I knew I needed to do this for awhile now and got a ferrule kit for Christmas. 30 min later I have them on and the printer cleaned up. Thank you for the awareness.
Really easy to understand! Thanks! I’ve been thinking that my Ender 3 Pro is dead and leave it several month and finally I bought meanwell PSU and...Last night after I replaced PSU, it still won’t wake up and ....I found out that my Ender 3 Pro cable (Power - one) was loosen and dancing on the board... that was one of the scariest moments I’ve ever experienced...
One thing you can do is take a picture of the wires you plan on replacing before you do any work. That way you'll always have a reference of their original position.
Thank you for this! You’re quickly becoming one of my favorite 3D Printer Info Sources / RU-vidrs with your (relatively) short videos that set out a problem and explain it, then illustrate how to fix it. I also just noticed you put sources in the description. Excellent! Your anti-backlash nut video saved me major headaches from my Ender 3v2 gantry falling down after a print every time (started when i installed a camera on it for octopi; was about to remove the camera and then I saw your video) and now I’m going to add ferrules too. I spent three hours last weekend repairing cracked solder connections on a small amplifier I built years ago, but it never occurred to me to address the issue before it happened to my printer.
Just got my ferrule kit today from Amazon after coming across your video and just installed them . main power wire screws were starting to loosen up . Thanks for the awesome videos!!!
I am new to your channel and new to the Ender 3 v2. You offer very informative and well delivered tutorials. It reminds me of old PBS television classes they used to have back in the '80s. Very informative and well written to deliver exactly what you need to succeed. Thanks for all your help in improving my printing.
Brian - Thanks for the info! I was going to get lazy and not do this, but after seeing what can happen I'm going to take the time to get the material and make the change. I'm also going to watch the rest of your posts, as I'm a nubie in the DYI 3D printer world, and have already managed to trash a very expensive Dremel. Keep up the good work!
THIS IS SUCH AN UNDERRATED VIDEO! Thank you Bryan for the easy to follow instructions. I was successfully able to do this and I’m a beginner when it comes to electronics. Every 3d maker should know how to do this and I will recommend this to anyone who is just starting out!
Thanks for the clear instructions and with me just now entering the 3D printer realm this means a lot. In other words I don't know anything and have a huge learning curve ahead! Looks like I found the right channel!!
Thanks for making this video, I have been preaching the use of ferrules, in social media and other places, since I noticed this problem with my Tronxy X3 kit (ya that ole thing). Very concise and to the point. For those who are really afraid of messing up, I would suggest removing, clipping, stripping, crimping and installing, one wire at a time. :-)
Another great video, Bryan, and very timely. Recently my Ender 3 v2 stopped working in the middle of a print. I opened up the board to test the voltage for where the power supply connect to the motherboard, and the connection port was fried (not as bad as in this video, but it's toast). The vendor sent me a new power supply and motherboard, and since I have to hook it up anyways I'm going to use ferrules. Thank you!!!
I had the same type of problem and had to run resistance tests on the wires leading to the hotend in order to find out that it has burned up in the middle of one of the wires... replaced and tinned the new wire to match factory specs, thinking I had found a faulty wire... now I'm thinking pre-emptive ferrules all around are the trick! Best of luck to you!
Wow, a whole brand new board and power supply? Lol, I hope they realize it's not worth cutting corners like that. What if there is a fire and the printer is the cause?
I've looked up two topics today: 1) Working with Tinkercad and 2) Using a Crimping Tool, and after clicking on a video, one of yours about the same topic was recommended in the sides, so I watched those. Thanks for all of the valuable information! I'm going to do this with my Ender 3 V2 and see if my Ender 3 Max Neo needs the same. I think I'll use this tool also for 12v power jack adapter connectors.
Great video. I’ve used ferrules on my printers for a long time. It’s good to make people aware of them and how to use them. They are so much better than bare wire. I like your shirt.
Hi Corey Mac! I'll be doing this on the rest of my fleet as they come up for maintenance. I'm glad you like the shirt. These TeeTurtle shirts have great puns. 😉
@@BV3D thank you, really. I put ferrules on my wires months ago, but I must have misunderstood something on a considerable level when reading the instructions: I had crimped the plastic ends of the ferrule (rather than the metal tube through which the business end of the wire goes) to the wire after feeding the twisted wire through. It seemed dumb, but the directions were not super clear in translation and there weren’t a bunch of pictures. When I saw this and reinstalled the ferrules, I found the heater bed wire was loose in the ferrule, easy to pull out. Honestly, this video might have save me from a possible fire.
my goodness, my wife would be jealous to have such long and thick hair. By the way, thank you for your very well prepared text. A thousand times more pleasant and effective than the unprepared babble of some other RU-vidrs. Thumbs up!
