Do you use the glass side or the logo side on the Ender3 bed? I am having some crazy inconsistencies with mine. It will work perfectly for 5 or 6 long prints, then fail spectacularly and nothing will stick. I just flipped the bed to try the glass side, so we'll see how that goes.

I used Cura a lot, but I noticed it just didn't draw small circles on the initial layers very well. Everything else printed just fine (like you - higher temps, less gap between nozzle and glass, but I could never seem to control the speed of the circle very well (always too fast) and the filament wouldn't adhere very well (or at all). Would just drive me nuts. For the most part, everything else printed w/o issues.

Switched to Simplfy3D...no issues on the circles. Nice and clean. I have noticed some minor gaps between the perimeter and infill - so I'm experimenting with the over-extrude settings.

Ditto on the glass usage, I pretty much do the same thing.

Nice print. Might want to stick LED's in that area to reduce heat. Probably not an issue, but it sure won't be an issues w/LED.

It would be nice if we could have a repository here at Pinside for all of us to stick our models in for everyone to use. Anyone know how to accomplish that or is that something Robin needs to do?

Yes; good advice! At some point I'll add octoprint too

Try a polishing wheel.

Temperature is important. What filament? What temperature? What bed temp? What slicer?

Let's see - this is Hatchbox which I've had success printing at lower temps, currently testing at 190. Bed is at 47. I'm trying both direct to glass with no adhesive, or to the Creality special coated glass (the topside). And still using CURA 3.6

I'm printing a succession of parts which have printed fine with this same
Roll only a week or two ago, but something got misaligned somehow. I feel like I have to re-level this thing every time I print.!

Hatch is good for me at 200F, Bed at 60. Original build plate, no issues.

190 is way too low for hatchbox pla IMO. Bed is too cool, too. 205/60 or even 210/60 with a good squish should give you better results. Don't feel shy about adjusting the bed a smidge while it's laying down the base lines. Also, what's your fan at during printing? That's important, too.

And I wouldn't go too crazy modding the Ender3. I'd save that money towards a better printer. The difference is substantial.

Yeah, I run Hatchbox at 210/60, with a speed of 60 and Solutech, which I like better, a little hotter at 220/60 and print speed of 50

Damn, ok I’ll up the temp quite a bit then.

Fan is pretty much at 100% I think, whetever the default CURA settings are for the Ender3 profile - I haven’t actually adjusted that much.

What other printer would you recommend, just out of curiosity. I have definitely gotten a bunch of good prints but the Ender3 is so damn frustrating

I have a few Prusa i3MK3s and they are still tempermental at times, but just so much nicer than the Ender3 units with the auto bed leveling, print interruption recovery, the ability to change spools mid-print and the general print quality upgrade. I know there are add-ons and upgrades to give the Ender some of those features, but they are a hassle. You do pay for the quality as the Prusa i3mk3 kit version is over 4x an Ender3, so I guess you would expect it to be better. I thought I'd always keep the ender3 around as a workhorse, but I've been considering sending it down the road because I spend way more time with the Prusa units because they're just easier to work with and produce better-looking prints.

A bit of misinformation. Technically PLA printing does Not need a heated bed so turning it up will do little more than warp parts at times. Not bad to use a heated bed but the temp you had is fine. 40-60 is fine though not needed. For ABS a heated bed is a Must. For 3D printers like slicers you get what you pay for in most cases. We personally have 4 Raise3D Pro units. Plug and play and print down to .05mm without effort. No bed alignment of leveling just load and go pallet 24/7. We also have a few Creator Pro small units for small batch parts which have proven bulletproof and a good starting point in my opinion. If you want to make life easy Invest in Simplify3D slicing software. Yes you can get free software but Simplify will pay for itself Fast. Don't get frustrated, a successful creation is a wonderful feeling! Finally, and my advise to Anyone starting our (or frustrated) is to Know why your fixing/failing your prints with Knowledge. I find this link a very valuable resource for Why is this not what I wanted and how to solve it. I think we just passed 60,000 printing hours so these can be fun and profitable. Good Luck #Rdoyle1978

https://www.simplify3d.com/support/print-quality-troubleshooting/#not-extruding-enough-plastic

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I love my ender3. I use amazon basic PLA, 205 nozzle, 70 bed temp for first layer, then 60 bed temp. Bed height is very important, i check it before every print.

Pinball files? There are printing companies that can store your files, but not sure how easy it is to share the file. Or, there is pinballmakers.com

Thingiverse.com seems to have it figured out pretty well

Keeping files local on pinside seems more beneficial due to the forums.

