#Printer suggestions

18 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

fierce elk
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Hey guys, I have a Ender 2 pro 3D printer and was looking for something a bit faster. Now I'm pretty new to this stuff and even before getting into this, I knew a lot of projects would take hours to make. I make a lot of rc car parts and want to get into making figures. Now my printer is very capable of making super detailed prints. But they take hours apon hours to make and I just don't have the time to watch it. Yes i know i can pause the print but im very picky and i dont wanna see where i left off on the print. Just basically looking for something that can print faster with and still output a good quality print and something with a higher motor heat resistance. Obviously not looking to spend a super stupid amount of money of course.

I'd appreciate the help. thanks

mental bone
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whats your budget?

fierce elk
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idk if thats enough lol

mental bone
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are you okay with tinkering and stuff?

fierce elk
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Its ok with me

worn furnace
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If you're OK with tinkering, I suggest learning how to compile your own copy of Marlin. There's lots of fine tuning options in configuration.h.
Once you get the hang of that then new drivers and control board are the way to go. I'm a fan of the BTT SKR 1.4 turbo with TMC2209 drivers. This along side securing it to a heavy table and lighter bed (I use FR4), can give you some interesting quality and speed options.

Be careful - There are many ways to do firmware, and your first time is always the hardest. I also learned "secure it to the table" the hard way. Once you tweak your acceleration high enough your printer will try to leave your table.

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Oh, the last thing - Once you start printing faster, you may need a better extruder drive and hot end to keep up. I personally run a dual geared extruder (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086WBBHQ3) and a knock off volcano hotend (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Z7SJFF2). The volcano is a massive PITA to mount, but it's worth it in the end.

3Dman Dual Gear Ender 3 Extruder Metal Drive Feeder Upgrade for End...

3Dman Dual Gear Ender 3 Extruder Metal Drive Feeder Upgrade for Ender 3 V2, Ender 3 Pro, Ender 3 Neo Series, Ender 5 Pro, Ender 5 Plus, CR10, Vyper Series 3D Printer (Motor Shaft>20mm)

mental bone
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if you want to get a higher flow hotend without actually paying for an entirely new hotend you should at least get a bimetal heatbreak

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those can increase the flow rate by quite a bit

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but honestly, the ender 2 isnt really well suited for fast printing (x gantry only supported by one side, very small and flimsy structure, etc)

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getting a tronxy x5sa and putting some upgrades on it would be a pretty good bet for 500

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those are usually around 300 if you get them on deals (which are common)

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you'll have enough space in your budget to get a new hotend/extruder for a higher flow rate if you wanna print really fast, but thats already quite capable of printing fast out of the box, especially compared to the ender 2