3d printer troubleshooting/tweaking/building

I've got a bondtech DDX (direct drive) and Mosquito (hot end) on order for my CR-10SPro v2.

looked at the micro-swiss - they come highly recommended, but with their DD being pretty new, I went the well trodden path.

 

Over the last couple of years, I've acquired Titan, Bondtech and Bulldog extruders (all clones). All require a modified mounting plate to install which is why they aren't
The Microswiss looks like an easy solution and with a Covid handout arriving in time for Christmas, the timing is too good to miss. (It's either that or a sous vide cooker ;-)

EDIT: looks like Cubic have sold out of Ender 5 version of the extruder :-(

 

i've got a 0.5 nozzle installed on my pro and have now run about 600g worth of plaWood, Stonefil and plaCarbonFibre, and i think the nozzle is still good. with this in mind, i reckon my metal hotends won't be getting that much use... plus, a pack of 5 nozzles are about $8 on ebay so this is probably the best way to go for me.

i've been eyeing that microswiss hotend and dd combo on the cubictech website for a while now too. i had it in my cart along with a few rolls of filament but i didnt follow through. i think i'll try that cheap and easy mod first whereby you can relocate your extruder motor to a direct drive setup. my hotend still works fine too, so it'd be a shame to retire it while it still works... i'll run it into the ground first! it would be interesting to hear about ppl who have used the microswiss.

another thing i've been eyeing is that ender extender kit as i'd like to print some big things that just dont fit on my standard bed. its still a big maybe for me though, as im dreading the work involved in practically tearing down the whole machine... and i still secretly want an ender 5!

 

When I bought the Ender 5 about 18 months ago, I also got a spare hotend ($28!) which I've never needed. I might risk one printing some PETG for an E3D mount I found on Thingiverse. Printing PETG is towards the upper limit of the temperature range of the Crality hotends.
I've been very happy with the Ender 5, no issues at all. There was some concerns voiced about the fact that the bed is only supported on one side and could flex. I've not experienced this. Main board has been replaced with a BTT Mini E3, mainly for the TMC drivers, plus a 5" touch screen. I did replace the plastic extruder parts with metal ones too. The flexible bed was tossed early on as it wasn't flat, I've been printing on 4mm glass with no problems. The other day I received a spring steel sheet from BTT which I'll fit when I install the BLtouch that's been sitting in a drawer for 12 months.

 

i've been happily printing abs+ on my one for a while now. 250deg/95deg. i think the stock hotend is rated to 260degs? so i've got a little bit of headroom left. its been printing even better with these hot days in melbourne. i've got the other printer in the garage, so it's like a free enclosure which has been hovering around 32ish degs - and a little hotter when all cars have arrived home. i can't get away with the corners lifting a bit, so all my abs prints have to be printed with a 5mm wide raft.

i've gone on a bit of a shopping spree for my second printer too, to match my first one. abl, skr 1.4 turbo, tmc2209s, and a btt tft50 - the one which is r-pi compatible. i hope it all arrives before xmas, so i 've got something to tinker with.. or else, it'll end up sitting in a corner somewhere too coz i cbf or will be too busy again.

 

Set up for printing PETG yesterday and it came out quite well. I did have to print on a raft (glass bed) Bed temp - 75°, hotend temp - 245°, eSun fire engine red PETG. I used a profile from CHEP, 0.2 layer height.
Parts are for a E3D V6 hotend (model here).
I did run into a small roadblock with the V6. It's a bowden version and is missing the small plastic collet from the top of the heat sink. I'll order a spare from Aus3D today.
Still might get the Microswiss direct drive extruder and hotend when they are back in stock next week.

EDIT: Found a collet on Thingiverse so I'll give that a try first.Failed! Needs a 0.2mm nozzle whuch I don't have.

 

Problem solved!
The V6 has a brass insert at the top of the aluminium heat-sink. I tapped this 6mm for a push type fitting.
The size of the fitting means that a 4mm PTFE tube won't go through it so I'll have to cut a small piece of tubing the fit between the fitting and the heat break. Fortunately, E3D had CAD drawings of the hot end so I don't have to so any measuring/calculating.
Having a joint at the top of this short tube shouldn't be a problem with filament oozing as that part of the heat-sink (hopefully) will never get hot enough.

Now I just have to dig out a 24V heater cartridge... and a thermistor ...

