Hello all, long time no see. Looks like I was last active here 6 months ago before I got dragged away by other responsibilities in life. I have still been 3D printing when I can including doing some FreeCAD design in the mean time as I can fit it in. I started noticing that I am getting x-axis layer shifts in my longer prints and I remembered a thread here long ago about a guy who has mysterious layer shifts with his 3 V2 and was considering returning his printer to Amazon in the return window. Everyone helped him try to debug his issue, but it came out that there he was suffering from a known issue of the stepper drivers overheating. I couldn’t find that thread, but today I found this FAQ on the issue. I think my printer came with the 4.2.2 mainboard with the silent stepper drivers.
I purchased mine through Comgrow store at Amazon back in October. I found their support page and just sent a message exploring warranty coverage but while I wait for their reply I thought I would check in here to see how others are getting the issue fixed. I did some searching here and didn’t turn up any hits yet. How are folks getting this issue fixed? If they offer the grounding fix, is it worth it or should I hold out for the 4.2.7 mainboard replacement?
I wouldn’t dare speak for anyone else but, if it was my printer, I would see how co-operative Comgrow is. If they’re difficult to deal with, I would post a negative Amazon review &, since they are really pretty inexpensive, I would order a 4.2.7 board myself.
I think the thing what was going on is I had a stack of papers too close to the bottom of the printer blocking ventilation. I cleared that out and had no problems with the same 29 hour print that had several thunk/x-axis offset events the first 3 times I tried to print it.
Yep, those stepper drivers are probably just on the brink of overheating and upgrading to the the 4.2.7 main board would be the smart way to go. Comgrow did reply with a large list of trouble-shooting items that will be a pain to do.
Good to hear you found a cause, and a ‘fix’. Of course, given that the control board has likely overheated, it’s also likely the drivers have had their lifespan shortened.
Today I swapped in the 4.2.7 board successfully. Wish Creality hadn’t used a hot glue gun on all the mainboard connections for the original board. It was stressful to work all of those loose without stressing the connectors. It all seems to be working, but time will tell if it fixes the x-axis layer shift issue.
A year ago when I added the BL-Touch to my Ender 3 v2, I followed Irv’s video and ended up installing the Smith3D FW. I haven’t followed events in the last many months. I went ahead and used the Creality “Ender-3 V2-Marlin-2.0.1 - V1.1.1 - BL- TMC2225.bin” FW that Comgrow said would work with my setup with the 4.2.7 mainboard + BL Touch but without a filament detector.
I noticed that the Creality web site has a newer version of the FW v1.1.2, but I wasn’t sure if I could use it since it supports the filament detector. Anyone know if I could use that v1.1.2 safely?
Or is there another source of FW that I should consider instead? One thing I kind of liked about the Smith3D FW is that you could choose 3x3, 4x4, or 5x5 grid depending on the FW you loaded. The one I installed today is only 3x3.
I used the Unified 2 firmware from TH3D on my Ender 3 v2, you do have to compile it but it’s really easy to do. I’ve been using it since I put the EZABL on my there’s also direction for using it with BLTouch.
I’m using Marlin bugfix-2.0.x (Feb 5 2021 13:47:26) on my Ender 5 Pro.
I actually like that Creality and others put hot glue on the connectors. I would rather have the added security. I find a small flat screwdriver and sidecutters (like the ones that come with most 3D printers) work well to remove the hot glue.
I’m going to declare victory as far as the 4.2.7 main board curing my x-axis layer shift issue. I’ve printed about 30 hours now with no instances. Tight tolerance parts are now fitting together wonderfully again and no more visual layer shifts.
Also, I did end up using the Smith3D FW when I noticed they have a build for the 4.2.7 board. I forgot how much superior all their other niceties are compared to the Creality builds. Not only the 5x5 grid, but better-looking display and the z-axis offset tool.