I need help with my Creality Ender 5 Pro 3D Printer

[Elektra57]

In March of 2021 I bought my son a 3d printer. It is a Creality Ender 5 Pro 3D Printer He has printed maybe three small things.

 

Disclaimer: I have not touched this 3D Printer, I know nothing about 3D printing, but I have tried scouring Reddit and other forums trying to get help. Including the Creality forum and Discord.

 

Issue: 3D Printer will not do anything. Power comes on. That's it. It is just a very expensive paperweight.

What was done: He could not get the bed leveled so we bought the Creality CR Touch Auto Bed Leveling Sensor Kit. He installed the CR Touch software and the CR touch. When he tried to level the bed, the printer head was "going out of bounds" aka going off the mat. It would try to go further than the rails would allow it to. He removed the original software off of the SD card and downloaded the software again for the CR Touch. He put the SD card back into the printer and turned it on. Ten minutes went by and nothing happened. He turned it off and back on and after an hour he turned it off since it was not doing anything. He took the SD card out and turned it back on and nothing. He tried to reinstall the original software and it still does nothing.

 

I am sick of looking at this printer and really want to fix it. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!

 

This is the printer: https://a.co/aBkRVjs

Creality CR Touch: https://a.co/7HZI6Qp

[tikker]

10 minutes ago, Elektra57 said:

He installed the CR Touch software and the CR touch. When he tried to level the bed, the printer head was "going out of bounds" aka going off the mat. It would try to go further than the rails would allow it to.

Perhaps the limit switches may not be fully/properly connected at this point, or are broken. They look like this:

Can you confirm those are reached and triggered when homing?

 

14 minutes ago, Elektra57 said:

He removed the original software off of the SD card and downloaded the software again for the CR Touch. He put the SD card back into the printer and turned it on. Ten minutes went by and nothing happened. He turned it off and back on and after an hour he turned it off since it was not doing anything. He took the SD card out and turned it back on and nothing. He tried to reinstall the original software and it still does nothing.

Can you elaborate on "not doing anything"? Does the screen remain blank, can you not select prints to start? The SD card step for BL touch only flashes firmware, nothing else will happen from what I can find aside from a new option being available afterwards.

 

[Takumidesh]

did the printer ever work?
 

when you send it a gcode program does it do the homing routine? it should move home and click the limit switches (audible click sound) and then back off of them a few mm.

 

It sounds like the motors are moving in relative mode and don't know where they are.

 

Are you sure the firmware is properly installed?

[Elektra57]

7 hours ago, tikker said:

Perhaps the limit switches may not be fully/properly connected at this point, or are broken. They look like this:

Can you confirm those are reached and triggered when homing?

 

Can you elaborate on "not doing anything"? Does the screen remain blank, can you not select prints to start? The SD card step for BL touch only flashes firmware, nothing else will happen from what I can find aside from a new option being available afterwards.

 

The screen remains blank. 

 

The limit switches are all connected.

 

This is usually in an enclosure. Pulled it out to take picture.

[Elektra57]

8 hours ago, Takumidesh said:

did the printer ever work?
 

when you send it a gcode program does it do the homing routine? it should move home and click the limit switches (audible click sound) and then back off of them a few mm.

 

It sounds like the motors are moving in relative mode and don't know where they are.

 

Are you sure the firmware is properly installed?

Just reinstalled the firmware. I think the screen was blank because the file was not properly named. smh

I have tried to get my son to fix this on his own, but it makes me sick to see it just sitting here so thought I would give it a go.

 

Now we are up and running, but when we run the auto leveling program it gets through the first 6 stages and the it goes off the mat and stops.

 

Yes, it has printed calibration cubes but the main problem is that he can't get it leveled. It will not print correctly. It will either dig into the mat, or be too high.

 

I bought the CR touch to help with this issue, but can't get it to level.

 

We just ran a calibration cube and it is printing too high.

