Ender 3 V2 for beginners

Mr NCT

Site Moderator
My Ender 3 v2 is up and running, currently printing the dog G-code that came on the card. Modifications (so far):
CR touch
Capricorn tube
Flat bed springs
Metal extruder parts
Jyers firmware for Ender and Display

The Y axis was way loose, the bed was flopping around, so I adjusted the wheel tension to get smooth movement without the bed moving up and down or back and forth.

It's all your fault!! :)
 

SSgt Duramax

Junior Member
My Ender 3 v2 is up and running, currently printing the dog G-code that came on the card. Modifications (so far):
CR touch
Capricorn tube
Flat bed springs
Metal extruder parts
Jyers firmware for Ender and Display

The Y axis was way loose, the bed was flopping around, so I adjusted the wheel tension to get smooth movement without the bed moving up and down or back and forth.

It's all your fault!! :)
You'll enjoy it. I have been printing toys for the kids, and fun little trinkets for planes like wall hangers and vortex generators.

It is worth it that you never have to make or buy a control horn or firewall again. It costs like $.30 to get a perfect, strong firewall.

I haven't had much luck with the planes I have made. I have most of the parts for the northern pike printed out, and also the GASB one. I lost motivation on the GASB since I have an indestructible EPP wing now. The main issues I have had is using G Codes others have prepared, none of them seem to give me the quality of slicing myself. It was just a steep learning curve. I am going to print out some parts that got screwy on the northern pike and make that my next attempt. I wouldn't buy a model until I could successfully print out a free one.

My model D flew once, but the spindly landing gear cracked the too thin PLA motor mount and the motor flew off right after launch and the plane tip stalled and crushed the whole front. I was so frustrated I trashed the whole plane. I guess it is like foam planes, keep crashing until you get it right. But is sucks more to throw 10-20 bucks worth of build material in the trash, instead of just 2 or 3 bucks.
 

Mr NCT

Site Moderator
You'll enjoy it. I have been printing toys for the kids, and fun little trinkets for planes like wall hangers and vortex generators.

It is worth it that you never have to make or buy a control horn or firewall again. It costs like $.30 to get a perfect, strong firewall.

I haven't had much luck with the planes I have made. I have most of the parts for the northern pike printed out, and also the GASB one. I lost motivation on the GASB since I have an indestructible EPP wing now. The main issues I have had is using G Codes others have prepared, none of them seem to give me the quality of slicing myself. It was just a steep learning curve. I am going to print out some parts that got screwy on the northern pike and make that my next attempt. I wouldn't buy a model until I could successfully print out a free one.

My model D flew once, but the spindly landing gear cracked the too thin PLA motor mount and the motor flew off right after launch and the plane tip stalled and crushed the whole front. I was so frustrated I trashed the whole plane. I guess it is like foam planes, keep crashing until you get it right. But is sucks more to throw 10-20 bucks worth of build material in the trash, instead of just 2 or 3 bucks.
Learning curve is here. I printed out the dog that Ender provided the G-code file for - no problems. Loaded Sponz's control horns into Cura, generated G-code and started printing. It prints the line on the side fine, the circle around the part fine, but when it starts printing the horn it's soon dragging what's already printed and is all gunked up on the nozzle. Arrrggggghhhhhh!
 

WillL84

Active member
Learning curve is here. I printed out the dog that Ender provided the G-code file for - no problems. Loaded Sponz's control horns into Cura, generated G-code and started printing. It prints the line on the side fine, the circle around the part fine, but when it starts printing the horn it's soon dragging what's already printed and is all gunked up on the nozzle. Arrrggggghhhhhh!

Gotta make sure your bed is levelled correctly. Are you using the UBL with Jyers? I'm using it but with a BLTouch. I have it create a bed mesh and then store it on the printer. You then add special start gcode that has the printer probe the center and 4 points and then applies the stored mesh to the current bed tilt. It works real nice.

I also print on the smooth Creality magnetic PEI sheet and it's so awesome
 

Mr NCT

Site Moderator
Gotta make sure your bed is levelled correctly. Are you using the UBL with Jyers? I'm using it but with a BLTouch. I have it create a bed mesh and then store it on the printer. You then add special start gcode that has the printer probe the center and 4 points and then applies the stored mesh to the current bed tilt. It works real nice.

I also print on the smooth Creality magnetic PEI sheet and it's so awesome
Thanks! Using the CR touch (same firmware as the BL) and the glass plate bed. Before work this morning I cleaned the bed, preheated it, ran a new mesh and put on a NEW roll of PLA, I had been using the sample that came with the printer. Prints perfectly.
 

ColoFlyer

Active member
Here's my V2. List of mods with links:
Raspberry Pi 3B+ with Octoprint
Logitech C270 webcam holder (for Octoprint)

WillL84 Also mentions a Raspberry Pi and Octoprint in his post above. I have had this set up almost from the beginning when I got my 3D printers, and I think everyone with a 3D printer should do this.
It is simple to setup, and allows you to stop using the little SD card and start send files directly to your printer from your computer through your home network. You can also control your printer from your computer starting and stopping, and you can watch through a webcam from your computer or smart phone. There are tons of videos on how to set it up on you tube.
Here is a video on why you need it.

