NOTE_1: The VREF for the driver in the video might be a bit low. Thanks to @BlackGymkhana for pointing out that the Bondtech 0.6A limit is already the RMS value and the coil limit is 1A. SO the new calculation is: RMS = 1Amax / 1.41 = 0.709 VRef = (0.709x2.5)/1.77 = ~1V (recommend using ~90% to 100% of this value) so I set it close to 0.9V NOTE_2: After more extensive testing, I am finding that 1mm of retraction is safe (for me) and I am having better results with eliminating stringing. Also, be sure to set your "Retract amount before wipe" to 0% if you are using PrusaSlicer.
@@nickgilson6086 If you change and save the extruder steps in the firmware as shown in the video, then you really only need to modify the retraction settings in Prusa Slicer. The suggested values are on the Bondtech website and I also show them in the video. See the original comment above to see that I also made a correction to the VREF value and the retraction setting I use now is 1mm and it is safe.
For anyone thinking about ordering the parts pre-printed, I ordered them on Thursday and they're here on Monday - high quality and shipped incredibly fast given I'm in Canada and usually that's an additional couple of weeks from anywhere, especially if it relies on Canada Post and there's a weekend anywhere near. The parts are impeccable and I look forward to using them.
Great video! Thanks so much for compiling, designing and filming everything needed to perform this upgrade. Adding direct-drive to my CR-10 Smart has been a game changer! And the step-by-step walkthrough made installing the BondTech Extruder, while not quick task, a fairly easy one... (Hardest part may have been fishing the new extruder wire through the mesh loom!) Thanks again!
I have the CR6SE , Micro Swiss all metal hot end kit and LGX. One thing you have missed is the stop washer that resides upon the strain sensor. You need this because the pressure of the filament being pushed into the head will drive the strain sensor downwards. This is bad for the sensor and more importantly varies the height of the nozzle as the pressure changes with flow rate, retractions etc. When fitting the stop washer one caution is to not "preload" the strain sensor where the washer being tightened actually lifts the sensor by even a micro amount. Doing so inhibits the sensor function and you will crash the nozzle into the bed. Even then after the stop washer is fitted correctly you might need to adjust the sensor cut off screw to lessen the sensitivity to touch.
That's an interesting consideration. When you say stop washer, are you talking about that black filament guide with the bowden tube push fitting that sits on top of the strain gauge mount? Or was it another part that I showed in the video that I discarded?
@@EmbraceMaking I made a reply with the bondtech link, my post vanished. Anyway search for Bondtech LGX CR6SE installation, the step by step talks about the washer install and electronic adjustment, but also make note of my comments above as some have had lost adjustment of the sensor because of preloading.
@@AstroSmoke. I've looked some video of the Bondtech LGX CR6SE Installation, found one where we see the guy installing 2 washers on the left screw but... no voice over or explanation about it. Any details or link to a more specific video? Thanks a lot, I'm considering this mod a lot and would like to understand how to do it the best I can :)
@@frebou The issue is a little overlooked, under estimated because of the variability of the strain gauge itself. I contacted Bondtech and they did add some extra details to the install guide, which btw is hard to find on their website because it is under the"news" section. Anyway the basic issue is that the direct extruder when extruding filament places a downwards load/force upon the strain gauge. This can yield quite a load on the sensitive gauge. Unfortunately Creality did not do due diligence to install the strain gauge correctly by installing over range limiters, thus the gauge is moved in the opposite direction to bed probing. The secondary issue is the head is bent downwards during extrusion, effectively lowering the z height. Therefore the idea is to add range limit stop to downwards movement. This is done by adding a bar(washers) bridging the gap by the left hotend screw to the outer edge of the strain gauge. The CAUTION is that you have to pay attention that the bar(washers) "DO NOT" lift the strain gauge. Doing so alters the preload strain to the sensitive gauge, because of this you can actually plow into the bed, as I did. The trick is to fit the washer(s) so that the bridge hardly touches, 0.05mm - 0.1mm clearance. The next main trick is the loosen off the strain gauge sensitivity by the screw adjuster until it is on at start up, then adjust until the light just goes out, and maybe a "touch" more, so that movement doesn't create false triggers. Retractions will flick the sensor. The added benefit is improved layers because the head isn't moving in the z height during extrusion.
@@AstroSmoke. ok thanks, make sense now, the washer is blocking the downward mouvement by spreading the load to the external part (fixed) of the strain gauge. Will read the manual too. Thanks again!
Dude! Amazing! Between this video and your all metal hot end upgrade, I have all the info I was looking for. Originally, I was going to go for the MicroSwiss hot end & DirectDrive all in one, but I like what you're saying about keeping the weight down! Thanks for the video, and the printable parts... You have yourself a new Subscriber!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for coming on board! When you download the files from prusa prints, if you can like the file and even rate it that would be so helpful!
@@EmbraceMaking, I surely will! I have all the parts on back order now! The only bit that has me slightly concerned is messing with the voltage for the DirectDrive! :/
Just wanted to give a quick "Thanks" for this video and also your all metal hotend video. I did both of these upgrades following your videos and worked perfectly. Very informative and good to use as a set by step! Thanks again
Thanks for the great video! I may exist below, but one thing that may be useful is sharing the tensioning wheel is the single wheel at the bottom. The hex shaft acts as a concentric shaft control. That is probably obvious to most users, but it was hard won knowledge for me. Be well J
If it’s such an issue for momentum, maybe have a pre pull motor on a second rail above the main one and then have the main motor just be for guidance and anti-flex take up, that way the torque required is almost null and a dc motor can be used as the stepping will be done with the main feed on a second rail
It's a great idea, I feel like I have seen a similar concept on another printer somewhere... I'd have to go and try and find it, but I've definitely seen the second rail idea... don't recall if that person got it to work well...
Very great Video! been customizing my CR-10 Smart for a while now and love your Videos on this Printer! have you considered upgrading the Firmware on the Printer too in the near Future?
