I'll always say this, it's a fantastic second printer. it takes some general 3d printing knowledge to trouble shoot it. I swapped the main board to a SKR 1.4 running Klipper and mainsail. easily have it cruising along at 120mm/s 9k accel with the stock hot end. I'll probably do a direct drive + V6 before i do linear rails.
Hello boardinrider. Ya, 2nd machine would be about right. I'm having additional trouble with my X5SA. The board resets ~1-2 hours into a print. Just started happening out of the blue. Did a 33+ hour print one day, can't do a 2 hour print the next. I've swapped the PSU for a Meanwell, tried Marlin, the OG firmware, and now Klipper. Was hoping to put off the board upgrade for a while but it's not looking good. In fact, would've already had a video out showing my upgrades including direct drive on a X linear rail if it wasn't for this reset PITA. :(
@@boardinrider Good call! My V5 board actually does have heatsinks across all of the drivers and a fan that blows across them. I'm tweaking down the voltages now to see if it has any effect.
Great video and love the upgrades you created. I got this same model at a similar deal and the print quality is great at pretty much stock+2020 corner brackets. Agree that the main negative is the bed surface (definitely don't stick directly to bed; either clip on, or stick on magnetic sheets, as it will need replacing after some use) and the long bed heat-up time when going higher temps (which I hope will improve once I get it enclosed). But overall, great deal if you can get it for under $300, and better than most other options at the $350 price point, as long you are willing to tinker and have familiarity with 3d printer.
Thanks nmos! What did you end up with for a bed surface? I grabbed some cheap PEI which was pretty terrible. I keep wanting to try a spring steel sheet but they real expensive at this size. I'm honestly just back to printing directly on the glass. I just put up a larger upgrade video. Would be interested in your feedback on those new mods.
@@LilMikeysBigPlans thanks for letting me know about the new video. I'm surprised it didn't pop up even though I had you subscribed with the bell. I will definitely check that out next I had recently got that spring steel PEI build plate from Energetic 3D from AliExpress at size 410x410mm. It was about $54, with magnetic base (didn't really need it as I already had magnetic sheets stuck on to the bed, but it was just $2 extra). Compared to the original surface, this build surface is definitely better: (1) it makes it easier for the inductive sensor to detect, (2) adhesion may be slightly better (or I've been just leveling it better) (3) no longer has paint sticking to the prints, (4) it also give me slightly more build volume after I get around to compiling custom firmware (it also appears to be adjustable via chitu gcodes). Now I've only printed PLA on it so far, have not use PETG or others. Not sure how durable it will be as PEI will get marked up if nozzle is too close. The one I ordered didn't have a textured surface on the back. I was not aware they had one with textures surface until much later. I would recommend paying attention to that and consider getting the one with that textured surface, if you are in the market for one. The main reason I ordered this replacement was because the durability of the original build surface. When building my printer I had stuck 4 8x10 magnetic sheets from Amazon to the bed and 4 on the build surface to make it removable. The adhesion to the original surface was maybe a little less forgiving than creality build surfaces, but the main problem was the durability. Now, part of it was my fault. I was printing PETG directly on it, hence it was ripping off chunks when I attempted to remove print. Creality's build surface on ender 5 didn't really have this issue so that is why I thought is it was okay to do.
Totally agree on the pros and cons. Another TronXY owner here. One of the most important tuning I've done was to file down the ends of each extruded frame beam straight, as they were not cut at the right angles and thus led to more warping of the frame as you tighten the bolts.
That's a good call and one of the reasons I don't like screwing directly into the frame. My printer is pretty much held together with brackets at this point but anyone fighting to keep their TronXY square would do well to check the squareness of the extrusion cuts.
