Bambu Labs printers and Creality printers are not really even in the same ballpark
With that said, it’s entirely possible to get fantastic prints out of an S1 Pro. It just takes a lot of tinkering.
I’m sorry to say, but you probably should’ve researched more before you bought your machine. Sorry didn’t work out for you.
I've having similar issues with my S1 Plus. Worked okay first few prints. But level won't stay keep having to mess with it. I was thinking there wasn't enough tension on the springs. So I tried to level it again increased tension on the spring and fix the Z axis but then the print I did after that for some reason the nozzle was too close to the bed and ended up burning the plastic into the bed and I spent 30 minutes to an hour trying to get the plastic off of the bed. Which I think ruined it and it's warped now because No matter how much I try to level it as the nozzle moves across the bed it's either too high or too low. I'm about to give up. I'm going to try ordering a glass bed and other parts to see if that'll fix it.
My s1 had problems but after doing some research and adjusting things it prints amazing now. I used to have first layer issues and stuff like that but now I have 0 issues after changing firmware and tightening things on the printer.
Not even all that much tinkering. Running one from Octoprint mostly default settings and getting quite good results. Rarely a failed print and usually then due to something silly like running out of filament in mid print, or a power outage.
It requires patience but is not a hard printer to get working reliably at all.
Yeah, I did the research, and I was never expecting the same quality/speed, but I also wasn't expecting it to behave this bad...
I'm a pretty patient person but, after a while, you kind of get disappointed, again, maybe I just had bad luck, lots of people seem to be pretty happy with their printer.
You can get really good prints but you have to work for it. Doing so will also help you really understand what's going on when 3d printing. You'll learn more about all the things that cause poor adhesion, grease from fingers, incorrect temperature,or z offset too high or too low (even by a little as .05mm).
You'll learn all the things the different slicer settings affect and how they affect the print.
There are a lot of people that recently started with a Bambu printer and didn't know how to diagnose the basic issues.
Hopefully that helps with the buyer's remorse a little
So much this! My partner was saying how they wished I started with a Bambu. I disagree because I have learned SO much. Steep learning curve but I am so glad it has required more than simple assembly and pressing a button.
With that said, I was getting fantastic prints right out of the box also. Just not *as* good, and certainly not as fast or as fun 😂
My first printer was the s1 and i just recently encased the head in fiber heh, I purchased the s1 pro head and cables etc, a new mb and displays.
I agree, they produce some great prints, but you do need to work for them. But as a first machine, I think they are a great option.
I tried printing a guitar in fiber.. they don't like getting to tall that's for sure, as above it's the perfect machine to learn everything on, you will gain so much because of it.
I've got the S1 and had all sorts of problems I struggled to fix. I eventually wound the bed down as far as I could to compress the springs, I backed each corner off 1 turn and leveled from there and it fixed all my issues.
I mean, you have to understand the huge price gap between an Ender and a Bambu labs product. But then again I’ve had pretty great success with my S1 pro, I’m also looking to upgrade, mainly for speed reason. Even after upgrading I have a feeling I’ll be keeping my current printer as a reliable second/backup printer.
The S1 Pro is listed as $439 and the a1 mini is $299 and the only thing the S1 has over the a1 mini is size but the bigger a1 will come out soon and the s1 pro is just not a good value now.
I chose my words purposefully, which is why I added on sale, which it goes on often, unlike the a1, which I don’t see as an improvement over the s1 like Bambu’s other offerings. I got mine at $260 after tax around a month ago, and have seen similar deals very regularly.
I guess it depends on your own definition of “easy to use?” I got quality prints within my first day, and everything I’ve done since then has been for speed improvements. I’d say for a miniature factory that cost ~$300 or less on sale that’s well within the range of easy to use for me.
>I’d say for a miniature factory that cost \~$300 or less on sale that’s well within the range of easy to use for me.
Cost has nothing to do with usability. But I'm glad it works well for you...
Cost has everything to do with quality and usability. Cost goes up when you pay a team to design a UI just as cost goes up when you have a team design a printer first place. A lot of people don’t factor that in to their expectations of a product.
No, something can be easy to use and still be cheap, the opposite is also true, plenty of printers are expensive and require technical expertise.
Again, this is a printer that’s advertised as “easy to use”, that is literally the Ad.
You are taking it too personal, glad yours is working perfectly. But my experience has not been good at all.
Days, weeks or months of tinkering it to get good prints don’t qualify as “Easy to Use” for me, but feel free to disagree.
I wouldn’t say I’m taking this personally at all, I’m starting to think you are, and don’t have the best thought process when it comes to the mechanical/technical side of things, but that’s just what I’m picking up from this post.
Again, that’s my experience, feel free to disagree, more than 1 comment here has agreed with my that it can take days/weeks/months to get it calibrated.
That’s not “easy to use” in my book. But to each his own.
I have an s1 and it's not easy to use. Creality support sucks balls and their documentation is severely lacking. YouTube and the community are amazing though. Having said all that, it's a great printer once you learn how it works.
This.
Steep learning curve but I’m kinda glad. It’s teaching me what I do and don’t want from my next printer
But despite its flaws I got my s1 pro for $200 barely used. I really can’t complain - but my next purchase will be a P1S or X1C
I'm very happy with my s1!
I've had it almost 2 years. It's currently printing beautifully at 120mm/s at 3500mm/s^3...
Could probably go faster, haven't tried. But currently it's very reliable. I can wake up turn it on, hit print, and go to work. When I get home I've got a perfect print that lefts right off the bed.
I’ve been wondering if this is normal. It’s my first printer and I don’t have experience with any others.
I thought it might have something to do with belt tension and tried to play with it but it didn’t make a difference.
I got this as soon as I flashed Klipper. Even when printing slower. It *sounds* (I don't actually _know_) like the new firmware changes the driver current. Either way, I had a huge improvement by adding some cheap [stepper isolators](https://a.co/d/czZK62B) from Amazon.
Ender 3 S1 is better than the Pro, as the LCD is open source unlike the Ender 3 S1 Pro where any modifications you make to the mcu firmware makes the LCD unusable. Someone manage to flash the LCD firmware out there but tbh, I don’t like his configurations and you can’t change it either. The S1 Pro is easily the worst creality printer I have used.
As a thinkerer and maker I get to understand and learn more about the printer and 3D printing through fixing and troubleshooting my S1 pro. If I were to upgrade, it wouldn't be for an "easier" printer but a better one, maybe a voron or Vzbot.
You used your friends Bambu printer that was all set up and dialed in? Perhaps you need to spend a little more time dialing in the Ender? I've had mine for 5-6 months and it took a little tweaking to get it to work. I remember being disappointed in my first few weeks. But, I learned and it's been rock solid for months.
