Micro Swiss Direct Drive Extruder for Creality CR-10 / Ender 3 Printers

This modification works well and simplifies 3D printing.

Just keep in mind that this does say it is for an Ender 3, but that does not mean it will fit your machine. Check your stepper motor and the installation instructions that they are the same. There are two types of extrudes, one that this upgrade requires where you can remove the gear, and one that the gear is press fit to the stepper. If you have the press fit gear you will also need to order a replacement stepper motor. Also, if you have the press fit gear the shaft length is to short for this mod

My prints were mostly coming out fine, as long as I was using PLA. But once I started using PETG, I started having issues, mostly just prints not completing. After this upgrade, I can start a PETG print and just walk away. Adhesion is perfect, and the rest of the print finishes flawlessly. Make sure to adjust your refraction settings to 1.5mm as the instructions say, and you should have no issues.

Great diversity with different types of filaments

The nozzle that came with my kit was just a brass nozzle and not a hardened one. Just printing PETG and its already having major issues.

Mounted on an older CR-10. Perfect fit and the benefit of a full metal hotend for abs printing.

There are cheaper direct drive conversions out there. But I think for the quality you get in this one, its worth paying the small price difference. This worked almost flawlessly out of the box. The bearing in the tension arm wasnt well lubricated from the factory causing a whining grinding sound during printing. I took it apart and added some bearing grease and its been flawless ever since.

This was one of those improvements that I curse myself for not doing sooner. I upgraded to the microswiss as it seems to back the classic tried and true direct drive setup with the only downside of adding a bit more weight, though I already added a second z screw so that hasnt been an issue for me. The only downside of this hotend is it can cause a bit of ringing though that can be clean up with input shaping ( assuming your running klipper- why wouldnt you?). I can run max speeds of 120mms and 250mms infill and get quality prints when printing at .16 layer height with a .4mm nozzle. The microswiss nozzle included is still serving me well many months later and my machine runs almost every day. My only regret is that eventually I wanted to do linear rails and this specific x gantry mount is only compatible with rollers for if that is something you are interested in I would recommend upgrading to linear rails first and buying the other hotend by microswiss that supports them.

I purchased this as an Upgrade to my Ender 3v2 hotend and extruder. First, I have never gotten a print any better than what the stock hotend and extruder gave me. Actually, quality has decreased. It has gotten better, but I have spent HOURS tweaking settings trying figure out what this thing wants to see. I lost ALL adhesion on first layer (after releveling the bed and and resetting Z offset). Swapped back to stock and no issues with adhesion. Not sure what thats all about, but was a huge struggle. Had to go to a glue stick, then to PEI sheet which is awesome. Then the extraction settings... Nowhere close to the recommended setting from MicroSwiss. I am running a fifth of their recommendation for distance and at faster speeds. It is very well made- no question. I just wish I hadnt gone this route. Caused a lot of needed frustration and expense with wasted prints. I was ready to throw the MicroSwiss away and go back to stock. Probably still should since I get better results. I just hate spending that much money to take a step backwards in quality.

Looked like a logical upgrade. Dont know, because I never got it to work, turning the whole printer into junk.