Yeah I'd say frame first braces second. Like it's hard to imagine a rally car's roll cage with all the bracing but without the ends of each tubing butted against and welded firmly on to one another. Ideally you'd need a milling machine for this frame truing, but hand-tuning is never a bad idea because the stock frame materials are way more off square than you can achieve manually with files. And even if the end faces end up in a slight parabolic shape it's fine, way better than a (semi) straight-cut solid face that's off by a few degrees that these profiles tend to be. I can assure you it's worth giving a shot if you ever get a chance to overhaul the whole thing. Another minor geeky note... My frame beams didn't come with proper seating surface for regular bolt head shapes around the pre-drilled holes, so I opted for countersunk head bolts so they'd seat better against the 90 deg surface on the inside of the profile. Seems to work well, obviously better than the awful point contact you'd get with provided bolts (if you have the same issue with inadequate countersinking job they did).
Great video and I agree with your reasoning, cheaper than buying the parts. . But I think the X5SA-Pro is the printer to buy if you can live with the smaller build volume. The PRO has many improvements including the rails, a 32 bit motherboard and 24 V power supply and bed leveling sensor. You don't have to replace everything to get good performance out of the box. The most important assembly step is to buy 10 aluminum corner brackets, about $25, so you have them for assembly and the cube will be rock solid. I can move mine to another room and it stays in perfect alignment. Carefully assemble it and get it perfectly square and you will avoid a lot of problems. Another comment explained the 32 bit motherboard will run Marlin and the tutorial guides you through the process of upgrading to Marlin. That is the second upgrade to make. I am upset because TRONXY will not support products that are not ordered directly from them. So I had to buy the parts that were in the missing Z axis bag myself. Overall it is a good value but only if you have enough experience to assemble it and tune it.. Be sure you really understand the Z axis and the offset adjustment before you turn it on so you don't run the nozzle into the print bed.
I personally would go with x5sa-400 over x5sa pro as the x5sa-400 already comes with 32 bit board (I think the newer version even have tmc silent drivers), 24v per supply and bed leveling sensor that you mentioned, along with titan extruder. Most tests videos on RU-vid demonstrate minimal to no difference with even hiwin linear rails compared to v-rollers on other printers. I doubt it would be much different with this printer and not worth losing the XY size. Agree on the 2020 corner brackets; they are a must for better rigidity and print quality
Agree with nmos001. My X5SA-400 non-pro came with 24v PSU and 32-bit board. As far as I can tell the rails and metal motor mount are the only differences from a pro however the package seems to different from retailer-to-retailer and time-to-time so it's hard to say exactly what you're going to get. I've switched to a MGN12H rail for my X axis as all of the direct drive options I've seen using the OEM plates seemed a bit janky. Hoping to have a video of my next upgrades up this week however my Chitu board died unexpectedly and my 2209 steppers are lost in shipping it seems :(
yes its a great diy printer and good idea for building on top of it, I have x5sa-pro its amazing after all the upgrades also I recommend klipper firmware for the best speed and quality
Agreed. If you want quality out of the box then it's pretty 'meh' but a few cheap upgrades and it's a solid performer. I tried klipper for a second but Octoprint refused to connect even though it looked like the flash was correct so I dropped it and went back to Marlin without a lot of investigation. I've yet to run klipper on my printers but will get back to it as soon as some of my upgrades are complete.
The bed design on the X5S printers are weak and bend. I suppose you could come up with some sort of frame for the bed. The X5S other than that arnt too bad. The Pro versions are not worth getting. Go for the X5SA standard ones and just upgrade the electronics (SKR 1.4 or SKR 2) and get a meanwell 500w power supply.
Yeah, pretty much all of the printer frame, including bed, needs some beefing up. The bed frame is pretty thin but I haven't personally had an issue with it. One of the springs is a bit higher than the others so it likely is twisted but as long as its the same twisted from the top of the travel to the bottom it's been ok - especially with a glass top.
If there's no frustration to factor in, I want no part of it! 😄 Thanks for the video! I just ordered one of my own, though I opted for the Pro version.
