The Ender 5 Pro is an excellent printer out-of-the-box, but (like all Ender printers) I’ve found that it can still benefit from a couple of tweaks to get the most out of it.
That’s why I’ve decided to share the best Ender 5 Pro upgrades I’ve found from my 2 – 3 years using the printer.
I’d recommend most casual users add a new build plate for their first upgrade. The Creality flexible PEI build plate has made my prints more consistent, with better first-layer adhesion and scraper-free removal.
Makers who want to print with more materials should prioritize E3D’s V6 hot-end upgrade, which will let you print at the temperatures that PETG, PC, and nylon demand.
Those are my top two picks – but there are a ton of Ender 5 Pro upgrades that will improve the quality of your prints, as well as convenience add-ons to make your time with the printer more enjoyable.
This guide will share my recommendations for the upgrades I’ve personally found most useful – both paid and (more or less) free, 3D printed modifications.
Best Ender 5 Pro Upgrades – Full Round-Up
Pre-built Upgrades
- Build Plate Upgrades
- Enclosure Upgrades
- Auto-Bed Leveling Upgrades
- Extruder Upgrades
- Hot End Upgrades
- Nozzle Upgrades
- SD Card Extension Upgrades
Free/Printable Upgrade
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Paid Ender 5 Pro Upgrades
Ender 5 Pro Build Plate Upgrades
- Compatibility: Ender 5, Ender 5 Pro, Ender 5 Plus
- Price: $20-$25
Swapping out the stock Pro build plate is one of the most cost-effective Ender 5 Pro upgrades you can make.
Doing so improves first-layer adhesion – the first step to a successful print – opening the door to better performance with more demanding filament types. A better build plate also makes print removal a lot easier.
While there are numerous third-party options, Creality has done well to offer a good selection of in-house developed Ender 5 Pro build plate upgrades.
PEI-Coated Build Plate
The Creality flexible PEI build plate is a popular option that will set you back a reasonable $25.
The PEI surface has excellent adhesive properties and better first-layer adhesion compared to the stock plate, so there’s no need to rely on additional glue, tape, and the like.
The plate’s spring steel base attaches to the Ender 5 Pro’s magnetic bed, removing the need for clips, making it one of the easiest Ender 5 Pro upgrades to install.
Creality’s plate can handle temperatures up to 200°C and boasts well-distributed temperature stability. The build plate’s flexible properties allow scraper-less print removal; simply bend the plate, and prints pop off.
It’s a solid pick for PLA, ABS, PETG, and TPU printing.
Tempered Glass Build Plate
Creality’s Tempered Glass Build Plate is another popular option.
It’s made of tempered, strengthened glass with carbon and silicone thrown in for good measure, allowing it to handle temperatures up to 400°C.
The glass bed is compatible with virtually every filament type out there, with notably good PLA performance. Still, a bit of adhesive help, like tape or glue, for more challenging materials like ABS is often needed.Â
The smooth finish makes it a top pick for makers who prefer a clean underside for their prints and don’t mind drafting in a handful of clips to keep the build plate in place. Expect to pay under $20 for Creality’s Tempered Glass Build Plate.
Ender 5 Pro Enclosure Upgrades
- Compatibility: Ender 5, Ender 5 Pro, Ender 5 Plus
- Price: $80-$90
If you plan on printing ABS or other materials sensitive to ambient temperature fluctuations, an enclosure is a must-have upgrade.
Without one more challenging filament types are likely to warp due to the open-air design of the Ender 5 Pro.
While you can piece together your own DIY solution and potentially cut costs, Creality conveniently offers its own manufactured solution designed to fit the Ender 5, Ender 5 Pro, and Ender 5 Plus.
Easily assembled and storable, the Creality enclosure consists of a flame-retardant, aluminum-lined tent that sits atop an iron pipe support frame.
It features a see-through window for print monitoring and a large zipped front door to access the printer.
The enclosure is designed to maintain a stable internal temperature and protect against drafts.
Additional benefits include protecting your Ender 5 Pro from airborne debris like dust. It’s the best Ender 5 enclosure I’ve found, and also provides a good level of noise dampening (helpful if you’re running overnight print at home).
Ender 5 Pro Auto-Bed Leveling Upgrades
- Compatibility: Ender 5 Pro
- Price: $40-$50
Although bed leveling is an unavoidable and necessary part of 3D printing, you can remove much of the difficulty and tedium by upgrading to automatic bed leveling.
Antclabs’ BL Touch sensor is a popular option, but Creality also has its own, cheaper CR Touch equivalent.
Both are compatible with the Ender 5 Pro.
Although the setup isn’t as straightforward as installing other Ender 5 Pro upgrades, the process is suitable for even those with little DIY 3D printer modification experience.
The BL Touch and CR Touch come in kits consisting of the required mounting brackets, cabling, and screws.
Ender 5 Pro Extruder Upgrades
- Compatibility: Ender 5, Ender 5 Pro, Ender 5 Plus
- Price: $50-$60
If you plan on printing with flexible filament like TPU, we highly recommend an Ender 5 Pro extruder upgrade.
An extruder with a shortened and tighter filament path ensures flexible filament doesn’t bend or jam, one of the major issues owners encounter with the stock Ender 5 Pro’s Bowden system.
E3D’s Titan extruder is among the most popular options and comes from a company with an established reputation for producing quality parts.
It’s a rugged but compact and lightweight extruder that allows you to use the Ender 5 Pro’s existing Bowden tubing with a simple adapter or shift to a direct drive system.
The latter involves a little more leg work and additional components, but significantly improves the Ender 5 Pro flexible prints.
