Hello everybody and welcome to another video tutorial. Today we’ll be upgrading the machine
to use an all metal hot end thanks to a couple of mods that I designed myself as well as
installing the new CR Touch which is crealities BLTouch alternative. Full disclaimer, this
is not a paid sponsorship, I was sent the CR Touch free of charge for testing purposes
and the opinions that you will see here are my own. Furthermore, undertake this at your
own risk, and I’m in no way responsible if damages may occur as a result.
Before starting to design anything, I first needed to see how the hot end was mounted
to the machine. So this meant dissembling the unit and seeing which portions could be
reused and which one needed to be changed. For the components that I’m building today,
I did find it easier to do the test prints with PLA, so long as I monitored the temperatures.
I then used my SLA printer to print with engineering materials.
I went with the E3D V6 direct kit since even with the exchange rates it came to almost
the same amount as a knockoff and I knew the quality that I was getting. Another benefit
was the online resources that they provided to the user. They had diagrams which included
important measurements and even had the steps for modifying the firmware. So I knew I was
going to have the proper thermistor settings enabled without having to do additional research.
With all of this information, I began designing the adapter for the hot end itself. Now in
the stock version, the main cooling fan was attached to an outer case which made nozzle
changes more difficult because of the lack of access. So I knew ahead of time that I
would need to keep this area as clear as possible. What I ended up modelling was an adapter which
fit into the stock gear section of the filament feed and used a Zip tie to help ensure that
it remained in place. Although the zip tie wasn’t necessary, it was an additional precaution
to make sure that everything held together.
While the finished part was printing on the machine, I began making the changes to the
firmware. I changed the thermistor type to number 5 which was the 100k thermistor -ATC
Semitec 104GT-2. With that portion changed, it was now time to set the maximum Temperatures
for the hot end. Because this was a higher temperature hot end, it was important to take
into account how the firmware worked. For safety reason, the firmware automatically
reduces the max temperature reading by 15 degrees on the LCD screen. So to fully tighten
the nozzle, we’ll first have to increase the max temperature by this amount and lower
it back down. With this hot end, the maximum temperature is 285 degrees Celsius. So if
you do this, you’ll want to make sure that you turn back down the maximum to 285 degrees
after properly tightening the nozzle. I made a previous video showing how to do nozzle
changes on this machine, which I’ll include a link in the description below.
By this point I had already decided that I would mount the cooling fan to the same screws
as the CR Touch, therefore I modelled and began testing this portion together as soon
as possible. With the mount for the CR Touch, there’s a little of play involved, therefore
it’s important to keep this in mind when installing your part. In my first design I
created only one cooling fan however the parts weren’t cooling properly in overhanging
areas, so I redesigned this to a secondary output that ran onto the other side of the
nozzle and although the designs don’t necessarily match they do however allow for minimal material
use and a more streamlined path for the air to flow.
At this point, I began installing the finalized parts that I had 3d printed and replacing
the BLTouch with the CR Touch. One thing I noticed was that in my case, I had to use
trial and error to manually set the Z-Offset for the machine. To do this, I’m going to
level the bed by going to “Prepare” + “Bed Levelling”. Afterwards, I went to
“Prepare” + “Move Axis” and lowered the nozzle to the zero mark. Next, I went
to “Control” + “Motion” + “Z-Offset” and began tweaking the value until I got a
perfect first layer. Just make sure to save your settings otherwise it won’t be stored,
so go back one menu after setting the Z-offset and choose “Store Settings”. This meant
quite a few failed test prints, but was the best solution I found given the issues I encountered.
For some reason, the nozzle would hit the bed whenever I used the proper method of calibration.
The only difference was that I had compiled by own version of the firmware by using the
source code which had been provided by Creality. In future, I would like to see them update
this source code to reflect the changes which may have occurred, as well as updating Marlin
to one of it’s more recent releases. Other than that, I didn’t have any problems with
the CR Touch, so I’m hoping that they’ve addressed the quality control issues which
were present with the aftermarket BLTouch.
Now, to make things easier for any of you who may wish to try it out for yourselves,
I’m making both the files and the firmware available for download on my ThingIverse Page.
So would I say that the CR Touch and Hot End Upgrade was worth it in the end. I would say
that yes, depending on how you intend to use this machine. I’m personally swapping out
materials fairly constantly, so not having to worry about the bed levelling because of
the temperatures changes makes the CR Touch Worth it in my case. As for the hot end upgrade,
well that depends on the materials you intend to use. I do want to use some of my higher
temperature materials, and I’ve been unable to utilize because of the limitations of the
hot end, so once again in my case this does become relevant.
Also, for those of you who actually want to use this video as a guide, keep in mind that
I will be posting the transcript on my main website to make it easier to follow along.
Alternatively, please feel free to slow down the video by hitting the gear icon on the
bottom right-hand corner of your screen and to changing the speed settings.
If you want to support this channel, please feel free to check out some merch on my website.
Thank you for watching, and I hope to see you guys soon. Thank you and take care.