Introduction: Ender-3 for Dummies

1. Cura Software For Ender 3ds Max
2. Cura Software For Ender 3.6

We will start with the program you WILL be using to print with the Ender-3, you cannot use Print Studio, Blender, Or Autodesk, you must use Cura. Cura can be found and downloaded here: https://ultimaker.com/en/products/ultimaker-cura-software (Or borrow computer 4 or 6 from a friend if it isn't already available for use, if you do this skip to step 2)

On this site if you scroll down you will see this button (first image), click it.

Last winter I upgraded the main board on my Ender 3 to the 1.1.5 board found here. That upgrade brought a significant improvement to the performance of my machine in addition to the silence it brought. Prior to that upgrade the Ender 3 was loud and annoying to be near when in operation.

Probably it's similar on the ender. No, it's as I reported. The Ender-3 absolutely can print edge to edge in both directions. By having the bed size reported as smaller (220x220) the center of the bed gets thrown off, so it is printing from front edge down to 220mm with 15mm unprintable and from the back edge to 220mm with 15mm unprintable from the right edge. Open Cura and click on “Settings” in the upper left-hand corner. Select “Printer” from the drop-down menu, and then click “Manage Printers”. Select the printer whose firmware you want to update and then click “Update Firmware”. Click “Upload Custom Firmware”. Select the HEX firmware file. Ultimaker Cura 4.3 is compatible with even more 3D file formats than before, allowing you to integrate CAD software, 3D scanning software, and 3D modeling software into your workflow with ease. Natively open Collada, GLTF, OpenCTM, and PLY formats, to name a few. Ender 3 Cura Settings: The Best Ender 3 Cura Profile If you’ve bought an Ender 3, you’re most likely trying to save some money, so buying an expensive slicer is probably not something you want to do, anyway.

It will then show this pop-up (second image)

Fill out the required fields and hit download, if downloading on Mac OS (A Macbook (An Apple PC)) you will open the file from chrome (if you aren't using chrome download it here: https://www.google.com/chrome/) from the bottom downloads bar (third image)

You will then find this window open (fourth image)

Drag the cura icon onto the applications folder and cura should appear on the toolbar.

If you tap Cura from the toolbar this should pop up (fifth image)

Click the other tab and search for Creality Ender-3 it should be all the way at the bottom of the current window view. (sixth image)

Hit add printer and find a file to print, I recommend using this test shrek: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/8wWAjHGDFnd-shre.

Download this file via tinkercad.com and place it into Cura, you can do this by opening the file you want to print via the open file button. (Seventh image)

Afterwards this (8th image) should look like the 9th image

Step 1: Ender-3 for Dummies: the Filament

If there is not already filament in the printer you need to place the spool of filament onto the roller.

To insert or remove filament you will need to push on the lever indicated (1st image) and squeeze while inserting the filament into the hole to the left of the y axis screw. (2nd image)

To prepare for printing on the printer you need to first turn on the Ender 3 press the knob once and select “prepare” (3rd image) by turning the knob and pushing it in, then you would need to select “Auto Home” (4th image) and wait for the nozzle to move to the bottom/left side of the platform.
After it is done then select “Disable Steppers” to be able to move both the base platform and the extruder.

Now you should be able to start leveling the platform so that your print turns out in one piece. Use a piece of A4 paper (or card stock) to assist with the adjustments and make sure that you can just barely squeeze the paper under the extruder.
Do this with all four corners and repeat this more than once (caution: this printer will need to be leveled each and every time you use the printer).

Step 2: Ender-3 for Dummies: the Build

Now select “Print from SD” (1st image)

select “CE3_shrek.gcode” (2nd image) and let the printer heat up and begin printing.

If you want to there is a thing you can do once it starts you can turn up the printers “FR” or feed rate by going to the info screen (the screen that appears when you turn on the printer) and turning the knob to the right. This setting lets the printer determine the speed of the printers movements you can set it up to 100% or more (you can also go below 100% if your print is coming out wrong) this is what i recommend, but if you want to turn it up more or slow it down as much as you want, but i will warn you that the speed will affect the quality of the print (sometimes).

Now have fun.

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Cura Software For Ender 3ds Max

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• Assembly
• Installing a Slicer on your PC
• Printing

​Introduction

Congratulations on your purchase of the Ender-3 V2 3D Printer from SainSmart.

This Ender-3 V2 3D Printer Quick Start Guide is designed to aid Ender-3 V2 users in the assembly and use of their new printer and to help in getting started with 3D Printing. We still recommend that you read through the User Manual before starting assembly and use.

Assembly

This guide contains a quick summary of the assembly steps. Full and detailed assembly instructions is available here.

Install Z-axis Limit Switch Assembly and Z-axis Profiles

• Slide the Z axis limit switch onto the left Z-Axis profile (2 holes at the bottom) and use the M5x45 screws to secure the profiles to the base.
• Tighten the limit switch at it’s lowest position.