Thank you! Yes I definitely have considered it but am waiting for one of two things... a proven stable community firmware release, OR a proven stable official Creality firmware release. I know version .10 has been released from Creality but some people are still reporting some issues from what I can see. Right now my printer is working well on the original firmware so I haven't ventured away from it just yet!
Very nice addition of LGX Lite with minimal printed parts. Planning to give this a shot this week on either a cr-10 smart or cr-6se. PETG-CF filament? I was going to throw either 3dxtech ASA or esun pla+ at it I think. Your design is less work involved than the lgx lite/dragon HF I was working on and I was wanting to get the lgx lite going soon. I've got 2 cr-6se, 1 cr-10 smart, and only 1 LGX Lite at moment. All with BTT CR6 SKR boards, so a little less work on stepper vref. 2 Micro Swiss hotends and 1 Dragon HF.
Nice to hear! Yes PETG-CF and seems to be holding up great so far. The mount area doesn't get terribly hot but I would still probably shy away from PLA as I find it creeps too much even at elevated room temperatures such as within 3D printer enclosures (when under load --> holding something up and in place)
Very nice upgrade and good job on the video! Did you make any adjustments with linear advance settings for the stringing? I wonder if the pressure advance settings in klipper would get rid of the stringing altogether. I thought I was already subscribed, but I guess not. So subscribed now. 👍
I don't have linear advance setup on this machine as the firmware is not open source, I can't access the config files... and I don't think Creality is utilizing that feature... haven't tried sending any commands to change the values to see if by chance they enabled it though, but highly doubt it! Switching the machine over to a totally different control system like Klipper would absolutely change the game and you could have complete freedom. I upped my retraction to 1mm on this machine and the stringing is now gone anyways. The 0.4mm suggestion on the bondtech website turned out to be way too low. Thanks for the sub!
Hi, I have a CREALITY CR 10 Smart 3D printer and I'm having similar problems to yours. That's why I was happy to find your two videos on youtube for modifying this printer. I modified the hotend (Microswiss CR6-SE Kit) according to your video. Everything worked flawlessly until a problem occurred with the extruder and therefore I proceeded to make another modification according to your video (Bondtech LGX Lite). I finished the mechanical part. You described everything perfectly and I, as an amateur, could easily understand it. I still have to adjust the engine so it doesn't overheat. It's not entirely clear to me how to do the settings in the firmware. I don't use OctoPrint, I print from an SD card and use PrušaSlicer. Can I ask you for a more detailed description of how to do it. Thank you in advance. Regards, Ivan.
Hi Many thanks for the great explanation. I was able to install everything including the metal hot end as described. Now I only have the problem that my extruder turns to the wrong side. Do you have a tip for me what I did wrong?
I have not found firmware configuration for the cr-10 smart. The cr-6 community firmware does not have a firmware configuration for the cr10 smart unless you install the btt skf cr6 mainboard that is not available. For the micro swiss hot end upgrade, the firmware need to be changed to increase the max temperature limit. Have you found a configuration that works?
Well done video. But isn't the entire point of using a direct drive to get rid of the annoying bowden tube? Could you run this without the bowden tube?
Thank you, but the difference here is that this tube isn't really a bowden tube because it sits before the extruder. However, yes if you find that tube behind the extruder annoying you can mount your spool directly overhead at the top extrusion and let your filament go straight down into the extruder. This is a great way of doing it if you have height above your printer. In some cases people run their printers in cabinets or other enclosures that do not have the height to accommodate the spool on top. Thanks!
I am thing of doing the Micro Swiss Hot end and the LGC Lite upgrades. How much Z height do you lose with the LGX Lite? I assume we need to change the slicer Z limits.
Very informative video, my CR10 Smart now has the same setup because of this. Just want to ask...what material did you use for the LGX mount plate? I used CF-PLA and it keeps on bending slightly backwards during filament advance. I'm concerned that it might become permanent because of the heat generated by the motor.
@@EmbraceMaking made some modification to the mounting plate so it won't bend backwards like before...I added a front bracket that screws together with one of the fan shroud's mounts and the plate itself. Hope it lasts!🤞
What firmware is this ????? My autolevel is not nearly as advanced and i have the same machine!, it's also incredibly hard to find spare parts for this printer! :(
I have a cr10smart, same setup as you, just installed the motor following the video. Great help with that loved the help of the video! BUT when i turned it on, the extruder is turning very slowly.. im not sure how to fix this issue... how can i fix this issue so it can turn at its proper speed?
Absolutely love the video I have just ordered all the parts to carry out the conversion on my printer, just a quick question with regards to the current, are you measuring between the negative and the trim pot its self or a pin on the mother board? Cheers
Thank you! You measure on the trim pot (this is the + test point) and you probe any GND point on the board for your negative probe of your meter. Since the whole board shares a common GND you can just use the big GND terminal on the incoming 24V power from the power supply.
@@EmbraceMaking perfect thank you, another noob question I use cura as my slicer how would I go about adjusting my E-Step value through that or do I have to do it another way. I do apologise for the questions.
There are a few ways to do it... you can edit your start G-code to include the code to adjust your e-steps at the beginning of every print. You can also adjust your extrusion multiplier, for instance if you are at 100 steps and you need 125 steps per mm, then you would set your extrusion multiplier to 1.25 ... but this is not the ideal way to do it. I would suggest connecting to your printer via some kind of terminal like Octoprint or Repetier host etc, and just issuing the g code commands to change it in the firmware permanently and save that new value. Let me know if you need more details on this.
@@EmbraceMaking , between the filament sensor and the new guide (where the old extruder was) at about the 15:04 mark. Might be something stock on the 10 that the 6se doesn't have.
I haven't kept up with what Creality has been doing lately... but I have a feeling they are abandoning the regular smart and focusing on the smart pro hence the steep discount on these. Mine worked great for some time but then ran into issues with the strain gauge sensor eventually and right now its collecting dust until I make a video showing how to get rid of the strain gauge sensor. It's coming up soon.
