Creality Ender-3... it's time to move on.

[@YeaahRight]

Cant beat the ender3… when it’s f*ck*ng working

[@dangerous8333]

All mine always worked. Not everyone is good with machines.

[@theninjascientist689]

Creality sold MILLIONS of these machines. It's not unlikely you just only got the good ones. Plus not everyone should HAVE to be an expert to enter this hobby.

[@CaptainXJ]

*fucking

[@jachymzak95]

@@theninjascientist689i guess you can choose to spend more or save and face the hassle/ be good and utilize the most of the cheap printer

[@bojik2616]

AMEN

[@original_zurn0]

One thing that still keeps Ender 3 variants sometimes more competitive for some people are the coupons that Microcenter likes to do for “new customers”. An Ender 3 V2 at $99 is hard to beat, especially for someone that isn’t sure they will stick with the hobby.

[@nwerd7584]

yeah if one was closer I would have one myself.. I've only seen in store coupons for it though. You cant buy it online for that price.

[@jodrafting]

@@nwerd7584 i bought ender 3 neo with upgrade kit which fixes 80% of the problems for $150 on amazon. wait for a sale. it's my 1st one and i've had 0 problems. entering month 3 ownership

[@auroraRealms]

I agree, that if you are like me and bought a Homers/Tevo Tarantula for about $110 to learn what 3D printing is all about, then sure. I learned a lot, about all aspects of 3D printing. Software, hardware, materials, and I thoroughly learned how to modify the Tarantula. Fortunatly, after I got all the learning out of the way, Sovol released the SV06. That is the printer I use for printing. The Tarantual is in parts, and may get up and running again someday, with a ton of mods. When the Sovol arrived the Tarantula was on its last leg. The Sovol just prints, with very few mods, and it will just print 24-7 without any complaints. Kind of like a Prusa MK3.

[@ScytheNoire]

Then they try to use it, can't get good print, get frustrated, and tell people how 3D printing sucks. Not everyone wants a learning curve and tinkering.

[@auroraRealms]

@@ScytheNoire Much easier to just start with the Sovol sv06. They have refurbished down to $180. Kingroon has cheap linear and innovative rail printers.

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

The Ender 3 is the only 3D printer here in Brazil that you can reasonably afford even if you're on minimum wage, and since it's popular, you can easily find info on how to make it perform better or fix issues that arise, as well as find parts for it.

[@geomanhaes]

Pois é, comprei a Kywoo3D Tycoon Slim por R$1457,00, plug& play. Não precisei usar meu conhecimento de eletrônica e programação para colocar em funcionamento. Achei muito prática...

[@auroraRealms]

What about the Sovol SV06?

[@GabrielM01]

@@auroraRealms ender 3 and variants range form 1600 moneys to 1900 moneys, Sovol SV06 ranges from 2200 moneys to 2900 moneys

[@edfersomramos1527]

concordo, o cara vive em país de primeiro mundo, e não tem noção que o resto do mundo não é para amadores rsrs

[@BigBearBrew]

Ender 3 (The cheaper 3D print here) is about 1600 moneys in Brazil, as said (2024). Minimum wage in Brazil is 1412 moneys (2024). A good PLA kg is about 90.

[@WillThat]

Ender 3 is like the Small Block Chevy of the 3D printing world. There's way better options but the Ender 3 is good enough, has tons of support, and a huge community.

[@mmavcanuck]

That’s a good example. Mainly because the LS has been around for so long and has replaced the SBC in every conceivable way other than making a period correct hotrod.

[@MobileDecay]

I have no issue sacrificing it for a working printer and my sanity.

[@briankale5977]

That is a slap in the face to LS owners and swaps everywhere. The Ender 3 is more like a K20 PoS.

[@JohnnyD1993]

​@@briankale5977No, it's definitely a LS. It's essentially the bacon of culinary arts. "Bro, just throw some bacon on it" "Bro, just LS swap it"

[@Vinz3ntR]

The community is still what's keeping me from moving to another house. In various groups you will get answers within minutes.

[@gingermany6223]

One benefit of getting an Ender 3 as your first printer is it come with about a month's worth of practice projects as you make all the parts needed to make it more user friendly. I think the first prints for mine were different guides, brackets, fan shrouds, etc. 🤣

[@Vinz3ntR]

Same here; different motherboard cover with bigger (more quiet!) fan, different psu cover since the stupid Creality design blocks all air intakes. Dual part cooler shroud so the prints get cooling from both sides.

[@firefoxik75]

Same here, still have the same original one, nozzle changed once, new bowden tube, new mobo with TMC drivers (best upgrade), adapter to standard SD card and still up and printing...

[@mynameisprivate158]

Mine is stock and does what I need it to do

[@MaxC_1]

Never needed to print any real mods for the Ender 3 honestly, besides a shroud for the intake on the mobo. It's always been the hardware stuff. New metal extruder cuz stock plastic will 100% break after a month or two. Changing hotend to one with a 0.6mm nozzle+Bimetal heatbreak and also having a whole spare Phaetus Highflow hotend that can be swapped with a couple screws.

[@oldphart-zc3jz]

Much of that is not especially valuable but it's cheap to print so might as well. The main thing I found offensive as a lifelong technician is the sloppy bed level adjustment hardware. Four star lock washers sorted that but should not have been necessary. Sloppy thread fit is inexcusable.

[@d.jensen5153]

I appreciate this video. Until today I couldn't understand why certain people were so critical of the Ender 3. Mine has been a sheer joy from day one. It is still the printer I use the most.

[@Shrubtastic]

I just bought my first 3D printer - an Ender 3 V1 (but upgraded with auto leveling). I’ve been blown away so far with how good it is, but I get the impression that the original owner upgraded a lot of pieces and tweaked it to be awesome).

[@brockweaver8476]

That would be my thought. I’ve been tinkering with Ender 3s a lot and I despise them because of how inconsistent they are

[@robster7787]

By the time you upgrade everything to match the feature set as the Ender 3 S1 Pro your original build will cost more. •Twin Screw Z axis •Direct Drive extruder •Touch Screen Interface •Auto-Bed leveling •Higher operating temperature •Filament Sensor All features I mentioned are all that the S1 Pro has that the Ender 3 V1 doesn’t have and by the time the V1 matches those features, the overall build is almost $300 more expensive. This is coming from me that has a regular Ender 3 Pro and did upgrades over the years. You’re gonna want to upgrade the Bodin tube extruder to a metal one when it begins to slip.

[@retsamyar]

@@robster7787 it can cost that much or more but it does not half to.. you find budget options of almost all those things to hack together something decent for not a lot of cash. that said it is not as easy to find decent budget prices**parts with fake reviews and market places flooded with junk. so yeah as long as you dont include your time it can not be as much.... if you include your time there is no way you could do it for a decent price.

[@quarterswede]

I got an Ender 3 Pro for Christmas and the gifter bought 5 from a print farm who was selling them (and gifted them to various people). They were decently upgraded but didn't have some obvious cheap upgrades like metal extruders and better hot ends. The only thing I want to do now is make it more quiet and add CR Touch for quality of life upgrades. This thing has taught me and my son so much about 3D Printing. It's like a manual car. If you can learn to drive one you'll end up being a much better driver longer. We love this little booger. When I upgrade I'll be looking for a much faster printer. That's about the only thing I wish it did better.

[@XeroCreator]

how did you upgrade with auto leveling?

[@fletcherchambers7175]

When reccomending a printer, I've always told folks that they'll have a much better time if they think of Creality as a parts reseller, and go into it knowing that they are 100% community supported. That said, the a $99 Ender 3 Pro is a heck of a learning platform - out of necessity. Great video, spot-on.

[@eaman11]

The Elegoo N2S is a similar cheap platform, you can buy those refurbished and they come with a PEI bed.

[@scottmclaughlin1410]

I agree and I decided to not buy one for this exact reason. I didn't want to build a printer I wanted to print.

[@theglowcloud2215]

Creality is a terrible company. It's in their DNA--it's part of Chinese business culture. They'll never change. Recommending an inexpensive printer as a learning platform for people new to printing is fine, but the Ender 3 was never good, no matter the price. If you spend $200 upgrading a new printer just to make it work acceptably, you've wasted both your time and money.

