Guide: Fitting the Official Creality Direct Drive Upgrade to the Ender 3 - How well does it work?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 พ.ค. 2024
- In this video I'm going to show you how to upgrade the now very cheap to buy Ender 3 printer to Direct drive with this also very cheap upgrade kit. It's actually very easy, requiring maybe only an hour of your time - plus the 12 minutes of this video!
*CORRECTION*: Thank you to the viewer who has pointed out that you need to strip the wire back to behind the soldered ends before adding the ferrules. This seems like a fair point so I suggest doing it.
Links from the video:
Patreon (hopefully I've managed to set it up right!) : / lostintech
Discord Chat (let me know if I've also messed this up!) : / discord
The following links support the channel if you buy from them (affiliate links):
The creality hotend I used - www.banggood.com/custlink/mvK...
Ender 3 - www.banggood.com/custlink/3vG...
Ender 3 v2 (the printer I recommend for beginners!) - www.banggood.com/custlink/3v3...
Geeetech A10M - www.banggood.com/custlink/mDG...
Geeetech A20M - www.banggood.com/custlink/vvK...
Ender 3 magnetic bed (fits all ender models with the 220mm build plate) www.banggood.com/custlink/GK3...
Please comment, subscribe, etc, etc. Videos around every 1-2 weeks or sometimes a bit longer if I get bogged down in editing but you get the idea!
Credits:
Music: Ouroboros Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b....
Ominous Intro by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: filmmusic.io/standard-license
Odyssey by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: filmmusic.io/standard-license
For future reference - rubbing alcohol destroys the bond that hot glue makes with surfaces and makes it trivial to remove. And rubbing alcohol is more or less safe to swab around circuitry, so it might save someone the trouble of picking off the glue manually.
Great tip! It definitely saved me some frustration.👍
This was my favorite upgrade I have added to my Ender3V2. Truly a great addition to the good ol dependable WORKHORSE!!!
I am in absolute love with my Ender 3. I have printed atleast 5 upgrades for it. WITH it. Lol. I love how I can buy and install upgrades to it. I recently bought the led light bar, the dual z axis upgrade, and the direct drive upgrade. I got a glass bed too. Its just awesome.
This channel is becoming my favorite real quick
Nice, a new video on the day I decided to binge watch your channel !!
Heard it works well and direct replacement. I bought back plate with rollers that swipe out to make it direct drive. Use same stepper motor, etc. Did come with longer wires for stepper motor and only cost me $12.00 and now it's direct drive setup.
this DD unit fixed a number of my issues as my Ender3 had declined a lot since new (when it was nigh on perfect). However be sure to check every nut and bolt on it! My extruder feed wheel came loose today and was banging against the assembly leading to an overcurrent shut down! also the extruder motor was loose and cockeyed today. Took me about 10 hours of retries and Cura settings and investigations to get it printing acceptably today. So many variables affecting 3D printing!
Blue lock tight with screws will help
If 3D printers were built RIGHT and to actual specs with QC beyond the boarders of china, they would still cost prohibitively expensive. This is why they're still largely hobbiest tools. You have to WANT to fiddle with stuff to make it work. But if you just need a 3D printer to work, good luck. Easier to send your CAD file to a CNC machine.
I fitted this kit to my Ender 3 V2. It seemed to work great until I tried to print ABS.
I found my prints kept lifting in the corners and eventually detaching from the bed.
I never had this issue with my original Ender V2 hot end/bowden setup.
I messed around with all different hot end temps and bed temps but still couldn't it to print abs successfully.
Then I noticed that the airflow from the hot end fan (not the print cooling fan) was flowing over my print. To see if that was really the issue, I taped over the bottom of the fan shroud so it diverted the airflow away from the nozzle. This fixed the issue. I have since printed a plate that clips onto the bottom of the fan shroud for when I print ABS.
interesting....I'll have to check mine now
I did the Micro Swiss direct drive and hotend. Was worth it.