Man, what a great video. Super clean install as well. My EXT LGX came in on Friday. But if did not come with the harness, so I cut the old cable I half and splices some wires I had laying around. I definitely like your DD Mount better than then the one available for the square extruder on Prusa site. The whole walk through is on point. Great job. Here is the question my Smart has a USB-A plug on the side. My OctoPi does not detect the usb serial device when I connect to the printer. Perhaps my adapter does not have data pins connected by that’s all o have at the moment. I know it’s possible to run usb cable directly to the board but I’d rather not. Did you have to do anything special to get OctoPi to work?
Thank you so much for the kind words! Glad you liked the video Yes that USB A plug on the side goes to the Creality Wifi box on the inside of the printer and is only intended for a camera. Check out the other videos on my channel, I have a video specifically showing how to connect Octoprint to the CR10 smart. You have to access the electronics under the printer and you can connect a USB cable to one of the boards for print host capabilities. It's really easy! Let me know if you have any questions or have a hard time finding the video on my channel. Thanks!
Hello. I have installed the All Metal Hotend and the Bondtech lgx Lite in my cr-10 Smart. Unfortunately, the extruder rotates very slowly. Even if I increase the volts on the stepper motor, nothing changes. Do you know why that could be?
Have you changed the esteps in the firmware? I believe the regular Creality is something like 93 steps per mm and the LGX requires 562 ... Probably why it's going slow. Don't increase the driver reference voltage you can damage the motor
This looks amazing, but sadly it don´t fit on the CR-6 SE since the hotend is slightly to the right on the carrige, I am going to try to design a bracket for my CR-6 SE.
www.prusaprinters.org/prints/122750-cr-10-smart-and-cr6-se-direct-drive-upgrade-to-bon/files Uploaded the STEP file... please do me a favor and when you make your changes, if you can please re-share the file with me so I can also put it on my page that would be great!
@Michael Rinde, By chance, were you able to modify this setup to fit your CR-6 SE? I just received my LGX Lite and I'm looking for the best way to mount it.
You should be able to. All of the connection points are there. I forget what size connectors the sprite comes with but worst case you have to repin or change some connectors to get them to plug in. Then in the firmware you would just need to make sure you have the right thermistor selected, change your probe offset, and change your e steps.
I have update my printer to 1.0.13 and I got ab temp error when I go back to the old update it’s work again I have instal first the direct drive works but now whit the new update I got the ab temp error I hope you can help me
Interesting. I have still stayed away from the new firmware. I would keep using the old firmware for a little while longer... are you subscribed to my channel? I have something in the works right now for the CR10 smart firmware. I am hoping to release the video soon and hopefully put an end to all of these CR10 smart problems.
Just got done installing my lgx lite and changing esteps, set my Vref to just under .9 and it is under extruding and skipping. Anyone have any idea why?
I got this one and the extruder misses steps, under-extruding with harder filaments like PETG. i have to get the heavier one or find a stronger stepper with the same small size! Soft filaments is ok.
Did you follow this install video? Check the video description and the pinned comment on this video. The VREF for the extruder can be set higher, this will give the stepper a little more grunt and perhaps you won't be missing steps. What did you set your VREF to?
hey please could you assist. im at the point where i set the volts to 5.8. but when i measure its only 1.40 currently. should i really increase volts to 5.8? i notice comment from you saying its actually needs to be 0.9? very confused right now many thanks
No you shouldn't. As you see in my pinned comment on the video, you can go up to 0.9V here. This is the reference voltage for the stepper driver and will determine the current delivered to the new smaller motor. Set to 0.9V
@@EmbraceMaking I've set it to 0.8 to be on safe side. Set retraction to 1mm 35mms and test prints are so good. Need to redesign the bracket so can mount filament sensor above the extruder for top fed. The would be awesome 😁😍
@@EmbraceMaking I couldn't really find specs about the pulling force of this extruder on the bondtech website, if this one is so much lighter why even bother to sell the other ? Is the lite weaker or the same ?
@@hermangaviria690 I would imagine with the smaller motor the "lite" version is going to be weaker. In my case I went with the lite version because I wanted less mass on my print head, and the second reason was that I set up all of my machines with very little resistance in my filament path. Therefore I can get away with a lighter pulling force. The other benefit is generally with less friction/resistance in the filament path you get way more consistent extrusion in my opinion. I'll see what I numbers I can find on the pulling force but I'm pretty certain the lite version is going to be lesser than the big one.
Thanks for the input. I ask because the other "light" extruder I can think of is the Orbiter 2.0 from triangle labs. That one is supposed to be pretty good but it uses the smaller gears, since bondtech advertises the LGX gears to be better I want to know which of the two is weaker/stronger. I'm trying to see which of the two would be the better purchase
That was the other option that I was considering when making this video due to similar size and price. I ultimately chose LGX because I've used other Bondtech products before and they are generally very good quality.
I've installed it on my printer but noticed that extruder skips while microstepping, so made again VREF calculations and find out that correct value is 1.02 volts. With 0.9v (1.0 - 10%) the extruder is not skipping anymore and motor remain at about 45°C. What formula have you used to get 0.58v?
3dprintingspace.com/t/v2-2-1-silent-board-stepper-vref-values/2661/4 Used the equation for the 2208: RMS = 0.6Amax / 1.41 = 0.4255 VRef = (0.4255x2.5)/1.77 = 0.6V (recommend using ~90% to 100% of this value) so I set it close to 0.6V
@@BlackGymkhana very strange, my motor had a tag on it that said 0.6A max.... and at some point thats what was on the Bondtech website too... I'll see if I can still find the reference on their website...
@@BlackGymkhana check here... mine was the 20mm motor, scroll down and click the tab that says "addressing a hot stepper motor" and you will see it says to run it between 0.45A and 0.65A www.bondtech.se/product/lgx-lite-large-gears-extruder/
@@EmbraceMaking I think in that statement they already refer to the RMS current ( 1A/1.44 - 10% = 0.6A) used by the motor, not the Amax per phase. In the LDOMotors sheet you showed in your video, the max Amps per phase reported is 1...