DON`T twist wires before crimping!!!! Jast strip, put on ferrule and crimp. Twisting the wire, you do the same if you pressed it with a screw. When crimping, twisted wires can cut each other. Wires must be parallel to each other.
I have learned a lot from BV’s excellent videos, but a word of caution on the ferrules. Some of my wires were marked as 15 AWG, which is not at all common in North America. My kit had 14 and 16 AWG ferrules. 14 AWG ferrules were a problem placing into the connector block, and 16 AWG ferrules required clipping some wire strands - not good. There is also not much slack in the wires, and they make very tight turns into the connector block. Not to be a killjoy, but many might be better served by just snugging the connector block screws every 6 to 12 months rather than risking trouble with a poorly connected ferrule.
Ah, thanks for the information! Looks like I need a new tool and kit. I don't own a ferrule tool or any ferrules... had one wire to my hot end burn up shortly into owning my Ender 3 V2, luckily the printer shut down because of thermal runaway. Anyway, I replaced the wire with a high quality wire of the same gauge, and tinned the end because I noted that was what the factory/Creality did. I've been using the printer for a while since, probably 20 prints or so, without issue, and I came across a tip about tinned wires in screw connectors being bad. Anyway, now I'm paranoid that is why that wire burned up, and will be tightening the screws occasionally until I get my hands on some ferrules. 😁👌 Thanks again, and all the best Bryan!
Make sure the metal end of the ferrule inserts completely into the screw terminal block (like yours did). If too long and you can see the metal ferrule sticking out, just snip a bit off.
Just done this on my ender 3 v2 that's about a month old now, interestingly enough there was hot glue around all the 'hot' connections and the wires coming from the PSU and to the bed are way thicker in the video, had to use a blue ferrel from the same set for those.
Small hands are a boon when working on these things...took me an hour and a half to do mine. Finally ended up having to take the right side of the thing apart to get more than one of the ferrules back into the terminal block, 'cause my fingers are just too dadgum big lol Edit: BUT! As others are saying, I do now hove more peace of mind about running it for more than an hour at a time. Still not sure about running it overnight yet, but, I'm sure I'll become more comfortable with the idea as I get used to finally having a 3D printer. Edit: Also, not sure if they've just changed the gauge of wire that goes to the hot end, but I had to use the next size up from the black ones (had to use blue) you used for the hot end wires.
These are the easiest crimps I've ever done, too. Much easier than the little bitty ones for fan connectors and stuff.. The rest of my printers are going to get this treatment as I find time. 👍
@@BV3D oh top tip for the tiny ones: part close the crimp first so it ratchets partway closed, then place the ferrule and insert the wire. The professional models have a little sizing tool that slides into place over the anvils to hold the ferrule in place, but this trick works for the amateur models like mine.
I wish i did this before, i noticed my printer smelling like cigars, but thought it was just heat or somehting, next morning i went to print and it still smelled like it, opened the printer up and sure enough a melted terminal
@@littlesnowflakepunk855 crimping is actually a cold welding process and if the wire strands are twisted, welding performance decreases drastically leading to premature loosening of the joint.
Hello, I have a Ender3 v2 for 3-4 yrs now and haven't had any issues until i tried to print ABS I set bed temp to 80 and was printing good until everything stopped . upon searching for problem I replaced PSU and the same thing no power so i looked at Motherboard the hot bed connecter was melted so i am replacing the hot bed and upgraded Motherboard but to be safe i am going with these Ferrol's. hopefully this will solve my problem..Thanks for a great video you saved from having any more problems. I have pics if you would to see. Bill from ct.
A very important mod to do alongside this (especially if you plan on ever printing PETG or *especially* ABS/ASA) is to unplug the motherboard cooling fan, cut off the plug, strip a bit of insulation off the ends, and connect it to the same screw terminals as the hotend fan. The reason for this is because Creality, for reasons only known to them, decided that the motherboard fan should only be on when the part cooling fan is on, instead of all the time.
Your link has a 6-4 (square) and 6-6 (hex) option. From what I can gather they bit both will get squished down more by the screw terminals. Which did you use? And outstanding benefit of what crimp style over the other?
