Just thought I would drop a comment since I also purchased a Tronxy as my first Printer about a year ago. I bought mine early on when everyone was roasting Tronxy because I wanted to learn not just how to print, but also how to work on a 3d printer and I planned on upgrading so substandard parts were not a concern i purchased it on sale, and was only interested in the frame. When I received it, everything that was pre-assembled I took apart and rebuilt. Then I built the printer, took about 6 hours for all of that (I think) powered it up and encountered tons of configuration errors which I could easily fix now but back then, not so much. Out of the box there were a lot of configuration and assembly errors on pretty much everything installed or pre-assembled. I learned to work with Chitu from a bit of google searching and started fine turning it. Learned thermal runaway protection was off, so I turned it on and basically calibrated everything. Most issues I had were my mis-understanding of how the printer and chitu worked. This was not the Pro but the base X5SA (Back then the "horrible printer"). By the end of the 2nd week, had it printing fantastic with PETG. I like the printer enough I have since upgraded it to the Pro then the Pro 2e Version then I switched to Marlin to give that a try and the printer is still running flawlessly and might try klipper later just out of curiosity. I was planning on doing some heavy upgrading on it but have found it to not be necessary for my needs and will just build a Voron 2.4 to add to the collection instead. Will probably do some angle re-enforcements (Hasn't been an issue oddly) and I also removed the upper bearings on the lead screws as they were causing me print issues and added 8mm ball bearings to the collets on the z axis to help with z lash. Don't know if it helped, never printed without them but prints are still accurate. Since overcoming the issues with the printer I had when I first purchased it, it has operated without issue (Normal wear and tear forgiven which so far is just replaced the build surface) for the past almost year now. As far as recommending any printer I would instead offer that 3d printing has a huge learning curve and you will have to go through it sooner or later. You can get an awesome printer out of the box, or one that you can learn and work with from the beginning. Sooner or later you will have to dig into your printer and learn how it works though. If I had it to do again, I would still have gotten the same printer.
I purchased my Tronxy X5SA back in 2021, and your experience mirrors mine exactly. The X5SA is now a very solid, reliable machine and I recommend it highly.
I bought one of these about 2 years ago. It is still in the box. I did a major move 320 kilometres. I did not want to move an assembled machine. I am getting ready t assemble the machine now and am looking at videos before I assemble it. Your view point was very useful, I hope you do more videos in the future.
Cheers. Got the printer a few days ago on Amazon Germany for 250€, comes with a glass plate now. They threw in the Z screw sync kit :-). Except for 1 all the updates are optional i think: 1) Getting the frame squared is very important, don't trust your carpenters square either, to get a true 90°, you have to put down some money it seems. 2) The belts should be replaced with Gates belts. High quality 608 bearings with large tooth pulleys are another upgrade to get more precision at higher speeds. 3) I will make my printhead lighter with a Sherpa Mini extruder, also ordered a Volcano clone hotend. 4) You did good in not installing the top Z screw bearing. 5) Consider Z screw anti backlash nuts, they prevent your Z table slipping down when the machine is off. 6) I will replace the fans with something less noisy. 7) The heatbed has almost no insulation at the bottom, i think i'll install some reflectix 8) My heatblock was uninsulated, a simple silicon sock allows for higher print speeds 9) The gantry the print head is running on is very heavy, no solution for that yet I agree, this printer is a bit underappreciated. I understand that many people get filtered by adjusting things for a few hours, but the printer itself is solid, these people should maybe look into another hobby or pay the price for something more "appliance". Tronxy however has a really bad customer support. Ordered in Ebay first and they sent me the wrong printer, they gave me attitude instead of simply fixing the problem. Had to get Ebay support involved to get it sorted. You should make another video with the experiences you made so far.
Thanks for your sharing your unique viewpoint. I just ordered one of these on sale. I started with the Ender 3 and people love/hate that printer too. But it really does matter how much care you put into the assembly. Quality can’t be rushed.
Thank you for your work and for sharing. I just purchased (Feb 2022) a PRO version and upgraded to 2E while assembling. I build my printers since early RepRap so I have some inherent knowledge but this printer had all the early issues resolved. It came together nicely and worked beautifully right out of the box. Now they come with custom Marlin FW not Chitu. The only trick with this printer is to know how to properly tension the belts and not twist the X gantry. That is easily done by clamping the gantry at end of travel (front or back) with solid clamps, then routing your belts and adjusting tension. The PRO motor mounts are metal and have slots in them to adjust belt tension. Couldn't be easier. All early belt angle problems must have been resolved also as they now are perfectly parallel and perpendicular to gantries. I would recommend this printer in the PRO version for the better all metal linear slides.
So glad I found this review and grabbed this printer, as of april 22 the x5sa pro that comes out of the box is fantastic, all the old reviews are doing this printer dirty.
I've watched videos where improved stepper motor mounts for the top can be printed to modify the belt path so the belts run more parallel to each other resulting in better synch to both sides. Have you tried that?
I have not. The reason is the the gantry runs on linear rails that are attached to the machine frame, the squareness of your frame dictates that not the squareness of the belts.
Do you still feel the same way about this printer? I'm worried I made a mistake picking it, and it's not even here yet. I've seen people hold up a square to his box like prints and they are not square. Should I worry, or no?
As a future purchaser of this printer, and based off the videos I've seen, unless you REALLY don't want to assemble a printer and aren't wiling to tinker, this is a fine purchase. Don't worry, and just enjoy the ride :) You have a million 3D printer choices and I think this is a fine place to start.
Have a question about your machine if you were to build a Box for it to slide into what would be the dimensions Thinking about getting one but want to be sure on actual outside dimensions
