Lets Get Linear -3D Printing on Rails!

First there was the Tronxy, a Prusa i3 clone, which was rebuilt more than grandad's axe. Then there was some cheap-assed, no name brand delta printer with a tiny, circular bed that really couldn't take the size of prints I wanted. These two overlapped with my Ender 3 Pro which, quite frankly, wasn't as good print quality as the $150 nameless delta but it sure was reliable... well, except for the stock hotend. Those old hollowbox extruders with the hidden, red, undersized heatsink... ugh. Then there was the Ender 3 Pro II. Same shit extruder and hotend, but, yeah, 32 bit control board. Now we're taking.

The Tronxy and the Delta are now retired due to beyond economical maintenance. You can only throw so much money or effort at a steamer, and the more you print, the more stuff wears out. They were also fire risks, no thermal runaway protection. The E3 Pro II churns out basic engineering prints up at Splodgenoodles' place, but nothing pretty, really, it needs work. and the original E3 Pro? It's been getting an upgrade.

Both Enders are now running an older style E3D V6 hotend mounted in a printed PETG bracket designed for the E3 X-axis trolley. It's a pretty mullet piece of gear, but it quadrupled the reliability and lifespan of hotends over the Creality stock CR-10 style "glue gun." I find myself changing nozzles and throatsevery 3 months instead of once a month. Lately, the newer unit has been given ceramic heater cartridge hotend, a la a clone of a newer Volcano. Twice the price, but easily twice the surface finish quality. Hopefully 6 months between hotend replacements. High flow, high heat, nice work.However, the biggest improvement to date has taken a year to finish - because I'm an easily distracted slacker. No, really, I am.

The printer isn't even tuned yet, and these printed at 100mm/s, looking like 60!

So, my first Ender 3 no longer runs on V-wheels, it runs on linear rails. An E3 can do 300mm/s print speeds at typical stock E3 60mm/s quality? "No!" you exclaim. "Yes it can," I reply like the smug git I am. The 60mm/s quality on rails is still only marginally better, but the timne factor now makes bigger prints in a day a real possibility. One of those new-fangled hotends, like I'm trying at Splodges' place, might make some arty prints possible, not just grubby engineering guts of things.

I sliced a test cube at 100mm/s and thought, hmm, lets push this...

A rails upgrade kit isn't cheap. The 32 bit controller was, though, an SKR Mini E3 V2.0, and the overall cost was about the same as a new Ender 3 S2 with the touchscreen. The value for money, though. Better, faster, hotter prints, especially hotter, means stronger layer adhesion as well as the better finish. And topping it out, the latest Marlin firmware, built in PlatformIO and uploaded via a binary on the SD card. Welcome to the 2020s Stephen. You're only 4 years late. Ugh, tight budgets.

Would seriously like to get my hands on a Sovol SV-08, but my E3 on rails will do for now. Yes, I know, the fans are noisy. You should hear my E3's heatbreak fan!!!