Ender 3 V3 Plus - Can it beat the competition? Full Review & Essential Upgrades!

[@Casimil7043]

Thanks for your videos man. Thanks to you I'm starting to love my neptune 4 max after about 8 month sitting on a corner

[@davetriesthis]

Oh man I'm so happy to hear that!!

[@JB007Rules2]

I bought an Ender 3 V3 about 2 weeks ago and it has been the most Pleasant thing I've ever had in my entire life. For halloween, I ended up getting an Ender 3 V3 Plus for $1.15 more than its smaller brother so I ended up returning the regular V3 model and will be keeping the V3 Plus. Remarkable printer, remarkable software, and remarkable experiences so far. This is my first and well, now my second 3D printer and I would highly recommend either model. I should also mention that I purchased this for my business so that I can manufacture parts on the dime and on the whim for much cheaper for some of the custom work that I do. For me, I use it to make money, and I typically keep this printer running 24/7 constantly manufacturing parts that I need for my company. I even connected it to a 1500VA APC for more uptime when the power flickers.

[@davetriesthis]

Apc is always great for these. What kind of things are you printing for work?

[@JB007Rules2]

@davetriesthis for me, a lot of it is custom branded wall plates and Keystone blanks. I do a lot with Ubiquiti equipment and some of their smaller and lowet end stuff is not rack mountable so I am using it to print rack mount adapters. The wall plates that I can manufacture for 45 cents worth of material are a tenth of the cost and they are twice as durable. For my bigger clients, I use the software on the computer to put company logos and phone numbers and things like that on those wall plates as well. I also use it to manufacture mounting adapters and plates for DeWalt batteries, Ego batteries and other such items. Eventually I will have a utility trailer and have more space than just working out of my 2500. That's when the 3D printer will really come in handy. Also 3D printing akro stacking bins are amazing. I sell all of my stuff I'm printing too. I can basically sell it for the same price as what I would sell it for if I purchased whatever I need from the local electrical supply house except I make 10 times more profit and the client ends up getting a product that is double in durability. No brianer for me and thr client both.

[@espencer2151]

I have had my Ender 3 for several years. I have modified it with a new motherboard, touch screen and several other upgrades over the years. Not because I had to, but because I could. Bottom line, great starting printer, and I learned so much about 3d printing by being able to do the work on the printer that I did. That said, I am not what you would call a main stream 3d printer enthusiast. I am not an engineer, I do not sell 3d prints, but I do use the printer in my woodworking hobby and printing many useful "around the house" items. I would love to print things like the helmets for my friends, and I think this would be a great upgrade. So far in watching reviews about all the "similar" printers, each has its own pros and each has its own cons. Thanks for the review.

[@davetriesthis]

My Pleasure. I hope you find the perfect printer. For bigger pieces this is a great option.

[@Smedleydog1]

I'm still using my modified Ender 3 v2. (All linear rails, Micro Swiss NG extruder, BL Touch, fan mods, extended Z with dual motors, PEI plate, silicone bed springs and insulation under the heater). With the Sonic Pad I can push it to 150mm/s and probably could go a little faster. The v2 has been a good work horse, but I want something with a larger build volume, a little more speed wouldn't hurt and it would be nice to have a second printer sometimes. I keep waffling between this and the Bambu Labs A1. Your video has given me more information than any other that I have watched and I think it sealed the deal.

[@davetriesthis]

Sounds like you've really dialed in that Ender 3. I think the new one is an excellent upgrade. The A1 is amazing as well. For size the 3v3 plus wins. For daily driving the a1 does.

[@StudioCreations]

The "cool coloring thing" happened on the Subscribe button, but not the thumbs-up button when you mentioned them. Very interesting.

[@davetriesthis]

Interesting. Thanks for giving the feedback I appreciate it.

[@Casimil7043]

I have one and absolutely love it. Forgot to mention that top spool adapter if printing enclosed for along period, it will soften and the weight of the spool will make it fall. I put a hose clamp on mine to avoid that while printing on nylon cf or pet cf and problem solved.

[@davetriesthis]

Ugh. That's not great. Btw which enclosure are you using? Someone asked about one the other day but I didn't have a good one to offer.

[@eaman11]

Actually even the old Enders are fine when you use Adaptive Mesh and a few cheap upgrades like a BMG clone extruder and a bimetal heatbreaker. I've got a couple and they print 120-240mm/s with 4-8k accel, it's not bad for maschines that I got ~4 years ago and went trough 2 generation upgrades. You won't be able to upgrade printers that are closed source in a few years when new stuff comes out.

[@davetriesthis]

It's true you won't be able to upgrade them in a few years, but if they work well out of the box you shouldn't really need to. Today's A1, for example, will work as well in five years as today. There's no need to add a strain gauge or use an external klipper box. Aftermarket parts are available for it, and likely will be as long as there is demand. Even if bambu cloud went away you can still print over lan to it. I like printers you *can* modify I don't like printers you *have* to modify.