[tikker]

7 hours ago, Elektra57 said:

The limit switches are all connected.

Do they work? As in, do they make a clicking sound when pressed?

6 hours ago, Elektra57 said:

Just reinstalled the firmware. I think the screen was blank because the file was not properly named. smh

I have tried to get my son to fix this on his own, but it makes me sick to see it just sitting here so thought I would give it a go.

 

Now we are up and running, but when we run the auto leveling program it gets through the first 6 stages and the it goes off the mat and stops

Good to hear the blank screen is gone. If it's running into the bed then the bed is not trammed properly.

6 hours ago, Elektra57 said:

Now we are up and running, but when we run the auto leveling program it gets through the first 6 stages and the it goes off the mat and stops.

Stops in a bad way or in an I'm done way? Can it be you simply have it set up to only use 6 probe points?

6 hours ago, Elektra57 said:

I bought the CR touch to help with this issue, but can't get it to level.

 

We just ran a calibration cube and it is printing too high.

BL touch or equivalent auto-leveling (which is actually tramming) stuff is not a replacement for manual tramming. It is a final tweak to take care of any remaining unevenness and does not do the whole process for you. The first step is tramming the bed manually using the screws at each of the corners of the bed, underneath it. You use those to get it as close to trammed as you can, and then you can use auto-leveling to account for a warped bed, for example. To manually tram I typically start a print that does a small square in each corner and adjust each corner while it is going to get a nice layer there. If large adjustments are done then I do that twice or thrice first.

[Takumidesh]

4 hours ago, tikker said:

(which is actually tramming)

To elaborate on this. When you are tramming the machine (this goes for mills and the like as well) you aren't making the bed level to the ground or the table or anything like that.

 

The goal of tramming is to make the tool move perfectly parallel to the bed. This may be obvious but it is something that a lot of people new to manufacturing get mixed around.
 

If the bed is warped or the gantry is not square it will become exceedingly difficult to tram machine.

Something that can help at the expense of print quality is to raise the first layer height. then you tram to the best of your ability, and have a bit of a larger gap to smooth out inconsistencies.

[Elektra57]

9 hours ago, tikker said:

Do they work? As in, do they make a clicking sound when pressed?

Good to hear the blank screen is gone. If it's running into the bed then the bed is not trammed properly.

Stops in a bad way or in an I'm done way? Can it be you simply have it set up to only use 6 probe points?

BL touch or equivalent auto-leveling (which is actually tramming) stuff is not a replacement for manual tramming. It is a final tweak to take care of any remaining unevenness and does not do the whole process for you. The first step is tramming the bed manually using the screws at each of the corners of the bed, underneath it. You use those to get it as close to trammed as you can, and then you can use auto-leveling to account for a warped bed, for example. To manually tram I typically start a print that does a small square in each corner and adjust each corner while it is going to get a nice layer there. If large adjustments are done then I do that twice or thrice first.

Yes, all the switches make a clicking sound when pressed.

On the 7th probe point it goes off the bed tries to probe and stops. My son said it is set for 9 probe points.
I will check the manual tramming myself, but that would not account for the cr touch going out of bounds.

Thank you! I will do this step today. I really appreciate your help.

Here is a video of what it is doing:

 

[Elektra57]

5 hours ago, Takumidesh said:

To elaborate on this. When you are tramming the machine (this goes for mills and the like as well) you aren't making the bed level to the ground or the table or anything like that.

 

The goal of tramming is to make the tool move perfectly parallel to the bed. This may be obvious but it is something that a lot of people new to manufacturing get mixed around.
 

If the bed is warped or the gantry is not square it will become exceedingly difficult to tram machine.

Something that can help at the expense of print quality is to raise the first layer height. then you tram to the best of your ability, and have a bit of a larger gap to smooth out inconsistencies.

Will definitely be redoing this step today. Thank you! I am determined to get this working. I really appreciate your help. The forum is always super helpful.