Purchased a Creality Ender Pro 3 during the Microcenter $99.00 deal.  Just finished assembling it yesterday and watched a bunch of UTube videos on the printer.  

Ordered a few suggested parts through Amazon.  A BL touch auto leveler and an Aluminum Alloy Block Bowden Extruder.

Should I get silicone levelers and a glass bed too?

Some videos suggested printing the following:

- Shim for the Z-Axis drive to align the screw jack
- Cable chain (definitely like this idea)
- Leveler knobs
- Spool holder with ball bearings
- Filament guide to the extruder
- Tool tray

Where can I get files for kids Army men that have  modern uniforms and weapons?  This is the first thing my six year old wants to print.  Thanks.

I've been beating on my ender 3 for years. I've never found an upgrade I needed to make good prints.

Cattracks (cable chain) but undue wear on wire insulation. In robotics we used to make sure they were lubricated and even then we would find them worn in half rather quickly.

Make a filament spool holder that sits on the table next to the printer. That will solve a lot of issues without trying to get cute.

Check thingiverse for STLs.

Ender 3 pro should already have to good yellow bed springs and big adjustment knobs. Steel flex plate is my go to print surface. If printing PLA I use a PEX plate from WhamBam and if printing ABS I use a textured plate from Fabreeko. Auto bed leveling is not really needed. I check mine about once a week and it usually never needs adjustment. If I do need to tweak it, I can do it faster than the machine can.

Aww man. Ive got a pro 3 and a v2 and I have to level them after every print.

If it prints as good as mine did stock leave it the fuck alone. I didnt. pimped it to the moon. sorta works now.

I think dual z drive, a metal extruder feeder, and capricorn tubing to be essential upgrades.

I think PEI sheet, high temp all metal hotend, CR touch bed leveler, and the silent mainboard are nice to have additions.

What I wouldn't do, is try to go big and throw every 3rd party aftermarket gizmo recommended on internet/youtube you can find.

I forgot about the metal extruder feeder. I did do that as I wore my plastic one in half. Capricorn is nice but it's just a PTFE tube. I've just used whatever and had no issues.

PEI sheets are nice. I see no reason to get a high temp hot end. It has no enclosure so performance materials like Nylon that need the higher temp to print are not really something you might print with it. I too see no need for auto level. I level my bed about every 4-6 months of printing.

See if it prints well first.

Mine printed like garbage.

Tweaked the hell out of it and dropped $500 in upgrades and it still prints like garbage. Better...but not great.

I haven't turned it on in months. I ordered another Prusa instead to fill the need. I don't have the time to tune slicer settings, etc and didn't like that I had to maintain two slicer profiles. Wasn't very condusive to an efficient operation.

I need to list it on the EE. It has the PEI plate, yellow springs, dual Z, BTT SKR Mini board, color touchscreen, Bondtech BMG direct drive, and CRTouch.

Thanks for the replies.  I'll try it stock first as suggested.

BLTouch leveler, glass bed, and maybe Capricorn springs and Bowden tubing. That's what I've done (well got the upgraded STM32 silent motherboard) but mine was an old noisy one. Mine prints great.

Looks like you got the essentials. If you are swapping the extruder block you might as well install a high temp bowden tube.

Print until something is giving you issues and perform upgrades to correct the problem.

I tricked out my Ender 5. Only thing stock on it is the frame and power supply now. Converted it to CoreXY.

All my upgrades before I tricked out my Ender 5 went to my Ender 3 Pro.

My Ender 3 Pro can't print anywhere near the quality of parts as my Ender 5. I had to do a lot of work to get it printing decent. Never could get it properly leveled. I'd be perfect in spots then nearly scraping the bed with the nozzle in other spots. This is with a BLtouch too. Most of those issues were because of the Z axis. Even my glass bed I bought for it has significant high and low spots. The PEI bed helps, but the factory bed dips in the middle.  

My biggest issue with the Ender 3 is the Z axis. The right hand side doesn't move the same height as the left hand side where the z axis motor is. It really needs dual Z, then you have to make sure the motors stay synced if you don't have an upgraded control board. Never move the motors by hand after you do convert to dual Z. Also want to print one of those anti z wobble things. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4857627

I'm about done messing with it, but I may convert it to a Voron Switchwire. At least the Z axis would be belt driven instead of having lead screws. I can print all the ABS parts on my Ender 5.

