to the control panel, and then screw the control panel back to
the front of the printer. In some cases you need to find longer screws to make
that work. But this one isn't like those other covers. This one is different.
It doesn't take very long to print. Now I know that saying, "it doesn't take very
long" has a completely different meaning in the 3D printing world, compared to the
world that normal people live in, but really, it only takes a couple of hours
to print. And once it's done, it just snaps right on. It has ventilation slots
and a cutout for the display cable. Now I know I said you didn't need any tools,
and that's mostly true, but for this you'll need to remove the control panel
from the front of the printer, then you can snap this on and screw the
control panel back in place. It's two screws. Unfortunately, there's no way
around this, because that little beeper on the back of the control panel just
sticks out so far. But technically, this upgrade DOES just snap into place so...
Anyway, once you've got it snapped on, you don't have to worry about shorting
something out on the circuit board. So, um... That's kind of the end of the videooooh no it's not!
So remember at the beginning, when I said I was gonna show you five
Snap-on Print It Yourself upgrades? Well, I like y'all so much I couldn't
help myself, and I've got a couple of bonus upgrades for you.
Ready? Here's Bonus Number 1: A Beeper Silencer for the Control Panel.
Now earlier I showed those dampener feet. They help make the printer a little bit quieter.
Well, there's another thing that could use some volume reduction, and that
is the ridiculously loud beeper on the control panel. Now I know from past
experience that simply putting a finger over the little hole on the beeper will
cut the volume about in half, and I discovered that putting a piece of tape
over it worked just as well. But as long as we're printing things out and
snapping them on, why not this little beeper silencer? It prints in a few
minutes, and snaps right over the beeper. And it works with the snap-on cover I
just showed you. That cover has a hole that the beeper sticks out through, and
it's got enough clearance to accommodate this part. Now just a note, the snap-on
back cover for the screen DOES come with one of these, but it's got a lip around
it, so if you want to put the silencer on or take it off, you have to remove that
cover, and that seems like a hassle, so I prefer this one. So print it out, snap it
on, and BEEP QUIET!
And here's Bonus Number 2: A Prusa-style Control Panel Knob.
Now, the stock knob on the Ender 3 and the Ender 3 Pro is actually
a very attractive-looking part. But some actions,
like setting the nozzle temperature to 230 degrees, means you have to scroll.
And scroll. And scroll. Now, Prusa's got the right idea for the control panel
knob on the MK3. It has a little tab sticking out, and you can just spin your
finger around to rapidly scroll through the menus or set temperatures.
Now this is pretty much the same part just made a little bit taller. Just lift off the old
knob and snap on the new one, and enjoy smooth, rapid scrolling action on your Ender.
And now that... THAT is the "Ender" this episode! Thanks for making it all
the way to the end and thanks to those of you who like, comment on, and share
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and that helps cover the cost of making cool videos for you! Okay, now that I've
got these five little upgrades installed... Five? Seven! Now that I've got these seven
little upgrades installed, I'm gonna go print something cool.
You do the same, and, I'll see you next time!