These are some parts to print (and probably lasercut one) to convert a classic Ender 3 v1 to a Heat Insert Press.

A lot of old Ender 3s seem to be dying lately.

I was going to build the Adafruit heat set insert press.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3613621

But I wanted to use Ender 3 wheels and screws and such - because I have a dead Ender 3 to scavenge parts off of.

Graciously, Adafruit included a STP file with their kit. So I started mofiying it to work with the parts I had... and pretty soon it became a game of modifying a few of the Adafruit parts to fit an Ender 3 frame.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R3515SF

I already had that soldering iron. I bought it specifically for heat inserts. It goes down to 180 degrees - which is a good temp for pressing into PLA. My knock-off Hakko soldering station has a knob marked down to 225. Also this iron has a silicon sleeve on the handle which is nice for mounting it into a 3D printed backet. Grips tight.

There are 10 or 12 m3 x 8mm screws on the carriage. There are intended to be used with heat press inserts that are ~4,25mm OD.

There are 12 or maybe 16 m4 x 8m screws and m4 t-nuts. Probably more than you can scavenge out of an Ender 3 - but that you might have around anyway.

Otherwise it uses all stock Ender 3 parts and screws.

You'll probably want to cut out some plywood for the work surface. There's a template to laser cut it you have the means. I'm using 1/4" plywood and it seems to work fine.

The balast holder is for a counterweight for the soldering iron. I filled it up with m3 nuts and it's alright. I tightened the eccentric nut on the carriage so there's some resistance and that plus the weight of the nuts is enough to make it stay where i put it. It doesn't try to return to its home position every time I let go of it.

The holder didn't have a part to connect a belt to, so I make a little printable hook for that. Attaches to the cup with a m3 x 8mm screw (and insert).

I cut one end off of the belt and thread it through the loop on the soldering iron side, and then through the loop on the cup, and then zip-tied it back to itself so the teeth interlock. I actually used one of the zip-ties that came with an Ender 3. I'm serious about using as much Ender 3 stuff as I could.

I included the STP file so you could adapt it to your particular hardware. For example, I'm not sure what Ender 3 Pro related changes would alter this setup.

https://imgur.com/a/hPBAsMP