@@EmbraceMaking thank you, you are awesome, hope you make some fresh videos about stuff you are making cause i like to watch them a lot ;) stay cool ;)
I have something new for this machine coming up... will open up a lot of possibilities including new extruders. Out of the box you can't use those because you need a different auto bed levelling sensor which is not compatible with the main board
OMG you are amazing. I am going to do this on my cr10s also, eno thing I dont know is, how you correct E-steps if you dont have octo print aplication? Is it even possible to do it on printers setting in menu?
I am more familiar with PrusaSlicer, but I'm sure Cura has a "Start G-Code" section whereby you can set the new e-steps value using the same g-code. You should be able to use the same commands to save the new value, but ultimately if you just leave it in the start gcode for that printer profile, it will get written to your start gcode every print anyways.
I believe the difference is just in the size of the stepper motor... I haven't found the lite version to be too weak to pull filament and the reduction in weight is nice on the print head
@@EmbraceMaking found major difference is in gear backlash, lite has a lot higher backlash - for some professional users that is significant enough to sell all LGX lite and buy some other new comers that are tested to have lower backlash and still weight less or even less
@@air21511 How much more? Since the extruder is operating in one direction only until retraction, the backlash shouldn't have that much of an impact in theory?
It was! I recently rebranded to better capture the type of content I have been producing. When I first started this channel many years ago I was more focused on car / automotive content. While I still enjoy doing it and will continue to put some car related content on here, I also do a lot of design / 3d printing / prototyping / engineering work and I thought the new name covers all of it :)
I completely solved the leveling issues of my CR-10 smart... The problem is the mechanical force needed by the strain gauge sensor pushing on the bed during mesh probing. You have to alleviate the pressure needed to the strain gauge to trigger. Loose a little bit the screw of the bracket that holds the two orange hotend cables inplace. That cables are rigid and add a lot of resistance to the movement of the strain gauge. Letting it to slide a little bit removes his spring effect on the hotend, gaining a lot of sensivity on the strain gauge. Before that, my gauge needed 600gr of pressure on the bed to trigger: Now 90gr only! Remounting the hotend assembly, make sure that those cable don't touch the cover near the rear mounting hole.
NOTE_1: The VREF for the driver in the video might be a bit low. Thanks to @BlackGymkhana for pointing out that the Bondtech 0.6A limit is already the RMS value and the coil limit is 1A. SO the new calculation is:
RMS = 1Amax / 1.41 = 0.709
VRef = (0.709x2.5)/1.77 = ~1V (recommend using ~90% to 100% of this value) so I set it close to 0.9V
NOTE_2: After more extensive testing, I am finding that 1mm of retraction is safe (for me) and I am having better results with eliminating stringing. Also, be sure to set your "Retract amount before wipe" to 0% if you are using PrusaSlicer.
Does anything specific need changed for using prusa slicer? Any issues with the abl or does anything need added to code for it to work properly?
@@nickgilson6086 If you change and save the extruder steps in the firmware as shown in the video, then you really only need to modify the retraction settings in Prusa Slicer. The suggested values are on the Bondtech website and I also show them in the video. See the original comment above to see that I also made a correction to the VREF value and the retraction setting I use now is 1mm and it is safe.
For anyone thinking about ordering the parts pre-printed, I ordered them on Thursday and they're here on Monday - high quality and shipped incredibly fast given I'm in Canada and usually that's an additional couple of weeks from anywhere, especially if it relies on Canada Post and there's a weekend anywhere near.
The parts are impeccable and I look forward to using them.
Thank you so much for the kind words Brett!
Great video! Thanks so much for compiling, designing and filming everything needed to perform this upgrade. Adding direct-drive to my CR-10 Smart has been a game changer! And the step-by-step walkthrough made installing the BondTech Extruder, while not quick task, a fairly easy one... (Hardest part may have been fishing the new extruder wire through the mesh loom!) Thanks again!
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Eric! Glad it worked out for you, one of my favorite mods for this printer!
I have the CR6SE , Micro Swiss all metal hot end kit and LGX. One thing you have missed is the stop washer that resides upon the strain sensor. You need this because the pressure of the filament being pushed into the head will drive the strain sensor downwards. This is bad for the sensor and more importantly varies the height of the nozzle as the pressure changes with flow rate, retractions etc. When fitting the stop washer one caution is to not "preload" the strain sensor where the washer being tightened actually lifts the sensor by even a micro amount. Doing so inhibits the sensor function and you will crash the nozzle into the bed. Even then after the stop washer is fitted correctly you might need to adjust the sensor cut off screw to lessen the sensitivity to touch.
That's an interesting consideration. When you say stop washer, are you talking about that black filament guide with the bowden tube push fitting that sits on top of the strain gauge mount? Or was it another part that I showed in the video that I discarded?
@@EmbraceMaking I made a reply with the bondtech link, my post vanished. Anyway search for Bondtech LGX CR6SE installation, the step by step talks about the washer install and electronic adjustment, but also make note of my comments above as some have had lost adjustment of the sensor because of preloading.
