howdy first off im very new to 3d printing . i have an ender 3 and ive found it to be pretty easy from the start (provided your not using abs ) i tried abs and it sucks. but with the pla filament i was printing stuff right away . now a month into it im still printing but with even better results from testing different settings ect. fine detail can be obtained with them with finer nozzles .04-.03 .02 ect but a lil longer print times. no smelly crap either. big plus for me is that i can print durable items for other things i need to make ie hinges . knobs. handles ect ect for around my house and shop. i like to use tinker cad and cura for the slicer as thats what many people have advised me to try. so far i love this new hobby. i say try the ender3 and start having fun. p/s ABS sucks ! really it does.
Still love my Ender 3 Pro. Still haven't tried a smaller than stock nozzle. Almost all the train stuff I change the print quality in Cura to 'Super Quality' and that is about it. Haven't had an auto leveling bed and doubt I'd pay more for one. I think the reason you need to level fairly often is the springs don't stay consistent. I ordered after market ones but still haven't put them in. Seems I go more prints now between leveling so maybe the springs have settled in?? I have the printer connected to the computer with a USB cable and like that option a lot better than printing via the SD card. Simpler and quicker so would recommend that. I do leave a SD card in the printer with the leveler program and ... ... using it bed leveling is just a couple minute job. It is more important to get it right if you are printing very small items that don't have much of a footprint. If the first layer isn't well attached and the item has a small footprint and is tall chances are it will come off the bed before the job is done. I've printed hundreds of items (small ones) and the only maintenance is after some hours of printing the tube the filament goes through at the extruder will become clogged and make it hard or impossible for the filament to go through. You will know this when you start hearing a clicking sound as the wheels that push the filament will start to slip on the filament. You remove the tube from the top of the extruder and cut off a couple inches and reinsert it and feed the filament and you are in business again. I can do this now in less than 5 minutes. Other than that I haven't had to do anything else with the printer and I'm sure this would probably happen with any of them. Get a printer, ask questions if you have a problem and start printing. Doubt you will regret it. Lots of items out there you can print (thingiverse.com) and other places. If you want to design download Fusion 360 and start learning. I love it, designing a roundhouse at the moment, Sumner
