Time For A 3D Printer Upgrade?!?! Keep, Upgrade, Something else?

[Artur5]

Well, depending on the hardness of your filament, printing will be easier. I've had success with TPU-95. No clogs or underextrusion. although anything with overhangs or bridges doesn't looks very nice and adding supports is no good either because they're almost impossible to remove without damaging the surface of the model.
TPE-70A was a fiasco, it started OK but soon I saw progressive underextrusion until the layers became like foam instead of solid. It takes special setups to handle properly those 'softies'.
According to Bondtech, the secret for successful prints with very soft filaments is to get the shortest possible distance between the gears of the extruder and the hotblock.
They’ve released a dedicated extruder/hotend combo for this purpose. As you’ll see in the video, the heatsink is relocated sideways and the gears of the extruder are very close to the heatbreak.

 

[The Hat]

It takes specially dedicated setups to handle properly those 'softies'

That’s why my caution.. Feet wet is ok, but when I’m up to my neck it’s a bit Feckin late..

 

[Nifty]

Valid points... and honestly, I don't really see myself even wanting or needing to do much more than PLA for 99% of my use-cases.

While I'm still excited about this new printer. There are definitely parts of me that are saying I should have stuck with the Ender-3 V2 since:

1. I'm already very familiar with the Creality Bowden setup
2. Zillions of people have it and support it
3. It's considerably cheaper

 

[The Hat]

There are definitely parts of me that are saying I should have stuck with the Ender-3 V2 since:

Hindsight can cost nothing, but regrets..
P.S. You can always say you bought it for the GF..

 

[Redbrickman]

@Nifty if you are thinking of updating a printer with new boards and steeper drivers such as the TMC2209's then my advice is to forget Marlin and go with the Klipper software. Its streets ahead as far as quality and effcient use of hardware goes.

I'm not sure about the details of running it on CR10 ( it can be done) but here is a good article on using it with the Ender

https://all3dp.com/2/klipper-ender-3-v2/

The Web interface is amazing. I have it running my Voron printer

https://docs.fluidd.xyz/

 

[Nifty]

Good news: Printer arrived SUPER fast to my house... I think in just one day. Thanks Amazon! It was packaged well and everything went together pretty easily following videos online.

Bad news: Printer turns on, but the screen is dead Not sure if the screen is broken or something else further upstream (like the cable, the connection to the board, etc. etc. etc.). I am definitely NOT looking forward to doing any troubleshooting, trying to get support, or even returning this beast. UGH.

 

[stratman]

Printer arrived

Wait, wha? You bought a printer? I missed that. What did you get?

screen is dead

Disappointing, like wishing Santa brings you a Red Ryder BB gun and instead you get socks.

Hope it's only a connection easily taken care of.

 

[Nifty]

Wait, wha? You bought a printer? I missed that. What did you get?

Ender-3 S1 : https://www.printerknowledge.com/th...keep-upgrade-something-else.15146/post-132404

Hope it's only a connection easily taken care of.

Well, I was surprised to get VERY fast and pretty helpful advice and troubleshooting tips from Creality!

They walked me through a bunch of steps including pulling the bottom panel off, checking various lights, connections, and voltages (thankfully I just happened to have brought down a multi-meter to my GF's house this week).

... but from what we can tell, the motherboard is shot

So, while they offered to send out a new one, I'm not really excited about having to wait for it to ship (probably from China) and then do all the repairs myself.

Honestly, at this point, I'm thinking I should just return it to Amazon and stick with my trusty CR-10. It's not like I "need" any of the upgrades / features that come with the Ender-3 S1

 

[stratman]

Honestly, at this point, I'm thinking I should just return it to Amazon and stick with my trusty CR-10.

 

[Redbrickman]

Return it to Amazon then get another. The first thing you should do with any Creality printer or any that have been shipped from Asia is take the covers off and check every connection especially the connectiosn to the PSU, hotend cables, heated bed cables etc. It is well known that they often do not tighten the screw terminals down tight enough on the spade connectors. Many Creality owners have found the heated bed connections have melted or are burnt by poor connection at the PSU. Better safe then sorry.