So many issues with my CR-10S S400!
Yesterday, after printing up one of those beautiful Arkham Folding Magnetic Batarang's on my Creality CR-10S S4 (400mm x 400mm x 400mm) printer, I figured I'd print a couple BvS batarangs as well. After hitting print on OctoPrint, I went back to what I was doing ... but a couple minutes later I turned around and saw that it was doing nothing, and the screen was off! It died ... and wouldn't turn back on.
I've loved this printer at times as it makes it SO easy to print something really big in one go. From the first BvS Armored Batman helmet I printed on it, to the full shin armor pieces from the Armored Spider-Man suit, this thing could handle the size without issue. Sure the Spider-Man stuff needed a TON of sanding due to the wobbles and even a layer shift in the middle of the chest print, but at least it got it done.
The CR-10S S4 was OK out of the box, but has needed a ton of upgrades over time to get it up to snuff. Truly, it's still not there!
- Bed constantly out of level - to address this, I first installed a BL touch but found that the tip of the probe seemed to bend after the servo intermittently worked. Yes it was a genuine ANTCLABS one. Upgraded to EZABL Pro, works great.
- Bed warped -- the actual aluminum bed is warped beyond belief. EZABL Pro helps with this, but ordered a new bed and haven't installed it yet.
- Bed slow to heat up - added a silicone heater which drastically improved this issue, heating up in < 1 minute (previously 10 mins)
- Ineffective print cooling - upgraded to 5015 fan and abs mount for it to go with the EZABL Pro
- Wobbly - added Z braces, didn't really help much
- Z misalignment - have to do this about every 3 prints, no matter the size
- Loud - still haven't fixed this with a silent board with TMC2208 drivers, which absolutely resolved this issue with my Ender 3 (now in the trash).
- Slow - can only print at 60mm/s max, usually print at 40mm/s and still have ringing
Another upgrade which may or may not affect the performance of this printer is the addition of the dual extruder board bundle from TH3D. Their 2-into-1 hotend adapter just does not work, no matter how much fiddling is done! Great idea, but probably needs two hotends instead. The dual extrusion board is still in place.
It appears that the main issue right now is that the PSU seems to be dead again. When I got it new from Tiny Machines 3D, I powered it on and it died immediately. I ordered a new PSU from Amazon, and Tiny Machines issued a credit to me for that.
Is it time to order another one? I'm already about $1500 into this printer with all the upgrades, and reticent to continue spending when I could have had something that prints so much better to start with for the price.
What do you think? Do I need to fix it, or should I just get another large format 3D printer? Let me know in the comments.**UPDATE** Blew the fuse in the power switch due to an issue with the bed heater. Bed not heating now ...