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3D Printing

This page is a collection of mods, print settings, tips and further reading for 3D printing, especially with the Ender 3 V2 printer.

TL;DR

If you have a Ender 3 V2 / S1 and can't figure out manual bed leveling (like me):

Ender 3 V2 Printing Setup

I have a Ender 3 V2 (v4.2.2. board) with the following upgrades:

If you struggle with manual bed leveling on the Ender 3 V2, get a BLTouch sensor with the custom firmware.

mriscoc Firmware Installation

Installing the firmware is comparable to installing Creality's firmware. Here is the official installation guide from their wiki.

After that, you should level your bed. Follow these steps in your printer menu:

  • Repeat the Tramming Wizard and adjust your bed screws until your bed is leveled. The Wizard tell you which screw to turn up/down.
  • Create a mesh with Auto level with probe and save it to EEPROM, so that you don't have to create a mesh every time you turn you printer off and on again.
  • Adjust your Z-Offset with the usual paper method.

And that's it. The leveling process is much more user friendly than the stock BLTouch firmware by Creality.

Now you have to edit the G Code in your Slicer settings. It is described on this wiki page.

If you use OctoPrint, you have to set the Baud rate to 250,000, or else your printer won't be recognized. For the G Code scripts, check out the wiki page.

Printing Materials

PLA

  • Nozzle Temperature: 200 °C
  • Bed Temperature: 60 °C
  • Fan Speed: 100 %

I use this PLA profile by NeedItMakeIt.

Alternative Cura Settings: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZXaFguKBEpU

TPU

Warning

Don't print TPU on a bare PEI bed, I damaged mine when trying to get my print off.

  • Nozzle Temperature: 220 °C
  • Bed Temperature: 60 °C
  • Fan Speed: 10 %

I still have some stringing issues with this setup, so don't expect too much from these settings.

Recycling

Failed prints, supports, skirts and empty filament rolls are usually considered waste. However, you can collect them and send them to companies specialized in recycling 3D printing materials.

In Germany, there is Recycling Fabrik. When you have at least 2 kg of (sorted) waste, you can send it to them for free and gain points. You can then redeem the point in their shop to get a discount on their recycled filament.

In the long term, collecting your PLA / PETG waste saves money and the environment. The best time to start collecting is now.

Tips & Tricks

When printing threads / parts with inserted nuts, etc., use the following settings so that they fit properly:

  • Slicing Tolerance: Exclusive (bigger tolerance for holes, threads etc.)
  • Hole Horizontal Expansion: 0.2 mm (bigger means larger hole)
  • Initial Layer Horizontal Expansion: -0.2 mm (smaller means smaller surface on first layer)