Posts – Page 4 – YarkspiriFantasyArt

Bed Levelling is… Different – CR10 Smart Pro

Compare to many other 3D printers, the CR10 Smart features causes the levelling process to be quite different. This can cause quite a bit of frustration among new user’s, so we’ll be going over the process in today’s article.

To start things off, we’ll first need to lower the build plate prior to starting the levelling process. From the main menu, you’ll go to “Settings” + “Level” and wait for the hot end to probe the centre of the build plate. From Here, you’ll use the up and down arrows to set the probe offset, and in this case we want the nozzle to just barely touch the build plate or be slightly raised if it crashes into the surface. Now, this machine doesn’t allow for extreme fine-tuning of this feature, so we’ll go through some other methods later on. By selecting any of the corner numbers, the hot end assembly will automatically move to that location, and you’ll be able to adjust the levelling nut for the that corner of the build plate. Repeat this procedure for each of the corner’s making sure to double-check these before moving on to the next step.

With the basic levelling completed, you’ll now do an auto bed levelling. This creates a levelling mesh that is retained in the machine’s memory and allows it to compensate for an uneven surface. For this to be effective you’ll first want to preheat the nozzle and the build plate making sure that the nozzle is clean from any debris. Once this is complete, you can then double-check your print levelling by doing a short print which fits the build surface. For this example, I will be using a custom file that I’ve created, but you can use anything that similar. I designed this one to print in a continuous loop depending on the number of brim lines, so I will be using this to my advantage. This file will be available along with the other support files HERE. While the printer is moving, we can now adjust the offset if necessary to make sure that it doesn’t crash into the bed but has the correct height. If you still have to make additional adjustments, then this is where your slicer settings and start G-code will come into play.

If you have problems with the initial layer being too high off the build plate, you can compensate slightly through your slicer settings. For those new to 3D printing, this might be the least daunting option. For this example, I’m using Cura, but most slicer’s will have an option which is similar to this one. Under the Material’s Tab, you’ll go to the “Initial Layer Flow” and increase this slightly. Since the build surface is so textured on this machine, it does allow for more flexibility with your flow rate, but I wouldn’t increase this too much otherwise the first layer will lift onto itself because it’ll be over-compressed. If it’s more than 10% higher than your actual flow rate, then you’ll want to use the following method instead.

You can go to “Settings” + “Configure Settings and Visibility” + “Printers” + “Machine Settings” where you can expand the Start G-Code Window. From here you can modify this line “G1 Z2.0 F3000 ;Move Z Axis up” to adjust the amount if needed. This line appears in two areas of the Start G-Code. The first is for the purge line and the second is for the actual print. The portion which controls the initial Print height is this part here, so you can either increase it if it’s too close or decrease it if it’s too height up. The good news is that because you’ve already set the Z-offset using the menu options, you know that this value will be within 0.05 increments. So you’ll make your necessary changes and do your print test to verify your results. Making adjustments with this method does make it much more accurate and for those of you who are even slightly familiar with G-code this might be the best option.

With your bed levelling complete, you should now be able to have a much better chance of your 3d prints succeeding. For the full PDF guide which includes diagrams and more detailed instructions, you can find this here along with other guides for many other machines as well.

Ender 3 S1 – Final Verdict – Just how good is it?

In today’s today’s article, we’ll be going over the Ender 3 S1 by Creality to see if it’s a machine that’s worth spending money on. I purchased this machine with my own money in order to do this review, so everything you see here is based on my own opinion.

With this new machine, with have a newly upgraded build plate which is both flexible and has excellent print adhesion. While I have had this machine for a couple of months now, the build surface has held up and has no visible damage as yet. I haven’t had any issues with the prints sticking and removal has been quite easy with the print’s, self releasing if they’re allowed to fully cool down. In fact, I was so impressed by it that I tried to order a second surface for my Ender 3 V2 which I had upgraded in this Video Here.

This machine has been the first to come with ferrules connection out of the box, which I’m happy to report. What I have found confusing however is the fact this machine has proper connections while the CR10 Smart Pro still has tinned one. So although my machine has the proper connection types, I would still recommend you double-check yours since I purchased mine on Amazon and some reseller’s upgrade the machines prior to sending them out.

This machine does in fact have silent stepper drivers, however they did not upgrade the extruder fans to be more silent, so it can be still quite loud during operations. This is an unfortunate oversight since the hot end assembly has so many great innovations included within its design.

