Maintaining a Creality Ender 3 - 3D Printer

Chuck shows you how to perform Maintenance of your Creality Ender 3. He focuses on the most important part of the 3D Printer; the Filament Path. He shows you how to maintain and prevent PTFE issues, when to replace the nozzle, how to look for a failing fan, and more in this edition of Filament Friday.

Components Used in this Video:

Financial Support through Patreon:

Replacing the Creality Ender 3, CR-10 Hot End Fan:
My Ender 3 Hot End "Luke Hatfield Fix" Video:
Maker's Muse Video:

Creality Ender 3:

Creality Ender 3 V2

Cura Profiles:
Cura Download:

Chuck's Favorite EZR Extruder:

Filament Friday Tool Kit:

Filament Friday Filament:

Creality Ender 3 Pro:

Nozzle Removal Tool:

Creality Ender 3 Parts/Upgrades
-------------------------------------------
X-Axis Tensioner
Y-Axis Tensioner

CHPOWER Metal Extruder:

WINSINN Dual Gear:

CHEP Prusa Profiles:

CR-10 V2
From CR-10:
CR-10S Pro
CR10 Mini

Creality Ender 5:

***** Support the Channel ******************

Buy thru this link to Slice Engineering for the Best Hot Ends:

Note:
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

****************************************************
Filament Friday Sticker:
Send Self Addressed Stamped Envelope to:
Electronic Products
PO Box 251
Milford, MI 48381
****************************************************

Filament Friday Playlist:

Chuck's Arduino Book:

Intro animation by Pablo Licari based on Filament Friday Logo by Brian Carter.

[uandu]

Chuck, I gotta say, your "don't worry about buying my kit, I'm not trying to sell you anything, just do the job right" attitude is extraordinary, refreshing, and I very much respect you for it. :thumbsup:

[mrclown]

3:52 Great tip I learned is that if you're stuck in a situation where you don't have a 6.5mm socket (or a 1/4 inch socket, which as you demonstrated works quiet well), but you do have one of those screwdrivers that uses removable bits, then you can likely use the screwdriver as a 6.5mm socket.

[davesemmelink]

Perfect timing! After 2 years and 3 months, and countless prints, my Creality CR10 Mini jammed, and I didn't know what to do! It's my first and only 3D printer, and didn't seem to need any maintenance until now. Every tip in this video helped me to get it back in action. And now I'll be a bit more proactive when it comes to maintenance.

[jamesmiller]

Thank you for this video. I haven't had any issues yet with my Ender 3/pro machines but you touched on a issue I am experiencing with my CR-10 S5. I told a friend (who is new to 3D printing) of your videos and shared this video with him as soon as I watched it, just trying to help. His wife called and scolded me because he was on Amazon updating his tool list and lol. I also mentioned to him how anytime I have a issue, I DO NOT ask questions in any of the Facebook groups, I go to your videos and search for problem/solution. Through your videos you have answered many questions and helped me to solve a few issues.

[cefoltran]

Recently I realise that the most noisy fan on my Ender 3 was the one inside the electronics box. I saw no one giving attention to it as a noise source. I not only replaced all the axial fans of my printer for better ones, but also put a resistor on the path to reduce their rotation a bit. Two things I learned with you and I could build up on. First, how to reduce the speed, as you shown on the Noctua video, and to connect the fan of the electronics box with the one on the hot end so it runs all the time. Thanks Chuck! Because of your tips about fans and silent board now I can print at night and sleep at the same time! Cheers from Brazil!

[deviantaffinity]

Got my first printer last night (Ender 3 v2). Drinking coffee and watching vids before setting it up today. Thanks for this one (timely). This is just the kind of info I wanted before starting. Liked and subscribed!

[carbide]

Super advice. I sometimes forget all about the tubing. Gonna order that ratchet, very cool.

[bacelismael]

Nice tips! Thank you for your continuous updates, helps a lot 👍🏻.

I had issues with clogged nozzles on my Geeetech A20m, and I've found a really simple way to clean up my nozzle without replacing it.
I heated up the hotend up to its maximum temp, then took off the PTFE tube end from the extruder side after removing the filament of course, then hooked it up to my bicycle pumb which has kind of a clamp that fits perfectly snug to PTFE tube size, then put a paper on my heated bed so that it doesn't get messy, and carefully blow up air in the tube and it did open up most clogged nozzles with a cloudy plastic oozing 😆👍🏻

[gpa]

Hi Chuck. Let me share what happened to me... I was getting some inconsistent printings and decided to follow your advice. It turns out that the PTFE tube was lightly burnt and the nozzle was carbonised. I put on a new Capricorn PTFE and a new nozzle. The printer got better, but still not the same as it used to be. The prints showed some signs of under extrusion and "unevenness". I tried everything, from new filament to calibrating E-Steps. Nothing. Well... I was about to revert to a white generic PTFE to give a new try, when I decided to mesure the extruded filament with a calliper... and got 0.56mm. Making the long history (almost) short, there was a 0.6 nozzle among the 0.4mm 10-pack I bought! Now it's perfect agains. Cheers from Brasil, where you have a bunch of followers!

[williamreid]

Thankyou for this! Been pulling my hair out for ages with stringing and retraction issues... after watching this video, i checked the PTFE and it was heavily burnt and blackened! Cut the tube, replaced it and voila!

[sysghost]

Tip on the PTFE tube maintenance part: If one cuts the tube, or in any other form shortens the length of it, and have some automatic filament change feature enabled in the firmware. Make sure to update the travel length in the printers settings, so it doesn't crash the filament into the nozzle when auto-feeding the filament into the system. That can cause the tube to fail prematurely later on.

[ricks]

all this years and i'm still learning from here. thank you very much!

[FusionSource]

Great video Chep, these tips are so important, I had a big issue with my hotend fan, makes a big difference

[MrHotquote]

Having a bad time with my printer and completly forgot about changing the nozzle... got stringing and clogging like hell! Made we quit 3D-printing!

After one year....

Cutting the PTFE tubing and change nozzle really did the trick!

Do it! It will help!

[SmokeandSteel]

I dont comment very often. This video is awesome! Everything I needed to know in a short, concise video. What you do on this channel is seriously top tier content. Keep up the great work!

[jadelpino]

Chep, I´ve to say Thank You. This video solvéd an stringing problem. You are the best 3d printer teacher.

[scottfreedman]

I would add that your need to bring the hot end up to temperature when you are tightening the new nozzle, otherwise you get leaks and blobs. Excellent video, thanks for the links.

[charlesfield]

You’re the only reason that I am able use my 3D printer! Thanks

[j.abella]

Thank you very much for these tips. I performed the maintenance you outlined tonight and my printer seems to be printing much cleaner, very useful!

[davej]

I bought an Ender-3 V2 Amazon return and have been really happy with it. I found the best way to remove filament is with a 'cold pull'. Heat nozzle to temp - say 210C - then cool down to 90C. Pull the filament and it should come free including what is in the nozzle. It does work but I do have one filament that won't cooperate. Thanks for your videos. Another fave to keep watching.