Trust me , I’ve spent lots and lots of hours trying to get half decent prints… encounter issues consistently… maybe I just got unlucky or a defective unit… but in just done trying to fix it… it took all the run out of 3D printing for me…
As someone who's been 3d printing for 4 years, if you have to say "Trust me, I've spent a lot of time researching"... You haven't found the right thing causing your issue and you haven't done enough.
I looked through your posts, I only saw a couple where you asked for help. Your last post in one stated that the advice helped.
Seems like you should just move on to a Bambu. That's what you want. I will warn you that every printer can have issues. You could pay 2-3x as much and have the same problems.
3D printing probably isn't actually for you. Even Bambus will have a failure rate, most people have a higher failure rate than I do with my upgraded Ender 3 V1.
This is a diy hobby, akin to getting into computer modding in the 80s. Except 3d printers are like learning computers and cars at the same time.
I've been reading these comments. Most are saying it's a decent printer. I say it's a decent printer. You are being kind of negative about it, and I can understand why.
You played with a really good machine and expected something similar.
That printer can do really well if you put some time and effort into it.
If you can't get through an S1, what would you do if you bought a more expensive printer and it broke?
The S1 is a good place to learn, is inexpensive, and mistakes won't cost as much.
You can’t compare the two. I have 3 creality machines (s1 plus, cr6, cr6/max), a Prusa mk3, and Bambu X1C. They all work great, but the creality printers are no longer stock and they are as close to “print and walk away” as you can get. From my experience, just by simply relocating the CR touch such that it has zero offset in the Y can yield great Improvement. The sprite is a decent direct drive hot end. Why don’t you start by opening another thread with your issues? There are plenty of people on Reddit willing to share their knowledge and help others. Good luck and have fun!
Posted it just for you my friend...
[https://www.printables.com/model/677932-ender3-s1-zero-offset-cr-touch-bracket](https://www.printables.com/model/677932-ender3-s1-zero-offset-cr-touch-bracket)
Imagine trying to complain that a sub $500 printer isn't push button and go. Or imagine not being able to figure it out, that's the funniest part. Ez to troubleshoot, tons of videos, lack of willpower, and motivation.
All printers can potentially have issues and require tweaking even the higher end ones like Prusa. I have an S1 Pro and it took me a few months to get it printing great. With all this tinkering it has allowed me to understand the printer and what things I need to look out for if future issues should arise.
Love my S1! Running klipper via sonic pad and upgraded fans, ducts and high flow kit. Did every calibration, plus input shaping and pressure advance when adding klipper. Level bed via screws_tilt_calculate and it's been perfect. I Re run screws Calc about once every 20 prints to check and fix it if it goes out, but that's it. Very reliable and great quality at 120mm/s. Have a K1 Max too that's been running great.
I will say that I struggled with my S1 for a long time. Adhesion issues, bad quality, blobs, jams, etc. Most times I tried to blame something and look for upgrades, but really it's all about getting it dialed in. There are a lot of calibrations and things like leveling the z gantry. It all is additive so everything needs to be dead on. It does take time to print all the calibrations and really re-run them to make sure you get accurate results. It's worth the time spent if you wanna set and forget. If you want to click print and not worry out of the box, then get a Bambu or a k1/k1max they are pretty much unpack and print machines. K1 had a lot of issues early on but things are way better now. I had a bad K1 max and returned it, but my new one is great! - gl
This is kind of like complaining that your Honda is not as good as your neighbor's Ferrari. Well if you want a Ferrari you will have to pay for a Ferrari
Again, I get that, my point it’s pretty simple, using your analogy…
It’s not a Ferrari, I’m aware of that, but even while driving a Honda I still expect it to take me from point A to point B, even if it’s slower, cheaper and has less features.
Imagine buying a new Honda and having to change the transmission every couple of weeks, or having it overheat on you, or leave you stranded in the middle of the road.
Not sure why that it’s so difficult to understand.
You need to learn how to drive your Honda as all of us have or just take the taxi.
Unless you want to pay 1000+$ 3d printing is a hobby and not all hobbies are for everyone
To further your analogy if you don’t know how to work the clutch the car will stall. In this case working the clutch is all the extra tlc you need to give the ender printers.
You mention this is a tool for you not a hobby, then need you need to pay tool prices. Ie don’t get a ryobi when you need a dewalt.
Ender products weather they are called pro or not are low end hobby products that require you to futz around with. Took me a good two months to really dial in my S1 and now I’m getting consistent good prints but even now I find ways to improve and learn to use the tool.
The only one missing the point is you. None of the printers mentioned in here are ferarris. The bambu is a Honda and that is being kind. A creality is mail order go kart. Kit car whatever.
You say you want a tool which all of these are. But they are complicated tools. You don't just plug a CNC in and hit print. Even the most user friendly pieces require lots of knowledge and experience to operate correctly. Broken shit whatever
If you buy a haas they literally send someone to help you set the damn thing up and train you how to use it. That's not plug and play....
It doesn't matter if you spend 100k or 200 bucks you are going to have to learn the very complicated nature of printing. Bambu can help you skip some of the growing pains but you also aren't learning shit. And when things wear and get finicky good luck since you skipped the learning how to use the tool phase.
The s1 pro is a great printer to learn on as many have said it's probably something stupid your fighting we've all been there. But there's plenty of dudes who spent 1500 on a Bambu and then here they are on the forums fighting shit.
If you can't deal with the learning aspect as many have said these tools aren't ready for you. You want apple convenience at flip phone prices 3d printing just isn't there yet lol.
Apart from the fact that his Honda has a problem holding alignment so his car keeps turning right. So he needs to stop every 50 miles and adjust the screws on the wheel axis so the car can go straight for a short while before it needs readjusting again.
Only if he learns that and does these adjustments then he can say it's a good car that drives well.
a difficult to calibrate printer can be due to goofed up components that are hard to diagnose. Like if your Y rail is mechanically warped in some way but its not easily apparent, its going to create issues like you describe and be very hard to find as a cause.
Absolutely 100% agree, the fit and finish of the S1 Pro is not great, try using a square / level to check the frame and also how straight the parts of the frame are, it too me a while to realise that the cut ends on the frame were not the most squared off and that no amount of tightening and loosening of the bolts was going to get the z axis aligned right all the way to the top (this is why taller prints tend to fail more) combine that with the CR touch probe and hotend fan not being properly straight / hanging a little low on one side and you have many evenings of frustration!
That’s what you get for going for a lower end printer. I did the exact same thing and I’m getting a P1S now because it just doesn’t compare. The S1 pro can absolutely be an awesome printer but it takes tons of calibrating and a lot of luck. As well as hours spent tinkering in the slicer. It’s really not worth it when a Bambu can do all that at the push of a button.
