Ender 3 / Pro CR-10 Direct Drive - Simple and Robust
Description
This is a simple 2 part design that converts the stock bowden style extruder of Ender 3 or Ender 3 Pro to direct drive extruder. NO ADDITIONAL PART (except for 2 screws) OR DRILLING REQUIRED! You just need the following parts: 1- M3 30mm screw or it can be a little bit longer as well. This screw will replace the fan cover screw. It connects the Direct Drive Carriage to the X carriage. 2- M3 16mm for the extruder connection.This screw will replace one of the 4 screws for the extruder assembly. It also connects the Extruder Spacer to the Direct Drive Carriage. 3- You need to print DirectDriveCarriage.stl and ExtruderSpacer.stl. Extruder spacer does not require any supports. Direct Drive Carriage needs a small support because of the overhang, For other connections I used screws for the top wheels of the X carraige so there is no need to drill any holes. As far as I know this is the simplest conversion for Ender 3 and it takes about 10-15 minutes if you know what you are doing. Assembly recommendations: 1- Disassemble the stock extruder fully. 2- Disassemble the top wheels of the X carriage. 3- Unscrew one bolt of the fan cover (top bolt). 4- Place the spacer from the right wheel of X Carriage inside the Direct Drive Carriage. Note that it is going to be tight, you might want to use a vise (don't use a hammer), be careful not to break the part. 5- Place the Direct Drive Carriage on top of the X carriage, it should click to its position. 6- Assemble the left wheel (looking from front) of the X carriage. Then assemble the right wheel. At this point you might want to adjust the bottom wheel nut so the carriage is not wobbly. 7- Assemble the extruder parts on the Extruder Spacer. Leave one screw empty (right bottom screw that is below the extruder spring). 8- Cut the PTFE tube so that when everything is assembled there is no space between the extruder and the tube. (This is mostly trial and error, I recommend you cut the tube a little bit longer and work your way down. Otherwise, if you cut too short, you may have to replace the PTFE tube which is inconvenient.) 9- Place the Extruder Spacer assembly on top of the Direct Drive Carriage. Adjust PTFE tube length by cutting it with a box cutter. Note that when you tighten the bolts it will most likely push down the extruder a little, so make your adjustments accordingly. 10- Tighten the 2 screws on the Direct Drive Carriage. Tighten them evenly. 11- Enjoy your Direct Drive Ender 3 / Ender 3 Pro / CR-10. Don't forget to change your slicer settings and reduce the retraction to 1mm or lower. For some filaments (mostly PETG) I used 1.4mm as well because of the strings. I also recommend you to increase the machine limits (acceleration, jerk etc) so that you are able to print faster. I use Prusa Slicer with increased limits and I am able to print much faster without issues. I have converted both my Ender 3 and Ender 3 Pro using this design and I have run the printers for more than 100 hours combined. As far as I can recall, I did not have a single issue. I mostly printed face shields as PPE for healthcare workers using PETG. With correct settings the stringing was minimal. I also printed some flexible filament and ran into no issues whatsoever. If you want to make a remix send me a message and I will upload the Fusion 360 files.
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