The stock printer will be fine given correct assembly. I’ve literally changed nothing hardware wise on my used Ender 3 since I got it over a year ago, and it still makes nice strong prints. No nozzle changes, no capricorn tubing, no nothing. It holds its level on the stock springs for months at a time, and the only thing I need to do to prep the bed is to wipe it with isopropyl. The only thing I did was flash Marlin on it for the thermal runaway protection since it was an older version of the Ender, which had no effect on prints.
I wouldn’t bother with upgrades unless you’re having issues with the part itself (most of the time it’s just poor assembly, not the part that’s broken), or the current printer lacks capabilities you need (direct drive for TPU or flexy filaments, silent board for quieter operation). The stock hardware is good for 90% of what you need it to do.
You have to make or buy an enclosure for abs otherwise it warps like crazy. And also have to keep that enclosure hot. That’s the reason why I never got into abs. PLA and Nylon only.
Nope, you definitely want to have an enclosure for ABS. There’s plenty of DIY options out there though, from Ikea LACK tables to just wrapping the entire thing with trash bags (please don’t do this). Ventilation is also a plus, as ABS fumes are a little more toxic than PLA.
Nope sorry, I pretty much exclusively print in PLA nowadays, and when I printed in ABS, it was with printers that had built in enclosures. It doesn’t have to be fancy though, just needs to keep the heat from escaping and fumes in.
Of course, the printer’s still doing the same moves, it’s just the plastic that comes out of the nozzle that’s different. It’s just the difficulty of printing that makes it less popular than PLA, which is pretty much plug and play. PLA doesn’t need a heated bed or enclosure, melts at a lower temperature, is (technically) biodegradable, and doesn’t warp as easily, which makes it great for cheaper printers.