@@BV3D Thank you for your response and videos. I went ahead and ordered the square one. I'm following your instructions on replacing the stock Ender 3 extruder with a micro swiss. I went ahead and ordered some replacement heater cartridges and thermisters, as my heat is really dirty. Only problem is the extruder arrives today and the crimpers on Monday :) If the heater cartridge comes out without any issues I'll just use the old and have the new ones in reserve. Then I'll fix up the power connections with the ferrules after I get the crimper. I've had my ender 3 for 3 years now, so a couple days should be okay. FWIW I read a comment on a forum where in a pinch you can round them up by crimping once, rotating 45 degrees, and crimping again.
You failed to mention that stranded wire isn’t for flexibility, it’s for higher amperage ratings. Electrons travel on the surface of the wire, so the more strands, the more surface area for electron flow and higher amperage. My question is this, does the ferrule become a resistor to the flow, since less strands are contacting the terminal directly? If this is the case, then you would have yet another burnout eventually, from overheating. When a stranded wire connection catches on fire, it is less to do with overheating and more to do with arc flashing, no?
Hi! blog.jemelectronics.com/stranded-vs-solid-wire says, "Because of the given thickness of stranded wire, i.e., it’s thinner, there are more air gaps and a greater surface area in the individual strands of wire. Therefore, it carries less current than similar solid wires can." The graphic at www.firefold.com/blogs/news/solid-vs-stranded-cable-the-pros-and-cons-of-each says, "One of the big advantages of stranded cable is its flexibility and ease of use in routing the cable." With the ferrule compressed around the strands, they're in very close contact to one another as well as with the surface of the ferrule which is compressed against them. But to answer your question, I'm not sure. If you like, I could measure the resistance of a wire before and after the installation of a ferrule.
@@BV3D ah thanks! I am an electrician by trade, and in my years I had come to the understanding that stranded wire carried more load because of its many strands vs. solid wire’s one strand. I didn’t know that stranded wire was designed to have the same cross-sectional area as the solid counterpart. Thanks for enlightening me!
What is making the connection get hot enough to deform the tinned ends, to begin with? If the connection never gets hot enough to deform the tinned ends in the first place, then there shouldn't ever be a problem, right?
My terminal block had a meltdown and I'm having trouble finding the right size. The two sets I have ordered have been too small. Could you post link to correct blocks if available?
Every time I've looked at the power supply side on a printer, it's been crimped fork connectors going onto the terminals there, so I haven't had to mess with them.
Can I crimp the same size butt connectors onto them instead of using ferrules? The only difference is ferrules have the plastic ,which these butt connectors do not have plastic ends. Other than that they're exactly the same thing. Or would using butt connectors present a danger? Only wondering because i have a ton of butt connectors and no ferrule heads.
I like to, but sometimes forget, to take a picture of each set of changes before I start on it. I can see how the wires were before I made changes and don’t put them back in wrong. I’ll just refer my photo.. but sometimes I think it’s just easier to create a little note and scribble BNR so I know which wire went where I’m done with that section I throw the paper away.
Hello: I just purchased a Voxelab Aquila, do you think I should do this for my printer? I haven’t yet started assembling it, would it be easier to do it now, before assembly? The package set has so many pieces, would it be more cost effective if I purchased a small package of the 2 types of ferrules you used? What are the ‘AW’G’ gauges of the black and red ferrules you used? Thanks
But isn't the problem with the XT60 connectors burning up is because they were crimped rather than soldered? If we are crimping bootlaces, isn;t that just going to move where the problem is? What about soldering after crimping? I'm looking at a burned up, crimped XT60 connector on my desk right now.
Hi! I haven't used a Biqu B1, so I can't directly compare it to an Ender-3 V2, but I can look at the B1 specs and make a few observations. - Both are Bowden drive systems. - Both have silent stepper motor drivers. - Spare parts appear to be readily available for both. - Both have color screens, but: - The B1 has a touchscreen, and - The Ender-3 V2 requires the use of the knob to interact with it. - The B1 has a larger build volume. - The B1 has a magnetically-attached spring steel sheet, which makes print removal easy. - The Ender-3 V2 has belt tensioning knobs on the X and Y axes; the B1 only has one on the Y axis. - The B1 has a filament runout sensor. - The Ender-3 V2 is roughly US$20 cheaper (source: Amazon) My personal feeling is there's a larger user community around the Ender-3 series than the B1. I have two Ender-3 V2 printers and I've been pretty happy with them overall, though they do have their faults (which I fix and then make videos about). I'm curious why the Genius is out of the running. It's just a smaller Sidewinder, and I've been pretty happy with my Sidewinder.