I printed a replacement extruder arm for my ender. It lasted about 9 months, and nearly constant printing. But the failure mode was brutal, as it slowly deformed over time and was a challenge to diagnose. Even when I removed it, it looked fine (though the replacement fixed my issues, so I have no doubt that was my issue).
Yeah that's not the first time I've heard about this....I'm lucky mine just went halfway through a print!
fantastic video thanks!
Just did this mod 10/27/23. Very easy to do with zero technical knowledge and basic tools. First test print is running like a dream so far. Fingers crossed!
I did this to both my Ender 3 printers. I'm very glad I did.
The only thing I'd like to do is change out the stepper motors for pancake steppers to reduce weight.
Yeah! I hate carrying a heavy printer around, lighter the better😂
Thank you for the video.
This is the first kit I bought for my ender. Its really good to start with, and with all the stuff you get with it a real bargain. Only thing, as suggested, replace the arm with a metal one and you're good to go. It is kinda heavy tho, so in the end and installed an additional lead screw
I added this kit and a dual z screw setup to compensate for the weight and it started off awesome. However, after about 100 hours of printing, it seems to plug the nozzle or break off filament after the extruder wheels making it a pain to clear. Have you had to tune any of that out of yours? I wonder if my particular unit is defective.
@@beardeddude9168 i would actually check the hotend fan. What you're experiencing sounds more like heat creep
I've had the a10m and the a20m. Some people seem to have success with them but not me. One thing I learned is to make sure you have both filaments loaded otherwise just the one will build up and start to flow into the second spot. I converted both to single filament. Something like an mmu or color palate are much more reliable IMO. I don't own either it just seems like a smarter solution. At first I got great success but after a few models I noticed problems and then had to resort to replacing the hotend. I've done this once on each and have decided for long term use its far better to use only a single style hotend.
I figure if I have any troubles I will do the same as you. I got the printer at half price so no massive loss.
Also lf you haven't already look into HL Modtech's videos about the a10m. He has some good info about upgrading the software and using it. Keep making these great videos
I got the unitak 18 dollar kit. wortks great same methods. allowed me to put a metal fan shroud on too as it was ender 3 / pro / v2 compatible it needed ALL the holes. so it was a double boon.
Just FYI, I'd gotten a direct drive kit (not this one) a couple years ago for my original ender 3. It also included a extender for the extruder stepper wires. After extrusion issues, tons of printing problems (including gaps, filament grinding), the original board blew the extruder driver, replaced with an SKR V1.4, blew the extruder driver again and replaced the individual driver, I finally tracked down the issue to the extruder extender cable. I'm guessing it was intermittent or bad crimps or something, as it was connected properly and firmly. Once I got rid of it, didn't ever have a problem again. As we say at work "Connectors... don't". I recommend not using extenders even if it means replacing the cable with a longer one. The less connectors, the less potential points of failure.
I'm already suspicious of that connector...so this is good info! Did you have any interference issues btw?
@@LostInTech3D I don't remember any, but it acted very strangely, skipping steps, loss of power to extrude, resulting in stripping filament. I even replaced the motor thinking that might be bad, didn't help, went to a Hemera, didn't fix it, after I blew the TMC2209,I figured there had to be a bad connection, so removed the extension as it wasn't needed, and all my problems were fixed!
thats quite a journey, I will try and get rid of mine and see what it does for my interference issues
Micro Swiss AMHE+DD for the win!
You add both files for dual colour printing in to Prusa Slicer at the same time.
I have a Geeetech A10M Pruser Slicer profile if you want to have a look at it.
Would recommend changing the extruders as the tensioner arm idler bracket breaks almost instantly.
Great video Keep up the good work.
Thanks! Someone else has pointed me to profiles, but I would definitely be interested in yours too if you can share them easily, especially the purge settings (dual extruder).
The extruders are already annoying me so I think they will be changed anyway - impossible to load with a reel in place!
@@LostInTech3D Just emailed it to you. Hope it helps.
Got it. Thanks a lot!
Nice video 👍🏻
Bang good have some cracking offers, I got the Creality Sprite 30 quid cheaper than Amazon
loosen the lower wheel on the x-travel head & it comes off without fuss. Much easier than detaching the end of the rail rom bracket.
