Update: These printers COULD work very well with the right update and EXTENSIVE knowledge of hardware and firmware. Here's a comprehensive list of all the issues and symptoms I've encountered trying to get the two devices I bought to work. If you encounter these problems, please contact customer service. They responded quickly and refunded me for the parts I needed. 1: The wheels are so tight from the factory that they have flat areas and stick in curves. Set the correct tension on the wheels (lots of videos on this) and within hours of typing this is gone. 2: The Z-carriage is very loose / won't tighten properly / binds in some places. As a result, the first layer either cannot be peeled off or the prints become very, very dirty. I diagnosed this by watching one side of the Z-car catch up with the other and fall behind them. I fixed it by messing with the wheel tension. My Z carriage wobbles but moves smoothly. Not very good, but works well. 3: Variable homing height. This was caused by an intermittent actuation of the Z-axis limit switch, which rendered the printer inoperable as the first layer had a different height each time it was attempted to print. I fixed this by upgrading to a BL-Touch that had the Z-axis limit switch removed entirely. This upgrade costs $50. Another solution could be to replace the limit switch module with another one. Remember that the BL Touch firmware that comes with creality. Buggy. Especially if you plan to use an octoprint. I highly recommend building your own. 4: The stepper motor driver on the motherboard randomly dies after about 10 hours of use. I guess I was just unlucky there. Many Creality motherboards have passed through my shop and never had a problem with them. I don't know exactly what caused this, but I diagnosed it by measuring the current limit potentiometer for the driver and found that it was basically at 0V when everyone else was at around 1V. I'm not sure why that was, but I tuned the pot and didn't do anything. I started to work indiscriminately, but soon broke down again. In the end I swapped the mainboard. After all that I now have 2 pretty good quality printers. I don't recommend getting started with these printers at all. They are much more difficult to get working and to configure properly. It can be extremely frustrating to get it right, even with a LOT of experience like mine. For a first printer I would start with something smaller.
Flashforge Adventurer 3D Printer with Detachable Precision Leveling System
6 Review
π΅ IFUN 3D Rapid Resin - Low Odor Photopolymer Resin for 405nm LCD 3D Printer - Fast Curing, Standard Rigid Formula - Sky Blue, 500g
5 Review
π¨οΈ FLASHFORGE Adventurer: Enhanced 3D Printer with Removable Extruders and Monitoring Features
4 Review
High-Precision And Stable Creality Ender 3 V2 3D Printer With New UI, Silent Mainboard, Effortless Filament Feed-In, XY-Axis Tensioner, Resume Printing, And Large Build Volume Of 220Γ220Γ250Mm
11 Review