@@AstroSmoke. I've looked some video of the Bondtech LGX CR6SE Installation, found one where we see the guy installing 2 washers on the left screw but... no voice over or explanation about it. Any details or link to a more specific video? Thanks a lot, I'm considering this mod a lot and would like to understand how to do it the best I can :)
@@frebou The issue is a little overlooked, under estimated because of the variability of the strain gauge itself. I contacted Bondtech and they did add some extra details to the install guide, which btw is hard to find on their website because it is under the"news" section. Anyway the basic issue is that the direct extruder when extruding filament places a downwards load/force upon the strain gauge. This can yield quite a load on the sensitive gauge. Unfortunately Creality did not do due diligence to install the strain gauge correctly by installing over range limiters, thus the gauge is moved in the opposite direction to bed probing. The secondary issue is the head is bent downwards during extrusion, effectively lowering the z height. Therefore the idea is to add range limit stop to downwards movement. This is done by adding a bar(washers) bridging the gap by the left hotend screw to the outer edge of the strain gauge. The CAUTION is that you have to pay attention that the bar(washers) "DO NOT" lift the strain gauge. Doing so alters the preload strain to the sensitive gauge, because of this you can actually plow into the bed, as I did. The trick is to fit the washer(s) so that the bridge hardly touches, 0.05mm - 0.1mm clearance. The next main trick is the loosen off the strain gauge sensitivity by the screw adjuster until it is on at start up, then adjust until the light just goes out, and maybe a "touch" more, so that movement doesn't create false triggers. Retractions will flick the sensor. The added benefit is improved layers because the head isn't moving in the z height during extrusion.
@@AstroSmoke. ok thanks, make sense now, the washer is blocking the downward mouvement by spreading the load to the external part (fixed) of the strain gauge. Will read the manual too. Thanks again!
one of the nicest DD mods i've ever seen, very clean, congrats
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Dude! Amazing!
Between this video and your all metal hot end upgrade, I have all the info I was looking for.
Originally, I was going to go for the MicroSwiss hot end & DirectDrive all in one, but I like what you're saying about keeping the weight down!
Thanks for the video, and the printable parts... You have yourself a new Subscriber!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for coming on board! When you download the files from prusa prints, if you can like the file and even rate it that would be so helpful!
@@EmbraceMaking, I surely will! I have all the parts on back order now!
The only bit that has me slightly concerned is messing with the voltage for the DirectDrive! :/
Just wanted to give a quick "Thanks" for this video and also your all metal hotend video. I did both of these upgrades following your videos and worked perfectly. Very informative and good to use as a set by step! Thanks again
Great to hear! Thank you for commenting!
Thanks for the great video!
I may exist below, but one thing that may be useful is sharing the tensioning wheel is the single wheel at the bottom. The hex shaft acts as a concentric shaft control. That is probably obvious to most users, but it was hard won knowledge for me.
Be well
J
If it’s such an issue for momentum, maybe have a pre pull motor on a second rail above the main one and then have the main motor just be for guidance and anti-flex take up, that way the torque required is almost null and a dc motor can be used as the stepping will be done with the main feed on a second rail
It's a great idea, I feel like I have seen a similar concept on another printer somewhere... I'd have to go and try and find it, but I've definitely seen the second rail idea... don't recall if that person got it to work well...
That is awesome bro, really good work. I'll be trying this out for sure.
Thank you! Do you have the CR-10 Smart or the CR6-SE ?
@@EmbraceMaking CR-10 Smart
Awesome, if you have any questions along the way, be sure to come back and you can contact me here.
Very great Video! been customizing my CR-10 Smart for a while now and love your Videos on this Printer! have you considered upgrading the Firmware on the Printer too in the near Future?
Thank you! Yes I definitely have considered it but am waiting for one of two things... a proven stable community firmware release, OR a proven stable official Creality firmware release. I know version .10 has been released from Creality but some people are still reporting some issues from what I can see. Right now my printer is working well on the original firmware so I haven't ventured away from it just yet!
Very nice addition of LGX Lite with minimal printed parts. Planning to give this a shot this week on either a cr-10 smart or cr-6se. PETG-CF filament? I was going to throw either 3dxtech ASA or esun pla+ at it I think.
Your design is less work involved than the lgx lite/dragon HF I was working on and I was wanting to get the lgx lite going soon. I've got 2 cr-6se, 1 cr-10 smart, and only 1 LGX Lite at moment. All with BTT CR6 SKR boards, so a little less work on stepper vref.
2 Micro Swiss hotends and 1 Dragon HF.
Nice to hear! Yes PETG-CF and seems to be holding up great so far. The mount area doesn't get terribly hot but I would still probably shy away from PLA as I find it creeps too much even at elevated room temperatures such as within 3D printer enclosures (when under load --> holding something up and in place)
Very nice upgrade and good job on the video! Did you make any adjustments with linear advance settings for the stringing? I wonder if the pressure advance settings in klipper would get rid of the stringing altogether.
I thought I was already subscribed, but I guess not. So subscribed now. 👍
I don't have linear advance setup on this machine as the firmware is not open source, I can't access the config files... and I don't think Creality is utilizing that feature... haven't tried sending any commands to change the values to see if by chance they enabled it though, but highly doubt it! Switching the machine over to a totally different control system like Klipper would absolutely change the game and you could have complete freedom. I upped my retraction to 1mm on this machine and the stringing is now gone anyways. The 0.4mm suggestion on the bondtech website turned out to be way too low. Thanks for the sub!
Amazing mod, love it.
Glad you like it!
Hi, I have a CREALITY CR 10 Smart 3D printer and I'm having similar problems to yours. That's why I was happy to find your two videos on youtube for modifying this printer. I modified the hotend (Microswiss CR6-SE Kit) according to your video. Everything worked flawlessly until a problem occurred with the extruder and therefore I proceeded to make another modification according to your video (Bondtech LGX Lite). I finished the mechanical part. You described everything perfectly and I, as an amateur, could easily understand it. I still have to adjust the engine so it doesn't overheat. It's not entirely clear to me how to do the settings in the firmware. I don't use OctoPrint, I print from an SD card and use PrušaSlicer. Can I ask you for a more detailed description of how to do it. Thank you in advance. Regards, Ivan.
Great video. You should make a video of how you setup your CR-10 Smart to use OctoPrint. I assume you had to disconnect the on-board Creality Cloud?
Already did ;) czcams.com/video/TzQV7Hc74Dc/video.html Hope you enjoy!
Hi
Many thanks for the great explanation. I was able to install everything including the metal hot end as described. Now I only have the problem that my extruder turns to the wrong side. Do you have a tip for me what I did wrong?
Check out 9:19 of the video... I show how to swap the wires so it runs the correct way.
