Linear Rails on the Ender 3 Pro - is it worth it?

[@andrewesquivel]

Note - I jumbled my words a few times in this video. I'm trying to talk faster per request of my viewers and my camera has a record time limit and this was my only free time before I had to start printing again so I misspoke a few times 😅

[@enlightendbel]

You came to the same exact conclusions I did installing mine and they translate to the same advice as I tend to give people. If you are part of the artsy prints side of the community, this is not for you. You'll get worse surface quality because every bit of vibration and chatter from motors, belts, lead screws and motion in and outside the system will be readable on the surface of your prints like with a record player. And you need decent technical knowledge for the installation and maintenance. However, if you are a more technical printer user and mostly create functional parts, the added precision and potential for speed linear rails provide are fantastic. I was able to double my acceleration and base speed just from having less friction on all axis. With the rubber wheels I had all sorts of artefacts at high speeds because the rubber wheels would lag and then overshoot their target because of their innate flexibility. (this isn't entirelly removed by rails as belts themselves also have some flex to them, although smaller than the wheels) Linear rails allow you to do some really rough movement changes without it impacting precision in the slightest. Besides the technical challenges, the rubber wheels and far softer coupling they provide on the axis by themselves are far better for artsy printers than linear rails are, because they are softer and more vibration absorbing by nature. If you print slow and steady, you can get smooth surfaces with rubber wheels, even if there's a broken fan on the nozzle vibrating your whole table. With linear rails, having some spring in the floors of your printer space can already translate into surface artefacts from you just walking around in your workshop. Now, if you are an artsy user, but are also technically savvy (aka a freakin unicorn), there's a variety of ways you can dampen, remove and smooth out these vibrations and stop them from getting to your print (HevORT project implements a lot of them in an ingenious way, from the magnetic couplers to using servos over steppers, servos run orders of magnitude smoother than steppers, but servos are also far more expensive than steppers). This'll involve even more investment of both money and time, more tuning, more maintenance, etc. At that point, you'd have been better buying a resin printer or far more expensive printer to begin with.

[@enlightendbel]

There's one issue with speed and linear rails on all axis and that's the weight they add to the X axis crossbar. They provide vastly improved rigidity to the profiles, but not to the joints of the profiles. So the added weight on the X crossbar can sway the entire bar and Z towers left/right more. I solved that in two ways. First I added steel joints pretty much everywhere I could, this caused me to have to do even more straightening out of the frame because with even more rigidity, nothing was compensating for anything by flexing anymore. Second by using a carbon fiber bar instead of the aluminium profile, not to add CFs rigidity (the rail is all the rigidity you need), but because a 300x20x5 weighs far less than a 300x20x20 aluminium profile. This may all seem like crazy investments into a 160€ printer, but I used the Ender 3 as a platform to try out a variety of things to start building my own CoreXY printer.

[@TranceTrousers]

Great video! The reasons you stated are exactly why I went for linear rails on my printer too. I'd had enough of problems with the wheels in the v-slots on my Ender 3, so decided to get an unfinished Ender 3 V2 project from someone local that I saw on eBay. It already had 3DFused linear rails fitted to all three axes, plus an additional Z axis stepper motor and lead screw. I transferred a few bits and pieces from my original Ender 3 to the new one in order to finish it off and I've been extremely pleased with it since. It was expensive, but worth it for the peace of mind and consistency. I sold what was left of my original printer so made some money back on that :-)

[@johanstrauss8951]

Oh forgot: The main purpose of Linear Rails, is to print with Direct Drive kit, you can then go a lot faster then without. I was going from 60/ms to 120/ms without any issue at all (can not see any difference at all) And last: THANK you for speaking faster! You doing GREAT! And I look all your videos :D

[@thissonedupuie3263]

I quickly learned to despise the V-wheels and went linear rails on my ender 3 v2 and it was worth every cent in terms of reliability.

[@jakemedley7423]

Tip on doing the linears on the y axis if you don’t have the shims is to fit it loose with the carriage and run back and forth as you tighten a 1/4 turn each screw…

[@-Gunnarsson-]

You should have 2 alloy profiles. and 4 rail blocks. Then make a lightweight carriage.

