Tronxy X5SA Pro - 3D Printer - Unbox & Setup 

New Channel: www.youtube.com/@Just_Print X5SA Pro: geni.us/BLnI2 Recommended: geni.us/JustVlads

Bought and built this after watching your video: Minor issues: Hardware: 1. The chain was not right, just like yours. Rather than breaking a link like you did, I just mounted it to go to the right instead. 2. One of the pulleys was installed such that the bottom half was upside-down and there was a ridge in the middle of the band. Not a big deal, but I needed to take that assembly apart and reverse it. 3. Many of the steps in the book don't list all of the details, so I had to guess what screws to use. This was not an issue, since I still had about half of the screws left over when I finished. In fat, I didn't even open one of the packets of screws. 4. The default settings the machine had (220?) are too hot for the filament they supply, so it melted it in the Bowden tube. I set it to 207 now. 5. The back place on the hot end was installed in a strange way (90 degrees rotated!) so that the the bar would not slide through. I had to remove this and then re-attach it again. 6. I I had to bend the tabs on the filament roll holder to get my roll to slide in (the hole was too narrow). Maybe the manufacturer I chose uses narrower than normal rolls? 7. The unit seemed perfectly square when I put it together (moved the hot-end mounting bar all the way to the rear as you showed in your video). At some point, it got shifted a lot and I didn't notice until later. I managed to get it mostly back into whack, but there is an issue with re-tightening the frame, which is that the pulley mounts cover the frame tightening screws. This is less than ideal. Also, I will put some L brackets later to make sure the frame stays square. (At least they provided enough extra screws and "boat nuts" for this). I recommend you don't bother attaching the belts until after you have put everything together, as the tension will need to be adjusted anyway. 8. Not a problem, but my power supply doesn't have a voltage selector switch. 9. the side (part cooling) fan didn't work initially, but I found it wasn't plugged in (could be I pulled it out by accident). 10. The frame doesn't attach to the z-mounts quite the way they showed in some cases. (i.e. if I put the screw in from the top, it doesn't catch on the holes in the bottom, but just goes through). I fixed this by simply inserting the bolts from the bottom. You could also just put bolts on the bottom. 11. I also put the build clip plates on the side - BIG mistake. The hot end passed right by here and flung the silver (wire) part of the clip half way across the room, and the clip fell off. Luckily the printer was not damaged in any way. I put the clips on the front and back as after that. To be fair, this is how it was shown in the manual. 12. The tube is overly long as mentioned, but I just used one of those phone holder arms to hold it high above, but I like the idea in this video (attaching it to the hot-end chain) too. I suppose shortening the tube would reduce stringing, etc., but it hasn't been a problem for me since I managed to get the settings fine-tuned. 13. There was some minor scuffing on some of the parts. As mentioned above, lots of extra parts - for example, and extra bed tension knob and extra micro-switch, so if you drop a screw or something, don't worry. Adjustment: 1. Leveling the bed was easier than I thought, but getting the Z alignment right took a bit of trial and error. (Mainly because I had no experience with 3D printing, so I didn't know what a stringy first layer meant). I needed to set it so that a piece of copy paper fit a bit tightly in order to get a good result. As mentioned in the video, you have to be careful about pushing the bed up and down, but I haven't had issues with this. When a print is done, I always pry it off 100% horizontally and make sure not to push down or lift up. 2.I do have a bit of scrubbing noise on the pulleys, not sure how to fix that. 3. I added a lot of wire ties to keep stuff in place. Software: 1. The serial port software included on the SD card was dated 2011 and didn't work on Windows 10 or the latest version of OS X. I managed to find and download a version that did work, as this driver is often used for Arduino boards. 2. This printer was advertised as compatible with Mac and Windows, but only the Windows app comes on the Micro-SD card. Also, I am new to 3D printing, but even I can see that this is a branded very old version of Cura. I managed to steal some files from the Resource folder and get it working in the normal version of Cura 4.5. This is much better (and works on Mac OS), but interestingly, the printer now does the auto-leveling before every run and beeps a lot more. There was also a coupon included in the box for a free spool of filament, which was a nice touch. I do wish a different size nozzle was included. Overall, think of this as a kit rather than a product. You do need to be comfortable putting stuff together. If you think of this as a turnkey product, then you may be disappointed. If you think you want to build your own printer from scratch, and order most of the pieces you need and make sure they fit together, this is not bad. I think it's pretty expandable, as you could certainly change out many of the parts fairly easily.

Being new to 3D printing and having bought this printer in the black Friday sales for £200. Your video has saved me a lot of probably missteps I would have made. Excellent video, really very clearly made and narrated. Have subscribed and will look at your other videos. Thank you.

