So I just bought a Creality Ender 3 V3 SE yesterday and I’m 100% brand new to 3D printing. I read the booklet too may times, then I watched the YouTube multiple times too. Thought I followed everything meticulously close. However I must have missed something.
I have it assembled, power tested, and ran through the start up (leveling, etc)…all good!
Then I tried to print. When I put in the fresh SD card into the printer, it found no files. I thought that was odd that a test file wouldn’t be included, can anyone verify that? I ask for verification because I then put the SD into my laptop, and it said the card was corrupt?
Since then I’ve tried to find an STL file to run a test print on my new machine (since I started that venture my laptop has become overrun with pop-ups and various other trash). I was able to find one simple looking piece online, so went out and bought a new SD card then copied the file onto the new SD card. I put the SD card into my Creality but no file shows up on the smaller controller screen.
Sadly I’m a person that relies on very clear guidance, but I would really appreciate any constructive comments that might help me out.
Sorry to hear your sd card may have been corrupted.
As for printing. Process wise you take your 3d model. I normally associate .stl files as what i ise for 3d printing but there are a few other file types aswell. As for places to find these files i use Thingiverse and Printables. Jusy google either of those and youll find a new rabbit hole of things to print.
Before your printer can do its magic you need to “slice” your 3d model. There are several good free slicer programs you can use. Theres Cura, Prusaslicer, Super Slicer and Orca (i think, havent used this one).
Personally i would say for ease of use go with prusaslicer.
Regardless of slicer you need to tell it a few things about what your printing.
nozzle diammeter (usually 0.4mm is the stock nozzle size and most common)
filament type. What are you useing? PLA? PETG? ABS? ASA? TPU?
what printer your useing? Slicers just cut up a 3d object as its told to, meaning i can use the same slicer for different printers (the same file would only apply to printers with the same parameters/conditions, otherwise seperate files for differences)
Theres alot more to useing the slicer but this will get your first print off the ground.
Note things to research/ask about.
-infill
brim
supports (you wont have great success printing in midair)
Again welcome, and please feel free to ask questions. Everyone started somewhere and this community is amazing beacuse of how helpful it is.
Do away with those files on the SD card, Reformat the card.
Id advice to get comfortable with Orca Slicer as its by far the best one! The stock profiles for the Ender 3 V3 SE should get you going until you understand more.
Stick to PLA before starting to use any other materials.
Start out by printing this with a stock profile for your printer and go from there!
Go to this site and download their card format app, it is supposedly the best way to format SD cards without any problems. Windows may not make it compatible with all things.
Thank you! Being methodical by nature, this helps me address the SD card issue. I have now completely reformatted my SD card, now on to the next challenge!
I’m going to continue to press forward, but I’m guessing I need to get this STL file onto my newly formatted SD card…then plug the SD card into my Ender-3 and hit “Print”…
I just put the SD card into the printer and chose the print option. And this is where I fail…no files show up on my small controller screen, just the folder? I can’t seem to get a file available to me on the printer. Any guidance is yet again appreciated
To summarise very briefly, your printer does not use STL files. It uses Gcode. And the slicer is what turns your STL into a Gcode file, which you then put on the sd card and make the printer read.
Thank you. I now own two SD cards, both have been re-formatted, both have the gcode file for the Benchy boat. When I place either SD card into my printer, no file shows up. Sadly, I’m considering returning the printer. I REALLY want to figure this out, but I can’t even get the simplest of problems worked out.
Thank you everyone for trying to help. Looks like I’ll try to phone the store for help, but I’m losing hope.
I have a Lexor 8GB SD card and a Kodak 2GB card. Both are formatted the same way. However, files on the Kodak card are read fine, but long file names on the Lexor card don’t show up. I simply rename files with a short name and then they appear. I don’t get it, but it is what it is.
Thank you again everyone! Progress has been made. I took the unit back in to the store and we walked through it step by step, they were incredibly patient.
Ultimately there were a couple of issues, both related to the SD card. #1 - When formatting the SD card, I needed to format it as “FAT32”. I never use SD cards so had no idea about this option. Sadly this was not an option within the link provided above (this is not a complaint, just sharing this info in case anyone else struggles with this). It must be formatted with FAT32 selected #2 - Also when formatting, be sure to select “NTFS”
We also discussed memory capacity of the SD card, and apparently this can also lead to issues. The second SD card I purchased (since I couldn’t get the one provided by Creality to work) is 64GB and turned out to be too large. I’m not 100% clear what the maximum size is, but keep in mind that size matters
Now I’m up and running with the Creality SD card. I’ve only made very simple shapes, but only because I need to get back up-to-speed on my 3D modelling skills, plus I need to improve my slicing comprehension.
both my Ender 3 and Ender 3 pro are limited to a max of 32gb size sd card. I suspect that is the same for your printer.
I believe there is an error in point number 2… You said that you must format for “fat 32” which makes sense, but then under heading number 2 you said when formatting be sure to include “NTFS”.
Bothe fat32 and NTFS are formatting standards, and, as far as I know, you can only format to one or the other, not both.
