Creality Ender-3 V3 SE : Great Price - Solid Printer?

I've been reading / seeing videos about the Creality Ender-3 V3 SE
https://www.creality3dofficial.com/products/ender-3-v3-se-3d-printer

The specs look really good, and the price (anywhere from $199 - $220) is incredible.

I think I paid $250 for my Ender-3 V2 and felt like that was a great deal.

I've been saving up my pennies to get one of the Bambu Labs printers, or maybe the Creality K1, but there's a part of me that's tempted to grab one of these Ender-3 V3's to play with.

(but it's not like I need a 3rd printer... LOL!)

Nifty said:

(but it's not like I need a 3rd printer... LOL!)

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I have 3 working printers and reckon that’s enough, but if a bargain comes up, I’m a sucker and jump right in, can’t resist a good buy.. Thanks @Nifty for the link, the price my end was €219 shipped from Germany..

P.S. I’m building up my stocks of PLA filament while I’m between jobs.. 14 colours so far and growing..

The Hat said:

can’t resist a good buy.

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Oh wow, so you got one? SUPER curious what your experience will be with it!!!

I'm tempted to swap-out my Ender 3 V2 and get one, but I really need to be patient and move to a core xy printer.

The Hat said:

I’m building up my stocks of PLA filament while I’m between jobs.. 14 colours so far and growing..

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Awesome!

Have you ever had any issues with the PLA going bad / brittle on the spool over time?

Nifty said:

Oh wow, so you got one? SUPER curious what your experience will be with it!!!

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No not yet, I’ll wait and see if they get any cheaper on black Friday..

But the Ender models are not as reliable as the CR-10’s, so that is a consideration too..

Nifty said:

Have you ever had any issues with the PLA going bad / brittle on the spool over time?

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The PLA does get brittle if left out of an enclosure, I normal leave about 30cm sticking out of its box and if left for a good while it starts to get brittle, but never inside the box..
P.S. if that happens then stick the spool in a heated box for a few hours and that should revive it back to normal..

Well guys, while I figure out if I want to eventually try a core-XY printer, I pulled the trigger on getting the new Ender-3 V3 SE!

It was just too tempting at $195 not to give it a try... especially since I've always wanted to try auto-bed-leveling and direct-drive extruder.

... but now that I think about it, maybe I should have just paid $25 more from Amazon to get it sooner and have free / easy returns:
https://amzn.to/3sFWFgL

Have fun. By the time you have got the itch again Bambu will have a new model out as they are already teasing what looks like a multicolor toolhead.

https://all3dp.com/4/bambu-lab-teases-new-multicolor-system-but-what-is-it-really/

Their multicolor AMS is a filament guzzler, often the wastage is more than that used to create the print itself, so perhaps they have come up with a less wasteful system to do multicolor prints.

Incidentally, Bambus are apparentyly noisier than most bed slingers so something else to bear in mind.

IMHO the only reasonable option for multicolor prints is a machine with several toolheads, like the Prusa XL. Sadly, the new Prusa XY core machine seems to suffer from a lack of quality control and poor design in some parts. Maybe they'll get it right eventually but nowadays it's too expensive for what it does.
On the other part, printers with add-on multimaterial "contrivances" are not my cup of tea, be it Bambu AML, Prusa MMU or Voron ERCF.
Those multimaterial units are mechanically very fussy. Not easy at all to set up and, even if you manage to get them working properly, they're always a terrible waste of filament and time.

Nifty said:

especially since I've always wanted to try auto-bed-leveling and direct-drive extruder.

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I got myself one of these printers with bed levelling and direct drive filament, I must say the hype and fuss about them is all just that, they didn’t impress me one little bit, maybe I was expecting more out of them, (Higher expectations)

Redbrickman said:

Bambu will have a new model out as they are already teasing what looks like a multicolor toolhead.

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If your into multi-colour prints then single head extrusion is the way to go, I found you get better control by doing the changeover yourself, the down side is you have to be there and wait for the right opportunity to press pause..

The only big changes I’ve seen that made some difference with my newer printers was the switch to 24 Volt (Heat up faster) and how quiet they are now..

My continued issues are trying to keep the filament below 60% moisture content..

P.S. Because I don’t print as regularly as I use too, every time I start up I have to adjust the bed height (Manually) just to make sure my prints stays stuck to the hot bed.. My bed height varies considerably with the ambient daytime temperature..

Redbrickman said:

Incidentally, Bambus are apparentyly noisier than most bed slingers so something else to bear in mind.

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Yup, I've heard this about a lot of the corexy "fast" printers... that pretty much all of them need CRAZY cooling to firm-up that large amounts of molten plastic coming out fast.

Artur5 said:

Those multimaterial units are mechanically very fussy. Not easy at all to set up and, even if you manage to get them working properly, they're always a terrible waste of filament and time.

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I've read this too. I like the idea of multi-color/material, but do I use it enough to justify the added cost and complexity / problems? I don't think so.

The Hat said:

I got myself one of these printers with bed levelling and direct drive filament, I must say the hype and fuss about them is all just that, they didn’t impress me one little bit, maybe I was expecting more out of them, (Higher expectations)

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Ya, I'm wondering that too, but for such a low price, it's hard not to see first-hand. I'm hoping at minimum it makes TPU easier.

I will say this: I've never had many issues with bed-leveling. In fact, I can level once super fast (paper method) and then not have to touch any leveling for dozens and dozens of prints. Maybe I'm lucky and/or not as meticulous about the first layer?

Nifty said:

Yup, I've heard this about a lot of the corexy "fast" printers... that pretty much all of them need CRAZY cooling to firm-up that large amounts of molten plastic coming out fast.

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I guess it depends a lot on the type of filament and the size/shape of the parts to print. PLA needs strong cooling but other filaments need less or even no cooling at all. One thing is for sure, printing at the top speed allowed by your machine is never a good idea, if you want good looking models plus a quiet and trouble free printing process.