Instructions
In today’s article, we’ll be covering how to go about modifying the filament run out sensor that came with the CR10V3 so that it stops catching. As always, please do this mod at your own risk, and I’m not responsible if any damages may occur.
So as I mentioned in my previous review of the Creality CR10 V3, the sensor was very much holding back the potential for this machine. Because of the initial design for the filament intake, it caused a severe amount of friction to occur, which in some instances prevented the proper flow of filament through the nozzle. Before trying to create a new housing, I did run a test to see if I could simply replace the existing sensor with one that I had lying around, however this produced an error which prevented the printing process from starting. Instead of modifying the firmware, I decided to change the housing, which I believed to be the main cause of the issue. The electronics themselves were very well-designed, so doing this also makes this modification easier for other’s to undertake.
So the very first step was to remove the existing component and open it up to see what was inside. Luckily, this was fairly easy to accomplish because of how it was assembled on the machine. Once you remove the 4 screws holding it in place, you are immediately greeted with the electronic components. To make my life easier, I did decide to remove the filament stand, however this is not a necessary step.
Once the electronics were visible, I removed the two screws holding them in place so that I could get a better look at the housing that already existed on the machine. The first step was the remodel of the area where the sensor would be sitting, and once that portion as completed, I was then able to focus on the entryway for the filament. The issue with the stock version is that the angles were too sharp, and this was what was causing the large amount of friction. Also, the alignment was slightly off and this caused the filament to get stuck in the switch portion of the mechanism. In order to address these issues, I created a gradual entryway for the filament to the pass through and changed the point where the filament intersected with the switch. This produced a much more gradual entrance, which reduced the friction significantly.
With this out of the way, it was now time to create the connection points in which the two halves of the sensor would meet and combine to make the shell. I then added the bolt indents to further make this easier to assemble. So after a couple of prototypes, I finally had the final version that I would be installing on my machine.
IF you decide to install this one in your own machine, you’ll need to do the following. You’ll need to add the two screws to hold the switch in place, after which you’ll add the screws and bolts for the housing. In my case, I only had longer screws available, so I ended up only installing two of these across from each other. This also allowed me to place a much longer screw going in the opposite direction to attach this to the sensor mount. I added a bolt behind it just to make sure that it didn’t come off later on. With that completed, I installed it onto the machine and quickly tested it with both flexible and PLA filament. After doing my first print, I can say that it’s still working quite well, and I’m happy with the results. This was the resulting test cube, which was printed with a 0.8 nozzle and scaled to 130%.
Although this may seem like a simple mod, I found this to be one in which I appreciate the most since the friction being produced has caused my filament to break in mid-print on certain occasions. In the next article, we’ll upgrade the hot end to use an all metal hot end one for higher temperature printing.
Checklist
- Download + Print Files
- Remove original sensor
- Careful take out electronics
- Place into new housing
- Assemble