[@ivovass195]

Yep, ender 3 pro is a great starting point for the tinkerer but not for those wanting a "just works" device

[@hassosigbjoernson5738]

A better starting point would be a Kit printer with a good manual and instruction videos like the Lerdge iX Kit. The version 2.0 starts at 125 bucks but you could order parts like a direct drive extruder or some lineal rails to have that great modding route and at the end have build a Bambu A1 Mini for 320 bucks by yourself! The learning curve would be tremendous! With that you build up your own printer and learn so much in like 2 afternoons. And after that printing and trouble shooting is a piece of cake since you already built that machine. And building is always better than buying! :D That's why LEGO is still so popular between grown ups! Oh ... and of course it would be open source - so your CAD model is available for you to design your own mods with. And a Klipper tutorial is also available, so fast printing like the Bambu is obligatory by now.

[@JH-zo5gk]

My ender 3 has 700hr on it since july 14th when i upgraded it to klipper. Over all it have like 5k+ hrs on it. Even if i never use it again after my version of a vzbot is built ill still never sell it and it will always have a place on my shelf. Its been an incredible machine that got me started in 3dprinting. I now have 4 machines of various configurations churning out parts almost 16hrs a day. My ender has a place in my heart. Bury it with me.

[@hsoj32]

I fully agree, I love my Ender 3 it is my first and only printer, I have thousands of hours in it, built SO many cool things with it BUT I would never recommend it to someone just now getting into 3d printing. The only thing original left on it it is the frame, the power supply and some of the stepper motors, I have either upgraded or replaced everything else. For me that has been part of the fun, troubleshooting, repairing, testing but there were many times where I just wanted to give up, Im sure someone new to the hobby facing the same challenges probably did.

[@thedandy6765]

my first printer was a creality halot one pro and honestly getting a resin printer is a way easier start then a normal 3d printer with this its simply leveling and every 100 odd hours a fep film change and every 250 hours orso a carbon filter replacement and its quick and easy to do the one thing that did take me some time to learn was the supporting for prints it was quite hard to support em well and get it to print well but i learned that i need to angle the pieces often

[@ahaveland]

Similar to my voyage too. Made solar tracker and scooter fairing with it, amongst other interesting things, boxes, adapters, mounting brackets etc. Would like a bigger version now!

[@DiavloPL]

I admire you, because I always hated my ender3, always will hate it and its just my stubbornness, that allowed me to have some good stuff printed out of it, but with the first opportunity to run for different ones I did. Also it was that close me to just dump it and burn it :)

[@kevinsun123]

Is it still an ender 3 when you changed all the parts😂

[@aregulargenericname8794]

​@@kevinsun123ship of theseus moment

[@heyspookyboogie644]

8:00 I’ve actually been really surprised for how much Naomi contributed to the tech/open source/3d printing community, that there’s been so little reaction to her getting shut down.

[@chikokishi7030]

literally didnt even know

[@Pudding_Pie]

Seen her pop up now and then in my recommendations and never clicked on any of the videos because she had her honkers out. The fact that she was a serious content creator is big news to me. Go figure

[@SkylerLinux]

Sadly with the death of Twitter, she lost her Western Presence; thus she lost the protection of being under our gaze. Because we stopped looking first, few noticed that she's not there.

[@SkylerLinux]

@@Pudding_Pie I understand and kinda feel bad. Like I've heard from several women creators, two when having a webcam view was becoming popular. One added a cute drawn kitten pawing on a keyboard gif as hers. The other just refused because she had ample assets and knew that she would be inundated with claims she was popular because of or R jokes. Otherwise the choice is to just take advantage of the attention of having them

[@iout]

I didn't even know about this until just now. I had noticed I wasn't seeing her mentioned as often, but I had no idea that she had been forcibly shut down.

[@dhootparm]

The ender 3 is an absolutely fantastic printer, I run a small company and we prototype parts on it all the time, we bought a K1 Max and two bamboo lab P1S's and I love them as well especially the bamboo labs but at the end of the day you can get a Ender3 for like $150 any day of the week, and it teaches you a lot about the concepts of printing when you're tinkering with it. But because all the parts are pretty robust you're not going to really break anything. I own 6 Enders and just love them especially when you have a glass bed. Ender3 + FreeCAD = Fun

[@counterstrikecannoli4443]

Stockholm Syndrome

[@Vinz3ntR]

I like the glass bed as wel but as soon as I had a bed leveling probe and a PEI sheet I tossed that glass bed in the bin and from that moment everthing just sticks and comes off like a dream

[@davidparnell1893]

Quite an endorsement and convincing.

[@paulreynolds4311]

What do you recommend instead

[@meisievannancy]

I use a glass mirror for a bed. Works great.

[@tonycosta3302]

My Ender 3 Pro is awesome. I can turn it on after months of not using it and get a perfect print first time. It’s not very fast compared to newer printers, but it is reliable and asks for nothing in return. It was a great first printer. Agree that there are newer models that might be better, and Creality needs to get the Ender 3 variants under control.

[@VideoNerete]

Lucky you, mine was not responsive at all after 6 months of no use.

[@magicsasafras3414]

​@VideoNerete dang, I used it for the first time in 1 and a half years, and it's still a work horse.

[@robertworks3957]

I have an original Ender 3 that I bought in 2019 and it's the same way. Spent the first few months getting it dialed in and for years now it's been turn it on and go whenever I need it.

[@MadGoat]

I kept my 3 v1 off for about a year and fired it up... Bed was still level, hot end was working perfectly. Printed like it did a year prior. It's my old faithful, just so slow now that I have the Ender 3 v3 KE.

[@Vantillay]

My Ender 3 Pro is 4 years old now, starting to rust on some of the motors and guide wheels from storing it in the shed, and yet it still prints incredibly well and has always been reliable. Its print quality and reliability is honestly better than the Ender 3 V3 KE I recently bought (and in the process of returning) and I love it to death, best purchase I ever made

[@orbatos]

The community losing Naomi Wu is a bigger blow than many realise, she was the only person local to the actual production companies and could give real feedback in addition to her OSHW work.

[@gunnarbiker]

What happened to her? I used to watch her videos and now that I see your comment, I realize I haven't seen anything from her in a while.

[@cambridgemart2075]

@@gunnarbiker The authorities threatened her because of her outspoken views, so she had the choice to either go quiet or be disappeared.

[@creativelyunoriginal]

This is a very simp take. It completely ignores all the engineers currently working and innovating in this field. 3d printing is still niche. You cant expect the same kind of progress as other fields in the same time.

[@rthoulouze]

@@cambridgemart2075 She actually stopped doing any OSHW advocating after the community and the OSHWA collectively shat on her years before her government shut her down. Both are really sad.

[@orbatos]

@@creativelyunoriginal You can actually, this market has been suppressed for decades. Do you really think the current systems weren't possible in 2000? News flash I was using one. The problem is that they were very proprietary and some patents needed to expire. The reprap project was about making an open platform to prevent this from happening again as easily and the current industry exists because of those efforts. Naomi Wu showed Chinese companies that the profit wasn't in hiding code, something they generally don't understand, and she was making real progress until American maker and tech news orgs treated her so badly she couldn't keep going.

[@volttherobot]

Hope Naomi is ok. She not only had been a legit Maker for ages, she has been fiercely protective of "Young Makers". Thanks for mentioning her situation.

[@chrissinclair4442]

Vice working hard as the CCP lapdog to hurt Naomi? Wonder if that is why Vice died and Soros was sure to buy it up? So disturbing all the way around. Was George Soros involved from the begging with Vice and sanctioned Vise to essentially HIT Naomi?

[@chrissinclair4442]

Looks like KZbin hid my comment about Naomi. Nice to know KZbin is the lapdog of the CCP too in an effort to hurt and cover-up what happened to Naomi Wu.

[@CantoniaCustoms]

And also trying to ruin linus's life

[@ninjalemon_Squash]

@@CantoniaCustoms Linus ? LTT Linus ? How ? and Why ?

[@CantoniaCustoms]

@@ninjalemon_Squash basically she accused linus of trying to sexually abuse her when he invited her over to a hotel for an event...

