Reddit mentions of (3 Pack) NEMA 17 Steel and Rubber Stepper Motor Vibration Damper + M3 Screws - CNC, 3D Printer

^ This. I bought a 3 pack on Amazon for $11.45. They are very easy to install and cut down the noise a lot.

1. Octoprint - a must
   
2. Vibration dampers on the X & Y steppers is really nice and cheap (z and extruder don't make as much noise). Something like this - My only problem was that the X stepper for my CR-10 mini has a fixed pulley that you can't take off. So I'll have to get a new stepper and pulley before I can put a damper on it. :-/
   
3. Spool Holder - the stock spool holder kind of sucks. Print something like this.
   
4. Squash ball feet - dampens noise and vibration: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2742599
   
5. Nicer bowden tubes are good in general. The stock ones are very bleh.
   
6. An enclosure is good - dampens noise and blocks drafts that can cause curling and other problems.
   
7. I haven't upgrade my hot-end, but a lot of people are very happy they upgraded theirs.

Hey, sorry. I just realized I'm putting your plan into action but never responded to it. I'm using a mirror plate with blue tape.

I'm not sure where to find the XY jerk settings on simplify 3D but I'm currently looking for it, I'm going to be printing both brackets once I'm done with printing some squash feet holders, and I'll be ordering an extra stepper for the Y axis motor. (I bought these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07415B39B/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It is currently on my printer now, just waiting for the extra one for the bracket.)

As a side thing, I've seen people with rods attached to the top of the Z axis, to the front of the printer. Do you know what those are, and could those help me?

I'm very happy with my CR10S, but less so now that I saw the 10S pro lol. The pro looks soooo sleek, I think you made the right call! I'm looking at all my wires, no-abl, and separate psu/computer thingy and am a bit jealous of your pro's form factor. I would have gone in an extra 150 if it was available when I pulled the trigger. The Capricorn's a nice touch and all but its only 15 bucks or so.

I am quick to recommend stepper dampers, they make a huge difference in sound. I'm less familiar with the pro, esp the y axis. Check that these are the right size. They also aren't needed on the two z axis motors. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07415B39B/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

is what I have, and also just ordered some of these to test out https://tiny-machines-3d.myshopify.com/products/stepper-dampener

You kinda nailed it, the pro has a lot of stuff you'd buy already included. Make sure to get some filament! I thought I'd use what came with the printer, but I've found eSun PLA Pro to be easier to work with and troubleshoot out of the gate.

Very very cool!

Probably would be taken care of with stepper dampeners.

I did a 7 hour print last night after adding the damper. It had a bit more stringing than normal, but I'm mostly going to attribute that to running too hot. The print was beautiful. No real issues to say.

I picked these up from Amazon: (3 pack) NEMA 17 Steel & Rubber Stepper Motor Vibration Damper + M3 Screws - CNC, 3D Printer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07415B39B/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_DlOUAbCFSFHGV

They seem pretty good quality and fit perfectly.

https://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Stepper-Vibration-Damper-Screws/dp/B07415B39B/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1522213043&sr=8-4&keywords=stepper+damper&dpID=41qzlY8DIyL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

They make the machine a lot easier to be around and are fairly cheap

I am an absolute noob too, just two months ahead of you now.
These are the upgrades I am beyond happy that I got :D I'm gonna do two sections. One with upgrades you can buy and one with upgrades you can actually print!


Upgrades you can buy:

(Links mostly from Amazon for international convenience, but there's a chance you can get them cheaper/faster if you check webshops in your country):

- Vibration dampers! These will reduce the noise made by your printer by a LOT. I can actually sleep in the same room as my printer now. They can be installed on X, Y and the extruder, but I don't suggest the extruder, that can impact print quality.
https://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Stepper-Vibration-Damper-Screws/dp/B07415B39B/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1540932756&sr=8-3&keywords=ender+3+dampers


- Tougher steel springs for your bed leveling knobs. Bed leveling is an absolutely essential thing to get down for print quality(or even to be able to print at all), and the stock springs get worn fast. Before my replacements arrived, I had to re-level every 5 or so prints sometimes, and that just gets really old really fast. These springs should let you keep your bed level longer and wear out a LOT slower, and they're dirt cheap. Be aware that not all Ender 3 are made equal, so some springs might need to be tightened a lot while others barely need to be tightened. This means you might have to shorten a spring, and these are very tough so you'll need either a very tough cutter to cut them shorter or a grinder/metal saw/something that can assist you in cutting hard metal without ruining the spring)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B013G5I4US/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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- Glass bed. Don't question it. Your stock bed cover will break and it will break faster than you think. One bad print, one piece of filament that won't let go and you have a hole in the surface. Just get a glass bed as soon as you can afford it. You can go for the specialised glass or you can also just get a size cut mirror or window glass piece. But if you don't have glass cutters that will do it cheap nearby or can't cut glass yourself, there are plenty of stores that will sell you glass beds. Usually filament dealers have spare parts too. You can also print on tape or other things, and if you ask 10 different print enthusiasts, you'll get 10 different answers. But glass beds are supposedly good, will last you long and are super easy to clean off.
https://www.3dprima.com/parts/spare-parts/creality-3d/creality-3d-ender-3-build-surface-235x235mm-with-glass-fiber-plate-and-clips/a-23390/?Currency=DKK (Not from Amazon, I know)