Ender 5 Pro Hot End Upgrades
- Compatibility: Ender 5, Ender 5 Pro, Ender 5 Plus
- Price: $55-$60
For makers that want to dabble with more exotic filament than standard ABS and PLA, upgrading the Ender 5 Pro with a hot end capable of higher temperature opens the door to materials like PETG, PC, and Nylon.
E3D’s V6 is a solid pick with a loyal horde of adopters who are more than willing to sing its praises.
It features an all-metal design and can reach temperatures up to 300°C.
The precision heat break ensures better control over filament flow while enhancing retraction responsiveness, reducing potential oozing, and fixing stringing problems.
Ender 5 Pro Nozzle Upgrades
- Compatibility: Ender 5, Ender 5 Pro, Ender 5 Plus
- Price: $15-$20
Alongside an extruder upgrade, beefing up the Ender 5 Pro with a brand new nozzle can do wonders when working with abrasive filaments or as a way of extending the gap between nozzle replacements.
E3D’s hardened steel V6 nozzle and Micro Swiss’ A1 hardened steel plated nozzle are both excellent picks, suitable for materials like metal-fill, wood-fill, carbon-fiber fill, NylonX, and other specialist abrasive filament types.
Ender 5 Pro SD Card Extension Upgrades
- Compatibility: Ender 5, Ender 5 Pro, Ender 5 Plus
- Price: $15
More a convenience upgrade than a performance mod, an SD Card extension can tweak the Ender 5 Pro to accept full-sized SD Cards rather than the easily lost and hard to manipulate micro SD Cards.Â
Creality has its own extension cable that plugs directly into the Ender 5 Pro SD Card slot with a ribbon leading to a standard SD Card slot.
The cabling can be a little unsightly and break the Ender 5 Pro’s aesthetic, but there are clever owner-made solutions to tuck it away, as we’ll see in the next section.
Free 3D Printed Ender 5 Pro Upgrades
Ender 5 Bed Support
To ward off any unwanted build platform movement or shifting, we recommend installing bed supports to add extra rigidity and improve printing performance.
The general format is two rigid support arms that sit below the platform.Â
We particularly like Raggio’s version. To install the bed supports, you’ll need no more than a handful of zip ties for an extra snug fit, as the arms are designed to friction fit with the bed screws.
Bed Wire Strain Relief
Due to how the Ender 5 Pro is designed, the bed wiring is unsupported and prone to wear and tear as they connect and rub with the printer when the bed moves.Â
To avoid fraying the cables and prevent malfunctions, or worse, a fire hazard, we recommend installing a bed strain relief add-on to support the cabling.
This bed strain relief model by grizzlyeric stands out for offering a friction fit instead of having to source a bolt.Â
Extruder Wire Strain Relief
Much like the bed wires, the Ender 5 Pro’s extruder wiring is left to dangle with little support. It tends to rub against the printhead mount. In time, the cables can fray, causing all manner of issues.Â
Installing a 3D printed extruder wire strain relief, such as this one by kawi63603, is an elegant way to ward off any potential problems.
It’s a small change, but it could save maintenance headaches and costs in the long run.
Tool Holder
Though not a necessary upgrade, a tool holder can tidy up the workspace around the Ender 5 Pro and offer easy access to your most-used accessories.
Thingiverse contributor rempel’s Ender 5 tool holder features a cutter holder, holes for Allen keys, a spot for a screwdriver, space for spanners, a spatula holder, and a scraper holder, all in a compact add-on that mounts directly onto the Ender 5 Pro’s frame.
Filament Guide
Bowden systems are notoriously prone to causing all kinds of trouble for the filament as it feeds into the extruder, especially flexibles which tend to bend, clog, and snap.
The Ender 5 Pro’s design means the filament has very little support before the extruder. A 3D printed filament guide is a must-have upgrade to give your filament a fighting chance.
D_jespersen, a prolific Ender 5 Thingiverse contributor, has come up with a simple but elegant solution that you can more or less 3D print yourself.
You’ll need some hardware and fittings to get it mounted, but once the installation is done, the guide will drastically reduce the amount of extruder-related problems.
Cooling Duct
If cooling is causing you warping and curling headaches, installing a cooling duct can significantly increase overall print quality.
McGybeer’s version sits below the printhead fan and redirects air to the printed filament while avoiding the nozzle for quick evacuation of hot air.
It’s compact, light, and mounts using the existing fan screws on the Ender 5 Pro.
Camera Mount
Another of the more optional Ender 5 Pro upgrades, an Ender 5 Pro camera mount is a handy add-on if you need to monitor prints remotely.
It mounts to Ender 5 Pro’s frame with 4mm bolts and T-nuts and pretty much does what it says on the tin. It’s designed for light cameras like the magnetic base Wyze and other low-cost, heavy-duty models.
Thanks to Thingiverse contributor FrogmanDave for the model.
SD Card/USB Holder
As any seasoned 3D printer will tell you, part of the hobby involves amassing a catalog of SD Cards and USB sticks.
To help you sort through these, keep them safe, and add a bit of quality-of-life sheen to your Ender 5 Pro, a dedicated SD Card/Holder is a great upgrade.
We particularly like Pugwash’s Thingiverse version as it’s built to friction sit in the printer’s V-Slot perfectly, a novel way to use the space and fill a gap that all too often attracts bits of stray filament.
Multiple versions are available with different SD, micro SD, and USB slot combinations to suit your needs.
If you’ve installed an SD Card extension, there’s also another option designed to house the cabling and sit on top of the Ender 5 Pro’s SD Card slot. It also features an Ender logo, so you’ll be keeping the printer’s branding intact with this one.
You can grab it here on Thingiverse, courtesy of maker BoothyBoothy.
FAQs
If you enjoyed this article, check our other Ender 5 guides to get some more inspiration:
