RE: Creality to Prusa worth it?
The Ender 3 is a pile of parts and hopes and dreams. I don't know why I purchased one after the Prusa i3MKS. What makes the Prusa awesome is that it is an Engineered product. It might have some weaknesses, or sometimes even mistakes but that is minor or easily resolvable.
Ender 3 is a collection of parts. They just throw them in the box and hope you can assemble it. No kidding. The parts might not even fit. The instructions are laughable. It is frustrating that it is marketed as a printer that works out of the box and is easy to assemble.
It is easy to assemble yes. It is impossible to assemble straight and correctly without some machine knowledge of some sort. Its just a pile of threaded extrusions and plastic rollers. It is quite a frustrating device.
There are a few must do upgrades. These will push you closer to the 300$ mark, so its close to a Mini but you get crappy build plate, crappy rollers instead of bearings, crappy everything!! You even get zapped when you use it because they did not cover the rear of the circuit board.
Must upgrade the Springs in order to not pull your hair out adjusting the bed every single time. They are too weak.
Must change the left rear strain relief on bed so it does not wiggle the bed out of level when its printing - foolish design mistake.
Must make a cover for the controller on the right
Must do something about filament - it will get caught on something every single print. Print guides or move to the left of machine.
Must adjust wheels they are probably too tight from factory
Must square the frame perfectly. This is not in the directions.
I think I covered the absolute minimums to get it to print reliably.
----
TO make it as good as the mini or i3 you need to do many more upgrades.
1 - ender 3 pro magnetic bed is a joke. upgrade to spring steel bed to retain the same level of excellence
2 - upgrade plastic extruder. That POS plastic breaks quickly and is a huge pain to load filament.
3 - optional but not really if you are used to an i3 like me:
Direct drive upgrade is worth it just because of the huge hassle it is to insert the filament into the extruder. Maybe I am jaded. Sticking it in and having it gobble it up automatically is my cup of tea.
4 - much louder. If you want a similar noise level You might as well replace the board on it and go 32 bit for another 35 bucks.
300-400$ into it you will still have a crappy plastic roller, single Z axis that makes the X axis floppy POS printer. It is what it is, don't go crazy with the upgrades is my advice.
(auto level not needed with the upgraded springs. It does not go crooked after every print. I feel your bed should be level anyway, I use a drop indicator)
After spending 230$ on an ender 3, then 100+ in parts you might as well get the small Prusa and not have any hassle. Its a far better introduction to 3D printing in my oppinion. The Ender 3 is a good way to frustrate a newbie.
