Ender3 V2 Metal Extruder

[Lindley]

Hi,

Have a standard Ender3 V2 with the usual plastic extruder lever arm which many say will soon break and that this is avoided by using the metal assemblies which also give a better feed.

Can buy the direct metal replacement ,either Crealitys own or the mk8 clones as below.   Also there is the dual gear type which again is said to give even better performance, but have read some comment that while it fits onto the original Ender3 and the Pro, there have been problems in that the V2 motor shaft is somewhat shorter making fitting a problem.

Has anyone used either of these metal kits or say if the dual gear type does fit onto the V2 ?

[wilhe_jo]

I have the dual gear full-metal extrudes on all of my 5 ender3 V2.
Works nicely. especially since I moved to revo hotends...

73

[Lindley]

Hi,

Did you find any particular brand of dual gear extruder best, or are they really all the same from the Far East ?

[wilhe_jo]

I guess they are all the same...

Mine were marketed as replacements for the cr10, if this helps you...

However, I'm still not entirely convinced that they are really necessary. I went 4 or five iterations on the hotend.

I got the dual gear extruder hoping it would solve some issues...

The Revo makes PetG nearly as fool proof as PLA.
Before that I had good quality heartbreaks and super quality Brozzle Nozzle. Still, after 100h or so this needed retightenig...

The inconsistency I tried to solve with the presumably better extruder was an issue with a cheap nozzle in the end.

After "some" kilometers of filament, my first extruder now shows wear... Axially, the 2nd gear rides directly on the aluminium body...

I'm not sure if it's worth getting something better... These cheap dual gear ones are pretty affordable.

73

[Lindley]

Interesting ,thanks   

[Infraviolet]

To my understanding this sort of upgraded extruder works for most (if not all??) creality FDM printers. Creality's stuff all seems to be similar enough in this regard.

[fcb]

This is what I bought a month or two ago to replace the plastic one that failed on my old Ender3.  Worked beautifully.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09RX4PZ73

[Lindley]

Have ordered one of these dual gear clones from this site which also explains that to use dual gear the motor shalf must be 22mm long, seems some newer Enders shipped with just 13mm .
https://www.hpitechnology.com/products/dual-gear-drive-extruder-upgrade-for-creality-ender-3-ender-5-cr10

Did think about ordering some Capricorn tube but seems quiet a few folk who do lots of printing say there is little advantage for the price unless you are running at  high temperatures for ABS, in which case using the capricorn  with a  hot end spacer washer fix or heat break is recommended.   Just using PLA and PETG so will stick to the standard tubing for now.

[Miti]

I bought this one
https://www.banggood.com/Upgraded-Long-Distance-Remote-Metal-Extruder+Leveling-Spring+PETG-Tube+MK10-Silicone-Case-Kit-For-Creality-CR-10-Ender-3-3D-Printer-p-1434018.html?imageAb=2&akmClientCountry=CA&cur_warehouse=CN
which seems to be the one, or very similar to the one in your pictures. What a piece of crap! I thought it was a great extruder until I tried printing TPU. the hole from the extruder gears to the coupler was too big and the filament would wrinkle and get stuck. What I ended up doing was to enlarge the hole to almost 4mm, just so i can insert a piece of the tube that came with the kit but very tight, and cut it so it follow the round of the gears very closely. I never had any issues after that with TPU or PLA. I did the same thing with the plastic extruder that came with the printer and I keep it as spare.

[Simon]

I got a direct extrusion kit, but may patience is fast ending with creality. They come out with upgrades but the printers remain the same old shit. Anyone want my old bowden extruder? no I thought not, if anyone is changing theirs they will buy the direct extruder. Of course they have now come out with a nice fanless extruder but i will not be a sucker again having just put one on. Creality do not sell spares on their site, only printers, so you buy a cheap printer, agonise over the issues, then spend as much as the printer on upgrades from crealities store on amazon while on their website they continue to sell the original printer and do not acknowledge the upgrades. This is very frustrating as it wastes a lot of time figuring out the problems and fitting the upgrades, now my wiring on my ender 3 v2 is a mess. I just want a printer that works, I'm not into the linux of printers, I want to spend my time doing stuff, not fixing my printer like a linux user or an amateur mechanic always upgrading their car.

[Lindley]

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I got a direct extrusion kit, but may patience is fast ending with creality. They come out with upgrades but the printers remain the same old shit. Anyone want my old bowden extruder? no I thought not, if anyone is changing theirs they will buy the direct extruder. Of course they have now come out with a nice fanless extruder but i will not be a sucker again having just put one on. Creality do not sell spares on their site, only printers, so you buy a cheap printer, agonise over the issues, then spend as much as the printer on upgrades from crealities store on amazon while on their website they continue to sell the original printer and do not acknowledge the upgrades. This is very frustrating as it wastes a lot of time figuring out the problems and fitting the upgrades, now my wiring on my ender 3 v2 is a mess. I just want a printer that works, I'm not into the linux of printers, I want to spend my time doing stuff, not fixing my printer like a linux user or an amateur mechanic always upgrading their car.

The Ender3 is well known for being a device that needs a  bit of attention to set up and thats easily (?) upgradable, hence its low price.

As for a printer that ready out of the box its going to cost and that puts many folk off trying 3d Printing, but you really need first hand comment from folk who have such higher end printers to confirm if they are as easy and cosnsitent as they make out or do they also need constant tweaking ?