Converting an Ender 3 to a voron switchwire is...interesting and a little annoying (I did a conversion) There really arent any good manuals for it so its very much a "tweek and check the cad files" to assemble.

I've seen this before.  A very good friend bought a 3D printer after seeing how much fun I was having with mine, mine is an Ender 3 V2 by the way.  He bought a Creality CR10 and ordered a bunch of "upgrades" that were recommended in youtube videos.  He started "upgrading" it before he started printing with it.  It never did work very well.

I did just the opposite.  I printed with mine for a few weeks and it printed good.  I then added a Creality direct drive kit and BL Touch, that's it.  It prints great!

I did have trouble with keeping it level after each print.  Springs are a waste of time to me and solid mounts required too much shimming and was just a PITA.  I made my own leveling system and it works perfectly.  I haven't leveled it since I installed my system nine or ten months ago and hundreds of prints ago.

I used four 1/2 x 13 bolts, nuts, and a 1/8" thick poly disc between the bed and each nut as an insulator.

1.  I drilled through the bolts lengthwise with clearance for the original adjusting screws to pass through.
2.  I drilled through each insulator disc with the same drill.
3.  I screwed each nut onto a bolt and screwed it all the way down pass the end of the bolt.
4.  Removed all of the springs.
5.  Place a bolt/nut assembly under each corner.  I have each bolt standing on its hex head.
6.  Place an insulator between the bottom of the bed and the nut.
7.  Drop the original screws through their original locations through the bed and through the insulators and bolts.
8.  Screw the adjusting wheels onto the screws.

Now adjusting is as easy as pie.  I found it easy though certainly not necessary to hold the bolt head with a wrench and turn the nut with my fingers.  Get the bed reasonably level by probing manually, be sure to tighten the adjusting wheels.  Then just level as you normally do.  My bed is level with in a total of .003" over the entirety of the bed.  It doesn't flex, move or anything.  It is rock solid.

Gil  

Here are a few pics of what I did.  I don't think that I was clear on how I level mine, but I just raise or lower the bed by turning the nut and holding the bolt, get it level, tighten it down with the adjusting wheels and that's it, you're done, no more re-leveling.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/196485315@N04/52494135198/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/196485315@N04/52493583191/in/dateposted-public/

I have added one more upgrade months ago.  I added a bi-metal heat break to the hot end.  The small length of bowden tube in the hot end (mine is direct drive) would get too hot and deteriorate.  It clogged and melted and caused me a ton of problems.  The heat break fixed that.

My experience with PEI sheet was a waste of money and made my printer unusable.  Nothing would stick to it for me and the vendor that sold it to me was no help.  I went back to the original Creality glass bed that it came with and using hair spray I have no more adhesion issues.

I bought my direct drive from Creality, but you can print mounts and make yours a direct drive using your existing bowden drive motor.

I flashed the firmware from the stock firmware to JyersUI.  It is awesome and free.

If you add a BL Touch or other probe, you can use your Z axis limit switch as a filament run out sensor, just print the mount and follow instructions.

One other thing.  With my leveling system, the adjusting wheels aren't used for adjusting any longer, they are there only to tighten it all down.  The adjusting is done by loosening the wheels and adjusting with the nuts and bolts, just to be clear.

Top 3 things for any 3D printer:
- good filament
- dry filament
- box or thermal enclosure

These are essential if you want good results.

Folks freak the ahit out on bed leveling ... Over, and over, and over again.

Like a fucking broken record.

Yet, no amount of perfect leveling will correct bad temps, moisture, and shitastic PLA material.

Ender is an i3 knock-off and they cut a few corners. But its not a bad design ... Its actually a decent budget printer.

Nothing will correct bad leveling except proper leveling, period.  I would never try to print on an unlevel bed just as I would never do any machining on my milling machine with the head out of tram.

My opinion is contrary to yours in regards to enclosures and leveling.  I view enclosures as useless and leveling as essential.

Depends on which filament. ASA and Nylon, enclosures are mandatory for good results.

That said, a level bed is mandatory with all filaments.

They are both important in certain situations, but agree leveling is important in general. I just don't know if that's what he meant vs auto bed leveling.

True, I only print with PLA+, so you are correct about enclosures with other filaments.  I guess I had tunnel vision with my exclusively using PLA+.

I have tunnel vision all the time.

I don't use it for PLA+. Generally I want as much cooling as I can get with that filament type.

Isn't an enclosure necessary for certain filaments and 3D processes in order to contain and vent fumes and microparticles?