The library at my school asked me to show them how to use their 3d printer tomorrow. I have a question as I am only used to Bambu printers.
1: I am fairly certain that it is an Ender 3 v2 SE or KE variant. In the slicer, if you select Ender 3 V2, will the sliced file still work with the printer even if it is one of the SE or KE variants?
Most likely yes, gCode is quite universal. I’m not sure in what state the machine is but don’t go too crazy on the settings.
PLA temperature 200-210
Layer height 0,24mm
3 walls
No crazy speeds (although the standard settings should be ok)
And design models for 3D printing, so not too big (bed leveling/warping/time), but with enough bed surface. No steep overhangs and no supports.
Enders are capable of much more but especially in school environments with little experience, keep it simple. (I would say that even applies if they use X1C’s, but even more for budget printers)
I know you only asked for the first line of advice but I have given a lot of 3D printing courses/classes at schools and I have seen what goes wrong as well.
Other than that if the printer is in good nick and they understand the machine and process it will be a slow but capable machine I believe
Thank you very much for the advice! I honestly didn’t even think of the necessary settings changes from a core XY printer. Also I will definitely take your suggestion to use 0.24mm layer height as these models will probably be handled quite a bit.
There is not much difference between core XY and cartesian printers, only a slight speed increase and ghosting decrease. The Ender has no lineair rails, this is the main loss in tolerance (especially when a bit worn out) and this can make supports harder to remove and tiny layer heights more challenging. (I’m not saying it can’t be done, just don’t start there)
The temperature and layer height settings are mainly to avoid heat creep. Bambu prints at such speeds that the cold-end almost gets cooled by the inrushing filament. I can’t speak for enders specifically but most older machines I have used were more prone to clog and jam at very small layer heights due to the almost stagnant filament flow and thus heat creap combined with little stepper pressure.
Good luck! It’s always a good day if you can get a school/library printing (again).
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If it hasn’t been used in a bit it might be a good idea to manually check the bed level and the belt tensions.