[@eaman11]

​@@davetriesthis When the Ender3 came out it had 500 accel and 60mm/s. Later when Marlin got Linear Advance and JD you could do ~3k accel and ~90mm/s. Now with Input Shaping or Klipper it can do 6-8k accel and 120-240mm/s speed. We have moved from the standard manual heavy glass bed to autolevel, to lighter PEI, to adaptive mesh. There will be substantial new upgrades in the next years, be sure of it, and you will have to buy the new Bambu model to have those while you can have say eddie currents and 0.9" motors right now on an old Ender or whatever printer that has open source firmware.

[@davetriesthis]

@eaman11 sure and I agree. But most people buying printers don't want to add klipper or do input shaping or fix it years down the road. All the things we've moved to are better than they were years ago and they ushered in a new wave of 3d printers. These people aren't going to look to upgrade a $399 bambu a1 in five years. Print farms amortize the costs even faster than consumers. The lower end printers that can be modified and upgraded will still be there. People will be building a Voron in a few years. So now we have printers that work out of the box and work well. We have all of today's features. And those features will work for years even when new features show up.

[@eaman11]

@@davetriesthis It's not just Voron or Ender, there's a middle ground too. You can have a Neptune for 200$ that comes with input shaping and open source firmware and pints at 20k. You can get a Sovol that is open source and leans to a Voron for 500$. I don't know if all people want to pay a premium and being locked down just to have a printer that prints out of the box. I don't need or want that, I guess some beginners may need just one of those and then they can get a normal printer. Thing is beginners don't get that, they are going to find out pretty soon when Bambu releases the new models and they realize the printer is locked down. It's like the makers community has been turned into Apple consumers.

[@garthen73]

I’ve been running my ender 3 Pro for a long time and it’s running great… I’m sure I’ll be happy if I upgrade to this one

[@davetriesthis]

This one is so much better. I turn to it allll the time now. Helmet after helmet.

[@bjbbiker]

Do you know how to send the print directly to the printer? I have creality print hooked up and can monitor the print there, but is there a way to wirelessly send the exported g code from Orcaslicer to the printer via wifi? Right now i am just shuttling the gcode via a thumb drive. thanks

[@davetriesthis]

Look up the printer IP address in the menus on the printer. Go to a browser and enter that IP. It brings up the control interface. You can't upload g code files to there. It should also work that you enter that ip in cura or orca to directly upload but it never works for me.

[@bjbbiker]

Thx. I’ll give it a shot

[@claygrigsby1280]

I am new to 3d printing and have a creality k1c and have had a few issues with it but have worked through them. I am wanted to get a larger printer to print rc airplanes. Would this be a good printer to upgrade to to make the rc planes with?? Thanks

[@davetriesthis]

It's been rock solid for me.

[@hexesandheroes]

My two S1's have been really good actually.

[@davetriesthis]

That's awesome.

[@MikeBabsBC]

So I really want to grab this printer, but I see it's only rated for a layer height of 0.1mm. I was really hoping for 0.05mm when I print small items that need good detail. Is there a way to make it print at 0.05mm?

[@davetriesthis]

Not that I know of. Most people would buy this for the larger build volume and do larger cosplay pieces or prototypes. Later height is less important in those types or prints then they big volume.

[@yagsipcc287]

This looks really nice I have a resin printer I love for minis and busts. I think this one is what I am looking for with an FDM printer its big, the price point is great and has alot of the features you see on some of the more expensive printers. Sometime next year is my goal want to print off bigger stuff like Helmets that can be used for fun as well as useful items around the house (we hopefully should have our own place then so more room for this as well) Thanks again such a big help :-)

[@davetriesthis]

Helmets are fun. You'll like printing them. What minis do you print? 40K?

[@yagsipcc287]

@@davetriesthis yeah mostly in that sort of style. The Makers Cult, ThatEvilOne, DakkaDakka Store, Bestiarum Miniatures, OPR. Then some statues/busts of different things. That would be my main stuff tbh.

[@octothorpian_nightmare]

What keeps you from moving the Z end stop down low like the previous Ender series? I can't find a good picture of the back side of the unit, so this is a genuine question. What does the printer.cfg look like for the Z axis endstop?

[@davetriesthis]

No idea. Unlike older ender printers you don't have to modify the .cfg st all. There's no z-axis offset here. The probe calibrates offset when it's measuring the bed.

[@federicocollin8924]

Hola. como colocas el soporte en la parte superior?

[@gzcwnk]

I already have 3 creality printers this would have been my 4th but Creality's QA sucks. My printer arrived with the stress board DOA. I waited 3 weeks for a new board and 4 gauges, a 2hour + job to fit them. Then the bed was so uneven that it had dead areas that for some reason the parts just would not stick to. Then it started to massively under extrude at random, I sent it back. If you get a good one it is easily 50%+ faster than an ender3v2 and has a better finish on the parts.

[@davetriesthis]

Ugh. Problems like that are why I abandoned the Neo Max. I'm a few hundred hours into this printer and it's been excellent so far.

[@tonerona]

Hi there, your STL file appears to have some scaling issues. Do you have an updated one? Great vid BTW!

[@federicocollin8924]

Hello. How do you place the support on top?

