Somewhere between the Prusa printers with their paired z-axis motors and the cantilever systems with a gantry arm spanning the x- or y-axis with only a single point of support, lies printers like the Creality Ender-3.

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Where a more conventional 3D printer uses rails and linear bearings to drive the axes, these printers forgo the standard model. You won’t find a single linear bearing on the Creality Ender-3 or it’s clones.

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Instead, rubber rollers pass through v-slot grooves in extruded aluminum, removing the need for complex gantry systems. This is an incredibly robust method for cutting costs, but it is not a compromise. Roller and v-slot printers can be just as precise as their rail and bearing counterparts, and the mandated all aluminum construction makes them strong and durable. Creality Ender-3. Photo by Author. For a general-use field-ready 3D printer, you could not do much better than the Creality […]

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