3D Printing Updates Needed for an old Workhorse: CR-10S

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DRAGON64

DRAGON64

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I ordered a new Creality Ender 5 S1, as a dedicated printer, but I am not replacing the CR-10S I bought 4-years ago. However, in 4 years I have never upgraded anything on this printer, and so I am posing the question here, what are some upgrades I can do to improve print quality of this unit?

Right now I am looking at a Bowden tube replacement as well as a metal extruder upgrade. My printer bed still sags in the middle after leveling, which I have been compensating for with multiple sprayed layers of hair spray...

Complete CURA settings for your PETG prints might also help, as I am sure I have made enough changes over the years, that could be my cause for 'stringing' etc.

For my rocketry build needs, I am considering going away from the slower .4mm nozzle, and using a quicker .8mm nozzle, thoughts?


Any help to preserve thios ol printer would be much appreciated!IMG_9451.JPG
 
I have the 500mm^3 version of that printer. I put a 0.6mm nozzle on it for vase mode nosecones - and really like it.

I also got a TH3D ezboard for it, and am pleased with it.

I haven't noticed any bed sagging, though.
 
Other than quitening the system, what else does the TH3D ezboard do for the CR-10S? I have never upgraded the firm ware or anything on my printer.

Using a piece of paper, the 4 corners of the bed level perfectly, but the center has enough airgap that it never touches the paper. If I adjust the corners until the hotend touches the paper in the middle, the nozzle drags at the 4 corners... A good layer of Aquanet hairspray in the center fills the gap.

Are you still using the stock hotend? The fans on mine are seeing some wear on the blades where I made inadvertant contact with a tool, and they got slightly chewed on.
 
I'm still using the stock hotend. But I don't use it heavily.

I added the EZABL along with the EZBoard - so I'm using a 4x4 level sensing pattern and mesh adjustment for leveling.

I abandoned the filament sensor (stock) - the filament eroded the plastic housing and made it unreliable.
 
I forgot the physical upgrades I made when I got it - I ran threaded rod from the top to the back of the frame to help stiffen it. And I ran a belt across the top of the Z frame to sync the Z steppers. I found they drifted relative to each other an annoying amount as manufactured.
 
If you take the bed off you can gently pull the corners towards yourself with your knee in the middle do this in both directions till the bed is flat, I have done this on a couple of mine and it helped the center being different than the corners.

Cheers Rob.
 
Thank you, I may give that a go, as I will be taking the printer apart to go through the addition of upgraded parts I picked up for it yesterday.
 
DRAGON64 said:
@Charles_McG did you also have to get the Dual Cbale LCD board with your TH3D EZ?
Click to expand...
My email archive says I ordered the dual cable adapter, not a whole new display.

That jives with my memory - I've also updated my Ender 5 with the Creality silent board. I used one of the two 'spare' boards (but I don't recall which) for my MPCNC, and I had to get a new display board for it.
 
DRAGON64 said:
Which board do you recommend over the other? The TH3D EZ? or the Creality Silent?
Click to expand...
You may want to take this with a grain of salt - it's been a couple of years. From memory, without going back and looking at websites, the Creality Silent was strictly a drop-in replacement for the Ender 5 mainboard, with no additional upgrades or features. New driver chips, but still a 16 bit board running a Creality branded Marlin 1 firmware. The TH3D board is a 32bit processor running the TH3D maintained version of Marlin 2. It gets regular bug fixes and updates (like Arc gcode support.) It has the silent driver chips, and manages to eek out more resolution from the steppers. The heftier processor supports a bigger, more capable firmware and has more onboard memory for GCode - so it hits the SD card less often.

I learned both ways of updating the firmware - deploying from the development environment after updating the configuration.h and using the web-based binary generating tool. My only complaint is that it reboots when I put in an SD Card - that bug is supposed to have been fixed. But, also, I haven't updated recently. The TH3D firmware and board supports several add-ons - like the bed sensor and a supposedly better filament sensor.

It's possible I'm off a factor of 2 on the bitty-ness in both cases.
 
So here are the upgrades I decided on for my CR-10S; keeping in mind I had to step away from the computer before I picked up enough parts to pretty much build a new printer :rolleyes:

From Amazon:

  • Creality metal extruder
  • Stock replacement hotend and fan assembly
  • Capricorn Bowden tube
  • 1ea of 10-piece .6mm and .8mm nozzles
  • Creality 12 X 12 magnetics build surface
  • Micro SD to SD extender cable
  • 128G SD card
  • CHPOWER frame rod support (this is when I had to step away, as I really do not believe I need these)

From TH3D:

  • 50mm fan assembly for control unit & power supply (current fan is intermittently noisy)
  • TH3D EZboard v2.0
  • Dual cable LCD board
  • Creality LCD replacement (again, at this point I had to push away)

The LCD screen will replace the stock one, and the stock one will be a back up... The control knob on the LCD screen was a negative for me, as it was so finctionally sloppy to use. I expect the new one to be as well, but at least it will be newer.

