Creality Ender 3 V3 KE Setup Guide, Tips, Review, and Upgrades

In this video I will walk you through the set up of the Creality Ender 3 V3 KE high speed 3D printer from unboxing to your first print. This printer requires very little in terms of assembly but I will show you how to get started with the Ender 3 V3 KE and share with you what I was able to achieve in terms of print quality.

We will be starting with Creality Print as our slicer but after months of printing - I would highly recommend checking out the built in profiles for the KE in Orca Slicer.

I also have several upgrades that I have made available for the KE as seen in the video. See the links below:

10mm Y-Axis Rod Upgrade

Universal Top Mount Spool Stand

Creality Ender 3 double sided (smooth / texture) PEI flex plates:

Super Deluxe Spool Holder

Spool Stand X:

I hope to provide you with insight into the pros and cons of using the Creality Ender 3 V3 KE. If you are considering purchasing this equipment please consider supporting the sponsor of this video @Creality3D (As an Amazon associate I may earn a small commission at NO extra cost to you)

Creality Official Store (Creality KE)

Creality Amazon Store (Creality KE)

Creality Amazon Store (HYPER PLA Filament)

As Creality provided me with both the Creality KE and their HYPER PLA filament for the making of this video this wouldn't be possible without them and I would like to sincerely thank them for sending me this equipment.

If you have already purchased the Creality Ender 3 V3 KE I hope this video provides you with some insights that you find useful. To support my work, please consider visiting my website where you will find other upgrades for a large variety of other printers such as the Ender 3 S1, Ender 5 S1, CR10 Smart, CR6 SE, Ender 7 and many more!

In the video I also improved the frame vibration and flexing issue by removing the spool holder from the top of the printer. I replaced it with these PTFE tube guide parts that you can download from my Printables page for free:

Overall, I would recommend the Creality Ender 3 V3 KE for beginner and advanced users alike. For the extra money over the SE model I believe you are much better off and will enjoy the higher performance. However, with the recent release of the Ender 3 V3 Core XZ, if your budget allows I would probably go for the Core XZ model as it appears Creality has put a lot more effort into it.

Still, this printer provides excellent value for the low price and I purchased two more of them for my print farm. They have been motoring along now for a few months without any major issues. That being said, before running your machine check it over for quality control issues that I pointed out in the video and expect to tighten your bed screws at some point.

If you are new to 3D printing I still think you should have realistic expectations of the learning curve involved with the hobby. The machine works well out of the box but if you happen to run into issues you will likely get frustrated at first. Take a deep breath, stick with it and don't give up! It doesn't matter if you have a Creality, Bambu Labs, or any other popular high speed printer of this era, eventually you will need to do some troubleshooting.

A few other cool tools and things for 3D printer enthusiasts. (As an Amazon associate I may earn a small commission at NO extra cost to you)

Polymaker PolyTerra PLA (One of my favorite filaments):

eSUN PLA+ (Another one of my favorite filaments):

Electric Screwdriver (shown while working on the printer):

Other 3D printed models in this video:

EM Calibration Cube:

Thank you for watching!

#creality #ender3v3ke #crealityender3

0:00 Intro
1:42 Unboxing
2:26 Assembly
5:29 Quality Check
6:38 Setup
8:23 Square Your Gantry
9:40 First Print
15:11 More Prints
18:49 Upgrades
22:32 Live Z Offset Adjust
24:29 Check Your Bed
25:16 Time Travel
26:23 More Upgrades
27:10 Review
30:31 Outro

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Finally, if you appreciate my in depth content, you can support the channel by checking out the links below. As an Amazon Associate I may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you):


Creality Official Store (Creality KE)

Creality Amazon Store (Creality KE)

Creality Amazon Store (HYPER PLA Filament)

Polymaker PolyTerra PLA (One of my favorite filaments):

eSUN PLA+ (Another one of my favorite filaments):

Electric Screwdriver (shown while working on the printer):

[TheSolidMental]

I've had this printer for a while and there is one thing I started doing that totally enhanced how well my print jobs go. Periodically coat to outer edge of the nozzle with thermal grease or olive oil. Be it humidity or what, this prevented filament from collecting and curling around the nozzle. Extended my nozzle life dramatically. Nothing drastic, just lightly use a Q-Tip to apply it and my prints have been so much more reliable ever since.

[terrisilva]

Anyone with an auto bed leveling error during set up, please read this.

This was a very helpful video for my setup of a refurbished printer. I really appreciate the visual, step by step guide, which made the assembly a breeze.

However, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I was getting an error during set up, but noticed my machine head was going off the heat bed during the calibration. After scouring for answers, and a big headache later, I noticed a loose screw on the right hand side of the gantry which, turns out, controls the tension of the belt. I tightened it, and sure enough it solved my issue.
Edit: this can also be done too tightly as it resulted me in different issues. I learned that you want your belts tension to be firm but still have some bounce if you were to push on it.