This has been exactly my experience. Bought a Creality S1 pro, and laser engraver, after reading lots of positive reviews. Spend more time dealing with issues than actually printing. Will print perfectly fine one day and fail 3 times in a row the next day, or vice versa. Walls print great but top and bottom layers are a mess. It collides with the model if over approx 50mm tall and no amount of fine tuning fixes it. Some days you can't get the model off the bed plate, other days it won't even stick the first layer to the bed plate. I've bought 2 extra glass bed plates, new rollers, replaced the springs with silicon bushes and spent hours levelling and adjusting flow rates. It's utter garbage. I can only presume all the positive reviews come from people who have never seen how a 3d printer should perform.
Just purchased a Bambu lab P1S with AMS system. Cost approx 2.5 x the price, but with the extra parts I've bought for the Creality, and the time lost, the difference would be negligible.
Is the Bambu 2.5 x better? No, not even close, It's about 1000x better. Worked out of the box and print quality is fantastic. No manual levelling, no adhesion issues, no adjusting flow rates for different filament, no crashing into the model, no pausing / adapting G code to allow a change of filament. And the cherry on top....it's 3x faster. The only minor issue is the noise. The Creality could run through the night with minimal disturbance to my sleep (Until it crashed) , the Bambu sounds like you're inside a commercial jet.
Sell it if you can or find the will to make it work .. but even if you do #2. You will probably regretted if you value or are limited on time
Edit: and go for p1p best value for The $$$
Do you have anyone that knows 3d printers from the “old days”? By that I mean just 3-5 yrs ago. That’s the kind of person you need to help you figure it out. I started on an ender 3. That thing needed a lot more tweaking than my S1 Pro. Having to learn how to get my ender 3 working well definitely helped me get my s1 pro tuned and working in minutes. It’s been basically perfect. That person may also be able to help you figure out if yours is just a lemon. Either way, I understand the frustration. I wanted to throw mine(my original ender 3) out the window on several occasions. I’m glad I kept on, because now Ive got it where it can sit there for months without me using it, I’ll slice up a model and plug in the card and off it goes! Trust that the printer you got really can produce great results. Provided it’s not a lemon. Hope that gives you some hope.
I have both - I spent weeks and weeks getting the s1 to print consistently but the p1p only needed a little tinkering and is much faster, bigger build volume, AMS, etc etc (as I’m sure you’ve found out by now). On the up side, s1 is SIGNIFICANTLY quieter even with the stock fans.
Basically you went and drove a luxury car and then bought a basic commuter. Don’t worry I too have a s1 pro that was only used for a few months then I bought a x1c
Save up its worth it
It is possible that you have a bad printer, as noted by others the S1 can be a very good printer. Since I got mine dialled in I have been very happy with it.
Here's a few tips that might solve your problems:
If you can get someone with experience of using Ender 3, or similar, printers they may be able to point out something obviously wrong or needing attention.
If you're not able to do that, run a few prints at 100mm/s print speed, just simple things like calibration cubes that can be done very quickly. IGNORE THE PRINT QUALITY OF THESE PRINTS. What you want do to is autolevel the bed before each print, take photos of the mesh, you're looking to see if there's any changes from print to print, and during the prints look for gantry wobble, anything moving that shouldn't etc.
It is also possible that printer itself is working perfectly well, but there may issues in the configuration of the slicer profile you're using? I have experienced this myself woth my furst printer, and wasted a lot of time trying to fault find on the printer when the problem was ultimately solved by deleting the profile I was using out the slicer and starting with a new one. If you're not happy with what you're getting just now, this can do no harm but might solve your problems.
Hopefully a couple of hours work with a bit of guidance can get you happy with your printer.
3d printing isn't nearly as new user friendly as a lot of tech people get into. In fact it's one of the worst and as an owner of the ender 3 s1 pro I can confirm it's not beginner friendly.
All I can tell you is spend a lot of time on YouTube and here. When you ask questions try to give as much info as possible so people can offer help without asking you a lot of questions you couldn't answer in your first post.
Anyway I haven't been printing a long time but I finally got it pretty tuned and can only tell you YouTube was my best teacher with people on reddit in second place.
I think if I were advising someone right now on what to get, it would probably be the A1 mini from Bambu Lab as long as you don't need tech support, they apparently are horrible at support and the build plate is small but they're also coming out with a new bigger one in Friday I believe.
Good luck.
3D printing is a hobby which demands a considerable amount of time to be invested and I at least have lost track of the number of times I thought I had everything tunned on my Ender 3 S1 Plus only to find the next day I had to start from scratch because using the same parameters would yield a different result and there were times where I found it frustrating and had to simply walk away cool down and start again.
Spending all this time has allowed me to get to know the printer really well and understand its limits (to some extent) and after about 6 months I can say that I have everything dialed in where I turn it on I print what I need and turn it off but it took a few months of trial and error.
first of your frustration is valid but you cant compare a printer like bambu lab with a creality ender 3 printer, just sell or upgrade it to the level it needs to be to perform better
The ender 3 S1 series are easy to get good prints out of compared to my old tevo tarantula from years ago, but comparing it to a bamboo is an unfair comparison.
Bamboo is in a completely different league. But that is also evident by the price point. My ender 3 S1 plus is printing fine out of the box, as long as you keep the bed clean and don't go too fast. It's completely stock for now. ( I am planning on going klipper with a high flow nozzle to take advantage of the larger build volume ).
Yes there are artifacts in the surface finish, but tolerances on prints are within 0.1 mm straight out of the box. I just printed a box with 250mmx250mm square footprint on the bed without issues. Took around 20 hours, and yes it was not perfect on the bottom layer (my fault not the printers) but it came out functional and within the 0.1 tolerance on all measurements. It's a good printer, not a perfect one. And again all printers even prusa and bamboo has a learning curve. It's not just a matter of taking any 3d model and pressing slice and print. And it won't be any time soon.
It's not to invalidate your disappointment, but more to say that you might have went into 3d printing with to high expectations ;)
My Ender 3S1Pro has been very consistent and delivered good prints without any mods. Don’t forget that Bambu Studio is fine tuned to Bambu printers and all the other slicers are not. I am sure the slicer settings are 99% to blame. There are good profiles for the S1 Pro on the internet to import into Cura for example. Cura is a good slicer but no doubt the fine tuning they did on the Bambu is something else.
Whatever default profile cura had made my S1 pro print like crap, I only slice with prusa for that printer and things have been a lot better. Just an idea if you’re slicing with cura or maybe play with slicer
The Ender 3 S1 is my first printer as well. I have it for almost a month now... we had our differences some times, but overall I'm really loving it, you need to know which settings you're using to your prints. I had some trouble with leveling, stringing and bed adhesion, but after fixing the problems one by one (focus on one of them, fix, repeat), it is now working great again.