The plan is to completely disassemble the printer starting this weekend, clean, and rebuild with the new parts and start printing again. Hopefully the tear down goes well, and if I find any worn or questionable parts, order and replace them on the fly.
 
Not the EZABL? Though I don't have it on the Ender 5 - I don't feel the need at 200mm.

I really like my frame support - but I have the 500mm
 
I opted out of the auto bed leveling for my rework. Our company bought one of the large Creality printers with all the upgrades from Tiny Machines, and the first time the print spaghettied out, and the level sensor ran into the mess (over and over during the night), the printer never ran right after that. I decided it was too much of a fiddle factor for me.

I'll add the braces, as I see the benefit, and it may help to smooth out the layers for a nicer print.
 
We recently upgraded our CR10S with a Micro Swiss direct-drive extruder. We have been VERY happy with that upgrade. Consistent prints and much more reliable compared to the standard extruder with bowden tube which was frequently jamming up. It just works. We have a second Micro Swiss to upgrade our other larger Creality before Christmas.

The direct drive opens up possibilities of using more flexible filament too, but we haven't explored that yet.
 
OverTheTop said:
We recently upgraded our CR10S with a Micro Swiss direct-drive extruder. We have been VERY happy with that upgrade. Consistent prints and much more reliable compared to the standard extruder with bowden tube which was frequently jamming up. It just works. We have a second Micro Swiss to upgrade our other larger Creality before Christmas.

The direct drive opens up possibilities of using more flexible filament too, but we haven't explored that yet.
Click to expand...
You can print flexible with a Bowden. I do it all the time with my Prusa Mini.
 
Some of the upgrades have already started to come in, and everything I ordered, with the exception of the TH3D goodies, should be here by Saturday. I may be able to get them incorporated as I rework/clean the CR-10S this weekend...

IMG_3305.jpg

unfortunatesly Christmas threw up in my work space, so that needs to be organised back into the closet before I get back to it.

IMG_3303.jpg

The printer is socked in!

IMG_3304.jpg
 
Here are some prints that show a number of the issues I am trying to correct, aside from the 'stringing' issue I have been having with PetG.

This first images really shows a lot of artifacts in the layers, from hole stretching, to ghosting, stringing 'boogers' etc

IMG_3297.jpg

Here the reverse side, and actually the backside of the print where most of the stringing took place.

IMG_3298.jpg

Pictured here with the 1st print I did in orange PetG, showing the same artifacts in the layers, except for the long line that black PetG exhibits.

IMG_3301.jpg

I believe that my PetG settings are still off, and maybe my temps are a bit high. After the maintenance and upgrades are complete, I hope many of the artifacts will go away, and I can printer better parts... I have a 2.6" Rocket that I started printing a couple years ago, that I would like to restart to get better prints for flight. I will get a thread up eventually on this rocket, once I get the printer working like a champ again.

K-POWER 2.6-LOGO.jpg

IMG_9482.JPG
 
Make sure you print some temperature test coupons that test overhang and other features, to get your temperature dialed-in.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2729076Screenshot 2022-12-15 at 20-33-25 Smart compact temperature calibration tower by gaaZolee.png
I don't bother with printing a tower, I just individually print them, setting the required temperature for each print.

For stringing testing you can print test towers. This lets you get your retract fine-tuned and eliminate stringing.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2563909Screenshot 2022-12-15 at 20-31-48 Basic Retraction test by Stefan_Alberts_.png

Keeping your test articles small and simple really speeds up the rate you can get this working. You don't need the complex towers IMHO.

Since doing both of those and choosing the best settings I can quite happily print horizontal overhangs with no support and everything is very clean and dag-free. Incidentally, retract for me is 0.35mm because of the new direct-drive Micro Swiss head we fitted. The results are so much more consistent than with the standard extruder.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the tips OTT, I will be sure to print these tools as I get the printer back up and running. I was reserching temps for PetG, and I believe I am really close to nominal for working temps, but I'm sure I could fine tune a bit. I believe now my probelm with stringing is in the settings for travel speeds, retraction settings etc. I'll play with those as I test on the tower tool.

I received a package from TH3D yesterday, so not much longer before I start the teardown.
 
DRAGON64 said:
Thanks for the tips OTT, I will be sure to print these tools as I get the printer back up and running. I was reserching temps for PetG, and I believe I am really close to nominal for working temps, but I'm sure I could fine tune a bit. I believe now my probelm with stringing is in the settings for travel speeds, retraction settings etc. I'll play with those as I test on the tower tool.

I received a package from TH3D yesterday, so not much longer before I start the teardown.
Click to expand...
Good luck.
 

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