FIELD TESTVERDICT
You won’t find
a better printer
in the sub
£200 range.9 / 10
the sturdy frame and Bowden extruder will
theoretically allow you to print things quickly (or at
least quickly in the world of 3D printing).THE BOTTOM LINE
As expected, there are a few small downsides to the
Ender 3. The springs on the underside of the bed aren’t
very strong (more tension in the springs means less
build plate movement, and less calibration needed
between prints), but it’s both cheap and easy to replacethese. Printers manufactured before 2019 do not have
thermal runaway protection, which is a pretty important
safety feature, so make sure that it’s enabled on your
printer. Unfortunately, the board running the Ender 3
does not have a friendly bootloader, which makes it a
little tricky to update the firmware. While there are
tutorials online that detail the process, it’s definitely an
inconvenience if you want to do additional tinkering to
improve the printer.
For the price and print quality, though, we can live
with these issues. The Ender 3 has raised the bar for
budget 3D printers.Left
The Ender Dog was
this author’s first
print with the Ender 3- it turned out great!
side as the printer operates, resulting in the ability to
print faster while maintaining print accuracy.
WHAT’S IT CAPABLE OF?
This printer has a long list of excellent features that
really make it a delight to use. All the wires are neatly
hidden away within the frame, or bundled neatly into
the stylish black cable tidy. A spool holder, which sits
on top of the machine, reduces the footprint that it
takes up on your desk. The power unit itself not only
comes with a switch and a removable plug, but it
operates at 24 volts, meaning that the bed can heat
up in a fraction of the time of its competitors, which
are usually kitted out with 12 V units. There are small
rubber pads on each corner of the base to help
dampen the sound it makes, and there are large
wheels on the bottom of the bed to allow very quick
and precise bed level calibration. The build plate is
also removable and flexible, allowing users to
remove their prints easily, cleanly, and with little risk
of breakage.
So how does it print? Every Ender 3 comes with a
pre-prepared file to do a test print of what we’ve
come to call the ‘Ender Dog‘, and we were very
impressed with the results with no calibration or
tweaking (with the exception of the necessary
Z-levelling). We’ve consistently been impressed with
what this printer can do. The quality of prints,
particularly when using a higher resolution, is amazing
for this price. If functional prints are more your bag,
If functional prints are more your bag, the sturdy
frame and Bowden extruder will theoretically
allow you to print things quickly”
”