@@BV3D I've been on the sidewinder and genius groups and feel there's a lot more issues with the printers themselves. The Biqu B1 seems just like an upgraded ender 3 with all of the Bigtree tech upgrades already added for not much more. I like the idea of the plug and play BL Touch sensor on the B1 and the 2 20x20 tracks on the base for stabilization instead of the 1 20x40 of the ender 3. Do you prefer your Sidewinder to your ender 3v2?
This is a little bit funny about Creality don't installing ferrules from factory. I mean, the power supply wires already has crimped fork terminals on the power supply side and also crimped spade terminals on the mains input side, adding ferrules sure isn't a big deal if they already did one side of the wire...
Hi Henny, I've got an old Anet A8 and an Anet ET4 Pro. I wouldn't really recommend the old acrylic A8 to anyone. The ET4 Pro has firmware bugs and the auto-leveling bed probe wasn't reliable on the review unit Anet sent me. I've been pretty happy with my two Ender-3 V2 printers (and my Ender-3 standard and my Ender-3 Pro). They aren't without their faults, but nothing I've run into with them has really been a show-stopper. There are one or two little firmware issues with the Ender-3 V2; one is a bug that causes it to report temperature information twice instead of once when it writes its status information to its USB port, another is that it saves any settings adjustments to the memory card instead of on the mainboard itself, and another is that it doesn't appear to support the M600 G-code command for filament swaps. Third-party firmware is available for the Ender-3 V2 to fix these issues, and I heard that Marlin firmware was available for the Anet ET series, so that could help with some of the firmware issues I had on both printers. My personal preference is the Ender-3 series.
Good idea to also take the board fan and clamp it with hot end fan and insert it into the connector so it's always on. Normally the board fan only works when the part cooling fan is on so that's load of stupidity. As a side note Creality customer support just sucks, week without a single answer to multiple emails while I have a faulty board on my Ender 3 V2. Guess I'll by a new one out of my own pocket for 1/5 of the price of the whole printer and install ferrules while I'm at it. Royally sucks since that money could have been used to afford me 2-3 nice upgrades, like a metal extruder and capricorn tube and maybe even bltouch as well for a bit more. I'm pretty damn pissed, ngl.
Wait quick question, I’m currently going through this process with my ender and I was thinking.. why not leave the tin on before crimping? Wouldn’t that be somewhat of a double protection in a sense?
Oh man, those are a pain! I have to use a non-ratcheting crimp tool when I do the little fan connectors. Otherwise I overcompress them and crush the metal. No amount of dialing back the pressure seems to work (but I may just have a cheap ratcheting crimper for those!) 😬
A few days ago, my printer suddenly stopped working. Yesterday, when I finally found time to find out why, I found the negative connector of the power supply on the motherboard melted completely. Luckily it did not catch on fire. Am working to replace it , but funny thing is; The day my printer broke down, I had just ordered ferrule crimps and crimper that morning only😂😂😂. Coincidence is wierd
I wish my printer heated in 5 seconds, must be pushing 100A at that point. I guess it takes a few houses to burn before they force the manufacturers to make them connections right
I wish mine heated up in 5 seconds, too. That was about 3 minutes elapsed time. Fortunately nothing super bad happened as a result of the burned connector on my Monoprice Maker Select Plus. The thing that gave it away on THAT printer was the thermal protection error when the bed wouldn't heat up any longer.
@@BV3D actually, I was checking on a print and answering some firmware questions from a guy in the UK. Kristie asked me a question about another person I had helped earlier in the day who needed some instruction on changing a nozzle in her Sainsmart Coreception 300 (of which I also own) and the discussion ended up on ferrules and crimping. Kristie loves having her 3D printer, but she doesn't want to know all of the gory details of fixing them. When her printer goes down she thinks I'm the guy who should fix it. She just wants to print.
Having connected many of those, I can assure you that it is easier to put a little solder on the tip to control unraveling, but not so much that your strands are floating in solder. MUCH less resistance than adding yet another mechanical connection to the circuit. I would never add those ferrules. Also, you are exaggerating the the thermal expansion rate of modern solder.
I like your video, but dislike for this one.. half video is just bla bla bla.. without real current, wire heating expansion calculations and so on..5v-12v o_O You could just say, that will improve connections look.. and all will be ok. How much time was needed to use ferrules.. and soldering is quicker? No, but probably cheaper in factory.. :) When i get crimping tool was remaking lot of my own connection, just to get professional look ;)
Well, that's OK -- Not everyone likes everything I do. With a lot of my videos, the first half is describing the problem, the second half is implementing the solution. I should add chapter markers though. And while ferrules look nicer and have a more professional appearance, the problem of expansion, crush, and loosening over time actually happens. I've had to tighten the screw terminals in printers after a period of time, and before I knew to do that, there was that issue with my Monoprice Maker Select Plus. In a factory setting, tinning wires is typically done by stripping and twisting the wire, dipping the end in flux, then dipping it into a solder pot. Strip, twist, dip, dip. It would take but a second to do after stripping and twisting the wire. Crimping would take a few extra seconds per wire. So crimping ferrules would slow the production of wiring harnesses a bit, and ferrules would add a bit of cost, but it would probably be less than a penny per.
