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Old 06-04-2019, 08:55 AM
aeppel_cpm aeppel_cpm is offline
Ciderwright
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Burlington, WI
Posts: 633
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I think you can get as good a finish out of an earlier model Ender - but you might have to put more time into tuning and modifying it. The Ender 5 should be more resilient to certain vibrations out of the box (which show up as certain types of ripples in prints). I like the idea that it moves the print head in XY and the model only moves in Z. (Other Cartesian designs move the print head in XZ and the model in Y). But I acknowledge that print quality is multifaceted and there are multiple ways to good prints (and bad ones).

The XYZ resolution of the Ender line is the same across the models. (Shared stepper motors, electronics, and nozzles.)

PLA is Poly Lactic Acid. It's easy to print in that it is moderate temperature, doesn't require a heated bed (though it benefits from one) and isn't smelly when heated. It's strong, but a little brittle. It has a reputation for deforming in hot sun. It's prime-and-sandable, but not easy to smooth the print lines out chemically. It's 'compostable' - which is not the same as biodegradble, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it would compost better if ground up than left as parts.

The other currently popular filament among rocketeers is PETG. Prints at a slightly hotter temp than PLA, but only by 10-20C. Likes a heated bead, but not real hot - its rumored you can get away without. Not so much stronger than PLA, but more impact resistant and slightly flexible (but not as much as ABS). More hot-day-in-car resistant than PLA. No path to chemical finishing of a print. Tends to make threadlike hairs when printing certain shapes.

I'd strongly suggest getting a model with automatic print bed leveling. This uses a sensor that can read the bed, rather than a mechanical limit switch on the Z-axis. There are several aftermarket option available, but there are also resellers of the Ender 3 that add them for you. And update the firmware to use it. It's not hard to manually level (or square, or tram, or whatever the exact word is) a bed, but a sensor will save you a lot of fiddly manual dexterity knob tweaking.
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