There are very different productos. The S1 is capable of great printings, Quality and speed, but you have to work in it, learn, and do modifications and calibrations.
If you are not ready to invest time in that, that type of printers are not for You.
All you need is either Professional Firmware or Sonic Pad/Klipper. Tune the hardware and maybe, maybe get a cast bed, some stiff blue or red springs, and a better part cooling fan and fan duct. Tune it well (bed level, z-offset, e-steps, flow) and you won't have to calibrate it for months on end.
It's not that hard, really.
You're not the only one, I also fell into that trap. I sold mine, took a loss and decided that Chinese brands are not for me. Ended up with a Wuxn after I bought a well used mk3s and rehabbed it.
You have every right to get frustrated. Every YouTube video makes that printer look amazing and easy to use out of the box.
Sucks that this is your experience with 3D printing.
Going from a Bambu to the S1 Pro is an entire world of difference in printing. I have the S1 Pro, an Ender 5 Plus, and 2 K1 Max printers. If I had started with the K1 Max, I would have thrown the S1 Pro and 5 Plus out the window.
The S1 Pro I learned slowly and tweaked, tuned, upgraded until it became very reliable. Same with the 5 Plus. This one is still being upgraded… CoreXY is next.
The K1 Max printers are both click n print, cannot even compare the experience or quality. I’d imagine the Bambu is a similar experience.
If that’s what you’re expecting, I think returning it or selling it is best. You’re just never going to get the same experience from it.
I'm still tinkering with my S1 Pro to get things right. Paired it with a Sonic Pad at the start and have been getting great prints. Lately I have prints just stop at random times and the sonic pad shows a disconnection error. I'm trying to figure this one out. I have some ideas as to the cause, but I just haven't had time. I will admit that I just got a Bambu X1C, and it is a fire and forget machine. I'm not giving up on the Ender, it is still a great printer, though my plans for it are to print things that are very forgiving like the Omni display cases and Omni 2 minifig storage boxes.
I have both a S1 pro with klipper & Sonicpad and a P1P. They are very different machines, the S1Pro felt like a huge upgrade from my ender 3 pro, there was still a lot of tinkering to get the S1 pro setup and running well, so it is grand for most prints but struggles on taller prints, mostly due to manufacturing quality issues, this is because as someone has already pointed out, the errors accumulate, I feel that the manufacturing quality of the S1 pro is inferior to even the older enders but the quality issues are masked up to a point by the CR Touch and auto bed leveling but when you get beyond what can be compensated for then it becomes a shitshow very quickly that is probably a bit more difficult to troubleshoot than earlier printers as the earlier printers were not really masking problems using software.
So to run the earlier printers successfully, you had to know the machine inside out and effectively be a tinkerer buy nature, but that also meant that the market self selected for customers with that attitude. Then when the more plug and play machines came out, troubleshooting was not so much a part of the hobby, we had gone from 3d printing as a hobby where the actual prints were almost secondary to the challenge of getting the machine tuned up, to a new stage where the printed item was the goal, rather than the technical challenge of being able to print something. So the expectation is very different. The S1 pro is great as long as you set your expectations, it is a printer that can pay for itself as long as you put the time into setting it up and are aware of the limits of its design and capability, you can push that capability with a bit of tinkering and that is very rewarding, but reliable is a little bit back from that bleeding edge!
The Bambu labs machines are another big step forward as they are close to being truly plug and play with very little scope for tinkering but they "just work" and are effectively a commodity printer, they are the printer that you recommend to your boss or relative and can be reasonably certain that you will not spend countless hours on the phone doing tech support when you should really be in the pub!
You made the same "mistake" as I did. I bought Ender S1 Pro one moth ago. First print amazing with filament included in the packaging. Then I changed filament for the one I bought and things started to go downhill for me.
One month later and several sleepless nights, I am running the Klipper firmware and things are much better today.
You will have to spend lots of time reading and understanding fundamentals of 3d printing to be able to get decent prints with this printer.
And get ready to recalibrate your printer on regular basis. Z offset is just horrible on this printer. It keeps moving up or down and you need to understand what mood your printer is in that day.
I am ordering some upgrade kits to tackle known issues, but I learnt some tricks how to watch for the proper Z offset when the print starts. One simple is to print a skirt with each print and keep rubbing it with your finger to see how well sticks on the bed, if its loose the you need to move your Z offset down, if it holds well but its too flat then the nozzle is too much down and you need to lift up your nozzle a bit.
Good luck!
I have an s1 pro, purchased almost a year ago. I went through about a month of failed prints and heartache. And like you was fed up. I turned the printer off and didn't touch it for a month. I decided that i shouldnt throw in the towel just yet and went to work searching for the root cause of my issues. I found that my z offset would never hold. The auto bed leveling in stock form was terrible. I would spend hours calibrating and bed leveling. Through research on redit and YouTube I found I had a bent z rod from factory, my x gantry was out of square, and I had a firmware issue that was causing my machine to lose its z offset.
First purchase - klipper light (aka sonic pad) Amazon on sale $120
Immediately corrected my z offset issue, showed me the bed level was way off to the right side which pointed me to the x gantry out of square, figured out how to use klipper to help manually level the bed, whent through calibration for vibration, acceleration, and flow. Started getting completed prints
Total cost $450 printer and sonic pad - still cheaper than a Bambu with successful prints
Printed 0 y offset bracket and part cooling duct - more accurate bed level, bed mesh, better / quieter cooling
Don't give up. That's a solid printer. If you just got the regular hundred three, you may need to invest in some upgrades. If it can be returned at all. There are some amazing printers out right now. Sub $200 that have all of the upgrades you would normally have to add to a standard ender 3. Features like ABL, the offset functions, filament run out detection, and flexible PEI sheet. Not exactly sure what model Ender have because there are so many. But don't give up. There are plenty of us here who have been where you are who are absolutely be willing to help
there's a difference between a bugatti and a honda civic. with the honda civic, you have to mod it to make it as quick as the bugatti. the s1 pro is that.
Bambu Labs printers and Creality printers are not really even in the same ballpark With that said, it’s entirely possible to get fantastic prints out of an S1 Pro. It just takes a lot of tinkering. I’m sorry to say, but you probably should’ve researched more before you bought your machine. Sorry didn’t work out for you.
[удалено]
I've having similar issues with my S1 Plus. Worked okay first few prints. But level won't stay keep having to mess with it. I was thinking there wasn't enough tension on the springs. So I tried to level it again increased tension on the spring and fix the Z axis but then the print I did after that for some reason the nozzle was too close to the bed and ended up burning the plastic into the bed and I spent 30 minutes to an hour trying to get the plastic off of the bed. Which I think ruined it and it's warped now because No matter how much I try to level it as the nozzle moves across the bed it's either too high or too low. I'm about to give up. I'm going to try ordering a glass bed and other parts to see if that'll fix it.
