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Ok fellas, I am eager to join the 3d Printing game.

Based on what I have seen/read here, I purchased a new Ender 3 printer, and just assembled it this morning. It powers up and seems to work ok.

I have downloaded Cura 3.6, and I have a bunch of 3d files I have pulled from Thingiverse and other sites.

So what do I do next? Never having used a 3d printer before, this is all new territory for me.

I assume I have to connect my laptop to the printer via the 5-pin mini USB port on the printer? And then?

Does anyone know of a good on-line tutorial or YouTube video to get me up and running?

I am hoping to have mine assembled this week, hopefully will be ready for first print by the weekend so this post comes just in time!

I am sure other Ender owners will chime in.....but I don't know that you need to connect the computer to the printer. Trying to print that way is generally slow because of spooling the print queue.

Make sure you have a big SD card, and load the sliced files (output from Cura) on the card, then plug the card into the printer and print from that.

Go ahead and make some people!

This filament guide, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3052488 (or something similar to it), will be one of the best upgrades you can do. In my opinion, it is a necessity.

Thanks so much, everyone, I appreciate it.

So if I understand correctly, the card holds the data, and once inserted into the Ender3, I then use the Ender3 screen/dial to start the process. Ok, makes sense.

I have a number of spectator/figure files I have collected...so if I wanted to make a run of say 10 different figures at once, rather than printing a single figure out each time, that is something I set up in Cura, and then download to the card, transfer to Ender3, and start the process?

Next, what are the different types of plastics and how do I know what I have? I currently just have the white plastic that came with the unit...I have not bought any other. Any recommendations on what to purchase? If it matters, I plan to mostly print things like figures and scenery items (buildings, 55-gallon drums, etc.)

Lastly, are there specific settings I should have my unit set to? I hear folks talking about scaling items up (or down)...how does one know or calculate what they need?

Thanks guys, I really do appreciate the help.

If you want to print 10 things at once, you can just keep opening the files in Cura and it will add them to the build plate (or multiply the same model in Cura by right clicking when it's highlighted).

The plastic you have is PLA. It is the most common and easiest to use. Stick with that.

Join the Ender 3 facebook groups(s). They are an incredible resource. I went from 1 to 4 printers.... 2 went to daughters.

Another great resource is https://all3dp.com/
They have a ton of articles about the Ender 3, Cura, plastics, etc.

Ok, I think I am getting the hang of things...figured out how to put files on the SD card, get them to the printer, find them, etc.

I have tried several prints, but I am not sure what I am doing wrong.

I have tried to level the bed as best as I can with the paper/corners technique.

Whenever I start printing something, the black bed does not stay in place...it appears the nozzle is getting caught on the print job, and shifting things as it moves around. Also, I am getting blobs of plastic forming on or near the nozzle. I have tried, in Cura, to adjust the layer height from .06 to .1, and still the same issues.

Temperature too high? Or too low? it is at 200 D.

I have burned through all of the supplied filament and have a bunch of stringy blobs of nothing...more filament on the way soon.

Do you have the black bed held on with the small binder clips (I don't see them in your picture)? It has to be held in place or it will skate around when you are trying to print.

Here is a leveling program that will help you get the bed adjusted (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2987803). Getting the bed level is key to making good prints.

Also, printing at 0.2mm thickness is usually sufficient for most prints. The thinner you go, the longer the print takes.

Ok, bed is now clipped down...but it appears I have bad adhesion...the melted plastic does not seem to adhere to the bed...it gets pulled around and eventually is formed into a glob/ball that surrounds the printing nozzle.

I assume this has to be temperature related? I am at 200 degrees for the plastic and 45 degrees for the bed.