No argument here; it’s a working model is all I meant. Robin would have to be wary of trademark and copyright issues though. Who knows when Rick from PPS might come through! He’s been promising a Black Rose whirlpool for actual YEARS, and nothing. That and the cannon body could be printed

Yeah, that was just a quick response when I had a free minute.

I was thinking along the lines of keeping files open source, then if the next person wanted to mod it to improve or maybe update for a later game...they'd have an original file and a good start. And that's where the Thingiverse aspect didn't seem to fit well since we wouldn't have the forum interaction.

I actually thought about the copyright/trademark issue too. But then I thought if a person isn't exactly duplicating....just the same 'form, fit, function' - but not identical, that might still be legal to make a part. Maybe an attorney can chime in.

Just my 2 cents! Would be kinda neat tho to have a place to put files to share.

See, that’s EXACTLY what thingiverse is set up for - somebody posts a thing, you choose to “remix” it and create a new thing based on it, but with its own page and repository.

Aah copy that, you’re prob right

Working on a couple things for my JP. Modeled my own gate in Fusion 360, printed in PLA. Still working on the LED holders and the overall dimensions. Also working on a couple light up signs for the 3 scoops in clear PLA. All done on my Ender3.

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Nice! Time to get some of that Hatchbox Wood PLA.

Is that one of the models from Thingiverse? I've seen some on there and have been tempted to print them... Even more tempted after seeing yours.

Yea I might try that for the doors but for now it'll be prime and paint. I'm still tweaking the LED holders too so that they slot in correctly.

It's tricky getting the right size with the rough tolerances of the machine.

I work a lot with high precision ball screws and have thought of building a 3d printer myself with a bunch of dead stock items so I could hit 20 micron tolerances, but that's a project for another year.

I tried the one from thingiverse, but I found that it didn't really work for the game.

So rather than modify that one, I just drew mine from scratch and added the integrated LED holders with holes for wire passthrus and mounting tabs to use the existing holes. Right now the doors swing but they hit the tabs. I haven't decided if I want the doors to swing or not...

That looks great. When you get it the way you want, would you be willing to share your STL file(s)? Either way, would love to see more details on how you wire and light it.

+1 on both accounts.

It seems like it's around .15mm offset for nice fitment on my ender3. I bet sanding those leds to defuse them will make them look nice.

Yea I’ll consider releasing them once I get them sorted. I still need to figure out the sign. I’m trying to remix the one I found on thingiverse to work, but I’m still learning how to work with meshes.

Since you have experience with the Mk3, I wonder if you have any thoughts on the new Prusa i3Mk3S? I was just about ready to order the Mk3 when the new kit was announced. Ultimately, I want to get the multi material upgrade as well, but wonder how that competes with alternatives that have a second extruder.

No idea since I'm still in the queue and won't have the MMU2S upgrades for another few weeks (which comes with a the 3S upgrade, too). Sounds nice, but I won't have any practical experience with it for a while.

Thanks for that. I guess it’s all speculation at this point. I didn’t buy at this time last year because of all of the back order delay drama. I may just pull the trigger and hope for the best.

If you have the dough, I'd pull the trigger sooner rather than later. It will only continue to improve as time rolls on. They're pretty good about offering an upgrade path at a reasonable price as they improve the platform (the Mk3 to Mk3S upgrade is only $19 if you print the plastic parts of the upgrade yourself). I'm pretty excited to try the multi-material extruder device to crank out some multi-color prints. It's been a long wait since I placed the orders last year.

And there's no comparison with dual extruders since you can do up to FIVE colors in one print with the MMU add-on.

It is really the same printer with upgraded filament sensor and some extruder tweaks (my upgrade kit is on order). If you buy the MK3 kit it takes about 2-3 weeks to receive it vs. who knows how long if you buy preassembled (be prepared to spend about 8 hours of assembly). Even though the upgrade is only $20, shipping is another $20+, but all new MK3 printers are shipping with the upgrade already included.

If you are on the fence, pull the trigger as you will not regret it. The Prusa MK3 is a great printer and worth the 3-4 times cost of the clones from my perspective having used both now.

FWIW I’m very happy with my Prusa Mk3, and don’t regret investing in it over the Ender 3.

Thanks to all for the input. I went ahead and ordered the PRUSA i3 MK3S kit. I've been pretty well sold on the PRUSA for well over a year, but was a little worried about being a beta tester for the new model. I had followed some of the horror stories about the original MK3 roll out, but it looks like they eventually got everything smoothed out. I'm sure it will be a huge upgrade over my old Monoprice. I also have access to an Ultimaker 3 Extended, but it will be nice not to have to drive across town to the university and fight for time.