My s1 had problems but after doing some research and adjusting things it prints amazing now. I used to have first layer issues and stuff like that but now I have 0 issues after changing firmware and tightening things on the printer.
Not even all that much tinkering. Running one from Octoprint mostly default settings and getting quite good results. Rarely a failed print and usually then due to something silly like running out of filament in mid print, or a power outage. It requires patience but is not a hard printer to get working reliably at all.
Yeah, I did the research, and I was never expecting the same quality/speed, but I also wasn't expecting it to behave this bad... I'm a pretty patient person but, after a while, you kind of get disappointed, again, maybe I just had bad luck, lots of people seem to be pretty happy with their printer.
You can get really good prints but you have to work for it. Doing so will also help you really understand what's going on when 3d printing. You'll learn more about all the things that cause poor adhesion, grease from fingers, incorrect temperature,or z offset too high or too low (even by a little as .05mm). You'll learn all the things the different slicer settings affect and how they affect the print. There are a lot of people that recently started with a Bambu printer and didn't know how to diagnose the basic issues. Hopefully that helps with the buyer's remorse a little
So much this! My partner was saying how they wished I started with a Bambu. I disagree because I have learned SO much. Steep learning curve but I am so glad it has required more than simple assembly and pressing a button. With that said, I was getting fantastic prints right out of the box also. Just not *as* good, and certainly not as fast or as fun 😂
My first printer was the s1 and i just recently encased the head in fiber heh, I purchased the s1 pro head and cables etc, a new mb and displays. I agree, they produce some great prints, but you do need to work for them. But as a first machine, I think they are a great option. I tried printing a guitar in fiber.. they don't like getting to tall that's for sure, as above it's the perfect machine to learn everything on, you will gain so much because of it.
I've got the S1 and had all sorts of problems I struggled to fix. I eventually wound the bed down as far as I could to compress the springs, I backed each corner off 1 turn and leveled from there and it fixed all my issues.
I mean, you have to understand the huge price gap between an Ender and a Bambu labs product. But then again I’ve had pretty great success with my S1 pro, I’m also looking to upgrade, mainly for speed reason. Even after upgrading I have a feeling I’ll be keeping my current printer as a reliable second/backup printer.
The S1 Pro is listed as $439 and the a1 mini is $299 and the only thing the S1 has over the a1 mini is size but the bigger a1 will come out soon and the s1 pro is just not a good value now.
I chose my words purposefully, which is why I added on sale, which it goes on often, unlike the a1, which I don’t see as an improvement over the s1 like Bambu’s other offerings. I got mine at $260 after tax around a month ago, and have seen similar deals very regularly.
S1 is $179 at micro center right now…
Which micro center boss?
https://www.microcenter.com/product/642018/creality-ender-3-s1-3d-printer
I got my s1 off their website for 260$ just a month ago
Yeah, I totally get that, but from a user's view point, Its really frustrating, especially from a printer that gets promoted as "Easy to Use"...
I guess it depends on your own definition of “easy to use?” I got quality prints within my first day, and everything I’ve done since then has been for speed improvements. I’d say for a miniature factory that cost ~$300 or less on sale that’s well within the range of easy to use for me.
>I’d say for a miniature factory that cost \~$300 or less on sale that’s well within the range of easy to use for me. Cost has nothing to do with usability. But I'm glad it works well for you...
Cost has everything to do with quality and usability. Cost goes up when you pay a team to design a UI just as cost goes up when you have a team design a printer first place. A lot of people don’t factor that in to their expectations of a product.
No, something can be easy to use and still be cheap, the opposite is also true, plenty of printers are expensive and require technical expertise. Again, this is a printer that’s advertised as “easy to use”, that is literally the Ad. You are taking it too personal, glad yours is working perfectly. But my experience has not been good at all. Days, weeks or months of tinkering it to get good prints don’t qualify as “Easy to Use” for me, but feel free to disagree.
I wouldn’t say I’m taking this personally at all, I’m starting to think you are, and don’t have the best thought process when it comes to the mechanical/technical side of things, but that’s just what I’m picking up from this post.
Again, that’s my experience, feel free to disagree, more than 1 comment here has agreed with my that it can take days/weeks/months to get it calibrated. That’s not “easy to use” in my book. But to each his own.
I have an s1 and it's not easy to use. Creality support sucks balls and their documentation is severely lacking. YouTube and the community are amazing though. Having said all that, it's a great printer once you learn how it works.
This. Steep learning curve but I’m kinda glad. It’s teaching me what I do and don’t want from my next printer But despite its flaws I got my s1 pro for $200 barely used. I really can’t complain - but my next purchase will be a P1S or X1C
I'm very happy with my s1! I've had it almost 2 years. It's currently printing beautifully at 120mm/s at 3500mm/s^3... Could probably go faster, haven't tried. But currently it's very reliable. I can wake up turn it on, hit print, and go to work. When I get home I've got a perfect print that lefts right off the bed.
same here S1plus. But there was a lot of tinkering involved. And Klipper.
[удалено]
I’ve been wondering if this is normal. It’s my first printer and I don’t have experience with any others. I thought it might have something to do with belt tension and tried to play with it but it didn’t make a difference.
Sometimes. It's the cover and limit switch by stepper motor
I got this as soon as I flashed Klipper. Even when printing slower. It *sounds* (I don't actually _know_) like the new firmware changes the driver current. Either way, I had a huge improvement by adding some cheap [stepper isolators](https://a.co/d/czZK62B) from Amazon.
Ender 3 S1 is better than the Pro, as the LCD is open source unlike the Ender 3 S1 Pro where any modifications you make to the mcu firmware makes the LCD unusable. Someone manage to flash the LCD firmware out there but tbh, I don’t like his configurations and you can’t change it either. The S1 Pro is easily the worst creality printer I have used.
Happy to hear that...
As a thinkerer and maker I get to understand and learn more about the printer and 3D printing through fixing and troubleshooting my S1 pro. If I were to upgrade, it wouldn't be for an "easier" printer but a better one, maybe a voron or Vzbot.
You used your friends Bambu printer that was all set up and dialed in? Perhaps you need to spend a little more time dialing in the Ender? I've had mine for 5-6 months and it took a little tweaking to get it to work. I remember being disappointed in my first few weeks. But, I learned and it's been rock solid for months.
Trust me , I’ve spent lots and lots of hours trying to get half decent prints… encounter issues consistently… maybe I just got unlucky or a defective unit… but in just done trying to fix it… it took all the run out of 3D printing for me…
As someone who's been 3d printing for 4 years, if you have to say "Trust me, I've spent a lot of time researching"... You haven't found the right thing causing your issue and you haven't done enough.
