Hi,
I have been using my CR-10 Smart for about two years with mixed results. I found that upgrading to a PEI Print-bed was money well spent. I was sold a Sonic Pad that I wasn’t able get work. I was sold a Silent CR-10 Smart Pro Motherboard, but my Hot End Nozzle stripped before I installed it.
I am wondering: If I install the new CR-10 Smart Pro Motherboard, can I then upgrade to a better Hotend? Could I upgrade to a Direct Drive Extruder? Or, would I be better off just buying a new printer?
How much will the upgrades cost VS how much is a new printer that will do what you want cost. Also it matters if you like to tear apart you printer and put it back together or not.
Loosenut has that right. It is going to come to personal finances. The CR-10 is looking quite dated beside new printers. There is mounting evidence that FFF has more health concerns that previously thought, micro plastics from all filaments pose a hazard, I would suggest that there is one other consideration too, air quality and health. An open printer vs a fully enclosed and potentially filtered printer.
On that note, I bought a K1 MAX partly because it is an enclosed printer for the very reason you said. After I set it up I found out that for PLA, which is all I print, you have to take off the top or leave the door open or the heat will climb to the point where you can get heat creep and jams. Kinda negates the enclosure making it safe, at least for PLA. Kinda sucks too.
Personally, you can swap in the Pro board and upgrade the hotend or even go direct drive, but honestly, a new printer might be the cleaner path.
My Bambu is likely the closest to the K1. I print around 40% PLA. I had a riser and vents on the top. After I added an extra filter, Bento. It actually stopped the need for all the open lid thing. The XL is enclosed but doesn’t suffer any issues nor does the MK3 in a prusa enclosure but it usually prints ASA only. Might be worth a bento box to try?
I put a riser with hinges so that I can tilt the top up to vent the chamber. I rarely do this for short prints under a hour. I have had problems with the filament jamming in the gears of the extruder a couple of times. I think it might be the filament getting hot and weaker and it buckles but it never jams in the extruder tube.