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

Installed this for my modded Ender 3 Pro. The extruder itself is fine but the hotend sucks. It has no supporting screws so it is free roaming, and also leaks filament constantly. For something that is nearly $100 Id expect much better. Update: Microswiss offered to send a replacement hotend and was very helpful when I contacted them. Everything works great!

Easy to install and set up. My stock hotend kept getting clogs from the ptfe tubing. Bought this and well see how it goes.

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!

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.

I dont have this product but did need to remove a pressed on gear on my ender. You can pick 1 of 2 ways. If you are smart print out a puller for this easy to print and find the nut and screw needed for assembly. Or if you like me and everything is in pieces. Wrap the motor in a plastic bag and poke the extruder gear out of the bag. I wrapped a paper towel around the shaft too just to be safe. Take a dremel and a fine cutoff wheel cut a line in the valley between the extruder teeth. Cut down as far as you feel safe closer the better. One cut then another 180 degrees on the other side. Then put the brass gear on hard surface with motor in your hand. Put a chisel in the grove you cut and a light tap with a hammer splits the gear. I wasnt going to buy a new stepper and not going to pull it off with screwdriver or hammer

I purchased this, primarily, to make printing flexible materials easier for the Ender. I know that there are better extruders that help, but my two other printers are direct drive and I never have any issues with them. You will have to print a little slower with the extra weight on the gantry, but slower is the way to print flexibles successfully anyhow. Just remember to calibrate your esteps and change your retraction settings in your slicer.

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.

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.

Followed setup instructions to the tee. Heated to 220 literally went to snug a loose nozzle and it sheared off in the hotend. Out 100 bucks. This is garbage!

Best upgrade you can do. Calibrate your E-steps, reset your home location and you’re good to go. Eliminating my Bowden tube has been he best thing ever.