​Install Z-axis Motor Assembly and Lead Screw

• Attach the Z axis motor to the left hand Z profile with 2 M4x18 screws into the bottom holes on the profile.
• Insert the Lead screw into the motor coupler and tighten.

Assemble the Nozzle and X axis gantry

• Fit the pneumatic joint into the Extruder.
• Bolt the XE-axis Assembly onto the X axis profile using 2 M4x16 screws.
• Wrap the drive belt around the pulley in the XE-axis Assembly.
• Slide the Nozzle assembly onto the X axis profile over the drive belt.
• Screw the Z axis Roller bracket assembly onto the X axis profile using 2 M4x16 screws.
• Thread the drive belt through the tensioner, Attach the tensioner to the X axis Gantry and attach the ends of the belt into the slots on the Nozzle assembly.

Install the Gantry assembly and Screen

• Slide the V pulleys into the vertical profiles along with threading the lead screw into the Brass nut on the Extruder assembly.
• Adjust the tension of the drive belts, not too tight but taught.
• Install the top gantry profile using 4 M5x25 screws.
• Attach the display screen to the right side of the frame, connecting the cable.

Install Filament holder, covers, Bowden tube and Extruder knob

• Assemble the filament holder and attach it to the top profile with 2 M5x8 screws and T Nuts (flat side to the back).
• Push the collar on the Extruder in, slide the Bowden tube fully in, release the collar and secure with the clip on spacer.
• Push the covers onto the ends of the top gantry profile.
• Slide the extruder knob onto the top of the extruder stepper motor shaft.

Electrical Connections

• CAUTION Select the correct input voltage on the power supply, If not set correctly this can damage your printer!
• Connect the wiring to the stepper motors and limit switches according to the labels on the wires.

Controlling the Printer

The printer is controlled by using the rotary knob at the bottom of the display to select the menu options, or to increase or decrease a selected number. The knob is also a push switch which is used to select the highlighted item or confirm a change. (This is referred to as Tap or ↓).

Level the bed

The bed must be levelled correctly before using the printer. Full instructions on how to level the bed can be found here.

The bed and Nozzle must be preheated to a working temperature before levelling the bed to allow for heat expansion of the materials of the build plate, adjusters, hot end and nozzle!

To level the bed for the first time:

• Make sure the glass plate is clipped on, after removing any protective film.
• Turn the bed height adjusters to lower the bed.
• Heat the build plate and nozzle to a working temperature by Prepare ↓ Preheat PLA ↓ or Prepare ↓ Preheat ABS ↓

Then (or for any subsequent times the bed needs re-levelling):

• Place a sheet of thin paper on top of the bed.
• From the printers control screen select Prepare ↓ Auto Home ↓
• To move the nozzle across the bed use the Prepare ↓ Move↓ Move X/Y ↓ commands, then rotate the control knob to set the position and Tap to execute the move. Coordinates are always absolute offsets from the home position.
• The approximate positions of the levelling points are as X/Y coordinates 30/30, 30/205, 205/205, 205/30
• Move the nozzle to the first point.
• Use that corners bed height adjuster to raise (or lower) the build plate height so that you feel resistance when moving the paper between the nozzle and the build plate.
• Repeat, positioning the nozzle to each levelling point in turn and adjusting the height at that corner.
• Select Prepare ↓ Auto Home ↓ again and repeat the adjustment at each corner performing any fine tuning of the height which may be necessary.
• Select Prepare ↓ Cooldown ↓ unless you will be printing immediately.

Installing a Slicer on your PC

https://coolkfiles199.weebly.com/how-to-connect-vpn-on-macbook-pro.html. SainSmart recommends the Ultimaker Cura Slicer, others are available with varying features and while a lot are open source or free to use some are not. Cura is fully featured, well supported and is free to use.

To download the latest version of Ultimaker Cura, go to https://ultimaker.com/software/ultimaker-cura A version may be on the SD card but the latest version will be available on the website. There are also tutorials and documentation available there. The version used in this guide is 4.6.2

Configuring your machine

You have to tell Cura (or any other slicer) what 3D Printer you are using. They vary in size, speeds, nozzle sizes etc.

From the Cura top menu select Settings / Printer / Manage Printers/Add. And select Add a non-networked printer, scroll down and click Creality 3D. (At some point there will be a Creality Ender 3 V2 available, if so just select that and close) Until then select the Creality Ender 3 PRO from the list, change the Printer name to SainSmart Ender 3 V2 (or anything else you prefer) Click Add and this will open the Machine Settings window.

The recommended settings for the SainSmart Ender 3 V2 are:

In the Printer settings Start G-code and End G-code boxes copy the lines below into the relevant box replacing ALL text.

And click Next.