[@8BitWorks]

Leave my ender 3 alone omg

[@Nirim000]

Lol, I have gotten a way better one, still tempted to get one and put a dual conversion kit on, "CR30"kit + switchwire!!!😅

[@SpaceDad42]

He’s paid to trash it.

[@Invisibilitylock]

@@SpaceDad42 I’m not paid and its an absolute pain in the ass to use, it wasted so much of my time and i always lost the drive to print when one of its crucial features shit itself for the 20th time and i had to fix it, i just had to get a new printer.

[@threepe0]

And Brittany

[@UncleJessy]

“Hey Mom, I made it into a Makersmuse video!” 🤣😂🤣

[@limpfinger12]

Probably not the way you'd hope 🤣

[@AliDraws]

"I knew my boy was talented in baseball" 👵

[@joelpichette]

I just bought an Ender 3 v3 se, and now i'm seeing a video of a guy who says ender 3 is obsolete ?

[@limpfinger12]

​@@joelpichetteare you just starting out? It's an amazing printer! I've printed to ton of stuff on it and it is easy to use. There are other printers available with bigger volumes, and resin is also coming way down in price, but the ender is still amazing

[@Jigsaw765]

Go back to shilling garbage

[@iSupermanCKi]

I started with an Ender 3 V2 about 4 years ago. It's been a great little machine and helped me learn the hobby. I actually bought a second one in "as is" condition from eBay for $80 2 years ago and had it up and running for about $30. Last week I ordered a Bambu Labs P1S Combo and I can't wait for it to come in. I'm gonna sell off my second 3 V2 to a coworker who wants to learn about the hobby.

[@stevehanely9446]

That's funny, I just did almost the same thing Got ender3 new than bought broken neo and fixed it with printed parts in about 20 min Also bought a flashforge adverntuer 5m Love them all, the flashforge is fast but the enders are more accurate

[@anneragg]

I love my ender 3 neo. I am using the creality slicer software and have printed a number of your challenging prints including the easter egg torture test and all have worked perfectly. I am new to 3d printing and am 73 year old female. It's great fun. I have not needed to make any modifications to the printer or the settings to achieve the results

[@elydro]

Omg, you're amazing! 73 years of age and 3d printing?!? I wish you were my grandma, haha. Lots of love, god bless you!

[@sparkthego0f473]

I got an Ender 3 Max Neo, nice to see someone else with a neo printer :D

[@Mayhem_Inc]

@@sparkthego0f473 Just got an Ender 3 v2 Neo (first printer), haven’t set up it but can’t wait. I’m nervously optimistic.

[@sparkthego0f473]

Nice, I think the V2 and Max are pretty similar. When putting the printer together be sure to mount your display correctly. I didn’t do mine right and now the screws are broken lol. Also quick tip, make sure your wheels aren’t too tight. If they’re tighter than they should, after a few prints, it will look like there is dust on your wheels. It’s very visible on the wheels that carry the build plate. It’s actually rubber from your wheels slowly “chipping” away.

[@rentturaakki]

bot

[@ytmusik1338]

Sticking with my Ender 3 too. Its familiar, and Ive learned to fine-tune it over time. Budget constraints can make trying new models a bit tricky.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

I'm not sure there's any good reason to upgrade from one unless you need a larger build volume are want to print with resin. Once you've got one of those locked in, there's not much to be gained by switching. It's the folks that got a bad one or can't get it to work right that ought to consider upgrading or switching.

[@stevecade857]

Got to say you're spot on in your analysis of the 3D printer market. (My personal experience) My son got an Ender 3 as a hobby printer as it was cheap and great to learn with and pretty much got me into the whole 3D printer world. I loved the whole design and print side of 3D printing and wanted to get my own printer but could see so many things wrong with the Ender 3 I didn't want one myself. The Ender 6 came out and I talked myself into how it would make a great hobby printer and to learn on and even make some mods to take care of its shortcomings. The Ender 6 has been a great tool but the constant need of fettling to get great prints was getting tiresome when what I wanted was my printed design to come out without any drama. Enter the Bambu A1 combo. The thought of easy colour prints was tempting but the ease of use and self calibrating element of Bambu printers in general had me reaching for the credit card. My, so far, short experience of the A1 has me blown away. Just this morning I sent a print from the web to the printer from my phone and it just works with nothing more than turning the printer on. Bambu have moved things on considerably with their ease of use it's night and day. Was the Ender 6 a bad printer? No. It taught me so much but now it's time to move on to what I really want to do, design and print, without the fettling.

[@bami2]

I hope by "short experience of the A1 has me blown away" you don't mean "the cable shorted, caught on fire and my house exploded". I hope you got news of the recall.

[@stevecade857]

@@bami2 Thanks for your concern but both the A1 and myself are intact. My printer is closer to a wall behind it such that the bed cable was tapping the wall. From new I've had a strain relief print installed to stop the tapping and my cable is as good as it was out of the box thanks.

[@bami2]

@@stevecade857 That's good to hear!

[@oldsjunkie1]

Going from Creality to the new Creality... Some folks just don't learn.

[@3DPrintSOS]

I completely agree with all of your points. Wanted to add however that the recent SE model is actually something a bit different. It uses a strain gauge and auto bed leveling so the user doesn’t have to adjust zoffset or make any first layer adjustments at all. Very compelling at $200. Ok, now I’m off to check in on Naomi and where she’s been.

[@kevin.3D]

i was gonna say the same thing. Also no more bowden tube so that is another flaw mentioned that they have fixed. I'm a bit biased of course 😆

[@chrissinclair4442]

Looks like KZbin hid my comment about Naomi. Nice to know KZbin is the lapdog of the CCP too in an effort to hurt and cover-up what happened to Naomi Wu.

[@jludo]

It still doesn't hold a candle to the Bambu a1 mini though, for the same $200

[@AlessandroBertolucci]

Naomi Wu certainly deserves the credit and the community support. I hope she is ok. As for Ender3 - I'm one of those who bought an Ender3 5 years ago. It's still going strong, but I'm looking to retire it as I'm frankly tired of tinkering with it and moving on to something new. I agree with you 100%.

[@gfdggdfgdgf]

Naomi wu is as fake as it gets, she doesn't deserve any credit or attention.

[@WaffleStaffel]

@@gfdggdfgdgf Wu is just fine, all she has to do is behave. As a gay person myself, it give me no pleasure to say that the State Department and the CIA use LGBT activists as "disruptive actors" to use as weapons against a targeted state. China is a conservative culture, and as such, has little tolerance for in-your-face sexual liberation activism. Her partner is apparently Uighur, so she is likely involved in activism on that front too, however the notion that they are under threat or targeted for "genocide" is, in reality, completely unfounded. Again, the CIA uses Muslims to antagonize the State, and there have been a number of atrocious terrorist attacks against the Chinese committed by Western-backed Uighurs, and IMHO, China's response to this has been quite moderate. There are hundreds of ethnic minorities in China, and all are protected by the State and given additional resources. They were not even subject to the "one child policy." The KZbin user "Alex from Xinjiang" documents this area, which provides direct proof that this group is healthy and thriving (and in a modern land with advanced infrastructure). Anyone who says otherwise is spreading CIA propaganda, whether they know it or not. As with Gaddafi and Libya, we're not permitted to witness functional states who actually work and use resources for the people, it sets a very bad example, so any State who does this has to be vilified in the extreme. There is nothing too dirty or underhanded for our Z-occupied governments to say or do to keep us mentally corralled onto the reservation.

[@poweruwa]

@@WaffleStaffel Too long, didn't read. Shut up you Chinese Government boot licker.

[@arbjful]

@@WaffleStaffelby ‘behave herself’ you mean ‘tow the Government’s line of thinking’ ?

[@WaffleStaffel]

@@arbjful If you'd read beyond that part of my comment, you'd know the answer. It means *not agitate on behalf of a foreign power.* And she's not going to be "disappeared..." People are far too gullible, and they repeat the hyperbole they hear in our news media, which has never, ever, proven itself to be honest or without extreme bias.

[@TheShadesOfBlack]

Last year I upgraded my Ender 5 to an Ender V3 Neo, and I don’t think I’m going to stop recommending Enders anytime soon. Yes, the Bambu we have at my work BLOWS ME AWAY with how great it is… but it’s also 5x the cost.

