2022 Official Sprite Direct Drive Extruder Pro Kit with 80N Stepper Motor, Direct Drive Upgrade Kit for Creality Ender 3 pro, Ender 3, Ender3v2, Ender 3 Max, Support TPU Filament

I have tried many extruders over the years and this is the best all in one Direct Drive extruder I have ever used. The kit came with the everything I needed to add this to my Ender 3 v2.Installation was straight forward and the documentation online was easy to follow.My only complaint was the built in mount for the CR Touch is ever so slightly to low for a BL Touch so I did end up buying the CR Touch to finish this installThe prints are beautiful with out any tuning what so ever other then adjusting e-stepsFor settings in Cura I ended up using the Ender 3 s1 Pro settings, and they worked perfectly.

Takes a half an hour or so to install (you will need to rewire motherboard connections), but the print quality is *incredible* compared to the stock hotend and extruder setup on an Ender 3 / most Creality printers. Night and day difference when printing small features thanks to the greatly improved retraction performance, and a smoother surface finish elsewhere (all printed with PETG). Haven't tried TPU yet but I have no doubt this extruder / hotend assembly will print it easily.10/10 would (and do) recommend to anyone I know with an Ender 3.

I love the quality of the print head. I have this installed on my ender 3 and it installed no problem. So when I went to install it on my cr 10 I found out the hard way that it needed a belt upgrade due to the bracket not being wide enough. Other than that I expect it to print perfect once my replacement belt arrives.

I needed a new hotend for my ender 3 max as I broke my old one. Scrolled through Amazon and found this and thought I might as well upgrade while I’m looking. I didn’t think it would work because it says it’s for the ender 3, but it surprisingly works well with wiggle room. Absolutely worth the money if you’re itching for an upgrade.

I took a chance on purchasing this. I have a Longer LK4 and was getting conflicting info on if it would work or not. It will not, at least not without doing some re-wiring.Still it appears to be a pretty solid unit, well constructed. I had to return it because it wouldn't work and was a little disappointed as it looked like it would have been great. But since I couldn't test it, all I can do is comment on the looks and feel of it. Despite the inexpensive price, it didn't feel cheaply made. Based on feel alone, I am giving it 3 stars. Can't honestly give more than that without being able to physically use it though.

This extruder has been working great for me. Installation was easy, but calibration on Ender 3 V2 takes a little work. I'm very happy with the upgrade.

So, in case you aren’t aware, since mid 2022 Ender has put out Ender 3’s with two types of boards and 2 types of chips: the 4.2.2 and the 4.2.7 silent boards and the STM style chips vs GD style. Both of these run their issues with trying to install the Sprite as an upgrade. On my 4.2.2 board with A4988 stepper motor drivers and Creality firmware, the Sprite quickly gets out of sync and halts and stutters, producing horrendous layer shifts. Oddly enough, this also seemed to bug out the y axis stepper as well. Due to the cheap stepper motor drivers, they can’t be changed with the G code, so you have to manually adjust the VREF to get the correct amount of current to drive the steppers. Unfortunately on the Ender 3 that I got, these are tiny, thin Philips heads that will strip before backing out. Likely due to the insane amount of hot glue that Ender decided to secure the electronics with.Perhaps I should change to a different Marlin to run the steppers? Well, that’s where the GD chip ruins the day. There is only one version of marlin firmware designed for Ender 3s with this extruder and motherboard. At least, only one that will let you move the z axis down as well as up. It’s is the one I’m currently running that is giving terrible results until I can get it calibrated.Now, onto specific complaints about this specific seller and motor. Despite the listing and site saying “all metal” (beware full metal- it is known to come with a plastic throat) this ALSO COMES WITH PTFE THROAT, limiting your upper temp to about 260 C. The only reason I know this is because the pre-tension spring was wound far too high from the factory, causing the motor to skip rather than extrude. Moreover, one of the extruder gears are also plastic, again undermining the idea that you are paying for an all-metal object. The gear is in the lower right and the tube is straddling the Ender logo in my picture. After tearing the motor apart, I found that the spring was bent, the locking nut was off the bolt, and there was a plastic tube where there should have been a titanium one.If you have a regular (non pro) Ender 3 in 2023, don’t bother with the upgrades. You’ll have to almost turn it into the pro version to get this working. Hopefully Ender or Marlin will start supporting the GD style chips to alleviate this frustration. As for me, I’m having a 4.2.7 that *should* have an STM chip on it coming in tomorrow. If I get this working, I’ll update my rating. If I can’t, than I’m returning to stock and the rest can go back to Ender.Update: the 4.2.7 board works well with this extruder and those drivers are actually silent at print speeds. The fans of the sprite, however, are super loud. If I find fans that are truly silent, I’ll update, but right now it’s just white noise while the printer is running, which is fine.After adjusting the tensioner until the PLA no longer slips, the extruder works well. The bolt supplying tension on the x axis gantry seems to come loose over time. Changing the nozzle is also more awkward than the stock head due to the parts cooling fan. Although faster extrusion speeds seem like an option with a direct drive, in reality you’re adding weight to a moving part, and so you are limited to about 60 mm/s on the print speed before having to compromise quality. Overall, I think upgrade, including the new motherboard price if you have a 4.2.2 board, is probably not worth it. Just run through teachingtech’s calibration guide more.

I’ve struggled for years to get clean ABS prints with the bowden tube setup and an upgraded hot end, but when I saw this in a 3D printing forum with someone else proclaiming it fixed their ABS issues I jumped and ordered it - and boy am I glad I did. Layer adhesion and consistency is FAR better. I haven’t tried TPU yet, but everyone says it does great. Don’t keep guessing - buy this…