TPU vs TPE?
Nicely done, as usual, thank you.
TPE! It's actually quite hard to get hold of here, but I will try, because yeah that would be cool!
I don't have an Ender 3 but great video. Can you modify the new hotend with a BMG extruder and pancake stepper motor? I have a TEVO Tarantula Pro that I modified and I would highly suggest adding a dual Z.
I stuck a BMG style on a different printer. Honestly I didn't like it, but....I think I may have caused some technical issues in the process which didn't help. I think I may end up doing the dual z mod though!
@@LostInTech3D when you change the extruder aka BMG or Titan you need to recalculate the steps. I'm working on some upgrades to my Tarantula Pro such as dual z and linear rails next n x and Y. I already have a BMG and V6 hotend you installed. A BLTouch might be next and a 32bit board as well. I have silent steppers installed.
Still, the 32-bit board comes with a bootloader and hence makes it easier to flash your own firmware, right? Also, if I'm not mistaken, you also no longer need to splice stuff to get some extra GPIOs, as for a BLTouch ... So, I would still consider the 32-bit non-silent board an upgrade over the original 8-bit one, but it is indeed ridiculous that Creality didn't spend the extra $1 to get silent drivers and instead added lots of logistic overhead and related cost due to an additional flavour of the board. Personally I got an SKR mini E3 1.5 years ago and have been very happy with it ... I also changed it to Direct Drive at the same time, but just with a printed mount for the standard carriage. There are multiple such mods available, but I went for one that didn't impact the print volume, having the motor sticking to the left. So far that has worked good enough for me ...
I have an SKR octopus sat waiting for me to work out what to do with it.... dont ask how that happened! 😂 But I sense an upcoming vid on compiling marlin!
I just converted what I'm calling my "Used to be Ender 3" and I put an SKR E3 Turbo (running Klipper) an Orbiter 1.5 extruder, and a Phaetus Dragonfly. It was quite a bit of work, but with a new PT1000 sensor, I now have a silent direct drive printer that works up to nylon/PC temperatures, and the main thing that put the project over this option was three new fans on the hotend (two Deltas and a Sunon).
Even pre-tuning, it's running much more smoothly than my other (lightly modded) Ender 3.
Does this extruder uses the same heatbreak as the original hotend or does it use a metallic one?
btw you're supposed to cut off the tinned ends of the wires before putting on the ferrules or it's not really going to help with anything as the solder is still going to flow out under pressure and give you a loose connection with or without ferrules
Haha, I told you I didn't know what I was doing. Point taken! I have added a note int the description.
I was thinking of getting a direct drive but i have a filement runout sensor and the cr touch, the cr touch might not be to much of a problem but the runout sensor i would not be able to use 🤥 as i use it has been a god send a few times.
I have an Ender 3 Max Neo. I installed the Ender direct drive on it and noticed there isn't a place to attach the Z axis limit switch/auto leveler. I added the auto leveler and found that now the auto leveler no longer stops the downward motion of the hot end, and the hot end tries to go through the hotbed. Obviously, I am doing something wrong. Does the Direct Drive extruder not need the Z axis limit witch/auto leveler?
/i still have the original yellow plastic extruder on my CR10 and despite being plastic its still going strong the only mod I did make was to drill a 4mm hole in the lever to insert a small piece of ptfe tubing...
hello, i have
upgraded to a metal extruder from creality, and it works great! i was wondering why the one you showed in the beginning og the video is a bad quality one?
Nah, all the $10+ one works fine, it's way better than the plastic stuff.
Might it be useful to ad the dual leadscrew upgrade when upgrading to direct drive? This way the extra weight when the hotend is on the opposite side of the single screw wouldn't create a big leaver force what I think it would do and it might be more stable too
Good idea!