[@TEGKCUFTNUC]

And 5x the quality

[@solidamanda]

@@TEGKCUFTNUC and 5x the peace of mind to leave it printing and not be bother checking it from time to time

[@scaramonga]

Terrible support has Bambu. I have the X1 (not blown away), the Qidi X-Plus 3 (very good), Ender 6 (nightmare), and my trusty Ender 3 V2, which I continue to mod, and it prints just like it did on first day. Beautiful :) I have probably spent more than the previous aforementioned, all put together, on the V2, lol, albeit, it's a tad slow now. Think about that ;) I did also buy an 'Aquila' back then, (cheap at time, with the crappy mainboard) but it never came out it's box, and I just ended up using it for spare parts (for Ender 3 V2), as I was just too busy getting the Ender 6 nonsense done at the time, so that never got up and running, which I feel bad about. Covid took it's toll. Still, more parts for my V2, rest got binned. :D

[@VideoOfMike]

I absolutely agree, Ender 3 / Pro/V2, should be discountined from manufacturing. But Ender 3 V3 SE is actually a huge step forward.

[@Dust599]

The V3 SE is still a in violation of Marlin licensing, (you cannot get source), there is zero documentation for the motherboard or the display or the strain sensor... so making any modification or upgrades is limited to firmware creality provides (unless you gut it and start afresh)

[@TehKaramelo]

I disagree. Maybe in many countries that makes sense, but for somebody like me that lives in Brazil, the original ender 3 is amazing. It costs 1 minimum wage only, and it's available directly here (no importing taxes, current import tax is 92%).

[@DiscussToUnderstand]

@@TehKaramelo Where I live, minimum wage is done as a per hour rate. In Brazil, is the minimum wage done by week or by month?

[@hdnfbp]

@@TehKaramelo Tem que aproveitar, pq eu duvido que vai continuar assim nos próximos 2 anos

[@TehKaramelo]

@@DiscussToUnderstand R$6,00 per hour, $1,19. Here is done by month and it's R$1320,00 or $262,45. Yes, I paid $262 for a stock ender 3. If I had to import it would be $503. At the moment I'm trying to buy the K1 and it costs around 1k dollars.

[@BrianBauckham]

I have an ender 5 Pro print farm, which has done me well for 3 years. You can't have a farm with lots of different printer types. But bambu labs will be my next purchase.... just waiting until Christmas sales come and go... before I move away from creality. Completely agree with the general view of Creality.

[@user-jk9zr3sc5h]

Bambu printers don't support the same level of print-farming as your Enders

[@doinker50]

@@user-jk9zr3sc5h can you explain what you mean? Do you mean just based on cost you can get more printers for the same amount spent, or is there some other feature you're talking about?

[@user-jk9zr3sc5h]

@@doinker50 No, Bambu printers arent currently automated. You have to manually print each item. There may be some automation software available but I havent heard of it yet.

[@crooker2]

I'm not a 3D printer farm operator... But I'm curious about the automation thing. How do you automate a 3D printer when you have to physically remove the print from the bed before starting another one?

[@doinker50]

@crooker2 Ive seen people add gcode to push the print off with the print head (cool the bed, push it off, print again) but i dont know if people use that in print farms

[@andreewert6576]

I was thrown into this hobby by my best friend who had just bought his second Ender 3 and gave me his first 3d printer, a Mingda D2. Basically an Ender 3 V2 clone, with BLtouch and a touchscreen. I used that for a year and got frustrated with the print speed, and all the little issues in leveling, plus the occasional layer shift. Mostly though, i wanted to print ABS and the bed would only heat to 100°C, which was bad for adhesion. Then i bought an elegoo Neptune 4 for 250€. Klipper, Mesh leveling and what feels like 10x the print speed. With fast printing, failed prints cost way less of your time, you can "fail fast" as Mr. Musk likes to say. My free time is easily worth that money. Still gratefull as heck for that free printer which got me into the hobby. It has to go though.

[@ChristianBrunschen]

Thank you for the shoutout to Naomi Wu aka SexyCyborg. She is an awesome maker, her silence/silencing is so worrying and, like you, I really hope she is OK.

[@chrissinclair4442]

Vice working hard as the CCP lapdog to hurt Naomi? Wonder if that is why Vice died and Soros was sure to buy it up? So disturbing all the way around. Was George Soros involved from the begging with Vice and sanctioned Vise to essentially HIT Naomi?

[@chrissinclair4442]

Looks like KZbin hid my comment about Naomi. Nice to know KZbin is the lapdog of the CCP too in an effort to hurt and cover-up what happened to Naomi Wu.

[@chrissinclair4442]

Looks like KZbin hid my comment about Naomi. Nice to know KZbin is the lapdog of the CCP too in an effort to hurt and cover-up what happened to Naomi Wu.

[@chrissinclair4442]

Looks like KZbin hid my comment about Naomi. Nice to know KZbin is the lapdog of the CCP too in an effort to hurt and cover-up what happened to Naomi Wu.

[@davidjiannotti1537]

They had enough new people in the hobby they can get away with it. The hobby is maturing. I think the ender 3 will remain popular for years. The newer machines are plug in and go. Alot of people enjoy the tinkering of the machine as much as there creations.

[@kakwa]

Honestly, I will always be thankful for this printer. At the time, the other decent option was to spend ~$800 for a Prusa. It was simply too much for a tool I was not sure to use that much beyond the obligatory Benchy (which strangely enough, I actually never printed ^^). To be fair, it is not a great printer, even with upgrades. But as a tool I use once in a while, it's still fit for purpose, even if better printers do exist for the same price now.

[@icubedev]

Thanks!

[@goatmodegaming]

I’ve got 3 Enders, only one has had a massive amount of problems and now it’s working beautifully. I just love how upgradable and customizable it is

[@AlexLawngtv]

I really hope Naomi is able to get out safe with her loved ones. Its been such a horrible situation.

[@heribertosarmiento1265]

knowing what they do in "re-educating camps" Naomi will need some counseling and to leave asap back to the west ☹

[@jadesprite]

Sadly I think it's probably too late to 'get out' since they're definitely targeted now.

[@heribertosarmiento1265]

@@jadesprite yup they don’t allow their citizens to watch KZbin but their police and security forces and wumao army are allow to scan youtube/twitter etc for dissent

[@nwerd7584]

tbf, she almost deserves it. she just thought they wouldn't do it to her, she saw it happen to countless other people and stayed.. for money she cant spend anymore.

[@heribertosarmiento1265]

@@nwerd7584 remember she felt for the propaganda of the CCP “real freedom and stability here” which gets famous people in trouble once they get into mainland China. If you listen to Asian boss interview where they ask Mainlanders about freedom of speech you would be like WTF is the propaganda that great ? But seeing then speak I was like this is what happens when a dictatorship masquerades as a “political party to the people “ 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️

[@bergerle]

I bought an Ender 3 back in 2018 as my first (and until recently only) 3d Printer. Back then, there wasn't much choice available at that price point and it was surprisingly good out of the box (I guess I also got lucky). I had the occasional problems with leaks in the hotend due to bad fittings or molten PTFE tubes, but generally it worked fine. Of course it got some mods over the years: lots of 3D-printed attachments, a Raspberry Pi (OctoPi) with a camera, magnetic PEI bed, new mainboard with silent drivers (most mind-blowing upgrade), BLTouch ABL, quieter fans, a new, full metal hotend... It got to a point where it was mostly reliable, had good enough print quality and was even quiet enough to sleep in the same room it's running in. I actually only used it occasionally and for simple enough prints it worked really fine. However, I never got the settings quite perfect for low-tolerance prints and some special cases. I knew I could get there, if I actively spend at least 10h calibrating and adjusting everything (maybe replacing some worn out parts), but I never really wanted to take that time. Over the last months I often thought about cool stuff to print, but knew I'd have to fix the printer first for really good results, so I didn't do it. Then a friend told me about Bambu Lab. After some thought I got myself a P1S for Christmas and oh boy, is that a game changer. After the easy setup I printed the benchy that's readily sliced on the included MicroSD card and couldn't believe how fast that thing was! And it wasn't only fast, it was also the highest quality print I ever produced to that day. Without any tweaks. That changes it for me and I'm completely back in the printing game again. The only thing I really miss from my Ender 3 is how quiet it was with the upgrades. For me, tinkering with the Ender 3 was a fun hobby from time to time, but most of the time, I just want a reliable and easy to use tool - which the Ender 3 never really was. Would I recommend it for someone to buy? Maybe, if that person is good with electronics, patient and wants to have a DIY experience. Otherwise: never. I would consider almost all my upgrades on the Ender 3 to be sensible and maybe even required for a good experience. The catch: if I combine the price of my Ender 3 with the price of all the upgrades, I could get a Bambu Lab A1 for that price, which I'm 100% sure would be the better printer by far in almost every way (except maybe customizability - better printer, not better project).