Chapters make people to skip lot of things.. specialy when your videos already are short and it will take lot of your time. I like that you dont avoid some criticism. I have seen lot of crimps with wrong size ferrulas. In your video you showed black for one size and red for other.. sadly some will have only one size.. and lose connection ;) Yes.. i speak about myself to.. :))) In our country shops mostly sells just popoluar sizes for 1.5 - 2.5mm, smaller ar costly and sells in special shops.. online takes more than 2 weeks.. and when you open some box.. you need it now, not after 2 weeks.
Normally I like your videos but in this particular instance you're parroting a load of nonsense. Tinned wires in terminal blocks are perfectly acceptable for these types of devices. If the terminal block is properly tightened then expansion and contraction is a non-issue, the high resistance termination that you showed would occur even with crimped terminations as the terminal block was obviously not torque down sufficiently. In other words this is a complete waste of time and money. In fact you could be causing more problems than your solving. Be overwhelming majority of crimpers sold on eBay are cheap Chinese junk that do not produce quality crimps the end result is that the crimped termination that you are applying is probably less reliable than the tinned wire connection would have been. On the other hand if you're willing to invest in a quality precision pair of crimpers and high quality terminations then there's probably no harm. But recommending that people buy cheap Chinese crimpers and cheap Chinese terminations is lunacy.
Hi Dan, thanks for taking the time to comment. The document from Phoenix Contact USA, titled "The problems with tinning wires", by Michael Psaltis ( bit.ly/3b1w42f ) shows why tinning is not acceptable for this application, and ends by recommending ferrules. And the fried motherboard and burned bed heater connector from my Monoprice Maker Select Plus bear this out.
@@BV3D first of all let's set the record straight there is no UL or ETL requirement that wires terminated in a terminal block utilize crimp terminations on the end of the wires. Furthermore I'm pretty sure that Michael isn't recommending that people with limited electronics skills go out and purchase cheap Chinese crimpers of unknown quality from Amazon and then proceed to learn a new skill by terminating all the wires in their printers terminal block using cheap Chinese crimp terminations of unknown quality. How asinine is that. Now I wouldn't have a problem with an experienced individual using a pair of high quality say AMP crimpers terminating the wires with high quality crimp terminations from Mauser or some other reputable source. But as a retired aerospace electronics engineer I'd take my chances with a properly tinned and torqued terminal block then crimp connections made with a pair of cheap Chinese crimpers and crimp terminations of unknown quality. By the way tinned wires and European style terminal blocks have been in use for decades without problems. The problem isn't in the tinned wire and terminal block but rather in the improperly torqued connection. A properly torqued terminal block is not going to be an issue. And I'd venture a bet 10 to 10 to 1 that the burned up terminal block that you experience was the result of an improperly tightened terminal. Of course what would I know I was only vice president in charge of prototype development for one of the nation's largest aerospace contractors.
@@dannelson8556 Quick question.. Aren't we all learning a new skill when we get into 3D Printing (or any hobby) that may require us to learn more new skills as we go? For example, if I want to change out the nozzle on a hotend, that's a new skill that I didn't know before. Or if I want to add Auto Bed Leveling, I have to learn how to wire that in. Heck, before my first printer, I didn't even know how to load filament. I think it's important for people to learn how to crimp wires, run new ones, and learn to troubleshoot/work on their printers. Just like if I was going to paint a model car. I would have to learn how to paint, which paint to use, etc. It's all part of the hobby. I don't want to argue the importance of tinned or not tinned wires because I think there are many different views (like yours and Bryan's) out there. But I will challenge you to come up with a solution if you are going to say there is a problem. If you don't like the "cheap Chinese crimpers" or "cheap Chinese crimp terminations" then can you suggest and recommend good ones? You say you were the Vice President of one of the "nations largest aerospace contractors" and I would bet you didn't get there by not have solutions to the problems. So for those of us who would like to put Ferrules on our Printers (or any other electronics for that matter) what would you suggest we use? You say AMP Crimpers and Mauser terminations above, do you have links where we can buy these, or a good alternative on Amazon that we can choose? I appreciate your area of expertise and look forward to your response.
