What filaments can the Ender 3 print (stock hotend limits)?

The original Ender-3, on Creality's own comparison table, is a Bowden printer with a 0.4 mm nozzle, a 260 °C (500 °F) nozzle maximum, a 110 °C (230 °F) bed, and a filament list of PLA, PETG, and ABS. Creality's 2020 blog says the same hotend is PTFE-lined, not all-metal, and limited to 240 °C (464 °F), and it adds TPU to the list. Keep PLA inside both numbers. Treat a PETG profile that climbs past 240 °C (464 °F) as the disagreement, not as a third spec. PLA printing, PETG printing, open printers, flexible filament, and PLA temperature are the follow-ons. The printer index has no Ender-3 row.

Two Creality pages, two ceilings

The parameter comparison lists the original Ender-3, released 2018, as a Bowden extruder. Supported filaments are PLA, PETG, and ABS. Maximum nozzle temperature is 260 °C (500 °F). Maximum bed temperature is 110 °C (230 °F). The standard nozzle is 0.4 mm. On that same table the Ender-3 Pro adds TPU and PLA-Wood, still at 260 °C (500 °F) and 110 °C (230 °F). The Ender-3 V2 lists PLA, PETG, and TPU, with a 260 °C (500 °F) nozzle and a 100 °C (212 °F) bed. Later machines on the page, including ones with a 300 °C (572 °F) nozzle, are not the original Ender-3.

The 2020 Creality blog says the hotend can reach 280 °C (536 °F) and then says the temperature is limited to 240 °C (464 °F) because it is not an all-metal hotend and because of the PTFE tube. The filaments it names are PLA, ABS, TPU, and PETG. Its own suggested windows on that page are PLA 180–230 °C (356–446 °F) with a bed of 20–60 °C (68–140 °F), PETG 220–250 °C (428–482 °F) with a bed of 50–75 °C (122–167 °F), ABS starting at 230 °C (446 °F) and a bed of 80–110 °C (176–230 °F), and TPU 210–230 °C (410–446 °F). The PETG suggestion runs past the 240 °C (464 °F) sentence in the same article. This page does not collapse 240, 250, and 260 into one number.

Creality Ender PLA+ lists 190–230 °C (374–446 °F) and a bed of 60–70 °C (140–158 °F). Creality PETG lists 220–250 °C (428–482 °F) and 70–90 °C (158–194 °F). Prusament PLA lists 205–225 °C (401–437 °F) and 40–60 °C (104–140 °F). PLA, PLA+, and PETG are the hubs. Creality is the brand index. ABS on an open Bowden machine is the enclosure problem, separate from the hotend ceiling.

The threads

r/FixMyPrint 1gsxmyt is die swell. The score-159 comment says print slower and hotter. Hotter, on a PTFE-lined hotend, still has to respect whichever ceiling you believe.

r/FixMyPrint 133lrep is filament scraping the inlet. The score-153 comment says add a guide so the filament does not enter at a sharp angle. That is a path, not a material list.

r/FixMyPrint 1hym5rs wrote the bed as 50F and the nozzle as 200F. The score-53 comment says that is probably 50 °C (122 °F), that 50 °C (122 °F) is slightly low for PLA, and that 60 or 65 °C (149 °F) can work. Do not copy the Fahrenheit figures as a profile. No excerpt was supplied for the PETG 220/70 thread or the Ender-3 Pro PLA thread.

Questions