Glad to hear your spirit is lifting. Now, I seem to recall that you agreed it would be best to not make any changes to the printer before testing and calibrating it out of the box. IOW, no changes at all: not Bowden tube, not smoothers, nothing. That is what I would have done: test and calibrate it as it comes. If that doesn’t work, then look at returning it or fixing it. Every time you make a change you introduce a new variable, and that really complicates things.
Now, for the filament feed problem, I suggest the following to prove functionality: [LIST=1]
disconnect the connector and Bowden tube from the extruder. Also remove any filament: the extruder should be completely empty;
use a Sharpie to put a line across the end of the extruder's toothed wheel shaft, so you can more easily tell if it's rotating;
use Pronterface to connect to the printer and issue a G1 E100 command. See if the shaft of the toothed wheel turns;
assuming that all works, feed filament into the extruder and reissue the G1 E100 command. Does filament feed out of the extruder?
if that all works, remove the filament, reconnect the connector, and disconnect the Bowden tube from the hotend;
feed filament into the extruder again and try to push it all the way to the open end of the Bowden tube. Did it feed smoothly and easily?
if the filament fed smoothly, reissue the G1 E100 command and see if the extruder can push filament out the open end of the Bowden tube;
if all is OK, pull the filament back, reconnect the hotend Bowden connector, and push filament manually into the hotend until it won't feed;
heat up the hotend to 240C (don't bother heating the bed). While it's heating, issue a G1 X100 Y100 Z100 to move the hotend to the center of the bed and lower the bed;
once the hotend is at 240C try to push filament manually. It may be pretty stiff, but you should get a solid, steady stream of filament out of the nozzle;
if that works, issue G1 E100 again. See if the filament again flows out of the hotend onto the bed in a nice stream.
if that all works, you should be ready to calibrate the extruder.
[/LIST] If anyone has additions, suggestions, recommendations, please jump in.
If i’m not wrong, you can use BONDTECH’s extruder to be sure every time that will feed with no problem the bowden feeding system right. Of course calibration is needed as well as cleaning the filament while feeding it!..
OK. There will be no modifications to the new printer until later. (It is stock at the moment)
I did some additional research this morning and I believe I found the problem. See Hot End Fix for Creality and Others Section 2.1.5 featuring the Ender 3 - YouTube Little did I know that the problems I have been having are very, very common with Creality Printers. If I had googled the right question several days ago, I probably have solved the filament feed problem by now. I have also discovered that I made a big mistake on my first printer when I installed the direct drive. I DID Not put a PC4-M10 connector on the hot end. I simply fitted a piece of tubing between the hot end and the extruder measured, I thought, to the corredt length. Talk about feeling stupid.
Something else I had to do with the new printer. When I put the new printer together, I discovered a couple of ‘bumps’ in the travel, as you moved the hot end from side to side on the X axis. There was something wrong with the guide rail system. I therefore switched the whole top assembly on the new printer to the old printer and put the old top assembly on the new printer. Because I wanted to keep the new hot end on the new printer, I took both hot ends apart and switched them. My guess is that the Bowden Tube is not now seated properly with the nozzle. That would explain the filament drag.
O have been out and about most of the day and I am too tired to mess with the printer tonight. However, tomorrow, I am really going to work on following directions on You Tube and do a very proper hot end fix. Between the filament change method described above and fixing the hot end properly, That should solve my under extrusion problem
Now I’m feeling lucky. When I did my DD conversion, I automatically added a connector to the extruder or, more accurately, I maintained the connector that was already there.
I’m glad to hear you’re going to keep the printer ‘virgin’ for the moment. Once it’s printing acceptably, you can look at changes, doing 1 at a time and then testing and calibrating after each change.
I wish I knew about proper loading and unloading of filament when I got my first printer! That and an improperly seated Bowden tube in the hotend led to many hours of frustration.
Keep at it!
Cheers
P.S. – I don’t know why manufacturers use microSD cards–too tiny for me. I bought a microSD extension cable like this to make life easier.
I am going to resume fixing my Ender 5 in a few minutes. Hopefully, I will have it running later today.
I am sitting here wondering about my own sanity. I just did, a few minutes age, something I can not explain why I did it considering all the problems that I have had with 3D Printers, I just placed an order for an Artillery GENIUS printer. I spent a lot of time last night watching reviews and other videos concerning this printer and kind of fell in love with having one. I will be the first to admit that ordering one is probably not the smartest decision I have made concerning 3D printers. Can you say “impulse buying” LOL
Another decision I have made. I am going to work this weekend on fixing the Ender 5 (and I really hope I can). If it is not operating successfully by Monday morning, I am going to return it and order a Sovol SV01. I would rather continue working with the Ender 5 Pro because I have learned quite a bit about it and would rather not start from scratch learning about the Sovol SV01. Both the Sovol SV01 and the Artillery Genius have direct drive set ups and should make filament handling easier if it comes to that.
I want to, again, thank everyone who tried to help me solve my Ender 5 problems. I worked most of the day Saturday and part of Sunday trying to resolve the under extrusion problem. On several occasions I took the Bowlen Tube and nozzle out of the hot end and cleaned old deposits of filament out. Made sure the Bowden Tube that fit against the nozzle was cut “square”. Put everythng back together again and extrusion was just fine for a little while and then it would start to under extrude again. I adjusted the extrusion rate and tried every hint and tip I could find. Yesterday afternoon I made the decision that enough was enough and packed printer up and returned it to Amazon this morning.
I mentioned a couple of days ago that I had ordered a Artillery Genius. Well, messing around on the product page, I accidently canceled the order by mistake and now have to wait for a refund on my credit card.
I was, however, able to order a less expensive Sovol SV-01 without overcharging my credit card. It will arrive tomorrow. I promise; no modifications before really getting to know the machine.
I guess this will be the end of the Ender 5 discussion. Once again, thank all of you for your help and support.