Some weirdos just want to put together a printer and print things. I don't get it. As soon as I get a printer working well I have a compulsive need to tear it down again :) To each their own.
aye thats really awesome! this does seem like a really good entry level product for the hobby. i think once i really get into it i would like something with a bit more quality and premium feel to it? but this seems like a nice cheap option
Hello Aleph Null. If you're brand new to the hobby I would suggest one these two options: 1) Prusa i3 MK3S+ (www.prusaprinters.org): Prusa printers are amazing quality, easy to build, have tons of customizability and a huge community. They are expensive for what you get with the kit starting at $750 for a 200mm3 build volume. 2) Creality Ender or CR series (www.creality.com): They may not be quite as premium as Prusa but represent a much better value at $300 for a similar size and features to the Prusa i3. The TronXY is a steal for the build volume but it's probably not a great 'first' 3D printer. If you need a 400mm3 build volume and can't spring for a $500-$600 Creality or, like me, you're more interested in building up a kit, the TronXY is exactly what you want. That said, these basic kits really force a newbie to learn a lot about 3D printing to make things work right - if you don't quit out of frustration first.
The Artillery Sidewinder has a 300x300x400 build volume with direct drive. It’s been a great printer for me, but watch a lot of reviews. It was easier to put together than my Ender 3 Pro.
This sucks, I was looking at my belt alignment wondering why they built it that way then it dawned on me, I had built it wrong. At 12:02 you point out the issue BUT: I moved my pulley off the v-wheel and added a new bolt to the hole closest to the bed for the pulley. I know you didn't build the gantry parts, TronXY did and the instructions on my version: TronXY X5SA 'Junk' (v2) version shows the same as what you have there. I aligned the outer edge of the motor bracket with the center of the V-grove, the belts all line up now and I have extra belt left over (don't get me started on belt tensions...)
Your video and mods for this unit are brilliant. My Pro 400 is close to being done with Klipper, Manta 8 etc., but given the option, I would go with a Voron or Rat Rig as this printer is truly a case of false economy you pay for in sweat equity. Will keep going but not impressed. My "adjusters" on the carriages arrived glued in place, not loctite. Keep up the great work.
Thanks, I was having the same thought about buying one of these. It looks like a nice starting kit. Can the the firmware be replaced? Or is it better to just swap out the boards?
Yep, running Marlin 2.0 on it now and it's working great - including the LCD. I used the instructions here: github.com/rhapsodyv/Configurations/blob/tronxy_x5sa_v5_v6/config/examples/Tronxy/X5SA/HOWTO-INSTALL.md. It's a 32-bit board and supposedly they are A4988 drivers but they are far quieter then the A4988s on my other printers. Honestly, the board seems fine for general use. I did try to set up Klipper briefly as well. The board seemed to flash but it would never connect. Probably won't get back to that for a while.
@@LilMikeysBigPlans So I ordered the pro model, but they shipped me a standard. After some back and forth, I took a partial refund and kept what they sent. A few thoughts, the extruder is not especially good. It works, just it can't be pushed in the least bit, it would be fine for a smaller printer, but not for something this big. It can't keep up with a 0.8mm nozzle. I am replacing it with a BMG as we speak, and I went ahead and upgraded the hot end to an E3D V6 while I was in there. I used the stock software for 1 day, and replaced it with Klipper using the fluidpi interface. It was pretty painless to get it going, I followed the official guide with a sprinkling of Voron and a nice vid I found here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CmEiYJdJzuY.html The video will be especially helpful to those with little command line experience, and he fills in the little gaps. Follow the official guide though, the other guides are either different or out of date. All in all, a pretty decent printer out of the box if you take the time to put it together properly
Hello I have bought myself one of these and it was quite an interesting build I built mine on christmas day and the only problem im having is auto levelling has my spring bottomed out i cant lower the value in the front right corner and im having trouble getting the machine exactly levelled my tronxy XY 2 works perfectly when i managed to get the bed levelled any ideas on how to get adjustment in the springs? i was wondering if i can lower the 2 rods holding the heat bed allowing me to lower the glass ant advice is much appreciated
