Picked this printer up on a whim a couple weeks ago. This thing is working pretty good out of the box, setup was pretty easy and the few issues I've run into were easy search for and fix. I haven't spent a lot of time researching it as I've had very little reason to so far. PLA has printed pretty much flawlessly though I've only printed what I would assume are fairly easy prints. About the only hiccup was the initial layers bonding but cleaning the bed (came with PEI sheet) and slowing down the first few layers fixed those issues. 

TPU prints do have a good bit of stringing and it took a few fails on some files to realize I need to be rotating some of these items in the slicer that I've downloaded from Thingaverse. While a camera mount hasn't come out flawlessly the zits and such for something that is going to be crashed is beyond good enough. The zits for example are on the underside of the 25 degree angle which I understand is more difficult to print such an angle.  

But the first problem I have, I'm not sure how to go about finding the answer, searching for anything with "ender" and "3" brings up many iterations of this printer. On a couple of files like these: 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3863471

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3536894

The extruder seems to always jam the TPU on these files fairly early on. Like with the Hota screen protector it doesn't make it all the way through the first pass of infill lines. Similarly with the cup holder insert, it will fail somewhere on the first or second layer. If I catch it when it's happening while it's still running and thinks it's printing I can pull the filament out, cut the snag out and push the filament right back in where it resumes itself so it's not like the nozzle is clogged. Or I would cancel the print since it's already ruined and pull up another random TPU file and it prints it flawlessly. I've not measured it but it's like the snag is like 50mm or so from the nozzle.

Is there something in the slicer that needs to be tweaked for these? I've printed some battery pads that are similar to this and they come out with no issues and no jam. Why can I print another file that lays down more material than the fail job flawlessly right after by just cutting the kink out of the TPU and feeding it back into the hot nozzle?

I do not have a Ender 3 but an Ender 5 similar but slightly different and I have a MicroSwiss all metal hotend with an aluminium bowden extruder (not the plastic Creality one).

Basically in terms of the PrusaSlicer profile I use the same PLA profile just slow it down for TPU. Probably 30% slower is a good start.

Retraction needs to be atleast 4 to 6 mm for a bowden setup.

Double check all the pressure fitting type connectors and any play in them will cause issues.

Check the bowden tube end as this may have worn out, simply snip the ends to ensure a fresh part of the bowden tube is in contact with the couplings.

Keep the TPU in a dry place and preferably in a vacuum bag which is what I do. (Some have better luck with using an electric oven to dry the filament but I will not recommend that)

Avoid overhangs and experiment with print orientations to help work around this.

Experiment with print temperatures and retraction to ensure a consistent flow of melted filament is pushed through the nozzle and avoid too much retraction as it can pull molten tpu above the heat break and rapidly cooled this will cause a jam/clog in the nozzle.

No two printers are the same, not even the same model or even the same batch. So try and change one parameter at a time starting from a fresh profile rather than copying someones profile shared on the internet.

This one does not have a bowden, it has this a "Sprite Full-Metal Direct Drive Extruder with dual gear"

https://www.creality3dofficial.com/produ...3d-printer

Sorry I do not keep track of all the new 3d printer models. I though you just had an Ender 3. I need to get my eyesight tested again

With a direct drive you are golden to print TPU.

A few things I did forget to mention are:

- Try and dial in your retraction (separate for PLA and separate for TPU) and e-steps
- Include a prime procedure in your start gcode so it can purge any older filament from your nozzle
- First layer is key as once this is printed properly the rest of the print works out perfect
- You might need to level your bed (aka tramming the bed for old timers) even if you have a bed leveling probe to get your perfect first layer
- Z offset is also important as some filaments work well when squished onto the bed for perfect first layer adhesion

Also the quality of TPU matters and so far Saintsmart TPU seems to be the preferred choice for most people in FPV. With PLA pretty much any branded filament works.

Initial impressions:

As for initial setup on this model one review that said before doing the normal leveling procedure to make sure the wheels were tight that drive the bed back and forth to make sure was no slop, which there was on mine. After that did the leveling with the 4 corner wheels followed by the built in auto leveler. From there it's pretty much been download something, drag the .stl file into the Creality Slicer, hit slice and save the gcode file to the SD card for the printer. I noticed the 5.x version of Cura didn't have the exact model so wasn't sure how much that made a difference. For the most part I've only changed filament type under the generic filament settings for PLA or TPU then running with default slice options. One thing that wasn't obvious until things were in motion is that I needed to rotate some of the pieces within the slicer to get a better result and guaranteed first layer adhesion. 

I did find that upping the z-axis a few points (.05 increments) helped as well. I guess it's already a default setting that this model or the slicer option to lay a line on the left side of the bed at the start of each print. It also lays what I think was referred to as a skirt which is a couple layers around the outside perimeter that doesn't really connect with the print. I realize these are settings you can adjust or turn off but I've left them on since it's a good way to see that there is good filament flow and should shake out any straggler filament that was already dry. 

With the exception of those two particular files, pretty much all the TPU has printed well enough for my FPV use, some pieces near perfect. The little bit of PLA things I've printed came out great as well, particularly after realizing to slow the print speed down in the beginning to get that first couple of layers to stick properly. Though I've not tried some of the more intricate pieces or things that will take many hours to finish. I haven't found that I needed to slow down TPU prints as much but I have on some pieces since it can't hurt.