[@ricardorodrigues777]

I'm not sure which one to buy, Ender 3V3 Plus or Bambu Lab A1? Which is better? 🎉

[@davetriesthis]

A1 is easier to use. 3v3 Plus if you want the bigger bed size.

[@mazsom]

thank you very much for the very informative intro. May I ask you about the extension cable? Is this a x2 wired or the x3 wired version?

[@davetriesthis]

Not able to tell from my Amazon history and I'm not at the printer but I 90% sure it's the 2s here amzn.to/4fxAYmT

[@heatedpoolandbar]

I did a very similar mod to mine.

[@davetriesthis]

Oh! What did you do?

[@heatedpoolandbar]

I keep the spool in a dryer, run PTFE tube from the dryer to a bracket I made to mount on the top of the gantry. I left the run out sensor disconnected but you have inspired me to get some cables so I can mount it up top.

[@yordanjordan4815]

I was wondering if i should buy the Ender V3 Plus or the K1 Max ? Right now the K1 Max goes for 670 EUR and the V3 Plus for 400 EUR.

[@shashankreddy7116]

Does Ender 3 v3 accept gcode from my laptop via serial communication?

[@davetriesthis]

It has built in WiFi and a usb port.

[@shashankreddy7116]

Thanks ​@@davetriesthis

[@voltagetoe]

Does this make less noise than Sidewinder X4 Plus S1 ? I saw a a video somewhere that stated that it is diffucult to be near this due to unpleasant noise.

[@davetriesthis]

It's pretty loud. :(

[@toneycassel4448]

I’ve had an Ender-3 S1 Pro for a couple of years and there have been several times when I almost threw it in the trash. I was ready to buy this one until I found that it doesn’t work with OctoPrint. It does have WiFi though, so I’m still thinking about it.

[@davetriesthis]

There's really no need for octoprint here. I disconnected my pi because everything is controllable via a web interface now.

[@dog2bert]

Where did you get the Tie Fighter Helmet stl?

[@davetriesthis]

The great folks at Galactic Armory. I usually include a url in the video but forgot. Patreon.com/galacticarmory

[@1darkprince]

The gaffer tape on your printer doesn't scream 'buy me.'

[@ThatoneNB12]

Yeah even if you see a "good" printer on KZbin you still should not buy it solely off a few reviewer's experiences. These printers are still shipped hundreds of miles. And anything can go wrong in that process from visible damage to Invisible damage to your gantry going out of level.

[@davetriesthis]

That can happen with literally anything. @thatonenb12

[@davetriesthis]

Nope and it's not what my final solution is. As I mention in that part of the video I modded this printer and I show why. That tape is just to hold it while I talk about it.

[@ThatoneNB12]

@@davetriesthis Not really. Shipping won't change the performance of your phone or a computer or almost any other electronic.

[@JesusHernandez-tm4uw]

​@ThatoneNB12 no, but a 3D printer isn't really comparable to a phone that has pretty much no moving parts unless it's a foldable. However, machines like a cricut or a cameo, for example, can get messed up in shipping. Regular printers too. Even a TV can get wrecked. So yeah, possible shipping damages don't really account into a product's review of quality or performance. Unless it's obviously badly packaged.

[@7996hobguy]

I have severed all ties with my Ender 3. I am a machinist and tinkerer, but the Ender is just too much of a headache. The Bambu's are great. I never have failed prints, and the quality and strength are just great. I wont even entertain owning a different brand until some companies step up their game.

[@eaman11]

Did you try with Adaptive Mesh on the Enders? It solve mostly bed problems forever.

[@victorythagr8]

The ender v3 are far better than old ender. The issue with the Ender v3 is that Bambu A1 and creality k1 are in the same price range.

[@davetriesthis]

Totally.

[@davetriesthis]

I think my point here is that this **is** a brand stepping up their game.

[@bangsimtechstudy5854]

Noise level too high, layer shift

[@TheGuyInRooM420]

My Ender 3’s didn’t make it a full year without me giving up on them.

[@davetriesthis]

Yeah the ender is a....complicated product line. I wish they'd called this something else. If a new company had handed me this I'd have no real feeling it was connected in any way to the ender printers.

[@kakkelakken]

love creality becouse of price. is there any other printers in this size that can compete when it comes to pricing?

[@davetriesthis]

Not really in this Plus size. There's the Elegoo Neptune 4 Plus but it's honestly not as polished as this is. It's the first Ender printer that feels like it isn't an Ender printer if you know what I mean.

[@kakkelakken]

@@davetriesthis i have the v3 se, and the v3 ke. love the ke.. gonna buy the v3 plus fore sure

[@graphguy]

I only have had Creality printers (3), I hate them all. I am not buying another one that I have to print out STL files to get them how they should be in the first place. I told Creality this a dozen times: hire someone who speaks English to alpha test their stupid design ideas before they send them to production.

[@davetriesthis]

And clearly they did. I've put 200 hours on this printer with no issues. Also why does someone need to speak English to alpha test a printer? Wouldn't you rather them speak the same language as the engineers. Oh I see now, you were just being racist.