Hello. I have my X5SA 2E 400, still a pretty new one, but there is an issue. If I have done all the calibration, bed leveling, Z leveling (by a proximity sensor, which was included), all looks great as long, as I do not start to print. Then it keeps to find a "home" position again, and then re-levels the Z-axis automatically (nothing against it), but then it moves the bed about 20mm down, but then only about 10mm up, so there remains about 10mm space between the bed and the printing nozzle, but the printer starts to print anyway. So I need to stop printing just before the start (but after all that auto-leveling), manually move the bed 10mm up, check the Z-axis leveling, and then restart printing. It works, but it's not ideal... It may be some easy to fix the problem like some wrong number somewhere, but I am not sure how, or where, it may be fixed, if it is possible at all. Can you give me some hint or advice? Thanks so much in advance :) PS: I am unable to connect my printer to the PC by a USB cable. I have already tried some advice and guides, but no success at all. Is there any other way how to "load" the firmware or printer settings to the PC, for some eventual exploring of the code? Thanks again :)
Hello Terablick, for the Z-axis issue I'd guess you either have an incorrect Z offset or something wrong in your start gcode. If you manually home everything (G28) and then move Z to 0 (G1 Z0) where does your nozzle end up? If everything is set up correctly it should be a sheet-of-paper-width above of the bed. If it's far off of the bed then you have an issue with your Z offset. If it does end up at bed-height then you have something in your start-gcode that's messing up the home location. That can be hard to debug but look for any 'G0's, 'G1s' or 'G92's that are out of place. As for the PC connection that could be a problem with the board. You should at least get the 'windows detected a device' tune and see something in Device Manager. Generally printers only show up as raw com ports (you don't get a mountable drive or anything) and there's no way to read the firmware source off of your printer. You can obtain settings and versions and such through gcode and serial commands but once a firmware is compiled and burnt you don't really know what's there unless you compiled it yourself. The Chitu firmware is proprietary and as far as I know they never released the source so if you want to check out code you'll need to move to Marlin or Klipper.
You have to open the board housing, and change the jumper for USB, but it must be changed back to use printer From the sd card. I used this on a cxy v6 f446 main board in my x5sa. Configured using pronterface M503 and M500 commands to raise max speeds and accells
@@LilMikeysBigPlans Thanks much :) Yes, its exactly what it does. After precise manual calibrating, bed calibrating, to 0.05mm difference at each point at max., etc, and double checking of it, after the g-code start, the nozzle will successfully autodetect the bed level (by tripple check by the proximity sensor, at the corner of the bed) with no issues, and the travel to the center of the bed, where travel much more lower, and literary dig into it.... I had to try multiple times, but with the exact same result. Than I get used to manually pause the g-code run, retract the nozzle by manual control of the servos for exact distance, and re-run the g-code, but I will love to fix the problem, not only its symptoms... But I am not any kind of programmer or anything like that :(
Hello Hugh, unfortunately it came with about 1/4" of insulation under the bed. I guess it's unfortunate in the sense that even with the insulation it couldn't hit the temps but fortunate in that if/when you upgrade to a better heater the insulation is already in place.
Hello, does it print all models accurately or with some models offset, and does it print circles and squares clearly? I'm using Ultimaker Cura 4.11.0 Here's mine prints with offset of some models, but it prints circles and squares perfectly even
Hello Vladis. Not totally clear on your issue. If circles and squares are the correct size then your printer's physical geometry should be fine. By 'prints with offset' if you mean that you put something at the middle of your bed and it prints closer to one of the edges then it could be your machine settings. I think Cura messed up the 'Printhead settings' (part of the Machine Settings) an they don't work they way that they should. Maybe reset them to default. Otherwise it could be an offset or something being set in start gcode?
So do you think someone new to 3d printing would actually be better off starting with the pro series vs the non-pro. I actually started out with resin printing, and now am thinking it would be nice to have a corexy, just to print out bigger terrain type pieces on a filament style printer.
