I’ve got a new, interesting project here! A friend of mine found this Creality Ender 3 V2 at a thrift store for $40, and I couldn’t pass it up! As an owner of a well-modified Ender 3 Neo, I’m very familiar with the crazy process of trying to get one of these Enders to work. Every single little factor matters, regardless of whether or not you’re aware of it – and I’m well aware that this is likely to be an adventure, being a second-hand 3D printer.
Here in this video, I give it a look-over, and a brief little test, with full expectation that something would go totally wonky. Of course, that’s exactly what happened! Here’s a list of issues I’ve noticed thus far:
- Z-axis endstop switch & bed location are mismatched
- Print bed is so low, it hits the Y-axis motor
- X-carriage and Y-carriage wheel(s) have bumps in them, causing them to stop in place along their routes
- Frame needs rework, it’s not square and the X-gantry wobbles a LOT as a result
- Hotend cooling fan is loose inside its shroud
- Extruder gear is completely broken off, and the brass gear is mislocated
- Last and least, there’s missing little cosmetic pieces in a few places
It helps that I’ve got so many spare parts from my main printer! And for anything else I need, I’ll be happily 3D printing replacements. This printer’s in good hands!
The previous person torqued the wheels fully, making the print bed go so low that it scrapes along the top of the Y-axis belt shroud here. Not good! Additionally, the hotend cooling shroud has broken screw anchors, leaving the fan loosely jiggling around inside.
For starters, I’m going to clean and re-lubricate the Z-rod. It has a lot of gunky, gross grease hanging from its grommet, which can’t be helping any matters! I simply remove the Z-rod and its grommet, put them in a basin filled with water and dish soap, and scrub with an old toothbrush, followed by a good rinse. After this, I give them a fresh coat of lithium grease!
Following this, I’ll take apart the extruder assembly. The stock Creality extruder on this is made of thin plastic, it’s flimsy as hell and it’s good for just about nothing now. I’m going to replace this with my spare solid metal extruder!
Next, I’ll tighten up the extremely loose X-gantry, and square the uprights (the vertical beams) as it goes back together, making the X-axis solid as it should be. This is done by removing the upper crosspiece, rising the X-gantry past its boundary and carefully setting it down, then making sure its screws are properly torqued. Though lock washers come preinstalled, I use blue (removable) Loctite to really ensure it doesn’t slide out over time.
Now with that out of the way, I’ll install the Minimus Hotend Cooler, square up the frame, and fix the bumpy X-gantry ride!
For the wheel bearings on each axis’ ride I’m to mend, I’m going to reuse older wheel bearings I have stored away from my other printer. While this may not be perfect, I figured anything would be better than what this printer has – particularly for the X-axis! And after going thru a few of them to weed out all baddies, I verify that the ride feels nice and smooth!
After these frame tweaks are done, I once again make sure things are square, by measuring the distance between the X-gantry and the frame on each side. It’s important not to measure it against the print bed, but the bottom frame. The print bed is an independent calibration job (specifically known as bed tramming).
Here what I chose to do was: remove the right-side upright beam, properly torque the eccentric nut to get the X-gantry’s left side to hold on without wobble, then measure the gantry at both sides to ensure it’s not leaning in any direction. I gently coax it until it does, then drop the upright back in. Then this piece is tightened back in, then the X-gantry double-checked to ensure it’s perfectly level at both sides!
With the X-gantry evened out and the whole frame pieces squared to each other, I next go for the print bed and overall Y-axis. I feel leery of the original springs, as they’ve been squished down since it was put together (likely a few years ago), and they’re the regular springs, compared to what as far as I know are ‘upgraded’ orange springs that are often sold for these printers.
Now that I’ve got those springs in, I also correct the light bumpiness felt in the Y-axis ride. Admittedly, the combination of wheel bearings I used still leaves a tiny bump in its ride, but it’s so much better than the X-axis was in that next to no resistance is felt, so I’ll just leave that for the future if I feel the need.
And now, for the fun part! Let’s do a little testing & bed tramming!
Huzzah! It works!! After giving the print bed a much-needed cleaning with dish soap, some futzing back & forth with the bed wheels, I’ve got a sweet-looking Z-offset! Not at all bad for $40, some spare parts and a few hours of time!
Not everything’s perfect yet, though – for one, although the Minimus hotend cooler is fantastic, this printer reminds me just how terrible the stock Creality fans are! They are LOUD! The instant you flick on this printer’s power switch, the hotend fan (frontmost) spins up to a loud whine, then with a low, vibrating hum being sent throughout the printer and into the resting surface below!
It sounds like a dusty, disgruntled computer from 1999 with worn-out bearings, and when the power supply fan also kicks on, it really makes its presence known with a lower but still loud droning, again not unlike I’ve heard from many ’90s computers. And while the sound of an old computer is charming to me, this annoying combination coming from this 3D printer is hardly enjoyable, especially in comparison to my well-modded Ender 3 Neo, which is FAR quieter! Every fan has been replaced on it, and it’s actually tolerable to be around.
In addition to replacing the fans, I’ll still need to:
- Print a grille & cooling ducts for the Minimus hotend cooler
- Replace some missing cosmetic pieces
- Print a carrying handle
- Add a CR Touch auto bed leveling probe!
Stay tuned!