"Ender printers" Topic

My wife is a teacher in an innovation lab at her school, and needs a new 3d printer. Elementary and middle school so needs a filament printer. The ender series seems a good choice for the money. What does the hive mind think? Thanks in advance for your input and advice !

Ender 3 S1 is a great choice. There are only six steps to put it together, it comes with a bed leveler and it's a great choice for beginners that want to get up and printing quickly.

+1 Mr Magoo

+1 Mr Magoo.

My wife teaches a similar course at her school. She chose Ender 3's (Before the S1 was released). Good, simple printers. But do not underestimate the ability of students to break things! Every few months I have to go in and repair all of the machines.

I've been looking at enders. They are top of the list when it comes to recommendations, but they have a dizzying and bizarre way of identifying the different models.

Try and figure out how an ender S1 (something) compares ot the ender 3 (something, something, something, something).

But as you state S1s, why would you go with an S1 over one fo the Ender 3's with various modifications?

My 2 cents on picking a 3D printer.

1. A 3D printer is the single best bit of wargaming kit I have. Use a resin printer for figures, and an FDM printer for terrain. I print far more terrain than figures!

2. For a FDM printer, you want a big bed size, to print larger buildings etc.

3. With a larger bed size, you want automatic bed levelling. Paradoxically, the larger the bed, the harder it is to manually level. Due to the fact that a large piece of material bends differently depending on ambient temperature vs the heated bed temperature.

4. I have decided that a PEI magnetic bed is my bed of choice. It took me several years and multiple tries to get there -- I am regretting the time wasted with other bed types.

5. You dont need to print fancy materials like ABS and TPU and ….. I just use PLA for everything. Hence you dont need an 'all metal hot end' or direct drive extrusion or ….

6. A filament runout sensor is really useful. For big prints. Or to consume the ends of a spool of filament.

7. Things will break and you will need spare parts. I have a box of spare nozzles, springs, wheels, etc.

jgawne, I chose the S1 because for the price you get the best of the add-ons for the Ender 3. Auto bed leveling is a HUGE plus, especially for beginners. Manual bed leveling can be an exercise in learning how to be patient. Also, the assembly is down to six steps. The first Ender 3 I purchased, was a box of parts. Nothing was put together. The manual was sparse at best.
Bottom line, you can spend less and upgrade the things you want or spend more and get the most popular upgrades or get the S1 which is middle of the road and you can still upgrade parts later if you want.

The Ender 2 is supposed to be really good. I have had a pair of Ender 3s for several years now, use them frequently, they do a good job. They do require some tweaking.

If these are going to be running in a room where other things are going on you might want to be sure and get "silent drivers" so the printers make less noise. They're not hearing-protection noisy, but they can be distracting.

You might also think about adding self-leveling kits. Without proper leveling prints can come loose from the bed and you have to start over. I can do it handily in a couple minutes, and I'm careful with the printers so it only needs to be done every couple weeks with heavy use, less often if not heavily used. But with little kids banging them around you might need to do it more often.

But if you want inexpensive, capable, and lots of community support the Ender series is a great choice.