Since the you added the direct drive motor right above the nozzle, does it stop you from printing at 400mm now since you will hit the bar at the top?
Yes it will reduce the Z height limit as you suggest!
Thanks! Perfect and easy.
You're welcome!
I have not found firmware configuration for the cr-10 smart. The cr-6 community firmware does not have a firmware configuration for the cr10 smart unless you install the btt skf cr6 mainboard that is not available. For the micro swiss hot end upgrade, the firmware need to be changed to increase the max temperature limit. Have you found a configuration that works?
hey , what is the version of your firmware ? mine looks a bit different
Which terminal pins are supposed to switch. The Bondtech site said to switch red and green as opposed to blue and yellow. Does it make a difference?
As long as they are on the same motor coil it doesn't matter
Well done video. But isn't the entire point of using a direct drive to get rid of the annoying bowden tube? Could you run this without the bowden tube?
Thank you, but the difference here is that this tube isn't really a bowden tube because it sits before the extruder. However, yes if you find that tube behind the extruder annoying you can mount your spool directly overhead at the top extrusion and let your filament go straight down into the extruder. This is a great way of doing it if you have height above your printer. In some cases people run their printers in cabinets or other enclosures that do not have the height to accommodate the spool on top. Thanks!
I am thing of doing the Micro Swiss Hot end and the LGC Lite upgrades. How much Z height do you lose with the LGX Lite? I assume we need to change the slicer Z limits.
That is a good point, I haven't measured exactly but I would suspect you are going to lose appx. 40mm on the Z
Any tips or information regarding chaining the steps when not using prusa slicer?
Thanks
hi What type of a tube connector is this? where do you get it..?
Video reff Time: 4:35 / 21:44
Very informative video, my CR10 Smart now has the same setup because of this. Just want to ask...what material did you use for the LGX mount plate? I used CF-PLA and it keeps on bending slightly backwards during filament advance. I'm concerned that it might become permanent because of the heat generated by the motor.
Thanks! I was using carbon fiber PETG and I think I had 40% infill? Mine was pretty stiff...
@@EmbraceMaking made some modification to the mounting plate so it won't bend backwards like before...I added a front bracket that screws together with one of the fan shroud's mounts and the plate itself. Hope it lasts!🤞
What firmware is this ????? My autolevel is not nearly as advanced and i have the same machine!, it's also incredibly hard to find spare parts for this printer! :(
Might be a dumb question but can I change the e steps just using the E TX Rto and changing that to 562
Can I use the direct extruder from the cr-10 smart pro on the cr-10 smart? And change the automatic level sensor?
I have a cr10smart, same setup as you, just installed the motor following the video. Great help with that loved the help of the video!
BUT when i turned it on, the extruder is turning very slowly.. im not sure how to fix this issue... how can i fix this issue so it can turn at its proper speed?
Did you change the esteps value in the firmware?
Absolutely love the video I have just ordered all the parts to carry out the conversion on my printer, just a quick question with regards to the current, are you measuring between the negative and the trim pot its self or a pin on the mother board? Cheers
Thank you! You measure on the trim pot (this is the + test point) and you probe any GND point on the board for your negative probe of your meter. Since the whole board shares a common GND you can just use the big GND terminal on the incoming 24V power from the power supply.
@@EmbraceMaking perfect thank you, another noob question I use cura as my slicer how would I go about adjusting my E-Step value through that or do I have to do it another way. I do apologise for the questions.
There are a few ways to do it... you can edit your start G-code to include the code to adjust your e-steps at the beginning of every print. You can also adjust your extrusion multiplier, for instance if you are at 100 steps and you need 125 steps per mm, then you would set your extrusion multiplier to 1.25 ... but this is not the ideal way to do it. I would suggest connecting to your printer via some kind of terminal like Octoprint or Repetier host etc, and just issuing the g code commands to change it in the firmware permanently and save that new value. Let me know if you need more details on this.
Is the clear filament guide something you designed? I have the CR-6se and getting ready to do the direct drive upgrade.
Sorry, which clear filament guide are you referring to? I don't think I understand
@@EmbraceMaking , between the filament sensor and the new guide (where the old extruder was) at about the 15:04 mark. Might be something stock on the 10 that the 6se doesn't have.
Ah yes, that came with the printer!
@@EmbraceMaking I didn't get on either!
is it worth just getting the cr10 smart and upgrading it? or buying the pro version. its literally less than half the price of the pro
I haven't kept up with what Creality has been doing lately... but I have a feeling they are abandoning the regular smart and focusing on the smart pro hence the steep discount on these. Mine worked great for some time but then ran into issues with the strain gauge sensor eventually and right now its collecting dust until I make a video showing how to get rid of the strain gauge sensor. It's coming up soon.
@@EmbraceMaking Thanks for replying! sweet ill deffo keep an eye out for your new video! I've dropped a sub! cheers 🍻
Onboard all the way up to the voltage reference adjusting, no clue how to do that 😅
Man, what a great video. Super clean install as well. My EXT LGX came in on Friday. But if did not come with the harness, so I cut the old cable I half and splices some wires I had laying around. I definitely like your DD Mount better than then the one available for the square extruder on Prusa site. The whole walk through is on point. Great job. Here is the question my Smart has a USB-A plug on the side. My OctoPi does not detect the usb serial device when I connect to the printer. Perhaps my adapter does not have data pins connected by that’s all o have at the moment. I know it’s possible to run usb cable directly to the board but I’d rather not. Did you have to do anything special to get OctoPi to work?
Thank you so much for the kind words! Glad you liked the video Yes that USB A plug on the side goes to the Creality Wifi box on the inside of the printer and is only intended for a camera. Check out the other videos on my channel, I have a video specifically showing how to connect Octoprint to the CR10 smart. You have to access the electronics under the printer and you can connect a USB cable to one of the boards for print host capabilities. It's really easy! Let me know if you have any questions or have a hard time finding the video on my channel. Thanks!
today i installed it with my printer. and it was easy to follow thanks for this. I have a question can I install this on my Creality CR-6 Max?