Since you're a bit into gcode commands, is it possible to implement filament-unloading in the end code? Like after the print is finished and the hotend moved away moving the extruder about -5cm or so directly or after the hotend has cooled down for around 30°C or so. Cuz I want to have no filament loaded if the printer is unused and now I have to wait untill the print finished to remove it or heat it up later again which both is a bit annoying. If the printer would do this for me I could use a timer to cut the of and later simply remove the spool. Bit off topic but this just came to my mind.
@@JB-yu1vv just add the unload command to the end gcode in your slicer
@@JB-yu1vv
Like LIT said. I use Cura and if you go into settings/printer profiles/machine settings, there is a box for start and end gcode. In the end box, I just changed the default "Z-5.0" to "Z-50.0". Basically from 5mm to 50mm. When the hot end colds, I can still pull the material completely out.
I just upgrade my ender 3 from bowden tube to direct drive as show in this video. But ihave problem on retraction. I try to calibate so many time but no luck for me. Can you provide the magic number for me? Thanks
After installing the direct drive (and second Z axis drive) parts my motherboard fan and the fan on the right side of the nozzle are working. When are these supposed to come on?
Is this an upgraded hot end or just a direct drive? The smaller Bowen tube looks similar to the factory piece.
Those Creality stepper motors are heavy, I would be tempted to fit a Nema pancake stepper, I have them on an Ender 5+ with the Micro Swiss DD kit and an Ender 3 with the same DD kit
yeah certainly if you wanted to look at something that prints quick that would be worth doing.
Hello. Do you know if the hot end on this unit is all metal and can handle the high temp materials such as nylon? Or would I need to
Change out the hot end?
Thank you.
You would need to swap it out with all metal. It's not a huge task.
I'm done with bowden tubes.. Don't know it always popping from both sides(extruder&hotend), I use glue, make housing bigger but it's not solve my problem. Lastly I'll try direct drive extruder. Now I'm looking for stl of dd..
the V2 does support this mod. did mine before i saw this video
Is this compatible with the Voxelab Aquila?
It's a printer similar to the Ender 3, but the description and the comments only mention Ender 3 compatibility.
I can't see why not, as long as it's 24v, which it may not be, in which case you'd need to get a 12v one, which I think do exist.
Can I use my CR Touch when upgrading to direct drive?
Good 👍👍👍
Hi I am getting pretty desperate with this and you seem knowledgeable so.... do you have any idea how to prevent the bed on the sermoon D1 from shutting down when fillament runout is detected? I don’t see the point of the sensor when as soon as the filament runs out it turns the bed off not just the hot end ..... this makes the print detach from the bed unless you attend to it within 5 minutes..... any ideas ?
that is a really dumb thing for it to do!
If you can't find a fix then textured beds (eg magnetic) do not detach the piece at low temperature, so this would solve the problem. Maybe someone else can jump in and help, I don't know much about the printer.
Also check this out. 3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/15374/bed-heating-stops-when-paused-by-filament-runout-sensor
It may be possible to fix if you are willing to compile marlin yourself
That price can easily be beaten: print a hydra direct drive toolhead off thingiverse? There's direct drive parts for Creality extruders and BMG style ones.
Would you still recommend doing this or should i just buy duel geared extruded and keep using Bowden because duel geared extruded on Neptune 2s review printed TPU so well
ditch the bowden if you can
Do we know how to install the BLTouch with this?
I always enjoy watching your videos, I love your style!
Do you have a link on the silent board? I can't seem to find it!
I believe it was this one I ordered - but make sure you get the "ender 3" (not sure why the pro is different??)
www.banggood.com/Creality-3D-Upgraded-Super-Silent-24V-V1_1_5-or-V4_2_2-or-V4_2_7-Mainboard-With-TMC2208-Driver-For-Ender-3-or-Ender-3-Pro-3D-Printer-p-1510927.html?cur_warehouse=UK
i printed the arm while i wated for a new one to arrive it lasted longer than the one creality sent with the printer.
8:45
Not true. This means the eccentric nut needs to be adjusted. The individual rollers can be tightened all the way pretty much without causing bumps or friction.
