SainSmart x Creality Ender-3 3D Printer Expired

Alright Folks, I purchased this Printer. Can someone guide me in a directions on how to other than YouTube.

I will be printing few upgrades.

1) What Application you recommend?
Cura or Simplify3D

2) Do you recommend PLA or PLA+ for upgrades?

3) What upgrades you recommend from get go?

4) I have Raspberry Pi Model B(Original) can I use this for OctoPrint or you guys recommend discard this and get rpi3 or 4?

5) is there a forum cater to SainSmart Ender 3? if yes, can you advise where to look?

Cura is fine, not the Ender branded one, download directly. IT has the profile for this printer built-in.

Either PLA or PLA+ is fine. I printed new PSU cover, Mobo cover and extruder system from Silk PLA which is arguably one of the weakest versions.

I build my Ender with upgrade parts from the get-go....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JQ78L8C You need these. You can print new filament spool rollers and new pulleys making the movement of the filament buttery smooth for the extruder.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LYRBRYL Don't bother with the stock springs or the springs recommended by others. These silicone ones not only reduce vibration, but they don't deform over time from compression and heat provided by the bed. Blue nuts also look better than basic bi*** red everyone has
https://www.amazon.com/Authentic-...B07ZMFP2L8 Any of the metal extruders are almost mandatory as is the Capricorn bowden tubing...eventually the stock will crack (even though it has a metal core) and crappier Bowden tubes with bad tolerances will snag filament or even deform from the hot end heat.. Pro-tip. there is a metal sleeve, tiny one that goes over the retaining screw to hold in the spring on the extruder. Remove this. Don't install it. Let the spring use just the screw to hold it in place. The single 1mm the sleeve is, pushes the extruder too hard against the filament and softer filaments like Silk will deform and jam the Bowden tubing... eventually.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XBVF1C9 Upgrade to the Pi 4... only need the 2bg version if its dedicated to a single machine. I use this version with a touch screen. It very much replaces the screen module that comes with the machine. You don't "need" a screen since octopi/octoprint naturally runs headless (once setup it just runs and you use whatever web browser you want to connect to it). I use the screen so I always have instant visual data on how its going.

If you need the machine to be quieter, the majority of the noise is from the fan in the PSU. Replace that first and print the new cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6...WL&index=2 Octopi install. If you are unlucky like me and can't get the desktop GUI to install then search for how to repair/re-download stock files.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J...WL&index=5 Best build how-to. Only thing I would add is the bed leveling. Screw in the bed left and right front at the same time and then the rear at the same time alternating with only quarter turns. Pain to go so slow, but you do NOT want to deform your bed by tightening one spot too much before the others. And screw down the bed about as low as you can go (where the wires for the hot bed part are just about touching their holder). You want the silicone or even regular springs under as much pressure as possible. This reduces needing to re-level the bed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i...=1&t=1470s Fan upgrades. I think its a must if you spend any time in the same room as your printer.

Just go to Reddit for the Ender 3 sub-reddit.

God Bless man, that is boat load of info you shared. I also found ideamaker which I'll check out. Downloaded Cura from Curas site for now and tested Simplify3d. Going to perform all I can do. I got bearings already. The metal extruder and bed stuff is next. If you can guide me into Upgrading firmware and which firmware to download. That will be super helpful. I have constantly hit roadblocks with that.