[@jludo]

Exactly, and the time spent tweaking/tuning/fixing. If your time is worth more than $5 an hour, a bambu labs will pay for itself

[@3DPrintingNerd]

@4:20 - oh man, I remember that. The CR-10 was a massive success with the price point for the build volume. It's like they took a minimum parts needed for that size, and put it all together. Before that, the size contest was strictly expensive, and I still remember buying my first gMax 3d printer :)

[@desiv1170]

Yep! I'm still running my CR-10 Mini right besides me... Not as large as the CR-10 or some of the others since, but luckily hasn't been an issue for me yet...

[@connivingkhajiit]

My CR-10S still works like a charm. It has its quirks (10:09), but once its set up, its print quality is pristine and handles up to 120 mm/s. I can start it and trust it to finish properly every time. Had it since it first released.

[@Spardin]

My first printer was the original ender 3 pro, really happy i got it i learned so much just from upgrading with new parts and printed parts and just generally tinkering with it. Its only this year i upgraded to the ender 5s1 which i got cheap in a sale and again super happy with it

[@martin09091989]

My ender3 pro is still rocking after nearly 10 years! A few years ago I upgraded the mainbord and hotend for the silent steppers and to be able to print nylons. Printed a better cooling system, some drag chains and build an enclosure out of cardboard for high temp stuff. Now it can do anything I could ask for! Yes it's relatively slow, and requires some maintenance ones and a while, but boy did I get a bang for my bucks with that printer! 😁 Maybe the best tool I ever purchased! 👍

[@tohrugon]

As someone who fell into the Ender 3 beginner printer trap, this video summarizes it all very well. Dealing with problems I’ve had with the printer even after getting a CR Touch has done nothing but put me off wanting to touch it. I’m currently looking at getting a P1P and either selling off my E3V2 or continue tinkering with it when I have the will to deal with it.

[@SianaGearz]

I think reliable printers are a myth. These are just fundamentally wear and fault prone class of devices for the time being.

[@HomeroGraco]

Go for it, I did exactly that move a few months ago and never felt happier. The P1P is way faster, prints at a higher quality and is super reliable.

[@u0000-u2x]

@@SianaGearz I disagree. Bought a prusa i3 mk2s years ago; have spent 2 years with it stored and it prints out of the box with no adjustments. never had an issue with it and have lost very little time adjusting anything since building it out of the box.

[@SianaGearz]

@@u0000-u2x so how many hours of printing do you have on it? Have you crossed a hundred? A thousand?

[@u0000-u2x]

yes I have crossed a thousand (edit: ~1500h; just checked. never replaced anything on it and like I said never had to make mechanical adjustments) @@SianaGearz and if reliability was an issue prusa itself wouldn't use a massive number of them on their assembly line

[@Trashalchemy]

We owe so much to Naomi Wu and the way she is being treated by her government is horrific. I hope she's safe and doing well. We love you Naomi!

[@CarnSarnit]

@@dev-debug There's an article linked in the description

[@theglowcloud2215]

CCP repossessed her implants?

[@randomviewer896]

I lost all my respect for her when she tried to ruin Linus Sebastian's life. She gets what she deserves.

[@haomingxia2109]

@@randomviewer896 to be fair to her being a woman in the Chinese tech industry really, really sucks, and human memory isn't reliable. it's entirely likely what she accused Linus of doing did actually happen to her, she just misremembered who did it

[@randomviewer896]

​@@haomingxia2109 A faulty memory is no excuse for that. She should have thought about it more before making career-ending accusations against someone. The reality is that she had a long history of sicking her followers onto random people she disliked, and she messed up by picking exactly the wrong target.

[@StimTrucks]

one reason I liked the ender 3 was the troubleshooting. I'm a mechanical engineer so getting the ender 3 with all the issues ( I was the 3rd user) I was able to learn about what can go wrong and how to go about fixing it. I taught me so much that when I got my CR10 -V3 I had no problems when issues came with that printer, as well as troubleshoot some friends printers. But to buy for production or prototyping DONT _ Its a cheap printer to learn what can and will go wrong and find out what you really want in a 3Dprinter

[@riskiyansah0238]

The learning curve with the Ender 3 can be a bit steep, but its a rewarding journey. The community support makes it easier to tackle challenges.

[@NZSpides]

Try building your own 3D printer from scratch. 😀 I did that back in 2016, and built another in 2018. I still use the second one, and have put Linear bearings on it. It's not the fastest, although I do intend to upgrade the firmware on it soon to allow me to go faster.

[@iambear.6526]

ok@@NZSpides

[@hfog]

I completely agree with you. Several years back I bought an Ender 3 Pro as my first printer. I still believe it was the right choice at the time but there's no way I would recommend it to a newbie today. It prints better than it ever did right now but that's only because I've modded the hell out of it to the point where it doesn't even resemble the original printer any more. Loved every minute of doing that because I'm a tinkerer at heart but boy would that have been intimidating to a casual user.

[@AlexanderBasov]

Ten years ago, I bought a RepRap. A few hours of assembly and the first print. I understood that this device was not ready for commercial use, but I was passionate about the idea of 3D printing as a part of the future. Then home repairs started, and I put the printer in the attic. Now I wanted to get it out, and it turned out that it just fell apart. All 3D printed parts were destroyed. So I went to the store for a cheap printer and saw the Ender 3. As a result, I bought the Ender 3 V2 Neo a few days ago. And so far I am delighted. It just works out of the box. The bed leveling setting is amazing. Auto-leveling is great. I hope I won't encounter teething problems, but even if I do... it's still much less problematic than the RepRap. Not to mention the price. I bought RepRap for 1000 dollars, Ender cost me only 220. I didn't buy more advanced devices (like V3) because I want a platform for modification (in case I want to modify or need to repair). I understand that my opinion is not objective... But Ender looks like a very good option for its money.

[@ethzero]

Bought an Ender 3V2, largely off of hint and tips from this channel and it's still a great printer for my occasional needs. It has the "must have" bed level sensor and I swapped out the default PTFE tubing.

[@Enjoymentboy]

This was a really good video. As frustrating as it can be to always be working on a printer instead of using it is that you really get to know the printer and understand how they work at a much deeper level than a typical "user". I have an MP mini select V2 that I was given last year as my first 3d printer. It worked well enough but was far from perfect. I'd give it a 6 out of 10 but for free and for not knowing any better I was still impressed. but once I began to have issues I was forced to either fix them or give up and I wasn't going to give up. I learned about this thing and in my discoveries to fix each problem I slowly improved upon it. I've now modified it significantly and use it as a dedicated printer for filament I make from PET bottles. it does PLA/PETG/TPU amazingly well but due to the small volume I leave those filaments for my other printers. But it has become a great testbed for new hotends, extruders and motors. I understand how 3d printers work so much better BECAUSE this thing was imperfect. Not the best solution for everybody but it definitely was for me.

[@tsbrownie]

We have an Ender 3 Pro with every upgrade there is. The 2 biggest improvements 1) are stiffer bed springs (or silicone replacements), and 2) the BLtouch or 3Dtouch. All the others just add a few % improvement. We did the BTT motherboard/display, MicroSwiss NG direct print head, dual z axis, BLtouch, silicone bed "springs", ball bearing filament roller (this is not bad and it's cheap). Putting temporary (NOT permanent) Locktite on the bed screws helps keep them from backing off. We don't have a ceramic bed.

[@licensetodrive9930]

The thing that stood out for me with the Ender 3 and other cheap 3D printers when I looked into them 5 years ago was the amount of user upgrades out there for them - that said to me they weren't as complete as they should be, that corners were cut in their design/build, I didn't want my introduction to 3D printing to be having to make the printer better, I wanted to get straight into designing & printing, so I spent more and got a Prusa i3 Mk3 in kit form and it's been serving me great ever since.

[@brookspotts9312]

Great takeaways here in regards to the Ender Product's, and I agree as owning not (2x) ender 3's, a CR-10 and (3x) cr-10s , the product is a platform for tinkering, I have told people to buy one strictly to learn, because 3D printing in itself is a huge learning curve for a lot of people. It prepares them for the unforeseen issues in printing that make you scratch your head. The personal safety of a content creator is certainly more important now than 3D printing. We should continue the conversation about Naomi and figure out what exactly is going on. I unfortunately have been out of the hobby for about a year now, so I'll need to catch up on the details.

[@oldsjunkie1]

She's simply gotten too old to be the honey pot. Her job was no longer needed.

[@brookspotts9312]

@@oldsjunkie1 Not sure I understand what you mean.

[@rickseiden1]

I won't recommend a printer without automatic bed leveling to anyone, let alone someone getting into it for the first time. My first printer was a Wanho i3, and the quality was good, if you could get the bed leveled, which I could not. My second printer was a Prusa MK3, which is an amazing printer, but the price of the kit makes it out of the price range of most people just getting into it. It will cost you $850 before taxes for the MK4S kit, which could take two weeks to get to you. For less than $500 before taxes you can go to your local MicroCenter, if you're lucky enough to have one, and get a Bambu Lab A1 with the AMS lite, or for that $850 before taxes you can get the P1S with the AMS unit and get an enclosed Core XY printer. So if I were to recommend a first printer, I would say get the Bambu Lab A1 Mini with AMS lite, the Bambu Lab A1 with AMS lite, or the the Bambu Lab P1S with AMS.

[@Ughmahedhurtz]

Completely agree: if you want to learn how to fix print problems and upgrade a printer to add missing features, the Creality printers are a good choice. If you just want it to work, pick almost anything else.

[@tedo3332]

I'm newer to 3D printing (under a year). I bought a Bambu Labs X1 and I've had nearly 0 issues. I'm printing in PA12CF with pretty good results. I'd suggest a Bambu Labs product to anyone who just wants a printer that works out of the box.

[@Ughmahedhurtz]

@@tedo3332 I really like the X1 Carbon's features but I'm waiting for another year or so to gauge the long-term quality for parts like the gantry rails.

[@tedo3332]

@@Ughmahedhurtz So far so good... I have gone through about 30Kg with only a handful of failures (usually tall skinny prints or forgetting a brim) and a clog. I hope it lasts too.

[@802Garage]

Thank you for speaking about Naomi Wu. Truly an unfair situation that simply isn't right.

[@papylecelte9916]

I got one, I changed it to direct drive, I print TPE and TPU a lot, bimetal hot end + copper block for hight temp, second Z motor, auto-leveling bed mesh, removed the springs under the bed for rubber blocks, G10-FR4 for the bed and MRISCO professional firmware. I love my ender3 V2. I use Orca Slicer and Octoprint on a Raspberry pi 4.

[@piconano]

I still have my Anet-8 from 4 years ago, and love it. It did need a lot of mods and calibration to make it great, but I like that route. Hands-on learning is best learning. It allows me to customize everything and not cry about the price.

[@lacrossev]

Still have my v1 a8 kit from...7 years ago. As of earlier this year when I bought my s1 pro it was still chugging along.

[@ThalassTKynn]

Between your videos and Naomi's, I bought an Ender3 V2 and it has been great for me. Though there were a few things that had to be a few things to be replaced. I hope Naomi and Kaidi are ok. It sucks how she has been treated, even before being disappeared. ☹️

[@chrissinclair4442]

Vice working hard as the CCP lapdog to hurt Naomi? Wonder if that is why Vice died and Soros was sure to buy it up? So disturbing all the way around. Was George Soros involved from the begging with Vice and sanctioned Vise to essentially HIT Naomi?

[@kjpierson1152]

Not holding the door is exactly his fault. You wouldn't hope a magnet would hold a piece of glass on while tilting thing at an angle that it obviously exaggerated.

[@wesvasher]

My only printer is still my first, a CR10 that I bought over 5 years and use it weekly. Have done some maintenance, new mainboard, new nozzles... but all very affordable and the thing is a total tank. Has never let me down. Simple design is the key. Paid $360 at the time shipped... crazy good deal. Still on the original rollers and belts.

[@corlissmedia2.0]

I’m impressed. I bought the XVico pioneer because of your recommendation. I still have it, with a Lerdge K board. Now I have the X1C and the K1 and the Kmax as well. Plus the cr6-Se and the BIQU Huraksn also. I didn’t know anything about Naomi. You should really go after that mess. The entire community should go after it. I hope your efforts and the efforts of others get her to safety. Maybe that can be Kick-Started?

[@ZERONEINNOVATIONS]

My first printer was CR-10V3. I recently got my ender3 pro at the microcenter for $100 new. And I'm really happy about it. If it's not $100 NEW, then not worth it. Don't waste your money. It's been 1.5 years since my first 3d printer purchase, and I think I finally understood all the basic aspect of 3d printer tuning. I've learned a lot from it but its a waste of time. My goal is to make something that I can sell as a product. Not becoming a professional 3d printer mechanic.

[@mensb1936]

Well said

[@proaudiorestore8926]

Literally agreed with everything said. I bought a Elegoo Neptune which if we are honest is just a refined Ender 3. Great to tinker with but after find out that after have the product for sale for 3 months, discontinued it (and thereby stopped firmware support) so they could release the Neptune 3 Pro, I took the plunge and just invested in the Bambu Labs P1S. I have been printing for 10 years or so, in fact I think the 1st video I watched of yours was how to use acetone to smooth out your ABS prints. Bambu Lab is the breath of fresh air this market needs for everybody to move forward. People may have issues with it being closed sourced and cloud base but truthfully, it just works so who cares? At the end of the day, I want to just print the stuff I design, if I can do it faster then all the better. The worst thing is having to fault find an issue when all you want to do is print something. Life is too short. So glad we are moving forward from all that. It’s time now

[@SeaTaj]

The real issue with the bambus is you are going to spend way too much money on filament 😂😂

[@AaronCederberg]

I bought a V2 for 70 bucks, and after a decent bit of fighting with the quirks and random mods, I know so much more about 3D printing than I would have if I had gotten a P1P or something that removes all the headaches. Can’t imagine anyone getting one at full price, but it’s a great way to actually understand all the nuances before you upgrade.

[@Justin3DArt]

Thank you for releasing this!! There was a time I liked to tinker with the machines (2015) but now I just want them to work so I can keep being creative!

[@LonelyOldKnight]

I wish as a community we could do something for Naomi Wu. Willing or, more likely unwillingly, she has disappeared from the internet. She inspired a lot of makers, womaen in STEM and made Creality a better company.

[@garysgarage101]

You hit it on the nail towards the end of the video. I held off for years getting a 3D printer bc I just don’t have the time to tinker. When Bambu Labs came out with the X1C I dove in. It was the right choice for me and I couldn’t be happier. It’s not perfect but very good.

[@petervansan1054]

that costs 4-10x much? ???

[@garysgarage101]

@@petervansan1054 You get what you pay for with Bambu labs. Yes you can pay less for other printers but what’s more important is ‘value for money’.

[@shamanschlong]

@@petervansan1054 snobs in every hobby always gloss over that fact

[@FawfulDied]

@@shamanschlong A hobby is for wasting money LOL, you should look at the people doing photography as a hobby buying $4,000 camera bodies and dropping thousands each on lenses.

[@shamanschlong]

@@FawfulDied that's beside the point

[@Ekuahx]

I bought the v3ke as my first printer a few weeks ago and it has been completely painless. Unpack it, put it together, run calibration and send a file via WiFi. It's been a blast. The standard profiles in the creality slicer work really well and I havent needed to adjust anything so far. This is how it should be: cheap, painless and easy to use without fiddling around with it.

[@myphonroboshoes2091]

i've had my ender 3 pro for many years now and recently been thinking about planning an upgrade, it's a great machine but auto-levelling and a few other little tweaks would make such a difference for me - would love a current video on the different price-points for 3d printing and the advantage of the extra features at each level.

[@whitexeno]

Add the cr touch, its not too difficult.

[@Drbeattles]

id have to agree with the other guy. shouldn't be too hard to add a CR touch to it.

[@VincentGroenewold]

Ah yes indeed it is time. I started with an Ender-2, modded it for about 90% I guess and got it printing as well as any expensive machine out there. Learnt a TON. So in that sense it was nice to be able to do that, however moving on to the Ender3V2, I ended up seeing the exact same stuff I wanted to mod and throw away, it seemed (and is) such a waste in general. So got me the MK4 and now I have both the knowledge to fix it (if needed), but also just have a printer I don't immediately want to mod. :) I will never go the Bambu way though as I still value being able to fix everything myself with standard parts.

[@ditship]

You are the reason I own an Ender 3 which I bought 4 years ago. I've been very happy with it. It's been cheap to maintain and I can level it quickly and easily at this point (never bought a bed leveler because it's part of the fun!). I do think at some point I'll move on, but it still does what I need. The move to multi color printing is something I will do at some point though and Creality doesn't look like it builds my next move.. yet.

[@PotatoClips]

It's wild I've never heard of Naomi but I can see the impact she's had. I got into printing about 12 years ago when it was a huge mess of manufacturers with $10000 models vs the wild west of kickstarters with no working results. After some headaches and failed kits, I took a break and came back to the waves of creality copies. It gave a good foundation for other companies to refine the design while keeping prices low. My sovol sv06 plus was $300 and out of the box it absolutely demolishes the other printers I've had. The trend also set the expectations for resin printers, laser engravers, desktop CNC. People expect a working and affordable option and if a company can't do it, another company will. We get a burst of bottom tier stuff quickly followed by gems and it's kind of unreal to see how fast it happens. I had no idea how it happened for filament printers originally, but its really turned the "anyone can make things** (**with unlimited patience, a lot of cash, and an expertise in electronics)" into "yeah, anyone can make things and its great".

[@NeoIsrafil]

You haven't? Oh wow ..yah she's important, her story is pretty tragic especially how she was treated earlier in life... she's such a wonderful, smart, talented woman and it's a damn shame that wasn't recognized right out the gate. If you can't tell I've got absolute GOBS of respect for her and what she's done for the space and would gladly straight up lead a team into China to pull her ass outta the fire if they tried to silence her completely or hurt her, she deserves an ARMY of 3d printing guys standing behind her honestly... our way of life wouldn't exist as it does without her work.

[@chrissinclair4442]

Looks like KZbin hid my comment about Naomi. Nice to know KZbin is the lapdog of the CCP too in an effort to hurt and cover-up what happened to Naomi Wu.

[@EhRabz]

As someone who gave up many times mainly becausee of first layer issues, moving to a Ender 3 V2 Neo was a HUGE change for me , the ABL is a massive W for anyone just getting into it or someone like myself who just cant be asked to level so often , v2 neo was great, now got myself a p1s and I run them both and id tell people to get a v2 neo or any variant that has ABL

[@DavidCarter-p9b]

I still have my Ender 3 (original). It was bought in 2018 and it has evolved into a great printer. The main mods were a quiet main board and metal extruder. I 3D printed the usual things to make printing more "convenient" but not really necessary. I still manually bed level the printer and thinking of changing the bed level springs as the next "improvement". It is for those who like to tinker as mine was super cheap and had to be assembled they called it "kit" form. I learned a lot about 3D printing, what it can and cannot do. My other printers are an Elegoo Neptune 2 and Mars (original) resin printer.

[@OmegaGamingNetwork]

The ender 3 was my first intro into 3d printing. While it taught me the basics of 3d printing, it was a massively frustrating experience that wasn't enjoyable on any level. However instead of making me quit, it just made me buy a Bambu lab P1s. That has been everything I wanted out of 3d printing. It's fast, I didn't have to "fiddle" with anything and on 99% of the prints I want to do including those I design myself, it just works. But yes as you mentioned, I wanted a tool first, hobby second.

[@octothorpian_nightmare]

My Ender3 is basically the Ship of Theseus at this point and the very definition of technical debt. But I love the thing and won't stop using it. Thank you for talking about Naomi, too. Absolutely heartbreaking. She kicks ass and deserves so much better from all of us.

[@cheapskateaquatics7103]

Im glad I purchased ender 3 pro in 2023. It was hard and frustrating, but I learned so much from it!

[@Oivaras]

Bambu Labs stuff is not bad, but the main reason why they got so popular is that they shipped free units to every influencer in the whole maker community, which got them a ton of cheap promotion.

[@steveaylor376]

And Craptality did the exact same thing... Enough of the Creality Trash already.

[@anthony2472]

You do realize that every 3d printer company does that, right?

[@goatpepperherbaltea7895]

Tard brain

[@Oivaras]

@@steveaylor376 Yes, they did the same thing.

[@poodlescone9700]

The V2 is the sweet spot. It is still moddable and have the refined offering of higher end models.

[@Budda648]

My V2 has been rocking since 2021. I've only done a handful of mods - new control board, PEI bed, and, most recently, a Sprite direct drive head. I have linear rails for the X and Y that I snagged on Amazon prime day for near future upgrade. For my practical application and part prototyping I think it's done really well for me.

[@briankale5977]

"cope."

[@kamilklimek5619]

⁠@@Budda648so basicaly you end up with frame of e3 - there is almost nothing from original e3 left after all these mods

[@Budda648]

@@kamilklimek5619 right, but everything worked really well before the mods.

[@oldcomps]

I can’t argue with you as I’m a novice but my ender 3 has never let me down, I’ve only been running PLA until now and had great results. I tried ASA for the first time today and used the base settings from the internet and it’s working brilliantly straight away. I can’t fault it especially for the price. I’m sure there are much better printers but its horses for courses and my ender is all I need.

[@chriswhite6546]

Great vid and 100% consistent with my experience in getting into 3D printing 4 months ago. I bought Creality (CR10 Smart Pro) and it has been… ok. But the learning curve was steeper than it needed to be. I’m still here, but now strongly considering a different machine - maybe a Qidi X-Max 3

[@computersales]

I think there is an argument for getting an Ender as a starter printer. Dealing with the problems they have are definitely frustrating but I have the feeling it'll make things easier when people upgrade to fancier printers in the future. I forget which ender 3 I have but I will probably upgrading soon. Not sure what route I'm going but I'm guessing the struggles I've dealt with will be beneficial for my next printer.

[@C0mfortCruise]

I started this hobby with an Ender 3 just like most of the community, but after 5 years I've since graduated to a Bambu Lab A1. Even with the multiple upgrades I'd already given it, my old printer just wasn't printing reliably enough for me to WANT to print. Enders are cheap up front, but by the time you get them to a level of functionality similar to a Bambu you'll have spent hundreds more, so I'm happy I made the switch.

[@Silvertaurus_]

I was thinking about 3D printer for long time, but gave a shot at it when Neptune 3 released. Majority of issues were solved with soap water and IPA to clean up bed from time to time. oh .. and trying out white fillament was adventure. Beside that as complete newbe I had mostly just fun with designing and prining stuff.

[@sharpfang]

I still do recommend it as one of options for first printer "if you're feeling brave, adventurous and patient, and want to learn 3D printing more than to get your prints done". And specifically, if you want *a* *printer* to ger your prints fast and hassle free, Bambu is a great choice. If you want *your first printer* then Bambu is not a good choice as it won't teach you much. Prusa mk4 if you have the budget, mk3 if you still have some budget, and Ender if you really have little but know what you're getting into.

[@numaiomul13]

Ender if you think you know what you're getting into and Voron If you actually know what you're getting into

[@michaelperez6811]

Bambu is best beginner 3d printer when you get a problem it's going to take a very long time and you can focus on printing and designing and when you get a problem just scan the QR code and read the guide to fix it that simple.