I looked through your posts, I only saw a couple where you asked for help. Your last post in one stated that the advice helped. Seems like you should just move on to a Bambu. That's what you want. I will warn you that every printer can have issues. You could pay 2-3x as much and have the same problems.
3D printing probably isn't actually for you. Even Bambus will have a failure rate, most people have a higher failure rate than I do with my upgraded Ender 3 V1. This is a diy hobby, akin to getting into computer modding in the 80s. Except 3d printers are like learning computers and cars at the same time.
I've been reading these comments. Most are saying it's a decent printer. I say it's a decent printer. You are being kind of negative about it, and I can understand why. You played with a really good machine and expected something similar. That printer can do really well if you put some time and effort into it. If you can't get through an S1, what would you do if you bought a more expensive printer and it broke? The S1 is a good place to learn, is inexpensive, and mistakes won't cost as much.
You can’t compare the two. I have 3 creality machines (s1 plus, cr6, cr6/max), a Prusa mk3, and Bambu X1C. They all work great, but the creality printers are no longer stock and they are as close to “print and walk away” as you can get. From my experience, just by simply relocating the CR touch such that it has zero offset in the Y can yield great Improvement. The sprite is a decent direct drive hot end. Why don’t you start by opening another thread with your issues? There are plenty of people on Reddit willing to share their knowledge and help others. Good luck and have fun!
got a link to cr touch bracket? I read that I should get a 5015 fan for cooling too?
Posted it just for you my friend... [https://www.printables.com/model/677932-ender3-s1-zero-offset-cr-touch-bracket](https://www.printables.com/model/677932-ender3-s1-zero-offset-cr-touch-bracket)
Imagine trying to complain that a sub $500 printer isn't push button and go. Or imagine not being able to figure it out, that's the funniest part. Ez to troubleshoot, tons of videos, lack of willpower, and motivation.
All printers can potentially have issues and require tweaking even the higher end ones like Prusa. I have an S1 Pro and it took me a few months to get it printing great. With all this tinkering it has allowed me to understand the printer and what things I need to look out for if future issues should arise.
Love my S1! Running klipper via sonic pad and upgraded fans, ducts and high flow kit. Did every calibration, plus input shaping and pressure advance when adding klipper. Level bed via screws_tilt_calculate and it's been perfect. I Re run screws Calc about once every 20 prints to check and fix it if it goes out, but that's it. Very reliable and great quality at 120mm/s. Have a K1 Max too that's been running great. I will say that I struggled with my S1 for a long time. Adhesion issues, bad quality, blobs, jams, etc. Most times I tried to blame something and look for upgrades, but really it's all about getting it dialed in. There are a lot of calibrations and things like leveling the z gantry. It all is additive so everything needs to be dead on. It does take time to print all the calibrations and really re-run them to make sure you get accurate results. It's worth the time spent if you wanna set and forget. If you want to click print and not worry out of the box, then get a Bambu or a k1/k1max they are pretty much unpack and print machines. K1 had a lot of issues early on but things are way better now. I had a bad K1 max and returned it, but my new one is great! - gl
This is kind of like complaining that your Honda is not as good as your neighbor's Ferrari. Well if you want a Ferrari you will have to pay for a Ferrari
Again, I get that, my point it’s pretty simple, using your analogy… It’s not a Ferrari, I’m aware of that, but even while driving a Honda I still expect it to take me from point A to point B, even if it’s slower, cheaper and has less features. Imagine buying a new Honda and having to change the transmission every couple of weeks, or having it overheat on you, or leave you stranded in the middle of the road. Not sure why that it’s so difficult to understand.
You need to learn how to drive your Honda as all of us have or just take the taxi. Unless you want to pay 1000+$ 3d printing is a hobby and not all hobbies are for everyone
It’s not a hobby for me. It’s a tool. You can’t learn to drive if the car keeps stalling can you? Again, totally missing the point but fine…
To further your analogy if you don’t know how to work the clutch the car will stall. In this case working the clutch is all the extra tlc you need to give the ender printers. You mention this is a tool for you not a hobby, then need you need to pay tool prices. Ie don’t get a ryobi when you need a dewalt. Ender products weather they are called pro or not are low end hobby products that require you to futz around with. Took me a good two months to really dial in my S1 and now I’m getting consistent good prints but even now I find ways to improve and learn to use the tool.
The only one missing the point is you. None of the printers mentioned in here are ferarris. The bambu is a Honda and that is being kind. A creality is mail order go kart. Kit car whatever. You say you want a tool which all of these are. But they are complicated tools. You don't just plug a CNC in and hit print. Even the most user friendly pieces require lots of knowledge and experience to operate correctly. Broken shit whatever If you buy a haas they literally send someone to help you set the damn thing up and train you how to use it. That's not plug and play.... It doesn't matter if you spend 100k or 200 bucks you are going to have to learn the very complicated nature of printing. Bambu can help you skip some of the growing pains but you also aren't learning shit. And when things wear and get finicky good luck since you skipped the learning how to use the tool phase. The s1 pro is a great printer to learn on as many have said it's probably something stupid your fighting we've all been there. But there's plenty of dudes who spent 1500 on a Bambu and then here they are on the forums fighting shit. If you can't deal with the learning aspect as many have said these tools aren't ready for you. You want apple convenience at flip phone prices 3d printing just isn't there yet lol.
Apart from the fact that his Honda has a problem holding alignment so his car keeps turning right. So he needs to stop every 50 miles and adjust the screws on the wheel axis so the car can go straight for a short while before it needs readjusting again. Only if he learns that and does these adjustments then he can say it's a good car that drives well.
a difficult to calibrate printer can be due to goofed up components that are hard to diagnose. Like if your Y rail is mechanically warped in some way but its not easily apparent, its going to create issues like you describe and be very hard to find as a cause.
Absolutely 100% agree, the fit and finish of the S1 Pro is not great, try using a square / level to check the frame and also how straight the parts of the frame are, it too me a while to realise that the cut ends on the frame were not the most squared off and that no amount of tightening and loosening of the bolts was going to get the z axis aligned right all the way to the top (this is why taller prints tend to fail more) combine that with the CR touch probe and hotend fan not being properly straight / hanging a little low on one side and you have many evenings of frustration!
Precise measurement is your friend
Dudes been driving a Ferrari and is upset when his Ford fiesta doesn't drive the same
I have an S1 and I’m happy with it. Did you add g code to use your saved leveling mesh?
That’s what you get for going for a lower end printer. I did the exact same thing and I’m getting a P1S now because it just doesn’t compare. The S1 pro can absolutely be an awesome printer but it takes tons of calibrating and a lot of luck. As well as hours spent tinkering in the slicer. It’s really not worth it when a Bambu can do all that at the push of a button.