Hello Paul. If you're brand new to FDM printing I would suggest a Prusa-Style printer first - and preferably from a brand with decent QC. There's just so much less that can go wrong with them and they are usually much easier to set up and tune. If you're sold on the TronXY X5SA I think it's hard justify the $110 difference for the Pro I see on some sites. The TronXY site says the differences are: Titan clone extruder (my non-Pro has a Titan clone), more metal parts (my non-pro was all-metal except the motor mounts and cable mount garbage), and the rail system. $110 for just the rail system seems a bit much. That's about what three (off-brand) true linear rails will run you on Amazon. I also don't think the wheel system is *that* bad and you can get plenty good prints with the non-pro rails. So, I guess if you're not planning on any upgrades and don't want to have to replace worn wheels down the road then the somewhat overpriced upgrade may be alright, but it really chews into the TronXY's value. I do some resin printing as well. There's a lot more tweaking and tuning with FDM but being able to just yank a print off the plate and not have to worry about fumes, curing, burns, or re-bottling resin is pretty great.
I have one and it doesn't work at all. I contacted the company refuses to help me. I will have their company in NJ closed so they cannot have them shipped in the United States.
Assuming you got the same pads as I did, you have to poke a hole through the membrane then just use a bolt and t-nut to attach it to the bottom rails. I think they suggest using a washer since it's not a clean hole in the rubber.
Im a beginner and i just bought that printer as my first. I went with the reviews and the site was bought from a reliable place and now I wish that I got a different printer. Or do i? Its a huge printer but im not tech savvy and so upgrading will be tricky and is certainly don't know how I can afford all the parts and upgrades.
You can get away with no paid upgrades and get great prints, it'll just take a little more maintenance than other printers (assuming everything in your kit actually works, of course). I would not suggest this as a first printer but you are already here so let's see how we can get rolling :) What issues are you having today?
@@LilMikeysBigPlans it didn't come yet. Not sure if I should keep it or not but the fact that its upgradable and so big, I feel that it might be worth it. Have a neighbor who does computer work and has 2 printers so he could possibly help me out with it
@@bigboomer1013 If you got a little help you'll be fine. Honestly none of it is *too* bad except the bed leveling. You'll get a LOT of practice leveling the bed until you implement one of the solutions over in my upgrade video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B6CcgPO909s.html. As long as you don't receive any broken parts you can get good prints from the thing right out of the box.
@@LilMikeysBigPlans so im all ready half way done building it including the bed. While installing the rods, the instructions mentioned the spacers. The manual has bad translation but readable till they conpleatly forgot to explain how to put in the spacers. On top of that, I didn't know what that piece was because the assembly parts called them spacers while on the bag they call them gaskets. So I skipped it as the instructions said nothing on what to do. Today I took another look and in the small photo, it shows what looks like a gasket and were labeled as a spacer. Had to take it apart till I came with a problem where I can't fit the spacer in a the rods are allready long. The rods worked fine before it seems so do it need them?
@@LilMikeysBigPlans got it all done and destroyed the bed because of bed leveling. I think I fuigured a bit of it out and im getting a glass bed soon. Now I don't know whats up with the belts but its difficult to fuigire out how to give it good tension when it don't even know how its suposed to feel or look and how to keep it from shifting the rail. The prints do come out ok but I do get some blobs and the suports and over hangs don't too well even when printing a benchy.
Hey Jay, there are three options for firmware on the X5SA, 1) The default Chitu firmware provided by TronXY, 2) Marlin, and 3) Klipper (which requires a Raspberry Pi or other host). Day-to-day the TronXY firmware seemed fine. I would consider Marlin an upgrade to the TronXY firmware if for no other reason than Marlin is common and well supported. There are more features in Marlin however if you haven't stumbled across the need for them then you probably won't benefit a lot from it. Klipper is whole other world and if you're sick of firmware recompiles and/or want to squeek every bit of performance from your printer that's the deep dark hole you want to stumble into. You can get the latest TronXY firmware from here: www.tronxyonline.com/Firmware-X5SA-Series-a63178.html. Links to Marlin and Klipper are in the video description. Good luck and shout if you have any questions!
