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

Using ender 3 this direct drive/hotend combo made my prints great again when my stock head seemed like it had constant issues. The stock setup brass gear stripped out and hot end clogged non stop. This new Microswiss is a game changer for me.

Fixed a good bit of my issues with the stock extruder! Be aware that with the extra weight you may have to look into getting dual Z, just a little deeper into the rabbit hole. All in all, solid upgrade!

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.

This Microswiss Hotend and extruder is one of the best upgrades for your printer.

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.

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.

One reviewer mentioned it didnt improve print quality. I would add that if you work with nothing but PLA, you dont really need this. But I did notice a very slight improvement with PETG (less stringing). Most importantly, I bought this so I could print with flexible filament, as from what Ive read its not recommended to use a bowden extruder for that. My only criticism is that for 100$ current price, they probably could have included a temperature probe and heater cartridge.

This modification works well and simplifies 3D printing.

My capricorn bowden tube would melt to the extruder after several long PETG prints causing filament clogs and other issues so I needed something different. The install is relatively easy, microswiss included decent instructions and links to helpful videos which I used in the process. I particularly liked the My Tech Fun channel, very detailed and easy to follow, he also provides links to the hotend shroud seen in my photo here; there are several versions of it, I have CR touch, for those using BL touch theres one for that. Now, while mechanical install is easy, calibrating your printer for this new setup can be difficult depending on whether you have experience with modifying marlin firmware and flashing it to your printer. You will need to figure out your new X & Y offsets, dial in your E steps, and configure Z offset for auto bed leveling. My Tech Fun youtube channel guides you through all of that so I definitely recommend it!

The main issue I had with this was changing the X & Y offsets. I tried with changing settings in Cura with no avail. I went into the Marlin Code and edited it in there myself. Theres YouTube videos on how to do that, but the manufacturers website will tell where to go. I have included it with this review. Since it is smaller form factor than the Ender 3s factory model you will need to change it.