The Printer will now appear in the Local Printers list. Click Activate to make this the current printer. And close the window.

Selecting or adding a Filament

To add or customize a filament select Preferences/Configure Cura and then click Materials. Cura as supplied contains the settings for a lot of different filament types and brands. For the sample print I am using SainSmart PRO-3 White PLA which has the following properties: https://rgybi.over-blog.com/2021/01/google-g-stream.html.

• Diameter 1.75mm (±0.02mm)
• Print Temp 180˚C to 215˚C (200˚C is a good starting place)

Download free photoshop editing software for windows 7. Either create an entry to match your filament or select a generic type (The sample filament which comes with your printer is likely to be PLA).

The recommended starting settings for SainSmart PRO-3 PLA White are:

Save the filament settings.

Loading the model

Download the sample model (sainsmart keychain) here.

Go to File/ Open File(s) and select the model file to print, these are normally *.stl files but other types are supported. So select SSKeyFob.stl [File location needs specifying! Is it on the SD card or downloaded? If downloaded I would add a downloading the sample files above this section.]

Cura will centre the model on the build plate and show the file in a 3D representation, the colour of the model will be taken from the filament properties.

Make sure in the top bar that the printer is shown as SainSmart Ender-3 V2 and the filament is PRO-3 PLA (or Generic PLA).

Selecting and modifying the Print Profile

Various ‘standard’ print profiles are available in Cura. You can create and save your own but open the print settings by clicking on the right hand side of the top icon bar. Select the Super Quality in the Profile dropdown for this test.

The higher the quality, the longer it will take. This is because the higher quality uses smaller lines which means more of them, slower print speeds etc. All of these settings can be altered individually if required, also Cura by default only shows the more important settings in the print settings dialogue. Settings can be made visible or hidden by the Preferences / Configure Cura / Settings option, but there are well over 400 settings that can possibly be shown!

The print profile draws on the current machine and filament settings for some of the values.

For this model SuperQuality is suggested to produce clean detail on the lettering and smooth surfaces.

Cura Software For Ender 3.6

Slicing

Cura now has the model and the settings to be used set so click the Slice button. Cura will now process the model according to the profile settings and generate the Gcode needed to print the model.

The dialogue box will show an estimated print time and amount of filament required to print the model. In this case just over ½ a metre of filament will be used. To see the details of the slicing operation in more detail click the Preview button. The slider to the right of the screen shows the number of layers the model has been sliced into and the current layer being shown. The bottom slider shows and can play the process for each layer.

HINT: Use the scroll button on your mouse to zoom in and out and hold the right mouse button to rotate the model.

Save the .gcode file either to the root directory of SD card directly, or to a file on your PC and then copy the .gcode file to the root directory of the SD Card.

Printing

Insert the SD card into the printer and turn the printer on.

Make sure the correct filament is loaded, the same type as you used in the print profile, and that the build plate is level.

To load a filament

• Preheat the nozzle to a temperature above the melting point of the filament [From the controller select
• Hold in the lever on the extruder drive assembly and slide the filament all the way into the Bowden tube and into the nozzle as far as it will go.
  • NOTE: it can be a bit tricky to get the end of the filament into the Bowden tube as it can get caught up on the internal changes in diameter. If this happens try twisting the filament a bit and if necessary pull out the filament and re-trim the end to round it off.
• If changing a filament sufficient material needs to be extruded until any remnants of the previous filament have been expelled.
  • To remove any previous filament heat the nozzle above the melting point of the filament as above, hold in the lever and gently pull the old filament out.
• Release the lever and then on the printer control screen select Prepare ↓ Move ↓ Extruder ↓ and dial up a +5mm movement to push the filament through the nozzle until a steady clean stream is extruded. Increase the extrusion distance if necessary.
• Remove any extruded filament from the nozzle and build plate.

Select Print ↓ from the main menu and then select the file to print. Tap to start printing.

• The printer will first heat the bed to the set temperature, the only indication of this is the bed temperature on the display will slowly rise.
• Next the Nozzle will be heated to the set temperature, the only indication of this is the Nozzle temperature on the display will slowly rise.
• Once everything is up to temperature the printer will go to the home position.
• A priming line will be printed to make sure the filament is flowing correctly, this is an up and down line at the left of the bed.

Then the print will start, first laying down the skirt and then the model itself.

Once the print is finished:

• The nozzle will go to the back left corner of the build plate presenting the model for removal.
• Three beeps will sound indicating the print is ready.
• The bed and nozzle will cool down, the hot end cooling fan will still be running, do not turn the printer off until the nozzle temperature is below 50˚C.

Removing the Printed Model

• If necessary use the scraper to gently prise the job from the build plate.
• Only use gentle force to avoid damage to the machine.
• Also remove the priming lines from the build plate.

Take the key fob and after inspecting it place it on your key ring!