Creality CR-10 V1 - is it worth the effort?

Hi together,

in 2017 I bought the Creality CR10 V1.

The last years i did not have time to use it, but 2 weeks ago I pulled it out of my shelf and started again.

I did some upgrades back in the days:
- updated Board MKS Gen L v1.0
- TMC2208 drivers
- Hotend fan and some self printed updates
- 3D Touch Sensor (BL Touch Clone)
- instead of the glass surface I added a mirror as printbed

Since I started to fix and use it recently I was thinking about some updates.
- new Printbed surface
- update to 24V heat bed (+24V power supply needed)
- using CR touch
- electronics integrated into the printer and not a separate box
- …

To be honest, I was also checking what happened the last years, and basically today the printers have out of the box 24V heat beds, ABL, 32Bit boards,
Since the CR10 was anyway a little to big for me, I asked myself:
Does it really make sense to upgrade the printer and spend my money and my time, or throw it away and directly buy a new one.

This depends on your personalty type

Are you a tinkerer or just a consumer?

What printer(s) are you considering that you can buy right now out of the box and don't require any upgrades?

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Westley Roberts
What printer(s) are you considering that you can buy right now out of the box and don't require any upgrades?

I got the impression, the Creality Ender S1 Pro is out of the box a very good printer. Maybe changing the fans would be necessary.

But anyway, the last weeks I cleaned up all the cables etc. for the CR 10 and screwed the whole electronics into a Box and attached that directly on the Printer. But now a I’m at the point where I have to decide if I would like to spend more money for the CR10 or switch to another Model.

Quote
Dust
This depends on your personalty type

Are you a tinkerer or just a consumer?

Technically I would prefer build things with my printer, instead of building my printer

Quote
gruetzwurschd

Quote
Westley Roberts
What printer(s) are you considering that you can buy right now out of the box and don't require any upgrades?

I got the impression, the Creality Ender S1 Pro is out of the box a very good printer. Maybe changing the fans would be necessary.

But anyway, the last weeks I cleaned up all the cables etc. for the CR 10 and screwed the whole electronics into a Box and attached that directly on the Printer. But now a I’m at the point where I have to decide if I would like to spend more money for the CR10 or switch to another Model.

Not sure if you mean Ender 5 S1 or Ender 3 S1 Pro. Neither of those are ABL (they have auto bed mesh, not auto bed leveling), or have an enclosure, linear rails, so they could still be upgraded a ton. But I see what you mean. For the difference in a magnetic pei flex plate, a CR touch, and a 24V heated bed, you're asking if it's really worth it.

Why do you want a 24V heated bed? Is it to get to higher temps to print ABS? But then do you have an enclosure? Or is it just convenience, heats up faster?

I just bought my first 3d printer. A CR10 v3, I bought it used, haven't got it running yet, but I don't have any regrets. It came with all kinds of upgrades and a tent. But I do plan to make a better one. I'm thinking something based on a RatRig Vcore or a Voron, fully enclosed. But now it's handy because I have a printer to make the parts with, and learn about printing before I commit to a big project.

I had a look at the Elegoo Neptune series, I almost bought an Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro. It was on kijiji for $220 basically brand new with 4 rolls of filament. But I decided I wanted a minimum build volume of 300x300x300 to be able to print cosplay helmets in one go. I think the Neptune 4 comes with some version of klipper stock out of the box. Maybe worth having a look at if you go this route. It has great reviews but honestly, I don't really know how many YouTubers are paid shills vs honest reviewers. In my research into some printers I totally lost respect for some of them when I realized some of the glaring and obvious flaws that some printers have and yet the expert reviewer didn't seem to notice. So would you really be getting a printer that doesn't need more upgrades? I don't know, I just don't.

But if you'd prefer a printer that's a bit smaller and you can find a good deal locally on an Elegoo Nepture 3 Pro, or 4 Pro, or Ender 3 S1 Pro or Ender 5 S1, then after you sell your CR-10 the difference in price might be less than it would cost to do the upgrades. So yeah, maybe worth it for you.

I'd personally avoid things like the bamboo labs. I wouldn't touch that thing with a 10 foot pole. I'm preemptively showing my disdain before someone brings it up.