 

Ended up taking the heater cartirdge and the thermistor from the Creality hotend. Cartridge is a little longer that the E3D one but diameter is the same.
All fitted witha few dramas - I didn't have the necessary 2.5mm threaded inserts so had to use nyloc nuts. To fit them I had to get creative with a Dremel
Hotened gets up to temperature and the fans work. Need to do some PID tuning and then replace the PTFE bowden tube, the stock one is a little short, before I can do a test print

While I'm in a destructive mood, I'll replace the fan in the Meanwell power supply.
Next mod is to add the spring steel bed and the BL-Touch.

 

how effective is that hotend fan ducting setup? i've been thinking of fiddling around with a few designs online like the petsfang, etc.

 

Bit early to tell, I haven't printed much as yet.
I did print a few stringing tests to set retraction as I read that this should be reduced for an all metal hotend but found the settings I had worked just fine.
Planning to do a few test prints today

 

A bit more printing time in with the new hot end and it seems to be working very well.
Part cooling fan is doing it's job. Happy with the mount design.
As I managed to crack it installing it, I might try reprinting the fan duct at a slightly higher temperature (PETG) than I did with the stock hot end. Still don't have any higher temperature filaments to test it out properly.
I was going to place an order with Cubic bought bought that sous vide cooker instead

 

My bondtech order arrived yesterday,

Went all out: DDX kit for the CR-10S Pro, mosquito hot end, upgraded heater/thermistor, vanadium nozzle.

VERY nicely engineered and made kit/parts, not cheap, but initial impressions of quality seems worth it. everything is well machined, individually bagged in groups of what you need when you need it, fits perfectly, stupidly detailed instruction guides. the blower fan is fiddly to assemble, I need smaller fingers.. all the wiring fits back through the creality supplied braided loom. the supplied adjustment figures (E steps, retract settings etc.) are bang on.

first print started great, til I noticed blobbing, it was oozing around the nozzle, silly me didn't tighten the nozzle into the hot end properly. so I've got a little mess to fix, but until it oozed enough to cause defects it was printing beautifully.

 

Speaking of hotends... I've had no end of troubles in the last month with my ender 3 pro, wondering if the hotend needs replacing. Ordered the proper bowden tube, cut it perfectly but I'm still getting clogged nozzles every print. Been printing trouble free for months, and suddenly now every print fails. The last time I cleaned out the hotend I noticed a black goo inside the center.. almost looked like some sort of residue. Could wipe it out, but its impossible to clean out properly.

Been looking at amazon and ebay for upgraded hotends but I have no idea what's good and what's not. Ideally I'd like an all metal one so that I don't have the tube going in all the way to the nozzle.

 

Was almost thinking about posting a new thread for this but not sure it's worth crapping up the forums for...

I have an ice cream tub full of plastic lids from long life milk, juice bottles etc..etc..
My father knew some place in KooWeeRup (not far of South Gippsland Hwy, SE Vic) that some how recycled them into 3D printer filament or similar.
Apparently they no longer want them.
So are these useful to anyone?

Plan A = Available for free pickup from Pakenham VIC, first in first served.
Plan B = Any suggestions on another friendly way to dispose of them
Plan C = Into the recycle bin.

Cheers.

 

Let us know how you go with the kit, been eyeing a hotend upgrade/a move to direct drive but the machine keeps on giving me reasons not to.

 

had a big print on the weekend, 28 hours worth. I spent a lot of time tweaking slicer settings for the stock hot end, and got pretty good results, but then it started jamming all the time so had to go. I use PETG almost exclusively, so always running hotter temps (240C). Only setting I tweaked for the new DDX was to reduce the retract distance (6->1mm) and speed (40->30mm/sec). and it printed just fine, and with much better quality too - bit more stringing than I'm used to, but that would be some more tweaking on the retraction settings.

filament despite being difference colours are both the same brand and type.





pretty clear quality difference, layer visibility, ghosting/ringing, miscellaneous crap.
New one has more infill bleed through though.

if you afford the $, do it.

 

Geez, hard to argue with that, wouldn't take long to iron out that infill bleed either.

Eyeing up a triangle labs direct drive kit w/ BMG style extruder and their dragon hotend at the moment...

 

Excellent results.
Still undecided about a direct drive option for the Ender 5. Still sorting out the recently added E3D V6. Going to try some PETG at a higher temperature than I was willing to risk with the stock hotend.

 

if you use rollers they may seem to have flat spots but yeah looks good otherwise

that filament thaat goes matte&sparkely really hides it well

is that the finalmouse logo?

 

what makes you say I've got flat spots? the printer is still fairly new (<6 months, but will have a few hundred hours on it)

And no, Forza Motorsport logo, it's a mount that sits atop my sim wheel combo, that holds a android tablet for simdashboard, and a raspberry pi+LED contraption for shift light.