Similar to other recent machines, this one has a drawer which contains all the tools you’ll need to repair it in the future. This is appreciated since it makes it easier to keep everything organized and easy to find when you need it. I’ve gotten in the habit of storing original hardware, which I may have replaced, in this drawer just in case I need it later on.

The X gantry has a small clip to help to hold the cable to the hot end assembly, and while this allows for clean cable management, it doesn’t quite work correctly. When printing, the cable for the hot end assembly bends and cause the limit switch and motor connections to become strained. If you already have this machine, you may which to print this cable support to help keep this portion into place. You’ll need an extra long M3 screw to attach this into place, along with a Zip tie. I will have this file available on my website along with the PDF survival guide for this machine.

Thermal Runaway Detection was tested and is fully functional. The nice thing about this extruder drive is that it can easily be detached with the cable, so you have access to all the connections. This made it a lot easier to test as a result, and will make maintenance in general more user-friendly. The company has also recently released the source code files for the firmware, which should make it easier to upgrade in the future. Although not all of their machines are currently available, it’s likely that they may be in the future. Here’s a link to where you can find the repositories.

With the new dual Z axis, bed levelling should be less of an issue and shouldn’t be required as often. Both motors are linked together with a timing belt to help keep them in sync with each other. Although you shouldn’t have any issues out of the box, you’ll want to make sure that your stepper motor timing is properly synced up. For this, you’ll loosen one of the clutch screws for both motors and, with the machine turned on, use the menu to lift it up and down a bit. You’ll then simply re-tighten them, and should be good to go.

The spool holder and filament run out are both located on the top of the machine and have also been updated. The spool holder has the filament run out sensor attached to it’s front, which allows the sensor to rotate with the hot end assembly. While this helps reduce the amount of friction it does raise the overall height of the machine and because of my limited amount of space I had to create a filament guide to get around the issue. It should also be noted that having the spool holder on the top of the machine can cause more vibrations, which can affect final print quality. So although this is a great innovation, you may need to do some form of modification depending on your space limitations.

With the upgraded hot end assembly, we now have the new sprite extruder, which uses a direct drive mechanic. It’s similar to that of the CR10 Smart Pro with one important difference. In this case, although it is does have a Sprite Extruder, it isn’t an all metal hot end. This machine has a Bowden tube which lines the inside of the heat break and should be replaced with a Capricorn one to prevent any future issues. At the time of this recording, some upgradable or replacement parts were not yet available within my area. The only way to get the upgradable components was by agreeing to the terms of service and become a Creality reseller. Due to how the wording of certain clauses are, I find this to be risky and have refused to do so.

So what is the final verdict on this machine? Well this machine is a very reliable one which has become my go to for many prints. With the source code released, it’s a great option for those just starting or more advanced user’s alike. The only sticking point at the moment is the lack of available replacement parts, so although that’s something they’ll need to address in the future, they have left it open to modifications and alternatives. So for me, this gets a solid 8/10 for both new users and veterans alike.

Creality VIP Mall! – 3D Printer Manufacturers does THIS to Reseller’s?

So how does Creality treat its vendors? Just how much do they want to control the message that goes out to the public? Well, I found this one their main website by accident when I needed a replacement part for a video. I personally find this to be very concerning and worry about how they treat their resellers.

The issue I found this with this is that they haven’t limited their use of any assets which are shared on their platform, and it could potentially be used to resell STL’s and take the revenue from any shared videos. At the time of recording this, this was the only way to get certain replacement parts from the company, since their resellers didn’t have them available at the time. So in order to purchase any items you must be signed up to this service in particular and be restricted to their reseller program. With some of their reseller’s limiting their selection of products this will make it difficult to buy replacement or upgradable parts which is most likely to limit the lifespan of newly released machines.

While I am focusing on the use of the information that’s shared within this contract, there are certain areas which could also be problematic. The clause of additional fees could easily be used to sell the work of other’s by including this as a service. Since this contract is clearly stated as being flexible and could change at any time, there is also the potential for this contract to be changed to something more questionable in the future.

Original link to VIP:
https://vip.creality.com/en/register

IS it worth Buying? – CR10 Smart PRO

In today’s article, we’ll be taking a closer look at the CR10 Smart Pro by Creality. Full disclaimer, I purchased this machine with my own money in order to do this review, so everything you see here is based on my own opinion.

For those of you who follow these articles, you already know my opinion on the regular CR10 Smart, and this was quite a different experience mixed in with some familiar ones. To start things off, I didn’t need to update the firmware in order to get the machine to function properly, which is always a good sign. If you need to update your machine, however, make sure to check out my other article HERE since there’s quite a few things to be aware of when starting off. So while the update process is still quite finicky, it isn’t required to get a functioning machine.