Cool, I'll look into that. I'm printing v4 of the gate model now in a different orientation to see if it'll help. I also made the stacks hollow to the wiring in. I left holes on the back right now to see which wiring method works better.

I also modelled up the 3 scoop signs tonight. I have to take some measurements of the bulbs to make some sort of integrated holder on the back. I'm thinking something the existing lights can just snap into. Also I don't love the proportions of the lightning bolt so I'll probably have to play around with it some more. I was thinking of printing these in a translucent material (natural PLA) and then painting the depressed areas black to block out the light.

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Does anyone have both the Ender and Prusa Mk3?

There may already be some images out there, but I was curious if anyone has any comparison pictures of the same object printed with each printer?

I don't do a lot of 3D printing, thus why I bought the Ender to dip my toe into the pool. Although the Ender works, I'm wondering what the real price point is for getting a smooth print? Or, perhaps, regardless of the printer you have to smooth.

Maybe, I should try doing some ABS printing and vapor smoothing to test out the results.

Not an Ender, but I have a Monoprice Maker Select v2 and a Prusa MK3. I have printed PLA almost exclusively, and I would say that I see no significant print quality improvement from the Prusa. The benefit comes from convenience and reliability for me.

I haven't had to tinker with the Prusa nearly as much, though I have still had things like thermistor wires being cut due to the constant flexing, etc.

The MSv2 needs frequent bed height adjustments. The bearings in the extruder have failed twice, causing filament to not feed. I had to open the control box to fix connectors that couldn't handle the current. ...

I kept the MSv2 thinking I may use it as a backup, but at this point, I think I'd be willing to sell it cheap. Anyone local want it?

Layered printing will never be completely smooth without post-processing of some kind. That said, the thing I find most amazing on the Prusa is when you have it dialed in the bed-facing side will look like moulded plastic - completely smooth. I've never gotten that out of the Ender3. Using the Slic3r Prusa edition I get tighter-looking prints than the Ender 3, but the difference is incremental rather than revolutionary.

If you want smooth prints at markedly higher resolution, you'll need to cough up another $500 for the SL1, but SLA printers have their own caveats (and cost per print is more).

They're gonna look basically the same. It's about features that are convenient more than print quality honestly.

I have an Ender 3. I print on mirror, and my print bottoms are shiny and smooth as glass. Im not saying they are just smooth, like they literally look like opaque glass. Its a thing of beauty.

My buddy recently got a Prusa and commented on how nice my prints looked (I had to print him a piece he broke on his). Can the Ender 3 print as well as or better than a Prusa? Absolutely. It all comes down to spending time setting things up and figuring out how to make it better. I also spent a LOT less than he did on his. However, I also spent probably more time in setup. I'm not saying that the Prusa isn't a nice machine, it absolutely is. But don't expect that because its a Prusa, it will automatically be better. Most of how things turn out is on the user, making sure you have settings dialed in for the specific filament you are using and your machine.

I don't have firsthand experience with the Ender 3, but I do with a nice Wanhao i3. I would basically echo Aurich's point. The Prusa MK3 is a printer with a multitude of features out of the box that the lower cost printers just don't have. As a result of the Prusa technology, it delivers the best results possible with minimal effort, including is dialed in Slic3r which I have barely had to adjust compared to the never ending burden that was Cura with the Wanhao i3.

While every analogy has its flaws, you can kind of think of it back in the olden days when choosing between a PC and a Mac (obviously the differences are more blurred today). Do you want a device that requires some expertise, lots of tinkering, complicated methods to achieve certain tasks, etc., or do you want a machine that has been developed to take care of all those things automatically and to make your experience as simple as possible to achieve your desired results?

Can other lower cost printers deliver similar or even better print results than the Prusa? Sure they can, but the amount of time you spend to achieve these results can often be quite expansive, require lots of trial and error, and result in wasted filament, etc. If you are a tinkerer at heart, have a modest budget, and want to really learn the nuances and intricacies of 3D printing then I might encourage you to save some money and purchase a lower cost printer. If you want nice prints with minimal effort and a shorter learning curve then the Prusa is my recommendation. Or, if you are like me, and have experience with learning the ins and outs of 3D printing on a lower cost unit and want to step up to something a little nicer and overall simpler to operate with additional important features (e.g. auto bed leveling, power outage recovery, auto filament detection, ability to print multi-colored layers, ability to pause/resume print, larger print area than many lower cost printers, etc.) then upgrading up to the Prusa MK3 may be a good move for you.