[@sharpfang]

@@michaelperez6811 ...then you get a big print volume bedslinger as your second printer, 'cause Bambu's 255mm is not enough for what you want, and you have no clue how to make it print consistently, because Bambu didn't so much as hold your hand - it did it all for you behind the scenes, and you didn't learn from it anything about first layer, bed adhesion, warping, belt tension, or any of dozen problems bambu automagically solves depriving you of the learning experience.

[@misc8046]

What helped me most with the Ender 3: - Cura Z Offset Plugin (you just level with a piece of paper and then adjust in 0.1 mm intervals up or down), gets ten times the prints out of a bed levling as you don't have to adjust every time with the springs as long its more or less plane - use a little bit of sugar water applied with a sponge for Adhesion. Super cheap, works great - the ender 3 is the VW Bulli of 3D printing. You build up a love-hate-relationship with it and went through some tough times together 😂. It's pure nostalgia

[@BasedBidoof]

I love my ender 3's because they taught me to buy once and cry once. I wish I would've just bought a prusa and not had the pains of trying to manage the ender 3, but I learned a ton of fundamentals, so I guess it was okay in the end

[@thattechfpv6307]

I just got my Prusa printer and it’s actually quit a bit of tinkering before you can start printing, I originally purchase an ender 3 pro and modded into a v2. If it wasn’t from my great learning curve I don’t think I could have gotten my Prusa running.

[@BasedBidoof]

@@thattechfpv6307 interesting

[@Smokinjoewhite]

Thanks for bringing to light how worrying Naomi's situation is at the moment. Hopefully she is safe and can one day do what she loves again. I have been spreading the word to friends and other makers but I don't have any following and don't use social media, so it's good to see a channel of your reach talk about it, even briefly.

[@nwsmith9]

I think the ender 3 was a great springboard to help 3d printing explode into the mainstream. Starting with an ender 3 these days is a lot like getting dropped into the ocean with a life vest to learn to swim. You can do it, but there are so many better options.

[@Uriahjw]

My heart goes out to Naomi as well! I watched her all the time to see what wacky engineering ideas she came up with. It's sad that someone who has done so much for others gets the flack that she has. If I were Creality I would have hired her to make Creality more innovative and a better company. I'm sure she could do it. By the way does anyone have the belt driven ender that Naomi had designed. I would love to see what their thoughts were on the product. That's the one that had the roller bed for making longer pieces.

[@marknthetrails7627]

I have the Ender 5 Pro and love it. I purchased it in 2020. It's still going strong but no grand projects, just repairs, toys, and brackets for my gopro & Mavic mini. 😊 love the content, thanks for the work.

[@Toastmaster_5000]

As a Linux user, this kinda reminds me of Ubuntu, which for a long while was the distro that made the Linux desktop much more accessible to the average user with minimal tinkering. But, as Linux popularity grew, better alternatives started to appear. Some of those alternatives were hot garbage, some were great if you knew your way around a command line, but then there were some that just took what Ubuntu had and made it even better for beginners. Nowadays, Ubuntu is too corporate and they change things up too often, which interferes with a smooth user experience.

[@Skullyweb]

Naomi Wu is a fantastic advocator for the community. I too hope she is ok.

[@marcellap8280]

I bough an Ender 3 and had nothing but trouble with it. No matter what I did, I couldn't get it properly leveled (turns out the bed was warped), nor could I get decent adhesion. At this point I was so frustrated that I put it in the basement and forgot about it. Then in December I bought the Bambu A1 and it just worked. Too bad there was a recall, but I've ordered the P1S to replace it. I'm happy for anyone that was actually able to use their Ender 3s.

[@Ether_Void]

I bought one in 2018 as my first 3D Printer mainly because it was a cheap entry and I knew I wanted to modify my printer, which was actually a requirement for me so a fully framed ready to use unit was not really an option. Many other 3D Printers that had that kind of modularity were either too expensive (especially when I knew there was a risk of breaking it) or required me to already have a 3D printer to make some of the plastic parts (or if I ordered those parts the price usually went up again). It's still my only 3D printer (although by now other people in my circle have one which I could ask to print something if something is broken) and I am still upgrading it and currently planing the next round of upgrades (Like switching to Klipper, adding an ARM board, finally changing the extruder type, adding a second Z axis etc.)

[@shweenz]

I feel so seen. I've had an Ender 3 for years. I've made so many upgrades to it and it feels like I've been chasing my tail. Yes, I've learned a lot about the machines. Yes, I can mostly get decent prints. Was it worth al of the time, stress, and money? No. So I just bought a Bambu Labs X1 Carbon and will be unboxing it this weekend.

[@esotericsean]

Just upgraded from a Geeetech A10 (Ender 3 clone) to a Bambu Labs A1 with AMS and couldn't be happier. I'm still very glad I started with an Ender 3, I learned a ton modifying that printer and learning about 3D printing. I'm sure I'll still use my old printer from time to time.

[@ericseidel4940]

I just bought my first printer and it is an Artillery X2 at ... 187€. Bad levelling, direct extruder, 300x300 bed, I have to say it did it's first part perfect. I just had to straighten the bed and change the Z offset. I also re-tensionned all belts after a few pices. I'm very happy with my choice. I'm waiting for a faster printer, with also 300x300 bed, and enclosures.

[@jasonconstant455]

I have noticed the troubles people have with their Ender 3s on r/fixmyprint or r/3dprinting and everyone flames me when I say your printer is the problem. Maybe I am spoiled because my first 3d printer is a Bambu lab X1C, but I feel bad for these people who have a Ender 3 and expect a tool that produces parts, but it proves your point here that they are not a good 3d printer. Really goes to show how many of the newer 3d printers put them in the dust and are a tool and not a hobby. This video really explains the issues and it helps educate people on the current state of 3d printing. Thank you for the educational video.

[@MarcusBrannon]

Can't comment on new printers, but the Ender 3 Pro was my first printer and I'm so appreciative of the community support for the ender 3. I bought a used CR10v3 and was surprised at how little is available about it. Luckily, pretty much everything I learned about the Ender 3 applied, but I can't imagine what would've happened if I started with a CR10v3 or some other printer. It'd probably be collecting dust. So I'd just say, research the community support before diving in. Chances are you're going to need help and the ender 3 line has a lot of solutions already online for your problem.

[@jason25b]

I bought my Ender 3 Pro in Feb. 2020. I paid $215 for it and it was at the price point where it wasn't a big deal if I didn't use it. I do print those random trinkets, but find myself printing repair parts for the household more than anything. I have printed little spacers, parts for decorations, headset hooks, and the list goes on. I have had zero issues with it. I upgraded to a 4.2.7 silent board, CR Touch, and a glass bed. The only reason I would consider switching is for a larger build volume.

[@NeonDreams7]

I have my 5 year old original Ender 3 still on my desk. It sits across from my Bambu Labs X1 Carbon. I am really happy to actually "print" with my X1 more than troubleshoot. But, the Ender 3 really did make me learn things about my prints and their quality. It has helped in operating the X1 when it has a hiccup. I won't trash the Ender 3 but rather maybe set it up for TPU duties or maybe convert it to EDM using Rack Robo's new Powercore kit.

[@Abaddon231]

Just started 3d printing a few months ago with an Ender 3 V3se ..its been a great printer, and I'm looking forward to upgrading it.

[@milehighslacker4196]

I came to 3D printing with the purchase of a 99$ Ender 3 Pro (thanks for the coupon!). At first I was looking at $400-$600 machines, but since I had no idea if I would like or use 3D printing, I couldn't pass up the low-dollar opportunity to try it out with the 3Pro. I fixed the issue with the Z-axis limit switch and loose vertical springs by filing a bit off the nub rather than cutting it off. Once I re-assembled the x-axis gantry with attention to detail, I was able to get what I consider fairly good quality results. I appreciate this video, for sure. Thanks.

[@debraferreria1849]

My son gave me an Ender 3 for Mother's Day. I had never heard of 3D printing at home. He thought I would like it because I rip computers apart and rebuild them to do more. He was partly right.....I love it when it runs, "when" being the keyword. Constant fix or repair.