Unlike previous machines, the company has decided to stop providing the source code and this will make future upgrades more difficult and can prevent newer features from becoming available.

EDIT: Since the original writing of this article, Creality has released the source code for this machine and some of the newer one’s as well. You can find them at this link here.

Like most budget friendly machines, most of these are notorious for not updating to the newer versions of marlin, which often limits their usability and can sometimes present safety issues. I did test thermal runaway protection, and I’m happy to report that the safeties are in place for the stock version of the firmware. One thing I would have liked to see, however, is a specific warning for the different types of thermal runaway errors to make it easier to troubleshoot. As is, there’s just a generic warning in place. Now, if this warning triggers‘ when you first get your machine, I could be that you improperly installed the connection to the hot end assembly. So you’ll first want to reseed it, making sure that both ends are properly secured and held in place with both the clips and the bracket.

I’m happy to report that the automated bed levelling feature works quite well on this machine out of the box. With the inclusion of the adjustment knobs, is easily adjusted to ensure proper print adhesion. When you first get your machine, you’ll first want to manually adjust the bed levelling prior to doing an automatic one. Once completed, you can choose to include an auto bed levelling procedure in your G-Code commands or do so when needed. As long as your print bed is levelled, you should only need to do this periodically instead. I will have a separate video on how to level your print bed, but for now I do have the downloadable PDF for this machine if you need it right away.

This machine like so many others on the market has tinned wired connections which should replaced with ferrule one’s. This is unfortunately a pattern with most companies and I would like this to be changed in the future since it does pose a safety risk. I already have an article going over this process in more detail, so please feel free to check HERE.

The hot end assembly has been updated to include the sprite extruder with the all metal upgrade. With this addition, you can now print with higher temperature materials right out of the box instead of having to add this feature yourself. There is still is a small Bowden tube connection that connects to the feeder, which I prefer to replace with a Capricorn one, but I wouldn’t say this is required unless you encounter issues. Both the entire Hot end is a custom design, so unfortunately it’ll be difficult to purchase replacements from any other vendors at this time, but it was designed so that key components can be easily swapped out. The remainder of the hot end assembly is quite difficult to take apart since all the components have been tightly integrated together. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like this should be needed unless you were doing any modification. They seem to have learned from the Ender 3 S1, and have added some additional support for the hot end assembly cable. The cable does still do a twisting motion when moving around, which could cause it to wear over time, and there isn’t currently a purchasable replacement cable. Some hot end connections use a non-standard connector, which could make alternative replacement parts more difficult to find. The heat break is also using a different length and threading size than what’s standard, which once again makes it difficult to find alternative versions of these parts. The machine which I purchased showed signs of pre-testing, so quality control may have improved in comparison to previous versions.

A great new feature is the integrated lighting which has been included with the machine out of the box and is something which I didn’t think I would even need until it was available. So far this has made it a lot easier to work on the machine and turns off automatically when the machine is powered off. Alternatively, you can turn off the light with the power switch as well, making this new feature quite convenient to use.

The bottom screws that attach the base of the machine are very easily striped, so be very careful when putting them in or taking them out. I will be replacing those since I don’t want to risk being unable to access the components of my machine. When you open up the machine, you’ll see the integrated Creality Wifi Box which I of course disconnected, so I could use the USB port to connect to my computer or raspberry pie directly. You can check out this Article which goes through the process if you intend to do the same.

The build plate has been upgraded to a flex build plate, and they’ve added some indentations to make it easier to line it up during re-installation. I personally love this new feature because it makes it so much faster to swap the build plate in and out. If you have a printing farm, then having a series of build plates you swap out just became a lot faster with this machine.

This machine has a lot of new innovations, and I’m happy to see that they’ve been properly implemented. With this however we are looking at a much higher price point especially when comparing it to the regular CR 10 Smart. So is this worth the price? If you want something that works out of the box, then this gets a solid recommendation, but I would also consider how some of this has been locked down by the manufacturer. You see, without easily purchasable components, this machine does have a limited life span in comparison to other machines. With a regular Ender 3 V2 for example, I can easily upgrade the hot end to whatever I feel like using and this means that I can replace parts from a larger amount of suppliers, in turn increasing the lifespan of the machine. It’s for this reason that this machine gets a 7/10. It’s a good machine, but without additional support materials and the files it may not be as repairable in the future unless you’ve created an account with the company and to their shady contract.

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