I believe so, check out this remix of my design for the CR6SE ... could work! www.printables.com/model/191963-cr6se-lgxlight
Awesome... Preordered one today! A simple question: what filament brand and type have you used to print the bracket?
Filaments.ca Carbon Fiber PETG looks nice doesn't it!
Can we use this for flsun super racer? Can you make a video on it?
If I had one of those printers I could whip something up, but unfortunately I don't have one.
Hello. I have installed the All Metal Hotend and the Bondtech lgx Lite in my cr-10 Smart. Unfortunately, the extruder rotates very slowly. Even if I increase the volts on the stepper motor, nothing changes. Do you know why that could be?
Have you changed the esteps in the firmware? I believe the regular Creality is something like 93 steps per mm and the LGX requires 562 ... Probably why it's going slow. Don't increase the driver reference voltage you can damage the motor
Do you know if its possible to upgrade CR-10 smart with the sprite extruder ? (same a the pro version)
Looks like it could be an easy swap!
how is the octoprint connected to the printer ? USB, ethernet cable ? Wifi ?
Thank you
czcams.com/video/TzQV7Hc74Dc/video.html
This looks amazing, but sadly it don´t fit on the CR-6 SE since the hotend is slightly to the right on the carrige, I am going to try to design a bracket for my CR-6 SE.
would it be possible to get the STP file for the bracket so I can modify it? :)
www.prusaprinters.org/prints/122750-cr-10-smart-and-cr6-se-direct-drive-upgrade-to-bon/files
Uploaded the STEP file... please do me a favor and when you make your changes, if you can please re-share the file with me so I can also put it on my page that would be great!
@@rindegut did you happen to get that file modified? if so can you please share it? THANKS!
@@EmbraceMaking Have been out for a while. If i manage to remix your bracket to fit the CR-6 se I will share the file :)
@Michael Rinde, By chance, were you able to modify this setup to fit your CR-6 SE? I just received my LGX Lite and I'm looking for the best way to mount it.
Since the new main board is for and ender and other printers do you think we could use ur conversion boards to put a sprite extruded pro kit on this?
You should be able to. All of the connection points are there. I forget what size connectors the sprite comes with but worst case you have to repin or change some connectors to get them to plug in. Then in the firmware you would just need to make sure you have the right thermistor selected, change your probe offset, and change your e steps.
I have update my printer to 1.0.13 and I got ab temp error when I go back to the old update it’s work again I have instal first the direct drive works but now whit the new update I got the ab temp error I hope you can help me
Interesting. I have still stayed away from the new firmware. I would keep using the old firmware for a little while longer... are you subscribed to my channel? I have something in the works right now for the CR10 smart firmware. I am hoping to release the video soon and hopefully put an end to all of these CR10 smart problems.
@@EmbraceMaking bonjour Hello from France or are you for the video of the firmwere of the cr10?
Just got done installing my lgx lite and changing esteps, set my Vref to just under .9 and it is under extruding and skipping. Anyone have any idea why?
Might be a bad motor, check with Bondtech. I've read they had a bad batch, hope you get it sorted!
@@EmbraceMaking appreciate the reply! I figured out it was because my hotend was slightly clogged and wasn't melting material fast enough.
Excellent video, I have a question, can this extruder be installed on an ender 5 plus?
Thanks.
Hi Erneto... likely it should be able to be... if you can't find any online perhaps it is an application I can develop a solution for.
@@EmbraceMaking ok, thanks
Danke!
Daniel, thank you so much you are so generous! It really means a lot! Thank you for your support!
@@EmbraceMaking It's not a lot of money, but I think it's a fair price for your STL files and your work. I have to thank you!! Keep it up!!
Thank you Daniel :)
Great video! Is it possible to replace its leveling plate with a crtouch?
You would likely have to change the mainboard to do this... I have a video coming out on this soon, keep an eye out!
Ok! thankyou very much
I got this one and the extruder misses steps, under-extruding with harder filaments like PETG.
i have to get the heavier one or find a stronger stepper with the same small size!
Soft filaments is ok.
Did you follow this install video? Check the video description and the pinned comment on this video. The VREF for the extruder can be set higher, this will give the stepper a little more grunt and perhaps you won't be missing steps. What did you set your VREF to?
@@EmbraceMaking i did raise it to 0.63v to counter the problem but no avail.
Do you by any chance know about a stronger version of this motor size.
Raise it even higher. You can go to VREF of 0.9V as I put in my pinned comments and video description. Try that before going to a new motor.
hey please could you assist.
im at the point where i set the volts to 5.8. but when i measure its only 1.40 currently. should i really increase volts to 5.8?
i notice comment from you saying its actually needs to be 0.9? very confused right now
many thanks
No you shouldn't. As you see in my pinned comment on the video, you can go up to 0.9V here. This is the reference voltage for the stepper driver and will determine the current delivered to the new smaller motor. Set to 0.9V
@@EmbraceMaking I've set it to 0.8 to be on safe side.
Set retraction to 1mm 35mms and test prints are so good.
Need to redesign the bracket so can mount filament sensor above the extruder for top fed.
The would be awesome 😁😍
which filament sensor did you want to use?
@@EmbraceMaking the stock filament sensor. Same one as on cr6se
I'll put it on my list of things to do... its a long list right now though lol so you'll have to hang tight
Awesome video
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@EmbraceMaking I couldn't really find specs about the pulling force of this extruder on the bondtech website, if this one is so much lighter why even bother to sell the other ? Is the lite weaker or the same ?
@@hermangaviria690 I would imagine with the smaller motor the "lite" version is going to be weaker. In my case I went with the lite version because I wanted less mass on my print head, and the second reason was that I set up all of my machines with very little resistance in my filament path. Therefore I can get away with a lighter pulling force. The other benefit is generally with less friction/resistance in the filament path you get way more consistent extrusion in my opinion. I'll see what I numbers I can find on the pulling force but I'm pretty certain the lite version is going to be lesser than the big one.
