Regular printers are very useful and chances are you have one at home as well but a 3D printer is a different machine that can offer much more capabilities to realize your digital design. There are plenty of options nowadays such as the affordable Creality Ender 3 Pro Vs Ender 3. 3D printers in this price range may not be the best but can be your ideal option to start with so do check which of them will be the better option here.
In this article, we are going to give you information about
- What are 3D Printing and FDM Printer
- What are Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3
- What Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3 Look Like
- How are the Hot Bed of Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3
- How are the Stability of Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3
- How are the Firmware of Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3
- How are the Performance of Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3
- Creality Ender 3 Pro Vs Ender 3
3D Printing and FDM Printer
Technology has come in such a long way from the first computer was invented to how now we are carrying small computers everywhere. They are incorporated into our life that many of our day to day lives are closely affected by their convenience. Printer is one of the most prominent pieces of equipment we usually pair with a computer to turn a digital document into physical words on papers that we can alter its quality. It is indeed convenient and has helped our academic as well as documenting process to become faster and effective.
If most people are familiar with a regular printer then what about a 3D printer? We are sure many people have heard them despite not being really well-informed of what they can do and as the name suggests, they are making 3D objects instead of 2D paper printing. Essentially the idea is the same in which a digital file will be turned into an actual object but now we are not using paper and ink but other materials suitable to build these objects.
The word “printing” itself is not completely perfect to describe the process because paper printing works in a row at a time while your 3D printer will move in a similar way to plotters or moving a print head along both the X and Y axis to draw the pattern. Depending on which technology being used, the material may vary as well but the most common one is FDM or Fused Deposition Modeling. This technology is what you may find being used by enthusiasts or users who print prototypes a lot.
This type of printer also moves in both X and Y axis through an extrusion nozzle that dispenses thermoplastic material which has been melted till a preset degree to create your object layer by layer. After your design is done, for example a cubic block made of plastic will show a texture that is visible enough to tell that the layer is made as a horizontal cross section. After one layer is done, their nozzle will lower again to put the next layer of plastic and once your object has been printed, any supports are usually easy to remove.
The reason why FDM is very popular is because this technology is easy to handle and simplifies your creation process compared to SLA that uses liquid material. They are also cost efficient because the materials are very cheap but, chances are the more expensive they are, the better the printing quality will be. In addition, FDM filament is ranging widely not only in price but also material so in general they are versatile to meet the type of application you will be using them in.
| Creality Ender 3 Pro | Ender 3 | |
|---|---|---|
  |   |
|
| Product Dimensions | 20.94 x 15.04 x 7.91 inches | 8.7 x 8.7 x 9.8 inches |
| Shipping Weight | 18.96 Pounds | 17.64 Pounds |
| Best offer | Check price | Check price |
About Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3
If you are here then it means FDM 3D printing is ideal for your application and for this machine, you can find plenty of them out there, hundreds of different models and form different manufacturers as well. Chances are you may already be familiar with a handful of them because while the market is getting crowded, they are still far less diverse than regular paper printers. Personally we prefer to go with popular names just because they are often more reliable compared to less known brands.
When talking about 3D printers, few names come to mind and one of them is Creality. This brand is very popular and we are sure you have heard of them as well while browsing and looking for the printer but this is a great choice to start and even many enthusiasts are loving their printers because they are working really well while keeping the budget quite low. They also have various models to offer based on what you want from the unit.
They carry few best-selling printers that are known to be impressive but the way they upgrade their initial machine based on users feedback is what makes the newer models come even better such as the widely loved Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3. These are the FDM printers of everyone since anywhere you go, it seems that people are talking about how good these two are yet, being close brothers don’t make these machines equal so you may like the more expensive model or vice versa.
The Ender 3 Pro is $30 more expensive than the original model and talking about the original Ender 3, this machine also has a newer improvement called Ender 3 V2 which we have been talked about in Creality Ender 3 Vs V2 . It seems that the Pro is a better option and Creality did put some improvement here yet, whether it is worth the extra cost, let’s find more below.
Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3 Design
Let’s start from the external quality first and as you can see on the sample picture above, both of them are identical. Both of them are using this same mechanism of two main pillars to hold the extruder head and moving it on their axis. These are all made from metals so there is no flimsy plastic here and in comparison to Ender 3 V2, it also looks very similar. In a glance there is nothing prominently shifted in Ender 3 Pro so this can be quite confusing.
But when you pay attention to them, the huge difference between the two is how Creality placed the new power supply as now the Pro version is using a different power supply. In performance they are not different but now this power box is named brand so it might be better in quality. Another difference is their control box cover and the position of their mother board. Now the Pro moved the fan to the back so we don’t need to worry about any filament clogging the fan anymore.
Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3 Hot Bed
Now let’s move further to see what has been improved in the Ender Pro and this is their hot bed. If you have the original model, we all know that the hot bed is non-removable and this is fine as you can print just as good but, it is probably less convenient and this is why the Pro version is using magnetic bed plate which also cause drawback as we can only heat it up to 70-80 degree Celsius to maintain its magnetism.
Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3 Stability
The next difference is in stability and this is probably crucial if your older Ender 3 bed plate seems to be less reliable. In the new Pro version, the aluminum extrusion located below the bedplate is 40 by 40 millimeters just like what you see in CR 10 series. On the other hand, your older Ender 3 is using the same 40 but, by 20 millimeters extruder hence, in comparison the Pro version has a wider surface to balance which turns into better stability as well.
Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3 Firmware
Another important difference is for the firmware and you can notice it when checking the monitor. Coming with the new firmware, your Ender 3 Pro will also come with some useful features that may improve your printing experience. This new function is controlling motion including Z offset, Acceleration, Jerk, Velocity, Travel, and the steps for each stepper motor thus, we can tune the printer better to suit your preference. However, the display and its control method stay the same which is through a rotating knob that can be pressed.
Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3 Performance
The last part we want to talk about is their printing quality and in this part, since both Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3 are coming with the same component and the same specification including the 220mmx220mmx250 build capacity, the printing result of these machines are the same as well. When tested, the result comes out the same including the amount of details and quality. Side by side our eyes can’t distinguish the difference between them.
If you have the original Ender 3, do expect that the Pro version will also work in the same way and create the same result. Overall they are amazing for the price and work very well too but the upgrade doesn’t show directly in your printed products, at least from what we can see.
Creality Ender 3 Pro vs Ender 3
Both of these machines are great options in the price range. Looking for cheap but working products is a challenge but Creality is making sure your machine works without any issue and this is what we look for in Creality Ender 3 Pro and Ender 3. The differences are not substantial since you can do them at home or by buying third party components while print quality is exactly the same in both machines.
Conclusion
All in all it is wise to consider what you want to do with the machine since in our opinion, the original Ender 3 is a better option between the two, not because of what it comes with but the fact that we can use the cost gap to upgrade it as we want.