It should have been a simple and obvious fix, but for some reason, I spent several frustrated hours unable to figure this out. So although assembly was a breeze, I do wish this issue was addressed in the quality check portions of the video.

Hopefully my frustration can help someone else in need and make it worthwhile.

[Anxienator]

Best review I've seen not only for 3D Printers but also in general. You've provided answers to questions I didn't even know I had! I'll be sure to reference again once I get my own KE

[beav]

My son (35 yrs old) just ordered this printer. We have both been watching videos of different printers and I figured he would get this one. I am glad I found your video. The rail leveling and nozzle adjustment are definitely checks we will do, as well as the z offset.

[ctbob]

I'm sitting here inventorying the KE box contents and getting ready to join the 3D crowd. Really good video you made here. Going to have to watch it a few more times to get the full effect. Thanks for the help.

[kristinaplays]

My gantry wasn't square and I had no idea how to fix it, you just saved me a bunch of heartache thank you. It's been a tough week without my printer

[clampy]

You can remove the horizontal movement of the bed entirely by taking off the bed, loosening the bolts that go into the L and R bearings. From there you can add a bit of tension between the rod and the bearings by pushing the right bearing right, and the steel plate to the left, and then tightening the right bolts. Do the same to the left, but in the opposite direction, and you will add a bit of tension that stabilises the barings, using the steel plate to take the force (you are basically moving the bearings away from each other by a few decimals of a mm).

Remove the two belt bolts and move the bed around to confirm you didn't add too much pressure, and everything is running smooth. You can also try adding bit of toe in/out to the bearings if you think your issue is at the front or back of the bearing. While you are here, clean off the oil and make sure the rod is nicely lubricated and that there is no dust on the rod that might get into the bearings.

Very easy to do, takes around 10 minutes. My bed doesn't move horizontally at all. I still have a tiny big of sag when weight is applied to the front of the bed, but I think that is just a consequence of only having 1 bearing on each side, you are naturally going to have some sag.

[russmoore]

Hi, I don't usually comment, but this was impressive and informative at a level of technicality I appreciate.
I understand how to tune some things, but I'm not ready to root the Klipper firmware and upload a new versions.
It's also nice to see someone singing praises on the printer I have. I have not been able to find that Z-axis compensation settings to save my life - everyone mentions it, and shows video of them changing it, but not how to get there!

Anyhow thanks again! I love the parts you've designed and will look to you for more videos on the KE!

[BradRemillard]

Agree with others. This was probably the best KE video. Most just talk about set up. Hope you continue to produce more informational 😊videos on using the KE problems you have had and solved etc. subscribed looking forward to future videos. Thanks.

[ty]

I like that you were honest with the problems you had with yours. I have yet to talk to someone without a single thing that was wrong with there KE out of the box. For me my tool head frame wasn't bent all the way just like yours causing the CR Touch probe to be lower than the nozzle. After a long talk with Creality and after they tried to get me to bend it back myself they are sending me a new tool head frame.

[capeeddy]

I'm a bit late to this video, but it's the best breakdown I've seen. I recently ordered the Creality 3D Printer Ender 3 V3 KE Upgraded and it will be here in two days. Thanks to this video I'll know exactly what problems to look for so I can have everything squared up and ready to go before I start printing. This will be my first attempt at 3d printing, so wish me luck. Hopefully my 28 years as a CNC programmer and machinist will help me understand the printing process.

[raivelon]

This video finally made my desicion to go for the Ender 3 KE over any other printer in this category, thank you so much

[justinlee]

Best setup I've seen for this printer. Thanks and well done

[paulmarshall]

Mate that was a fantastic video that would have taken ages to make and clean. Well done and thanks for effort. Very helpful.

[metalfabman]

Wow, I'm sure glad I surf YouTube all the time, just stumbled upon your video on the KE, and was so impressed with your honest review, (I'm still printing on a tricked out Anet A8 from2017, )
and am seriously considering the KE as a real upgrade,
I just subscribed!! keep up your great content and truthful information. Thanks

[Somespecial]

So if your thinking about buying a KE my advice is this.
1. Make sure this is what you want.
2. If you purchased it on Amazon creality will refuse to help with anything warranty wise.
3. Immediately replace the hot end with a micro swiss hot end because only 20 prints in my nozzle went full on Akira and created a blob monster that engulfed the entire print head. It took days to salvage parts and carve the blob out without damaging wires or the pcb board.

KE parts are extremely limited and frustrating to get ahold of. Just be aware of that when buying.

[kensleemoy]

Got this printer as a gift after lightly researching printers and this helped me immediately troubleshoot and get started on my first print! Can’t way to use your mods and this video was so helpful!!! Count me subscribed!

[FEET]

Great video and now my go to video for my KE . I look forward to trying out your mods . I been very Happy with my purchase of the KE and been getting good prints .

[CaseFace]

Great review! picked up a creality refurbished V3 KE for $166 I've only ever used my 5 year old original Ender 3 so I am looking forward to all the new bells and whistles this one has!