Thanks for the input. I ask because the other "light" extruder I can think of is the Orbiter 2.0 from triangle labs. That one is supposed to be pretty good but it uses the smaller gears, since bondtech advertises the LGX gears to be better I want to know which of the two is weaker/stronger. I'm trying to see which of the two would be the better purchase
That was the other option that I was considering when making this video due to similar size and price. I ultimately chose LGX because I've used other Bondtech products before and they are generally very good quality.
I've installed it on my printer but noticed that extruder skips while microstepping, so made again VREF calculations and find out that correct value is 1.02 volts. With 0.9v (1.0 - 10%) the extruder is not skipping anymore and motor remain at about 45°C. What formula have you used to get 0.58v?
3dprintingspace.com/t/v2-2-1-silent-board-stepper-vref-values/2661/4
Used the equation for the 2208:
RMS = 0.6Amax / 1.41 = 0.4255
VRef = (0.4255x2.5)/1.77 = 0.6V (recommend using ~90% to 100% of this value) so I set it close to 0.6V
@@EmbraceMaking the Amax for this LDO-36STH20-1004AHG stepper motor is 1.0A / phase. Correct VREF should be near 1V.
@@BlackGymkhana very strange, my motor had a tag on it that said 0.6A max.... and at some point thats what was on the Bondtech website too... I'll see if I can still find the reference on their website...
@@BlackGymkhana check here... mine was the 20mm motor, scroll down and click the tab that says "addressing a hot stepper motor" and you will see it says to run it between 0.45A and 0.65A www.bondtech.se/product/lgx-lite-large-gears-extruder/
@@EmbraceMaking I think in that statement they already refer to the RMS current ( 1A/1.44 - 10% = 0.6A) used by the motor, not the Amax per phase. In the LDOMotors sheet you showed in your video, the max Amps per phase reported is 1...
hello again, waht retraction distance in mm do you use and what speed of retraction?
Retraction is 1mm and speed of retraction is 35mm/s , hope that helps!
@@EmbraceMaking thank you, you are awesome, hope you make some fresh videos about stuff you are making cause i like to watch them a lot ;) stay cool ;)
Does this fit the CR-6 SE?
Check out the link to my printables page and then head into "remixes" ... you should find what you are looking for ;)
Anyone know if I have to still switch the cables with a micro Swiss direct drive? Or if they even make one specifically for the smart?
Which microswiss direct drive product are you using?
@@EmbraceMaking it just says direct drive with hot end for cr10 and ender 3
Is there any way to do the Swiss extruder and hit ended together with this printer at all???
I have something new for this machine coming up... will open up a lot of possibilities including new extruders. Out of the box you can't use those because you need a different auto bed levelling sensor which is not compatible with the main board
OMG you are amazing. I am going to do this on my cr10s also, eno thing I dont know is, how you correct E-steps if you dont have octo print aplication? Is it even possible to do it on printers setting in menu?
Thanks! You could do it in your slicer too. What slicer are you using?
@@EmbraceMaking hey, I am using cura slicer 4.13.1 the newest version, so If I understand you could change G code in printer setting in cura slicer ?
I am more familiar with PrusaSlicer, but I'm sure Cura has a "Start G-Code" section whereby you can set the new e-steps value using the same g-code. You should be able to use the same commands to save the new value, but ultimately if you just leave it in the start gcode for that printer profile, it will get written to your start gcode every print anyways.
@@EmbraceMaking thank you very much 😉
You're welcome!
please bring cr touch plugin for cr-10smart
This is one of my next videos ;)
@@EmbraceMaking endless thanks man
is there any down side to this extruder vs LGX non lite?
I believe the difference is just in the size of the stepper motor... I haven't found the lite version to be too weak to pull filament and the reduction in weight is nice on the print head
@@EmbraceMaking found major difference is in gear backlash, lite has a lot higher backlash - for some professional users that is significant enough to sell all LGX lite and buy some other new comers that are tested to have lower backlash and still weight less or even less
@@air21511 How much more? Since the extruder is operating in one direction only until retraction, the backlash shouldn't have that much of an impact in theory?
Hi were are the links to the printer parts to print.
Hi Dave, they are in the video description: www.printables.com/model/122750-cr-10-smart-and-cr6-se-direct-drive-upgrade-to-bon
bonjour peux ton l'instaler sur cr10 s pro merci pour les tuto est video
I will see if I can get a CR10 S pro to play with!
O mount não funciona na Cr6-SE não fica centrado com o hotend
I think someone is working on a new mount for the CR6SE
I swear to god it was Embrace Racing not Embrace Making
It was! I recently rebranded to better capture the type of content I have been producing. When I first started this channel many years ago I was more focused on car / automotive content. While I still enjoy doing it and will continue to put some car related content on here, I also do a lot of design / 3d printing / prototyping / engineering work and I thought the new name covers all of it :)
good jop :) neverdeless oto bed lvl no good working :( I am complian with this
Perhaps contact Creality maybe your bed or glass is very warped and the autobed levelling cannot compensate enough for it?
I completely solved the leveling issues of my CR-10 smart... The problem is the mechanical force needed by the strain gauge sensor pushing on the bed during mesh probing. You have to alleviate the pressure needed to the strain gauge to trigger. Loose a little bit the screw of the bracket that holds the two orange hotend cables inplace. That cables are rigid and add a lot of resistance to the movement of the strain gauge. Letting it to slide a little bit removes his spring effect on the hotend, gaining a lot of sensivity on the strain gauge. Before that, my gauge needed 600gr of pressure on the bed to trigger: Now 90gr only! Remounting the hotend assembly, make sure that those cable don't touch the cover near the rear mounting hole.
💖 Promo-SM!
Promote it!
extruder can be applied for CR6 MAx ?
If you go to my printables page and check the "remix" section someone made a remixed file for the CR6 I believe!