 

WillL84

Active member
WillL84 Also mentions a Raspberry Pi and Octoprint in his post above. I have had this set up almost from the beginning when I got my 3D printers, and I think everyone with a 3D printer should do this.
It is simple to setup, and allows you to stop using the little SD card and start send files directly to your printer from your computer through your home network. You can also control your printer from your computer starting and stopping, and you can watch through a webcam from your computer or smart phone. There are tons of videos on how to set it up on you tube.
Here is a video on why you need it.


Octoprint is so amazing. Tons of plugins for all sorts of things (octolapse, octoeverywhere, arcwelder, UI Customiser, USB relay control, etc etc) and you can start prints from your phone. Hell the two bombs I printed for my bomb drop I started from my phone while sitting at my work desk lol.
 

ColoFlyer

Active member
Octoprint is so amazing. Tons of plugins for all sorts of things (octolapse, octoeverywhere, arcwelder, UI Customiser, USB relay control, etc etc) and you can start prints from your phone. Hell the two bombs I printed for my bomb drop I started from my phone while sitting at my work desk lol.

A plugin that I recently started using is amazing. You know how Cura gives you a print time that is never the same as Octoprint nor the same as what your printer says. Well adding the PrintTimeGenius plugin to Octoprint fixes that. It calculates the print time and filament used, based on the Gcode and is always very close to exactly correct. Now I actually know how long my print will take and when my print will be done. It also tells you how much filament will be used. It is great for using up that last little bit of filament cause you can measure out that last bit based on PrintTimeGenius and know if you have enough for the next print.
 

WillL84

Active member
A plugin that I recently started using is amazing. You know how Cura gives you a print time that is never the same as Octoprint nor the same as what your printer says. Well adding the PrintTimeGenius plugin to Octoprint fixes that. It calculates the print time and filament used, based on the Gcode and is always very close to exactly correct. Now I actually know how long my print will take and when my print will be done. It also tells you how much filament will be used. It is great for using up that last little bit of filament cause you can measure out that last bit based on PrintTimeGenius and know if you have enough for the next print.

I don't use Cura so I don't have that problem lol
 

ColoFlyer

Active member
I don't use Cura so I don't have that problem lol

The problem is not with the Slicers like Cura or Slic3r the problem is with OctoPrint. OctoPrint has nothing to base its Print Time estimate on other than "I now have printed x percent of that file and needed y minutes for that" - Trying to guess at the total print time based on that does not work very well especially at the (slow) first couple of layers it looks at.

Taken from the PrintTimeGenius page---- "PrintTimeGenius provides estimates that are accurate to within just minutes, sometimes even seconds by using advanced gcode analyzers."
Anyway, just another cool Plug-in
https://plugins.octoprint.org/plugins/PrintTimeGenius/
 
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Mr NCT

Site Moderator
What great advice on this thread! I finally broke down and installed a raspberry pi and octoprint, it's fantastic. Now to explore the cura and octoprint plug ins. I noticed that when I turn on the pi the control on the ender 3v2 comes on without turning on the power switch for the printer. Does yours do that?
 

ColoFlyer

Active member
What great advice on this thread! I finally broke down and installed a raspberry pi and octoprint, it's fantastic. Now to explore the cura and octoprint plug ins. I noticed that when I turn on the pi the control on the ender 3v2 comes on without turning on the power switch for the printer. Does yours do that?

You are probably using a standard USB Cable from your Raspberry Pi to the Printer. The problem with this is that the standard cable provides 5v power that you printer doesn't want or need, it won't run the printer, but it lights up the display which is annoying.

There are 2 answers, first you can cover the 5v Pin from the USB Cable to your printer, which is what I have done ( a picture of my cable below).
Here are some tutorials

https://arjenstens.com/prevent-usb-powering-3d-printer-display/

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/avRax_pi6SQ

Or you can see if you can find a cable that doesn't supply 5v power through the cable.
 

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Mr NCT

Site Moderator
You are probably using a standard USB Cable from your Raspberry Pi to the Printer. The problem with this is that the standard cable provides 5v power that you printer doesn't want or need, it won't run the printer, but it lights up the display which is annoying.

There are 2 answers, first you can cover the 5v Pin from the USB Cable to your printer, which is what I have done ( a picture of my cable below).
Here are some tutorials

https://arjenstens.com/prevent-usb-powering-3d-printer-display/

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/avRax_pi6SQ

Or you can see if you can find a cable that doesn't supply 5v power through the cable.
Thanks! I'm glad its not just me.
 

Mr NCT

Site Moderator
Powering the Raspberry Pi 4B:
Here's what I ended up doing since I already had a power supply for it. The Pi consumes 6W at full load which at the 110vac source equals a 0.06A current draw. So I attached a cheapo 2 outlet extension cord to the Ender 3v2 after the power switch so when I turn on the printer it turns on the Pi and I've got another outlet for a low draw LED light in the future. This solution, unfortunately, did not require any 3D printing so I bought a cheapo camera (seeing a recurring theme?) and printed a case, ball & socket swivel and a clip to attach to my enclosure. I feel partially redeemed.
Camera: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0994G7DR6/?tag=lstir-20
Longer ribbon cable: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WF91QML/?tag=lstir-20

IMG_3805 (2).JPG IMG_3806 (2).JPG
 

WillL84

Active member
I use a Logitech C270 webcam with my Pi for octolapse - it's so awesome. The 720 resolution is my only complaint. I bought a 1080P Logitech cam but it's got autofocus so you need to mess around with the Octoprint configs so every time it boots it turns off autofocus and sets a focus that you figure out beforehand. Haven't have the time to get that setup yet lol.