8/13/2019 – USED ENDER Printers back in stock! I’ve bought 3.. they help you fix ’em!

I’ve been a little busy lately with 3D Printing replica munitions, working a new laser and the Army so this post is quite delayed.

I’ve had the Ender 5 in the box for about 3 months and assembled it a few weeks ago. It’s a great printer with some features that aren’t on the typical Ender 3 or CR-10. It is more expensive but also offers some frustration-free features.

I am 8 Ender 3’s, 2 CR-10s and 1 Ender 5 into this 3D Printing experiment.

I have printed a few rolls of filament on my Ender 5 and I am happy to report this printer is MakerSteve Approved!

Difficulty: Easy

Price: $349.99 on Amazon – $319.00 on Ebay

Time to complete: 1-2 hours (there will be some troubleshooting)

Print Area: 220x220x250mm (pretty good for the money.)

Features: Heated bed, Great Creality stability, Resume on power-failure, Flexible, Removable Print Surface, Ready to print!

Pros:

– No need to level if you accidentally move the bed, it does it for you each time.

– Limited bed movement decreases chance of print being knocked off.

– More stable frame.

– Comes with upgraded springs out of the box.

Cons:

– Longer PTFE tubing can cause more opportunity for failure; friction, movement.

– Cable management is a mess… will need some work.

– Bigger foot print for the print size

– Still has poor quality compression fittings.

Satisfaction: Complete!

Recommended Upgrades:

Replace your XT-60 Connectors

Upgrade to an Aluminum Extruder – Video

Upgrade to Capricorn PTFE Tubing – Video

Upgrade your Compression Fittings

Recommended Supplies:

Loctite Blue Medium Strength Threadlocker

White Lithium Grease

3D SolutionTech PLA 1.75mm Filament (Makersteve Approved)

Capricorn XS Bowden Tubing

WD-40 PTFE Lubricant

NOTE: YOU WILL NEED TO SELECT 115V OR 230V ON THE POWER SUPPLY BASED ON YOUR POWER REQUIREMENTS.

The box!

The printer comes well packed and mostly put together. The top and bottom are assembled.

It comes with a magnetic bed which I use on about half of my machines. I like it.

The instructions to assemble are cleanly printing on the control box. Creality has stepped up their game and packing.

Many of the parts are interchangable between Creality Ender 5 and CR-10/S

A clearer look at the base assembly.

Everything laid out for assembly.

I recommend some Loctite Blue Medium Strength Stick, I use it on all of my printers.

Creality limited the sizes of screws for this printer.. just add the washers.

And a dab of Loctite Blue

I laid the base on it’s side to allow access to the bottom screw holes. It also squarely aligns the upright posts.

Ensure the upright extrusion is assembled with the holes at the top. Use 8 M5x25 screws… the largest ones.

Another view, notice the holes at the lower right.. they must be oriented to the top.

Four upright extrusion profiles assembled.

Set the top on the upright extrusion with the motor set to the rear. Notice the one hole in the top and one in the side. Use 8 M5x25 screws to complete this assembly.

Another view.

Both screws set.

A view from the top with the frame assembled.

A view of the vertical bed support assembly laid in place.

Use 4 M5x25 screws with washers.

A snugged up opposite corners to get the best alignment and worked my way around.

Don’t overtighten.

I prepped the 4 M4x10 screws with Loctite.

And held the bed with on hand while screwing in the 4 screws.

Don’t overtighten.

Now we install the control panel.

Loosen the T-slot nuts, top one will orient up and down, bottom one, left and right.

Insert the T-slot nuts into the extrusion and tighten.

Control Panel cable goes into EXP3 or CH3

Extruder is installed 80mm from the top of the extrusion. Slide the extruder up in the T-slot before tightening. NOTE: This image shows 100mm, not correctly.. I only had one hand.

Assemble the Filament Spool Holder.

Install the Filament Spool Holder 150mm up from the bottom rail. Measurement is from the bottom extrusion to the bottom of the spool holder.

Now we can start hooking up cables. I started with the extruder, cable is marked “E”

A NOTE ON CABLES: 4 wire cables are for motors, 2 wire cables are for endstops.

Here I hook up the Z Axis Motor Cable.

Z Axis Endstop Cable.

Z Axis Endstop cable installed.

X Axis Motor and Endstop cable.

X Axis cables and X Axis Motor… X Axis motor is oriented to the right on the top of the frame. The endstop is slightly out of focus on the same extrusion of the X Axis motor in this picture.

Y Axis Motor and Endstop Cable

Y Axis motor is oriented in the top rear of the frame. Endstop is pictured at the top.

Insert the PTFE into the Compression Fitting.

Connect the cables. They are labeled.

XT-60 Connector is the big yellow connector. Based on the recent issues with Creality’s supplies you may want to replace it to reduce any fire risk. Here is the walk-through on how to do that.

Hotbed power cables are red on both sides.

Thermister cables are white, this is your only real risk of mixing up.

Kind of a mess, I will come up with a solution to clean up shortly.

It’s alive!

Add a little White Lithium Grease to the screws.

Adjust the Z axis Endstop screw.

And start printing.

There you have it..

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Thanks Steve

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