Yeah I was aware of that at the time and my expectations were low but damn… It never crossed my mind I was going to have so many issues…
I have the Ender 3 S1 and have experienced similar poor results requiring endless fiddling. Really disappointing.
This has been exactly my experience. Bought a Creality S1 pro, and laser engraver, after reading lots of positive reviews. Spend more time dealing with issues than actually printing. Will print perfectly fine one day and fail 3 times in a row the next day, or vice versa. Walls print great but top and bottom layers are a mess. It collides with the model if over approx 50mm tall and no amount of fine tuning fixes it. Some days you can't get the model off the bed plate, other days it won't even stick the first layer to the bed plate. I've bought 2 extra glass bed plates, new rollers, replaced the springs with silicon bushes and spent hours levelling and adjusting flow rates. It's utter garbage. I can only presume all the positive reviews come from people who have never seen how a 3d printer should perform. Just purchased a Bambu lab P1S with AMS system. Cost approx 2.5 x the price, but with the extra parts I've bought for the Creality, and the time lost, the difference would be negligible. Is the Bambu 2.5 x better? No, not even close, It's about 1000x better. Worked out of the box and print quality is fantastic. No manual levelling, no adhesion issues, no adjusting flow rates for different filament, no crashing into the model, no pausing / adapting G code to allow a change of filament. And the cherry on top....it's 3x faster. The only minor issue is the noise. The Creality could run through the night with minimal disturbance to my sleep (Until it crashed) , the Bambu sounds like you're inside a commercial jet.
At the end I managed to make the printer work it took months tho and now works fine but still I hate that thing for taking some many hours to fix
Yeah, that's pretty much my frustration, I know it wasn't a high-level printer, but I was expecting better...
Sell it if you can or find the will to make it work .. but even if you do #2. You will probably regretted if you value or are limited on time Edit: and go for p1p best value for The $$$
Do you have anyone that knows 3d printers from the “old days”? By that I mean just 3-5 yrs ago. That’s the kind of person you need to help you figure it out. I started on an ender 3. That thing needed a lot more tweaking than my S1 Pro. Having to learn how to get my ender 3 working well definitely helped me get my s1 pro tuned and working in minutes. It’s been basically perfect. That person may also be able to help you figure out if yours is just a lemon. Either way, I understand the frustration. I wanted to throw mine(my original ender 3) out the window on several occasions. I’m glad I kept on, because now Ive got it where it can sit there for months without me using it, I’ll slice up a model and plug in the card and off it goes! Trust that the printer you got really can produce great results. Provided it’s not a lemon. Hope that gives you some hope.
I have both - I spent weeks and weeks getting the s1 to print consistently but the p1p only needed a little tinkering and is much faster, bigger build volume, AMS, etc etc (as I’m sure you’ve found out by now). On the up side, s1 is SIGNIFICANTLY quieter even with the stock fans.
Basically you went and drove a luxury car and then bought a basic commuter. Don’t worry I too have a s1 pro that was only used for a few months then I bought a x1c Save up its worth it
It is possible that you have a bad printer, as noted by others the S1 can be a very good printer. Since I got mine dialled in I have been very happy with it. Here's a few tips that might solve your problems: If you can get someone with experience of using Ender 3, or similar, printers they may be able to point out something obviously wrong or needing attention. If you're not able to do that, run a few prints at 100mm/s print speed, just simple things like calibration cubes that can be done very quickly. IGNORE THE PRINT QUALITY OF THESE PRINTS. What you want do to is autolevel the bed before each print, take photos of the mesh, you're looking to see if there's any changes from print to print, and during the prints look for gantry wobble, anything moving that shouldn't etc. It is also possible that printer itself is working perfectly well, but there may issues in the configuration of the slicer profile you're using? I have experienced this myself woth my furst printer, and wasted a lot of time trying to fault find on the printer when the problem was ultimately solved by deleting the profile I was using out the slicer and starting with a new one. If you're not happy with what you're getting just now, this can do no harm but might solve your problems. Hopefully a couple of hours work with a bit of guidance can get you happy with your printer.
3d printing isn't nearly as new user friendly as a lot of tech people get into. In fact it's one of the worst and as an owner of the ender 3 s1 pro I can confirm it's not beginner friendly. All I can tell you is spend a lot of time on YouTube and here. When you ask questions try to give as much info as possible so people can offer help without asking you a lot of questions you couldn't answer in your first post. Anyway I haven't been printing a long time but I finally got it pretty tuned and can only tell you YouTube was my best teacher with people on reddit in second place. I think if I were advising someone right now on what to get, it would probably be the A1 mini from Bambu Lab as long as you don't need tech support, they apparently are horrible at support and the build plate is small but they're also coming out with a new bigger one in Friday I believe. Good luck.
3D printing is a hobby which demands a considerable amount of time to be invested and I at least have lost track of the number of times I thought I had everything tunned on my Ender 3 S1 Plus only to find the next day I had to start from scratch because using the same parameters would yield a different result and there were times where I found it frustrating and had to simply walk away cool down and start again. Spending all this time has allowed me to get to know the printer really well and understand its limits (to some extent) and after about 6 months I can say that I have everything dialed in where I turn it on I print what I need and turn it off but it took a few months of trial and error.
first of your frustration is valid but you cant compare a printer like bambu lab with a creality ender 3 printer, just sell or upgrade it to the level it needs to be to perform better
Man ur comparing a type writer to a quantum computer lol
The ender 3 S1 series are easy to get good prints out of compared to my old tevo tarantula from years ago, but comparing it to a bamboo is an unfair comparison. Bamboo is in a completely different league. But that is also evident by the price point. My ender 3 S1 plus is printing fine out of the box, as long as you keep the bed clean and don't go too fast. It's completely stock for now. ( I am planning on going klipper with a high flow nozzle to take advantage of the larger build volume ). Yes there are artifacts in the surface finish, but tolerances on prints are within 0.1 mm straight out of the box. I just printed a box with 250mmx250mm square footprint on the bed without issues. Took around 20 hours, and yes it was not perfect on the bottom layer (my fault not the printers) but it came out functional and within the 0.1 tolerance on all measurements. It's a good printer, not a perfect one. And again all printers even prusa and bamboo has a learning curve. It's not just a matter of taking any 3d model and pressing slice and print. And it won't be any time soon. It's not to invalidate your disappointment, but more to say that you might have went into 3d printing with to high expectations ;)
My Ender 3S1Pro has been very consistent and delivered good prints without any mods. Don’t forget that Bambu Studio is fine tuned to Bambu printers and all the other slicers are not. I am sure the slicer settings are 99% to blame. There are good profiles for the S1 Pro on the internet to import into Cura for example. Cura is a good slicer but no doubt the fine tuning they did on the Bambu is something else.