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Upgrades you can print:

- LCD display back cover. The LCD display has no back cover for some weird-ass reason, and that is just inviting dust to come in and kill your expensive printer. But for the price of a little filament and 10 minutes of work, you can take care of that problem.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2858209/


- Bottom fan guard. The bottom fan of the Ender 3 is an exposed sinkhole for loose filament bits, spiders, flying food and dropped screws. I don't think I need to explain why you don't want that stuff in your cooling fan. This will protect the fan and lead the airflow out instead of up. This should be one of the first things you print when you are ready to print actual real things.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2935204

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Many of my upgrades were from this article:
https://all3dp.com/1/20-must-creality-ender-3-upgrades-mods/
I definitely suggest giving that article a whirl, it has several other upgrades I'm eyeing when I can afford them.


Software suggestions:
Your first printing will likely be taking all the awesome models from Thingiverse and burning a spoon of filament on Luke Skywalker riding a dragon slaying Uther Pendragon. But eventually you might want to make your own models or at least try. These programs worked really well for me:

- Making technical parts. Fusion 360 is a Computer Assisted Drawing(CAD) program for 3D. It's made by Autodesk, and you can obtain a non-commercial license so it's entirely free and entirely legal. You can use this to make tools, boxes, parts, handles, replacement parts for things you have broken or whatever else. It specialises in precision, but you do not want to do sculpting or mesh work in this program as that's not what it was made for. I daresay it sucks the biggest, hairiest meatball if you try to use it for that.
- Mesh modification. You ever think "Wow, it would be cool to have a Batarang with a penis on it" but can't find it on Thingiverse? No worries. Meshmixer, also from Autodesk, is a simple program excellently suited for light modification of meshes as well as merging several mesh models together to make one(or splitting one up in multiple parts because it's too big). This still isn't the software to sculpt that intricite original design with a thousand details, but it is excellent for manipulating existing mesh models.

- Sculpting. Are you willing to spend $900? Then get ZBrush. If not, Blender is a pretty safe and free bet. It's an open source project and a pretty good 3D sculpting program. It has been known to cause migraines when you wanna learn to navigate it or work in it, but it is really a safe bet if you don't want to buy expensive software. Sculpting environments is where you take your idea for that sword with your initials, a demon skull and an edge spelling out the word "DOOM" in fancy curls.

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The software choices are another one of those things where everyone has an opinion, but this combination works really well for me, even if I am still just a beginner.


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On a final note:
Filament is not just filament. The same kind of filament is not even just the same kind of filament. And some filament can go bad if you store them wrong for longer periods of time. So if you use one spool of filament and think "Awesome!" and then you switch to another brand that acts totally different, that's not you being crazy. That's the unfortunate jungle of filaments. I'd say do some research of course, check out reviews and find a brand that works for you and stick to it like a clingy dog to a leg until you get your 3D printed sea legs and feel confident you can start trying out other brands without being scared if they're giving you worse prints. I ordered a spool of generic PLA filament from a brand I'm not entirely convinced actually exists, and it gave me prints that were orders of magnitude better than a PLA Pro filament from a named brand. Either my PLA Pro spool had gone bad before I got it, I'm stupid and couldn't figure out how to print it or Spectrum Filaments suck ass. I'm still not sure which, but it was far different from the generic "Should have been worthless" filament, and I made far better prints with my first filament.

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Have fun with your printer! You are opening up a new world of awesomeness!

These? https://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Stepper-Vibration-Damper-Screws/dp/B07415B39B

Maybe try to stop the vibrations at the source?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07415B39B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I gotta agree with /u/The_Bringer_of_Bacon on this one.

I have those from Amazon on my Monoprice, and when I got my dampeners from TinyMachines I was quite impressed by the quality.

These things ship with differing rubber, some are stiffer than others.

They have to be "married" to the use. Too stiff and they don't dampen. Too soft and they sag & wobble.

The ones from Tiny Machines seem to be the sweet spot, they did their homework. :-)

Hey /u/priestwithknives - Tip for posting Amazon links - The way you posted (grabbing the whole URL) often stops working after a while. The proper way to do it (and much shorter) is to copy from the item number to the beginning, like this:

Right:
https://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Stepper-Vibration-Damper-Screws/dp/B07415B39B

Wrong:
https://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Stepper-Vibration-Damper-Screws/dp/B07415B39B/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1522213043&sr=8-4&keywords=stepper+damper&dpID=41qzlY8DIyL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

All the cr*p at the end is unneeded, left from the search. Just look for the ALL CAPITAL LETTERS PART NUMBER like B07415B39B in this case, it's always caps, then copy to the start.

Later Buddy! :-)

PP

I've read that Nema 17 dampers make a big difference. https://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Stepper-Vibration-Damper-Screws/dp/B07415B39B/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1540390028&sr=8-5&keywords=nema+17+dampers

I ordered some but they aren't here yet so no first hand experience for now.