I initially went with SainSmart TPU since i've seen mention of that brand here the most. Ordered 250 gram spool at first since I've also seen how it takes on moisture so I figured I crank a bunch of pieces out and run the roll out. 250 gram spool is long gone and already on a second roll, 800g this time. Interesting how TPU or at least that brand is much more expensive than the other filaments.

This is probably only a little over half of the stuff I made running out the roll:



Plenty of fine stringing on the pieces like the camera mount that has all those empty walls to it. Most of the strings are so fine they pull right off or are easily trimmed. I've seen mention of adjustments in the slicer to help with that. I see some of the stringing has a purpose like when I set this piece up. This was one that I rotated from the initial position on the STL in the slicer to get it to print better. This was before things were dialed in better so it probably would stick that way if I tried it now. I didn't realize until it was almost up to the point that it was going to start bridging the two gimbal protectors together and drop the filament to the bed since the nozzle was over 20mm high at this point. Rather it strung these between and then laid out the solid piece that runs across. 






Was really expecting a rougher start at this than what I've experienced considering I've only used default settings for the most part. The "it needs to become your hobby" part had me expecting a lot more trial and error, maybe that's the case with a bowden setup though and TPU itself. I don't have a huge need to print things so this will be something that spends more time sitting than working, but cool to have it when I need it. I was looking into enclosures mainly to keep the cat away from it or at least his hair and found an interesting tidbit. With materials such as ABS or ASA which I do want to experiment with the latter for it's outdoor use might need the the enclosure to trap heat onto the work area to get better ASA results since it needs a much hotter temp than TPU and certainly PLA. I notice it needs more of a "brim" than a "skirt" if I'm saying that right. 

I realize this is far from an entry level model but damn if it doesn't work right out of the box.

Very few people print with ABS these days since PETG has become a preferred replacement. Last roll of my ABS ran out 5 years ago and I have already switched to PETG for those stronger parts and never looked back at ABS.

For PLA/PETG/TPU you do not really need any enclosure but make one or buy once if you have a curious cat.

I meant ASA at the end there, which seems to be the replacement for ABS (at least for 3d printing purposes). From what I've seen none of the other filaments can compare to it's strength and more importantly the weather resistance. In particular for sun resistance.

I think teachingtech n youtube had made a video on ASA and I was not impressed with the warping etc and so I never thought much about it. Claims are that apart from being weather resistant its mechanical properties are on par with PETG.

Perhaps keep a roll of ASA for outdoor applications but unless you are making car parts every day, making a heated enclosure (parhaps with fume extraction) is going to take some work.

Got around to trying some ASA filament and now I see why the "you need to make it your hobby" comments come in. While you can google around for tips, watch videos the real answer is test and see.

Started off with a goof item, a Nissan decal for a friend that said Insane but otherwise the classic burger looking Nissan logo. Figured it was easy since there are no overhangs and the print narrows as it grows on the Z axis. Even with the bed (PEI surface) cranked to 100c it would usually lift (warp) after a handful of layers. Some made it half way but once it lifts, you might as well cancel the print. Slowed it way down to 30% and it managed to finish one.

I knew I needed to try an enclosure first before tweaking slicer settings since this was recommended above and beyond most things. Sure enough the first time in the enclosure it printed all the way through on the first attempt. Happened to be there when it wrapped up and it actually didn't want to pop off, it was the first time I had to flex the bed to get an item loose.

Tried a couple other things with some success and some with fails but those will be a good start for tweaks in the slicer. I notice ASA is a filament that printing a brim is recommended rather than the skirt that has been in my defaults to help with adhesion.

Continued review:

Picked up a roll of Overture on sale a while back. It's 95a like the Sainsmart I've used but the filament has a much softer from the spool though they feel about the same post print. With the Sainsmart you could easily push it through the hotend like a stiffer filament such as PLA. Where as the Overture you can't really push the filament through. Regardless it prints great and I've only tweaked the temp to 220 and retraction at 3mm. The default TPU filament retraction was around .8, probably too low for some models that were stringy on me early on. Tried it at 6mm but wonder if that was more of a suggestion for a Bowden Ender, seemed like too much unneeded movement. Noticed the Sainsmart has an even lower temp range and this slicer profile had TPU set for 227 so will drop it even lower for that brand. I remember accidently printing a PLA model which would have been 200 and it came out great.

Also grabbed a Beagleprint camera too which will be handy. It connects to the USB port on the printer and you can send your gcode files to it to print remotely from your PC browser. Limited control and status features, temp and such, completion info. Will do time lapse recording, which I don't need but it's a cool feature. It was enabled by default with the nozzle returning to home so it looks like it's parked with the model growing from the bed. The first thing I printed not knowing time lapse was enabled was a TPU beer can koozie and not a string to be found with all that unnecessary nozzle movement. Assuming that's attributed to the lower print temp and higher retraction settings.

I noticed GetFPV started selling this model and some other Enders just after I picked this up. I'm sure there are plenty of better setups, but this thing has worked for TPU with minimal fuss. The only issue that hasn't been easy to troubleshoot is the occasional snag of the TPU at the extruder. It's highly intermittent where it only kinks the line before the hotend, no mess or jam is made and you can get right back up and printing a dozen things flawlessly right after. There is an adjustment screw at the extruder but because the issue is so intermittent I've not tried tweaking. I've had more failures with PLA but those were fairly easy to troubleshoot. Clean the bed while cool, slow down initial print speed, utilizing supports etc.