@@LilMikeysBigPlans thank you very much and I like your videos keep up the good work and I just bought the same printer the you showed in the video and other suggestions on what to do to make it better
@@LilMikeysBigPlans I am thinking on putting marlin on mine but when I try to build the firmware it tells me the I have the v5 board and I have the v6 board
@@jaythornhill2916 Sorry Jay, missed this response 7 months ago. If you haven't resolved it yet, the V5 and V6 firmwares are interchangeable as far as I can tell. I had the same concern but went ahead with the V6 and it worked just fine. If you're really worried about it you can always back up the raw firmware using STM Cube.
I just got an X5SA and am having a real issue with the belts rubbing on the pulleys. I've tried everything I can think of but I still can't get it to stop completely. I think I'll give your motor mount and pulley mounts a try to see if it can fix my issue.
Give it a shot! I don't recall there being too much vertical mis-alignment with the stock mounts and spacers but you could be looking at a different revision or QA issue.
I got 2 off them and I can say they are so poor quality . I never try to upgrade because I already spend 1 000 USD . Since I have them so 2 month ago , I already spend like 1 month and half to fix issue and another issue and another issue ECT ... I use a creality more than 6 month and she's runnings 24hrs 7/7 because I need a lot of print and I brought 2 tronxy to help but they doesn't help at all .losing my times . Be carefull with the step down because I got electrical shock with both 220V ,I will never get tronxy anymore .
Yeah, the out of box experience isn't the best. Definitely more a box of parts that can become a great printer. The brackets for rigidity should only run you about $20 and the alignment fixes mentioned are freely printable. Once those problems are fixed you should be in decent shape - assuming no massive QC failure with what's in your box. Someone else mentioned that the $289 deal that I got is no longer available and the cheapest you can find them is around $400. $289 is a slam dunk but at $400 I'd probably look at something else.
Lucky, my X5SA Pro has nothing but issues, Z offset requires me to grind the nozzle in to the paper, the ABL causes issues requiring me to level the bed and then adjust knobs as it does brims etc. Their glass bed isn't level according to the sensor which apparently doesn't offset from the nozzle either :\
Yeah, I started having significant issues with their sensor. The blue sensor is a bit trash it seems. They sell an upgraded black sensor but I'd suggest either moving to BL Touch, Piezo, or even just a micro-switch based levelling system. I didn't get any glass with my TronXY but window or mirror glass has always been flat enough for me - and far better than thin aluminum.
Out of the box they have issues. I wouldn't call them 'shite' but I certainly hope anyone that buys this model expects to spend some additional time and money getting it to work right. At the end of the day, though, I spent less on the kit than had I bought the pieces I ended up keeping so I'm pleased with my purchase. With retail pricing in the ~$400 range I don't think I could recommend the printer though.
Yikes! That's unfortunate. Looks like cheapest going price now is $350 from AliExpress - but at least shipped out of US warehouse: www.aliexpress.com/item/32944500129.html It's probably not a terrible deal at that new price but definitely not the steal that is was at $289.
Doesn't say much good for Tronxy when the first good thing we can say about it is that it's good for a source of parts. But it's true. Had mine for a year now it's a worthless piece of trash. I'm about to spend almost the cost of the printer buying upgrades for it to see if I can make it work.
The overall design isn't terrible - they just cheaped-out in a lot of areas. It's definitely tough to recommend at MSRP or to anyone not willing to tinker quite a bit. What issues are you having? Maybe I can assist.
@@LilMikeysBigPlans just saw your offer to help thanks I ripped out the board and put an octopus and a NF sunrise extruder its working well enough now so I'm printing out Voron Trident parts to dress it up and put the electronics underneath Thanks for sharing all that you share with us. Not everyone does.
