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

It is great if your filament is getting jammed and /or your extruder is dripping

You really can’t go wrong with this extruder and hot end for its beautiful design, efficient extrusion, and no clog hot end because the filament passes through directly. And it also works best with the printable suggested cooking fan housing keeping everything tidy, cool, and out of the way of your print. I originally bought this to add next to a Hemera combo but after having issues with that, I ended up replacing three more with this combo. It’s very reliable and easy to keep running.

Ive done a printed direct drive in the past for my Ender 3, and was printing and collecting parts to do the same on my CR-10, but as the designers of various systems do, they upgrade their prints and take down their previous designs, which can leave you out in the cold if you didnt download the original STLs. So I was having issues putting the new one together the same as the old one. I decided to buy this Micro Swiss direct drive extruder to see if it was worth the hype. I installed it this morning using the supplied instructions on their website (pdf download), and everything was straight forward. No hiccups. No leftover parts, and better yet, no trips to my bins to find missing hardware. This is great! Done in about an hour. Follow up with setting your offsets if needed, and youre done. Print quality is great too. I had been printing with a .6mm nozzle for a long time, as its a bit faster, and doesnt clog at all, but I forgot what quality of print you can get from a .4mm nozzle as is supplied with this setup. Looks great! Ive tried both ABS and TPU already, and both came out excellent!

Still wont print standard PLA. It prints PLA+ ok but not as nicely as the stock hotend. DEFINITELY NOT FOR BEGINNERS

I bought both the E3D Hemera and the Mirvo Swiss DD all metal for my Ender 3s. Each extruder has its benefits. But I’ll go into the micro Swiss mainly. Packaging, everything was packed in small poly bags and packaged into a larger box. Box quality and graphics were meh. Could use a lot of improvement if you wanted the item to stand out at stores. Which I think they are in micro centers. Installation. Everything was easy, they have instructions online but use different terms for some of the fasteners. Like they call a m5 SHCS a nylon patch screw. Little confusing but I have big brain and figured it out. The installation process is pretty much just changing out the x axis roller wheels and moving the extruder motor. Took all about 30 minutes to get it up and going. First print after calibration went perfect. Beautiful. No Jams or clogs. Now the Hemera. The packaging on the Hemera was beautiful. I was no expecting it. Everything had a neet little compartment in a minimalistic box. With a nice clean logo on the side. Installing the Hemera requires more disassembly since you will be replacing the extruder stepper wires, thermistor wires, and hot end wires. So it take a while. Trying to find a mount that would work on the Ender 3 was difficult so I ended up modifying my own. Once all mounted the mounts holding the stepper to the plate come loose and cause all sorts of problems. This is the biggest issue. If somebody made and aluminum mount I would buy it in a second. One up and running, nothing can stopped the geared extruder/hot end combo. I’ve had on running for well over 1000 hours and it still prints just like new.

If you want to be totally unable to print PLA, get this. It clogs all the time. Heat creep is a major issue and the hot end is completely worthless. So either get a bimetal heat break or stay with what you have. The direct drive bracket is kind of nice. Light and solid. Im unsure about the extruder since the clogs stop me from using it. Worst upgrade Ive ever bought.

I bought this to replace an old hemera and it has been nothing but trouble. I followed the directions perfectly and it has leaked hot filament between the heat block and the hot end consistently. Its destroyed several good prints because it sneaks up on you. Ive re tightened at 260 degrees plus several times and now finally I think it could be stripped due to over tightening. What an epic waste of time and money.

I own an Ender 3 v2, I thinks its reasonable to say its a VERY popular start point. Having to print your own shroud is one thing, but theres no holes or bracket for mounting my CR touch. Its getting returned

Great addition. Don’t hesitate.

The direct drive kit was easy and fun to assemble. Every fit exactly where it was supposed to on my Ender 3. The hot end seems much more durable than stock. Although I love this product, the carriage sagged after installation. I was having to relevel after every print because the assembly was too heavy. I bought a second Z - Lead screw which resolving this sagging issue. No matter how tight I made he eccentric nut, I needed a second Z axis screw. You must modify the firmware on your printer. I had to adjust the offsets for both the X and Y axis according to the MicroSwiss website. It was very easy to compile my own firmware because I had done it prior. If you are not comfortable compiling your own firmware or your mainboard doesnt support Marlin, you might be better of skipping this upgrade. Overall, I love my MicroSwiss direct drive kit and all metal hot end. There are definitely cheaper and easier installations but you cant beat the simplicity of installation and quality of product.