Creality Direct Drive Extruder Kit for Ender-3, Full Assembled Upgrade

I'm into building and flying FPV quadcopters and many of the add-on parts are 3d printed out of TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane). TPU can be difficult to print especially with a bowden tube extruder setup. So I ordered this unit to make printing in TPU easier. This unit was designed for the Ender printers but will work for the CR-10 printers but YOU MUST INSTALL A 12 VOLT HEATING CARTRIDGE IN THE HOT END FOR CR-10!!! This unit is shipped with a 24 volt heater for the Ender printers. This information is not clearly written in any of the literature so hopefully I can save you some head scratching. The install of this unit onto your gantry is easy but the WIRING INTO THE BOARD can be quite tedious especially on the CR-10. The pain in the baltz is worth it however as I was getting very nice TPU prints IMMEDIATELY. Bear in mind that you must change your print settings significantly from PLA to TPU but there are lots of YouTube vids etc for that. All in all this is an incredible setup, especially for around $30 usd.

Moderate level of difficulty, no instructions in the box, found a YouTube video by Lost in Tech that helped a lot! After install the prints were great and I'm no longer worried about clogged feed tubes!

Bought this for my Ender 3 Pro and honestly it works. Print quality got better after swapping the stock extruder and it wasn’t too hard to install. Only issue I keep running into is the brass gear (3rd pic for reference) that grabs and feeds the filament comes loose after a while. When it does, it just spins without actually pulling the filament, and your print gets ruined. To fix it you have to open it up and tighten the little screw holding the gear in place, which is annoying when you’re mid print. Other than that it’s a solid upgrade for the price. Just check that gear every now and then and make sure it’s snug before running a long print. Would still recommend it.

I don't normally do reviews, let alone a video review. Decided I try the dawnblade direct drive on my ender 3 pro since the price was pretty good. It came with all the tools needed, directions are the only thing I don't like about it. Just a picture with a basic schematic. If you pay attention though, installation is easy enough. I did change the ptfe tube to a Capricorn tube since this isn't an all metal hotend. All in all though the print quality is great and the price is below the other higher end direct drive setups. An all metal hotend option would definitely be a plus though. I'll more than likely be adding this to my other printers.

The most "difficult" part of this upgrade was sleeving the wires. lol This upgrade went so smoothly that I was afraid I was forgetting to do something. This considering that I was upgrading a stock original Ender 3 to an Ender 3 V2 by replacing the mainboard and screen. I've been printing flexibles a for long time on a couple of Artillery Sidewinders. I took one of my Sidewinder profiles, changed nothing but the build dimensions, and printed it with this new hotend. Obviously, it'll need some tweaking but other than that, it completed a TPU print on the first try. Really happy with this purchase. My mothballed Ender 3 is now a direct drive V2 and is back in service!

Installed this on my Ender 3 after my original hot end died. For an extra $7 over the cost of a replacement hot end this was a no brainer. Took a few minutes to change the wiring but aside from that it went together pretty quickly. Unit came completely assembled and was easy to install with the aid of a video on youtube.

Comes fully assembled with extension cable and all the hardware you'll need to be up and running in a few minutes. However, I bought this at the same time I bought a Creality Spider all metal hotend and found that the inlet of the hotend and the outlet of the extruder don't align properly. I printed a spacer for the extruder but the bolts that secure the stepper are not long enough to accommodate the spacer. Just something to consider if you're planning on upgrading to a different hotend.

Installed this on a Ender 3 V4.2.2. Worked okay, but the quality can be improved. Out of the box, the thermistor was bad. The extruder needs to be more durable, but the stepper motor did come with the adjustable gear. Got a benchy to print, but kept getting clogs and heat creep. Switched back to a bowden setup after many frustrations. I'll keep this in reserve for flexible filament, but it is not recommended for quality prints with anything else.