Mr3DPrint.com
Reviews
Some of my personal reviews of
products I have used.
© Mr3DPrint.com
Creality CR Touch
I was asked to review the new CR Touch Auto Leveling Kit from Creality. Full disclosure, I was provided the Kit at no charge in exchange for my "thoughtful product review within 2 weeks of receiving the product". I own the Ender 5 Plus and Ender 5 printers, both of which I purchased through Amazon from Comgrow and their Affiliate. The Ender 5 has been retired so this review will focus on the CR Touch as it relates to the Ender 5 Plus.
The official email from Creality3DOfficial.com arrived on July 16 stating I had been selected to participate in this marketing endeavor. The actual CR Touch arrived Aug 7, so 3 weeks to receive the product and it was very well packaged and protected. The product arrived with no visible signs of trouble.
Since my Ender 5 Plus came with the BL Touch kit installed, my change over to the CR Touch was fairly easy, the wiring and board connections were already done as the two use the same wiring, connectors, and firmware settings. However, the directions and fully illustrated instruction sheet covers installation procedures for new installations also. It covers every detail from installing the correct firmware, to wire connections on the 32-bit mother board, to mounting on the stock hotend, and setting the z offset properly. Very detailed and image driven instruction sheet. Also included in the kit are a full wiring harness, 2 different screw lengths 2x M3x8 and 2x M3x6, 3 zip ties, 3 different mounting brackets to mount onto the Ender 3, 3s, 3 Pro, 3 Max, 3 v2, CR-10, Ender 5, 5 Pro, 5 Plus, Full Color image driven detailed instruction sheet and it's packed into a well-protected box.
I disconnected my BL Touch at the hotend and connected the CR Touch in its place. The brackets and mounting are the same with one exception, The CR Touch cable connection is on the very top of the device, so it is very easy to access. The new bracket has a cutout made for this connection. So, I mounted the bracket, connected the wire harness, and powered up the printer. I heard the usual tic of the touch leveler as it initialized. I heated up the bed and hotend, and selected "Leveling" from the display menu. As the hotend moved to the center of the bed, the contact pin popped down and waited for the bed to come up to touch it. Here is where a big difference between the BL Touch and CR Touch comes into play. The CR Touch pin is a full 2mm shorter than the BL Touch pin, so my bed contacted the nozzle as it tried to settle into the established Z offset height. I quickly lowered the bed to a safe height. I put the BL Touch back into place and leveled everything out again.
I measured both devices from the top of the bracket to the bottom of the pin. Both are the same size, right at 42mm. So, I measured the exposed pin of the BL Touch and it was 10.2mm. Measuring the pin of the CR Touch is when I realized the 2mm difference. The fully extended pin of the CR Touch is 8.2mm. A few more quick measurements and I printed a 2mm high block to go between the bracket and the CR Touch. With that in place, I powered the printer on again, set the temps, and went to the leveling section of the menu. This time the z offset was almost spot on as it was with the BL Touch. I re-leveled and started a test print. Print came out fine.
So this experience overall was definitely not horrible. I really like the look and operation of the CR Touch. Many times, I have knocked the pin for the BL Touch when moving the hotend around and bent the plastic pin to the point that it fouls the device. A few minutes of straightening the plastic pin, and it is back in operation. I like that the pin for the CR Touch is METAL. I don't think it will be as easy to damage it as it is with the BL Touch.
So, in closing, the new CR Touch Auto Leveling Kit seems to be well made, I like the dark smoke casing, and I really like the metal pin. Creality put some thought into this unit. I really like that those with a BL Touch have a very easy upgrade solution when switching to the CR Touch, and I do consider it an upgrade. Would I spend the 39.99 - 49.99 bucks (depending on the Amazon seller you buy from) to upgrade from a BL Touch, maybe yes when the plastic pin broke again. If I were buying the leveling kit for a printer without an Auto Leveling option I would definitely pick the CR Touch over the BL Touch simply for the Metal Pin over Plastic every time.
I want to that Creality3DOffical for allowing me to provide my experience with this product.
-Happy Printing
The official email from Creality3DOfficial.com arrived on July 16 stating I had been selected to participate in this marketing endeavor. The actual CR Touch arrived Aug 7, so 3 weeks to receive the product and it was very well packaged and protected. The product arrived with no visible signs of trouble.
Since my Ender 5 Plus came with the BL Touch kit installed, my change over to the CR Touch was fairly easy, the wiring and board connections were already done as the two use the same wiring, connectors, and firmware settings. However, the directions and fully illustrated instruction sheet covers installation procedures for new installations also. It covers every detail from installing the correct firmware, to wire connections on the 32-bit mother board, to mounting on the stock hotend, and setting the z offset properly. Very detailed and image driven instruction sheet. Also included in the kit are a full wiring harness, 2 different screw lengths 2x M3x8 and 2x M3x6, 3 zip ties, 3 different mounting brackets to mount onto the Ender 3, 3s, 3 Pro, 3 Max, 3 v2, CR-10, Ender 5, 5 Pro, 5 Plus, Full Color image driven detailed instruction sheet and it's packed into a well-protected box.
I disconnected my BL Touch at the hotend and connected the CR Touch in its place. The brackets and mounting are the same with one exception, The CR Touch cable connection is on the very top of the device, so it is very easy to access. The new bracket has a cutout made for this connection. So, I mounted the bracket, connected the wire harness, and powered up the printer. I heard the usual tic of the touch leveler as it initialized. I heated up the bed and hotend, and selected "Leveling" from the display menu. As the hotend moved to the center of the bed, the contact pin popped down and waited for the bed to come up to touch it. Here is where a big difference between the BL Touch and CR Touch comes into play. The CR Touch pin is a full 2mm shorter than the BL Touch pin, so my bed contacted the nozzle as it tried to settle into the established Z offset height. I quickly lowered the bed to a safe height. I put the BL Touch back into place and leveled everything out again.
I measured both devices from the top of the bracket to the bottom of the pin. Both are the same size, right at 42mm. So, I measured the exposed pin of the BL Touch and it was 10.2mm. Measuring the pin of the CR Touch is when I realized the 2mm difference. The fully extended pin of the CR Touch is 8.2mm. A few more quick measurements and I printed a 2mm high block to go between the bracket and the CR Touch. With that in place, I powered the printer on again, set the temps, and went to the leveling section of the menu. This time the z offset was almost spot on as it was with the BL Touch. I re-leveled and started a test print. Print came out fine.
So this experience overall was definitely not horrible. I really like the look and operation of the CR Touch. Many times, I have knocked the pin for the BL Touch when moving the hotend around and bent the plastic pin to the point that it fouls the device. A few minutes of straightening the plastic pin, and it is back in operation. I like that the pin for the CR Touch is METAL. I don't think it will be as easy to damage it as it is with the BL Touch.
So, in closing, the new CR Touch Auto Leveling Kit seems to be well made, I like the dark smoke casing, and I really like the metal pin. Creality put some thought into this unit. I really like that those with a BL Touch have a very easy upgrade solution when switching to the CR Touch, and I do consider it an upgrade. Would I spend the 39.99 - 49.99 bucks (depending on the Amazon seller you buy from) to upgrade from a BL Touch, maybe yes when the plastic pin broke again. If I were buying the leveling kit for a printer without an Auto Leveling option I would definitely pick the CR Touch over the BL Touch simply for the Metal Pin over Plastic every time.
I want to that Creality3DOffical for allowing me to provide my experience with this product.
-Happy Printing
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