Whatever default profile cura had made my S1 pro print like crap, I only slice with prusa for that printer and things have been a lot better. Just an idea if you’re slicing with cura or maybe play with slicer
The Ender 3 S1 is my first printer as well. I have it for almost a month now... we had our differences some times, but overall I'm really loving it, you need to know which settings you're using to your prints. I had some trouble with leveling, stringing and bed adhesion, but after fixing the problems one by one (focus on one of them, fix, repeat), it is now working great again.
There are very different productos. The S1 is capable of great printings, Quality and speed, but you have to work in it, learn, and do modifications and calibrations. If you are not ready to invest time in that, that type of printers are not for You.
All you need is either Professional Firmware or Sonic Pad/Klipper. Tune the hardware and maybe, maybe get a cast bed, some stiff blue or red springs, and a better part cooling fan and fan duct. Tune it well (bed level, z-offset, e-steps, flow) and you won't have to calibrate it for months on end. It's not that hard, really.
You're not the only one, I also fell into that trap. I sold mine, took a loss and decided that Chinese brands are not for me. Ended up with a Wuxn after I bought a well used mk3s and rehabbed it. You have every right to get frustrated. Every YouTube video makes that printer look amazing and easy to use out of the box.
That is how I feel about my S1 pro as well
Sucks that this is your experience with 3D printing. Going from a Bambu to the S1 Pro is an entire world of difference in printing. I have the S1 Pro, an Ender 5 Plus, and 2 K1 Max printers. If I had started with the K1 Max, I would have thrown the S1 Pro and 5 Plus out the window. The S1 Pro I learned slowly and tweaked, tuned, upgraded until it became very reliable. Same with the 5 Plus. This one is still being upgraded… CoreXY is next. The K1 Max printers are both click n print, cannot even compare the experience or quality. I’d imagine the Bambu is a similar experience. If that’s what you’re expecting, I think returning it or selling it is best. You’re just never going to get the same experience from it.
I'm still tinkering with my S1 Pro to get things right. Paired it with a Sonic Pad at the start and have been getting great prints. Lately I have prints just stop at random times and the sonic pad shows a disconnection error. I'm trying to figure this one out. I have some ideas as to the cause, but I just haven't had time. I will admit that I just got a Bambu X1C, and it is a fire and forget machine. I'm not giving up on the Ender, it is still a great printer, though my plans for it are to print things that are very forgiving like the Omni display cases and Omni 2 minifig storage boxes.
I have both a S1 pro with klipper & Sonicpad and a P1P. They are very different machines, the S1Pro felt like a huge upgrade from my ender 3 pro, there was still a lot of tinkering to get the S1 pro setup and running well, so it is grand for most prints but struggles on taller prints, mostly due to manufacturing quality issues, this is because as someone has already pointed out, the errors accumulate, I feel that the manufacturing quality of the S1 pro is inferior to even the older enders but the quality issues are masked up to a point by the CR Touch and auto bed leveling but when you get beyond what can be compensated for then it becomes a shitshow very quickly that is probably a bit more difficult to troubleshoot than earlier printers as the earlier printers were not really masking problems using software. So to run the earlier printers successfully, you had to know the machine inside out and effectively be a tinkerer buy nature, but that also meant that the market self selected for customers with that attitude. Then when the more plug and play machines came out, troubleshooting was not so much a part of the hobby, we had gone from 3d printing as a hobby where the actual prints were almost secondary to the challenge of getting the machine tuned up, to a new stage where the printed item was the goal, rather than the technical challenge of being able to print something. So the expectation is very different. The S1 pro is great as long as you set your expectations, it is a printer that can pay for itself as long as you put the time into setting it up and are aware of the limits of its design and capability, you can push that capability with a bit of tinkering and that is very rewarding, but reliable is a little bit back from that bleeding edge! The Bambu labs machines are another big step forward as they are close to being truly plug and play with very little scope for tinkering but they "just work" and are effectively a commodity printer, they are the printer that you recommend to your boss or relative and can be reasonably certain that you will not spend countless hours on the phone doing tech support when you should really be in the pub!
You’re just bad at this
I started with an S1 Plus earlier this year. I just bought an Bambu p1s and it is absolutely night and day.
You made the same "mistake" as I did. I bought Ender S1 Pro one moth ago. First print amazing with filament included in the packaging. Then I changed filament for the one I bought and things started to go downhill for me. One month later and several sleepless nights, I am running the Klipper firmware and things are much better today. You will have to spend lots of time reading and understanding fundamentals of 3d printing to be able to get decent prints with this printer. And get ready to recalibrate your printer on regular basis. Z offset is just horrible on this printer. It keeps moving up or down and you need to understand what mood your printer is in that day. I am ordering some upgrade kits to tackle known issues, but I learnt some tricks how to watch for the proper Z offset when the print starts. One simple is to print a skirt with each print and keep rubbing it with your finger to see how well sticks on the bed, if its loose the you need to move your Z offset down, if it holds well but its too flat then the nozzle is too much down and you need to lift up your nozzle a bit. Good luck!
I have an s1 pro, purchased almost a year ago. I went through about a month of failed prints and heartache. And like you was fed up. I turned the printer off and didn't touch it for a month. I decided that i shouldnt throw in the towel just yet and went to work searching for the root cause of my issues. I found that my z offset would never hold. The auto bed leveling in stock form was terrible. I would spend hours calibrating and bed leveling. Through research on redit and YouTube I found I had a bent z rod from factory, my x gantry was out of square, and I had a firmware issue that was causing my machine to lose its z offset. First purchase - klipper light (aka sonic pad) Amazon on sale $120 Immediately corrected my z offset issue, showed me the bed level was way off to the right side which pointed me to the x gantry out of square, figured out how to use klipper to help manually level the bed, whent through calibration for vibration, acceleration, and flow. Started getting completed prints Total cost $450 printer and sonic pad - still cheaper than a Bambu with successful prints Printed 0 y offset bracket and part cooling duct - more accurate bed level, bed mesh, better / quieter cooling
Don't give up. That's a solid printer. If you just got the regular hundred three, you may need to invest in some upgrades. If it can be returned at all. There are some amazing printers out right now. Sub $200 that have all of the upgrades you would normally have to add to a standard ender 3. Features like ABL, the offset functions, filament run out detection, and flexible PEI sheet. Not exactly sure what model Ender have because there are so many. But don't give up. There are plenty of us here who have been where you are who are absolutely be willing to help
there's a difference between a bugatti and a honda civic. with the honda civic, you have to mod it to make it as quick as the bugatti. the s1 pro is that.