As indicated in the prior blog post about the Revo Micro CR, it prints nicely. VERY nicely.
The real rub is that the firmware wouldn’t let you print to proper temps (Hotend is capable of 300 deg C print temperatures, but the firmware had safety features for runaway thermal situations on the Hotend- so it only would ever heat to 260 deg C and refuse to go higher. Kind of cold for most Polycarbonate filaments.). Combine the just barely printing nature there with not really being able to PROPERLY tram and then level the bed within real tolerances, I ended up with some really inconsistent prints and a lot of Blob and Spaghetti Monsters for results.
Found out the temp problem. Found out that the “pre-eminent” custom firmware derived from Marlin source for the Ender 3 v2 had stopped work just about a year ago, just after they rolled out a firmware post the one I had. It was still needing to be recompiled (Pretty much ALL of the custom firmware projects will NOT have the 300 deg C range in mind and won’t have it built out (You NEED the thermistor choice from the stock config and run up max temp settings for the hotend to 315, which allows you to set 300 (You WILL need a proper enclosure, etc. for this) without the kill for a thermal runaway condition being triggered.) With it no longer being supported for all intents, and someone suggesting a “professional” firmware intended for the V2 and S1 printer models with all of the features set of the JyersUI firmware, it was time to take a look-see at the least since I was having to recompile the thing. I wasn’t disappointed. As JyersUI gave you a whole new printer and it was the go-to if you’re not making the jump to Klipper…this is the same thing to JyersUI. On screen mesh points display. UBL support. Visual tramming support. (Which is why/how I found out where things went sideways), 250k baud link from Octoprint to the mainboard, and more. It really is as described. Professional Firmware.
As a result, I am now consistently printing clean results, on an Ender 3, with Polycarbonate filament. You will need a bunch of mods, including the new firmware (Linked below) built out as described in later blog posts. But the mods aren’t overly expensive and turn your E3 printer into a workhorse that compares favorably to a Prusa and will let you print, consistently, PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA, and at least PC, if not PA (Nylon…haven’t putzed with one of the ultimate pain in the arse filament type yet… X-D) fairly inexpensively. Without a direct drive setup, you’re going to have no end to fits with TPU and similar- but most knew this. Shortly (Well, I hope shortly… X-D) I will be blogging out my journey so that others can make these modifications. They’re kind of must-do’s for the Ender that don’t run up a lot of cash.
One of the very FIRST mods, that I’ll touch on, but not lead you through, is the firmware as mentioned above. It’s a must have- and if you’re not doing PC or Nylon filament with your Ender 3, you STILL really want to get one of the pre-builts on your printer. It gives it muscle where you didn’t have it before, turning it into something that acts more like a pro tool than a hobby putzing project. Slide on over to https://github.com/mriscoc/Ender3V2S1 and at least download one of the prebuilts for your particular board model of V2 or S1 printer. Seriously, it’s worth it.