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Creality Ender-3 V3 SE - a beginners first steps....

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Brumby:
Firstly, this printer is currently available from Jaycar for $AUD249 - with some provisos:
1. In-store purchase or pick-up
2. Offer ends 7th Feb 2024
3. Limit 2 per customer

I bought one of these for a couple of reasons, mainly derived from my expertise in the field - which is from watching Youtube channels such as Makers Muse, 3D Printing Nerd (and others):

a) The majority of reviews describe an excellent out-of-the-box experience - and I'm looking to print more than tinker ... especially right out of the gate.  (That might change down the track)
b) I'm a cheapskate frugal purchaser, so the price gave me the nudge to pull the trigger
c) It was 15 minutes to my nearest Jaycar
d) I had a project in mind.

To be honest, I acquired a Wanhao Duplicator i3 a couple of years ago, but was too time poor to go diving in with the potential of dealing with a steep learning curve.  (I did use it once ... as a paint drying oven.  I turned on the heated bed and placed an inverted cardboard box on top, with a recently painted metal bezel from my 3478A inside.  ;D )  As a result, it has just sat around gathering dust (which it has done very well).

It's early days yet, but assembly was very straightforward and I ran the levelling routine, which reported quite acceptable results.  Then, without any fiddling AT ALL, I printed the cat model that came on the included SD card using the white PLA filament supplied.  I then tried printing with black PLA I have had sitting around for a couple of years - in the open.  I expected problems, but it printed fine and my first inspection didn't notice anything ... but then I am a novice here.  There was a tiny amount of stringing that was a wispy as a spider web on both - but that disappeared as soon as I touched it.

Bottom line - IMHO - a happy out of the box experience.

Brumby:
My next step was to try to make a replacement fan for an air compressor.

The first challenge was to create it in the CAD software I had acquired some years ago - TurboCAD.  More than I really needed at the time, but I had a good deal on an upgrade.  The problem with this came from my extremely infrequent use.  There's just so many features to get a handle on, let alone optimising the process and avoiding the pitfalls, but I managed to put something together.



I then went to slice it - so I took the "safe" route and downloaded Creality's software called "Creality Print".  This looks like a streamlined interface which, while it may appear more friendly, would seem to be hiding the detailed settings off to one side.  I'm not always fond of these sanitised interfaces, but I'll see how that goes.

For the slice and print, I only did the top quarter as this would reveal the most about printing the actual blades themselves, whilst not using a lot of filament for a print that could fail.  Note - this is the first thing I have ever sliced.  The filament I used was, once again, that old black PLA, so less than ideal results were not unexpected.  The result (next to the original):



There were a few very minor blobs and removing the support material was a battle - BUT - for all the issues with the model, slicing and filament used, the printer itself performed excellently.

I am well pleased with my purchase.   :-+

Now I just need to polish up my skills in CAD and get a bit more familiar with slicer settings.  :palm:

xrunner:
I'm still using my very highly modded Ender 3 Pro. It barely resembles the original now, but it works very well. What you got has a lot of the mods I've done, but not all. I still prefer a glass bed, but that could be put on with no trouble. I looked on Creality's website and they still sell the Ender 3, who would buy it now?  :-DD

Do you know what firmware it's running? I downloaded all the available configurations for Marlin but I don't see any yet for that printer. Not to say you couldn't make one for that printer though.

mawyatt:
Nice work!!

That fan blade is certainly a difficult item to print!!

That's a great value too!!

Best,

Brumby:

--- Quote from: xrunner on February 02, 2024, 01:45:13 pm ---Do you know what firmware it's running?

--- End quote ---

It came with V 1.0.6 firmware.  Hardware build is CR4NS200320C13.

I'm not interested in custom firmware at this time.  I'm just enjoying the "dumb consumer" experience.  That might change down the track.





(I also did a benchy using the old black PLA.  Looks quite presentable!)

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