[@LargeKid]

What screw did you use for that y axis limit block?

[@TheExtremeElementz]

I appreciate this video you made, just got into the hobby and bought an Ender 3 Pro and the darn wheels on all of the axis have notches when traveling. (Can’t expect much for $100) But wanting to know how to really beef this thing up I know going linear rails is the way to go. Thanks!

[@oleurgast730]

Actually I would call linear rails on z a little bit overkill. The z-axis is moved much less than x and y, so I see no real need there. The only advantage: They can work against wobbly leadscrew. But if you change to a belt driven z (wich is cheaper than a second leadscrew anyway) the v-rolls are perfectly fine on z. On x I definitly recommend linear rails if using a direct extruder. For y - I do not like the whole construction of the Ender 3 (pro) there anyway. The base is much to small. I prefer a setup like on a prusa: Two linear rods in a distance, one rod as "guiding" rod (the one with two bearings (or in my case: bronce bushings), one rod with just one bearing. It is a bit less overconstrained. The big problem with two parallel linear rails is always over-constainment. The way to avoid this in z: re-design the x/z joiner, being rotatable on one side and rotatable and slidable in x-axis on the other side (so being constrained, not over-constrained). Or use an elastomer in the joint ( like smaler bridges often do...). While on a smal printer you might get away with over-constraining by adjusting very precise and using the (low) toleraces even a linear rail has, while scaling up, adding an enclosure etc. you can get in big trouble as different materials have different thermal expansion - so the tension of thermal expansion can easy block the linear rails even if you have done everything you can to adjust everything. I upraded one Ender 3 to linear rail on x. perfectly happy with it. V-rollers on z and y; on y I changed to higher quality ones. z-belt upgrade is in the making (at the moment I still use dual leadscrews). While on an Ender 3 using linear rails on all axis might work, I would be quite carefull to scale it up. An Chiron for example might have even more risk of blocking using two linear rails in parallel on one axis.

[@yippykayyay]

any recommendations on where to buy linear rails in 2023?

[@victorzen7638]

Sounds like you gotta go around the screws 1st border traction and again after axis test.

[@k0nd0r2009]

Muy buen video ilustrativo, Gracias por compartir tus apreciaciones de este sistema de rieles.

[@Chris0]

You make it seem like its so hard and in reality if you just took the time to print out some brackets to hold the rails to the aluminum the alignment would have been so much easier and faster for you.

[@andrewesquivel]

As I've talked about in the video, there are more things to align than just the rails with this kit(s). The additional shimming, no instructions, and added complexity with no availability of support from the manufacturer make this kit a lot more difficult than some.

[@BruceTheSniper]

I found it much easier to align the rails with the slide in T-nuts and installing them in every hole. Yes it's overkill, but if your frame is perfectly squared, the rails become too easy.

[@timne0]

Answered the important question. Hwind or not. Thanks! That's £70 saved.

[@georgem2333]

what sensor is that where the bl touch should be?

[@andrewesquivel]

EZABL

[@mycinemax2653]

if i use linear rails, do i still need dual z?, also i am looking a way to square my frame. planning to disintegrate my ender 3's and build from scracth.

[@andrewesquivel]

Honestly not sure. Never ran the machine with rails without dual z

[@mycinemax2653]

@@andrewesquivel so, you "are" using dual z i assume?

[@andrewesquivel]

Yes

[@repinscorpio]

Are these rails suitable for ender 3v2? I want to do it on mine

[@johanstrauss8951]

Yes, any can use them. Just make sure you get good quality, RobotDigg or LDO also make good Linear Rails and is ALOT cheaper then HiWin.

[@repinscorpio]

@@johanstrauss8951 I don't think the Y-axis the same

[@RAT.ROD.HEAVEN1313]

Do they make a difference no first of all they make a lot of noise Second of all you always gotta be greasing them up and they make no difference on the print they are no good just a lot of work