Do I need the upgraded board or does it work with the 4.2.2 board
any board is fine
Perhaps an unusual comment. You have really nice voice, easy to listen. Oh, and the advices are also good! #nohomo
Haha thanks, I'm flattered but everyone hates their own voice 🤣👍
hi there i have this direct drive but one issue i have found is that when i do bed leveling it crashes into right side an make a horrible sound it like the bolt to long i have duel z axis aswell
I cant even think why it would do that unless it thinks the bed is bigger than it is
As an electrician , you should nip the tinned end off of the wires you are not using. The reason I say this is because those wires that you tucked away could potentially back themselves out from vibrations created by the printer due to the stepper motors and then possibly touching the motherboard and causing arcing, and then destroying stuff !
yeah, I goofed on that lol.
@Lost In Tech lol, that's OK, we all goof once in a while
I have a plywood flashforge and it blew my mind that most have the filament drive not on the head.
Yeah Bowden is the dominant method these days for better or worse!
on a random sale on the webside "idea????" I cannot figure out what your saying.
Banggood?
@@LostInTech3D I guess I couldn't understand him...thanks
Can i add a bl touch with this model?
you can...but eh, I wouldn't bother personally, it's a pain.
I bought one of these a while back. Then i bought a proper hotend.
I see you've done some linear rail mod too...nice
@@LostInTech3D just a test for the x axis. Now I'm actually waiting for a ratrig to arrive. It got a mosquito.
;T0 = 100/0
M163 S0 P1
M300 S880 P300
M163 S1 P0
M164 S0
;T1 = 0/100
M163 S0 P0
M163 S1 P1
M164 S1
;T3 = 50/50
M163 S0 P50
M163 S1 P50
M164 S2
Sets the virtual tools, so m163 s0 or s1 set right or left to be mix value anywhere between 1 to 100, and m164 saves it to a virtual tool, being 0 for extruder one, and this works on the geetceh A10M, so I am assuming the A20M is a newer version of the A10M, hope this helps.
Much appreciated!
Reach out, or provide a email and I can send you all the stuff that I have so far on mixing hotends. It is a wild ride.
@@LostInTech3D No Problem it took me a while to figure it out as well!
There are multiple ways to do color prints.
1. Add a M600 command to change color at certain layer. This video describes how to do that in Prusa Slicer, Cura has something similar th-cam.com/video/CtC5vAK94qA/w-d-xo.html
2. You can create and export model in multiple parts. When loading to slicer (at least Prusa or Super Slicer) it asks you whether those are separate objects, or parts of single multi-colored object. This way you can initiate color change even in the middle of layer if you have one extruder and hotend only - you can "lie" to your slicer that you have multiple toolheads and use M600 command as start gcode for tool change. If you add another tool in Prusa Slicer under Printer settings, you can tick the box "Single extruder multi material" and it will do it for you.
3. New Prusa Slicer 2.4 currently in beta allows you to paint parts of the model directly with colors and it will process those as multi-material print.
Sorry if this is a bit Prusa Slicer oriented, I use this slicer and I know it the best. I am sure other slicers are equally capable.
much appreciated
So you've spent 153 pounds, excluding the magnetic build plate, and still probably need some fans for quiet printing. That's damn good. OTOH, this direct drive extruder appears to be single-geared, 1:1 ratio. Am I seeing that right? If so, it seems a bit pointless.
That kind of half-arsed approach to everything is why I wouldn't recommend a Creality machine to a 3d printing newbie, but that's looking like a very cheap option, especially as a second printer (eg, a machine set up to only print flexibles) or the starting point for another specialised machine (eg, a circuit board mill).
Yeah I've not actually got round to testing the performance yet, I keep finding other things to do.
Mainly it's for printing flexible filament which it seems to do, so in that respect it's a cheap solution to one specific problem.
But as it turns out you can do it for free but that's a story for another time 👍
Are you going to make the update video? I'm still waiting....
wait, did I promise an update? 😮 I don't remember half the things I say.
No worries! I was more joking with you, not trying to stress you out 😁 There was going to be a follow-up for TPU printing.