You  look as if you have done a lot of updates, but still  sound as if your prints are not good ?
Would be interested to see some pics of whats going wrong with your prints, though we are only beginners, think our 3d guru might be able to offer some guidance as to if the V2s performance can be improved by checking /altering your existing settings.

[Simon]

I don't have problems as such, just always looking at better ways to work. They claim TPE support but when you read around and it makes sense a direct drive is very much recomended. Having put a motor on the hotend that is a lot of weight for the boom to support, so a second Z motor made a lot of sense. nowhere could they be arse to explain about the wheels and how they adjust to hug the rails properly, some where dented from supply and I replaced them. The springs supporting the table are a shitshow, I replaced them with the rubber supports, all this stuff apart from the second Z motor that costs very little could have been fitted from the start, apart from the second Z motor I have had to replace things with other things that cost exactly the same as the one that was originally on there, it's just that what could have cost 220 cost 300 and still the printers do not carry the extra parts if you buy one now so they just want to make you pay twice for stuff.

[Miti]

Anyone want my old bowden extruder?

If you’re serious I can PM you my address. Let me know.

[Simon]

Anyone want my old bowden extruder?

If you’re serious I can PM you my address. Let me know.

Yes I am, I don't need it, all I could do ise use the stepper motor for something but it would be a shame to scrap it as it has only done about 3kg of material.

[Miti]

Anyone want my old bowden extruder?

If you’re serious I can PM you my address. Let me know.

Yes I am, I don't need it, all I could do ise use the stepper motor for something but it would be a shame to scrap it as it has only done about 3kg of material.

PM sent. Thanks Simon!

Cheers,
Miti

[thm_w]

Its not worth shipping a cheap bowden extruder from UK to Canada. For the shipping cost you could get something better.

Anyway, printers have moved on from bowden for the most part, as people realize direct drive is better for most uses. Its not like they mad a "bad" decision, it was what people did at the time.

[CatalinaWOW]

While I have had good success with Bowden tube extruders, even on flexible materials like TPU, after trying a direct drive extruder I will never go back.  Not because it prints better, because in my case the difference in print quality has been marginal, but because filament changes are so much easier. 

[Zucca]

I got a direct extrusion kit, but may patience is fast ending with creality.

Same here, I just took all the creality shit out. I am literally upgrading everything. Im my next life I will buy a Prusa and done.

[xrunner]

I got a direct extrusion kit, but may patience is fast ending with creality.

Same here, I just took all the creality shit out. I am literally upgrading everything. Im my next life I will buy a Prusa and done.

I think the only "Creality" things left on my Ender 3 Pro are the aluminum extrusions ... 

[Zucca]

What is real killing me, is the thought how many people are rotating in configs, firmware setting and adjusting/tuning things BUT  you can't turn a POS Creality in gold with some change in settings.
What a pain and waste of time. Just throw some parts in the trash can and move on.

We need a Nuremberg trial for Creality.

[JohnG]

I have a Creality printer that I bought to see if I had real interest and use for a 3D printer, and because I wanted to learn about the basics. I fully expected that I would be "improving" it.  I figured that out based on the price and some basic research. The percentage of videos and articles about modifying your Ender was a pretty clear clue.

I got what I paid for, and it has met my expectations and my needs. I learned a lot about the promise and pitfalls of 3D printing. If I ever need to by one for more professional needs, I have a much better idea of what to look for.

John

[Zucca]

I got what I paid for, and it has met my expectations and my needs. I learned a lot about the promise and pitfalls of 3D printing. If I ever need to by one for more professional needs, I have a much better idea of what to look for.

Same with me, but after all my upgrades the amount of money I put it is above the Prusa price... of well at the end of the day it was a painful learning experience.

[wilhe_jo]

Well, Prusa Printers seem to be kind of flawed either. Just look at the bear extruder mod... Seems like a must...

Yes, a Revo hotend+PEI flexibel printbed+dualgear extruder is quite some Upgrade compared to the price of the printer. But still, it's half of a Prusa printer. In addition the prusas seem to need quite some upgrades  to run in a farm Situation.

I'm now at 60days this year of pure print time with my ender 3 v2 printers... All PetG.
Not a single second of maintenance ...

All the linear bearing printers would have already needed at least one re-greasing... BTDT!

The year before, I had a single roller bearing failing.
I didn't bother replacing all bearings on that axis...just the single faulty one... Since this was the only one so far, I guess, I messed up the adjustment on setup.

Don't get me wrong, all these cheap (<5k) printers need quite some care and loads of time to learn how to use them in a way which is reliable for your usecase.

I tried several brands up to around 3k. However, my farm now consists of 6 ender 3 V2. It's just exceptionally cost effective and after changing some parts, it's pretty reliable for me.

Another cool effect is, that I can print certain colours ( and in the past also materials) exclusively on certain printers... No more troubles with discoloration on white prints

Prusa uses certainly better quality parts. But I would never switch back to a non-revo hotend or non-roller bearings.

Rollerbearings are perfect for 3d printers. They are plenty rigid for this usecase and have close to none wear and need effectively zero mentainance.

If the MK3 would use roller bearings, I'd get a bunch of these... If they would come with Revo style hotends, I'd order ever quicker...

The only weak point I still have is the print surface... But from what I read, 300 nearly identical prints would be a problem for the prusa stuff as well...

I changed filaments to lower temp PetG. That helped a lot...but I'm still not fully happy.

73