In this video, I will upgrade this printer to a direct drive extruder, you can do the same upgrades to the Ender 3, Ender 3 Pro, CR10 or any similar FDM 3D Printers.

It’s a pretty simple upgrade, we just need to print a mount and move the stepper motor and the extruder from the original position to the top of the hotend. Then, we will cut a very short piece of bowden tube to connect the extruder with the hotend, this will become a direct drive extruder printer.

Since we put the stepper motor and the extruder on top of the X-Axis, when the X-Axis travels to the far side, it drops a little bit and becomes too close to the print surface. The only way to improve this is to install a Dual Z-Axis.

I will make another video to install a Dual Z-Axis, if you buy a Dual Z-Axis kit, it should cost around $50. But I have a DIY solution, you just need to buy a stepper motor, a lead screw, some screws and 3D print the parts you need, I will make another video for this upgrade and post it next week.

Thank you so much for watching!


Ender 3 Direct extruder mount:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:358...
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:332...

CR-10 Direct extruder mount:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:273...
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:280...

Alfawise / Longer Direct Drive Mount
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:443...
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:455...

Tools I used in this video:
Nozzle removal tool (Made in USA by Z-Catch):




Affiliate Links:

PTFE cutter (Free, came with Capricorn PTFE Tube):
https://amzn.to/3i2KoLx

Creality Refurbished Printers (SAVE UP TO 50%):
https://bit.ly/3q17mGi

Used Ender-3 ($79):
Maybe in bad condition, but if you know how to fix some common issues of a 3D printer and have spare parts to replace by yourself, that could be an amazing deal:
https://bit.ly/3LPnzHw