Ah! No, that's totally on! I'm working on it as we speak, probably video after next! :)
Hooray! I'll keep an eye out for it! 😁
You didn't leave a link below to any electricians we could watch do that wiring job.
god i hate the ender 3 i wish wish i just got the flsun v400 but i started out buying the cheap pos one and ive been regretting it ever since
This not only doesn’t solve the cheap plastic extruder arm from breaking but it makes it a lot more difficult to replace.
The new cheap plastic extruder is half way behind the mounting plate. Bowden tube length also become critical since it removes any margin of error you have with a traditional bowden tube setup. Also with soft filaments if the filament gets pushed out after the spur gear from printing too fast or a clogged nozzle it’s a bigger pita to fix.
Point is, the product is only decent but far more cons than pros. Definitely get what you pay for here. Those were only the issues I had there are a host of other minor things like the bowden tube still limiting your print temp, it’s weight, part cooling fan setup. It’s marketing should say “Pretend to have a direct drive like your friends!” so you at least know this is the worst possible approach.
Sad that they still don't offer simar solution for the cr-6 se even after one year of existence 😢
really? I guess now the ender 3 v2 SE or whatever it's called is out, they will probably focus on things like that.
Maybe there is a mount on thingiverse, I mean, the conversions are harder but not impossible.
@@LostInTech3D yeah there are some schemes on thingiverse, but it would need someone with cnc milling machine to cut it out of aluminium :/
The ender 3 v2 is a good printer, yet cr-6 se allows me do better prints (a hackspace here in town have both, so we can compare)
Misleading thumbnail. The *cheapest* way to convert direct drive is to mount the stock extruder on the print head using a printed bracket.
Damn I was gone make a comment about how you decided to get the most expensive type of crimp tool for a 2 min job but then I looked it up and theire just way expensive over here.
I mean technically you did both?
Its better to make your Ender 3 with dual Z rods before you set a direct drive kit on.
I don't think you really need to either way. I never noticed a problem.
@@LostInTech3D Do you have an update? Still good?
Of all the direct drive kits, this seems to be the bulkiest
Might be... unfortunately I don't have any others to weigh and compare. Most of the weight is in the motor though I guess.
the microswiss is similar
I got it because I figured the creality brand would be the best match but since I've gotten it I've been trying to find a better ligher one
I honestly do not see that much benefit of such a direct-drive kit over a printed mod, unless it is combined with a less heavy extruder/motor combo and even then in most cases you could just print a direct-drive mount for that combo. A printed mount will typically weigh less than a metal one and as long as you keep the hot-end and nozzle attached to the original metal carriage, it will be just as steady as with a metal DD-mod. The motor might be mounted a bit more flexible than on metal, but that might even be a benefit. The Ender 3 carriage also has a great design to fit a printed DD (ex. search for Direct Drivinator) mount onto it. A less heavy extruder would also reduce the need for a second z lead-screw. With decent adjusting of the right excentric nut you can ensure the x-axis doesn't really sag, but it will still vibrate more when the head is on the right than when it is on the left, affecting quality vs. speed.
Check out the Orbiter! It is a sweet little DD extruder!
i installed this thing, i printed out 2 benchys then i printed something I made with the same G code parameters and it jammed again. fuck this i wanan throw the ender 3 off a cliff
10:05
Why are you printing a simple cube on a raft and with Tree support structure?
Bro do you have any idea what you are doing?
I'm always learning, and I don't remember specific details from videos this old, but at a guess I was probably just doing what I felt like. I'm sorry if I committed any offences against bed adhesion. 😂
"Won" a "free" one...just $2.99 shipping.
That's just silly. An aluminium extruder will always be better than the shitty plastic one, even the worst that you can find.
Respectfully disagree, after spending yesterday fixing flaws in an aluminium one.
A lot of time to fit it….. it’s 4 bolts
I don't really measure time in bolts
"It's cheap!"..."Oh you also you have to get some extra stuff to crimp the wiring, make sure you do it correctly so you don't start a fire, and in the end will cost just as much as buying a new printer...But the part is cheap!!!!"