Really well put together video. Decided to watch a few RU-vid videos on the Tronxy X5SA ahead of assembling my own. Probably the best video I’ve found for assembly, but also the troubleshooting aspect. You’ve given me some great things to look out for when putting mine together. Many thanks,

Excellent instructional video,,, Just goes to show that being patient and understanding the process makes a big difference in having either negative or positive results..... I see that you take your time to examine why things perform the way they do, and work out the solution instead of complaining..... I learned a lot about building this printer out...... Thanks .........

I bought this as my first 3d printer. So far, having no other experience, I am happy with it, though I get some failures here and there, which may be me messing with slicer settings, and also may be filament not dry enough. I did have to disassemble the hot end assembly to fix the roller bearings. Otherwise, it works fine, and I am learning.

I just have the X5SA Mid 2019 edition, and it has been an awesome printer. getting really nice prints out of it

Thank you for this video, I bought a X5SA Pro and with your video I had my printer assembled in under 2 hours. Fantastic!

this is the best review for this printer, yes but just to note if people interested with this they need to know the bed heats upto 85C but can upgrade the power supply to make it upto 110 or 120C, the hot end and extruder heats to 260C can upgrade to make it full metal if needed 300C +, last can make it easy enclosed as all parts outside the box, ah and to make it more stable can print corners support or install metal corners to hold the squire (change the belts to high quality rubber belts) so its awesome printer and can be easily upgraded :)

You missed the most important step. Buy some aluminimum corner braces for the 2020 extrusions and get the frame perfectly square before you do anything else. It looks like the frame is flexing as you are working on it. You may be printing just fine until you move it and it goes out of square. Really, this is the most important mod you can make.

Good job, I watched reviews on two other build-review videos and they had all kinds of issues with getting it working. This was 2019 I believe so maybe they have addressed the problems they had. Thanks

This is one of the best unboxing, teardown videos I have seen in a very long while. Thanks for taking the time to do this. I will be referencing this for my assembly. I'm stuck right now as I got to hasty and tried to use a electric scree drive to fasten the rails. Apparently I got them too tight and thus stripped the bolts. So, passing my lessons learned onto a to the next person.

Good video. Yes the bowden tube is too long. Cut it. Also it didn't do a bed level, it just homed z. Either do a bed level from the menu before printing or put the G29 auto bed level command in your slicers starting g-code. Make sure to put it after any homing command.

Just bought one and had it delivered, so here we go...

A great help for the desiphering of the build! Cheers, Mate.

Thank you so much for this video, now i am going to buy one of these :)

Hello :) what slicer and what slicer settings did you use for your own prints?

ONe thing I see is that Tronxy took into account the cable management and supplied a cable chain....unlike the Creality 5 which has some tangling issues.

Best installation video here on this model. I am thinking to order one. Was thinking of 400 model. But I think this size is better.

3 years later, how is it holding up? Can you run octoprint on it? what kind of maintenance have you had to perform?

Been trying to order this printer for over a month now but no one in China is working due to the virus and who knows if they'll ever start shipping again so now I'm looking into alternatives . I'm thinking of the Two Trees Sapphire Pro, the Longer LK4 Pro, or going the diy route and building a Voron core xy from scratch . With the first two options I'll lose on the build plate size but if I go with the Voron I can get most of the parts locally within a few days except for the 3d printed parts . I have no idea how I can get my hands on them since I don't know anyone with a 3d printer . I've got a budget of $700 ish but that includes shipping and import fees. I'm located in Colombia in South America . Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated .

man the blue film on bed are not just a protection film, this is a heat transfer film... it should not be removed

What program did you use to slice? Or did you just use the included tronxy slicer?

I have ZERO experience with 3d printers and I'm thinking about getting this unit. I'm fairly handy with tool in general, build PCs and fix electronic, installed my own heat pump, fix cars, ect. I guess I'm a bit nerdy... So what do you think? Is this a decent printer or should I be looking at something with better community support like an Ender? BTW, if you had to own just one printer, would be be a CoreXY, i3, or Delta type?

As Far as I am concerned TEVO are crooks, they took my money on aliexpress, pretended to post my printer and gave me a false DHL tracking number, then no further communication. Luckily I got my money back from Aliexpress and am going to get this Tronxy. Hopefully the coronavirus shut down wont delay this printer to long :( Your vid Will be a great help thanks.

Im just now considering getting a 3d printer and I've come across this option in amazon for around ~330 usd. 1- is it worth it? Most reviews are kinda negative 2- can it really deliver good print quality? I want it mostly as a tool. Tinkering is fine, but I rather have it be able to be given a file and be sure I can leave and come back to my thing done with minimal setup. Why I'm interested in this? First, for what I've seen, the corexy builds often offer better quality on their printing, 2dly, I really would like to have the 33cm*33*40 build volume. The typical 20*20cm seems a bit tiny.

Tbh I’d just roll up the belts and zip tie it no reason in my option to cut it can you explain why you cut other then convince is it a thing I actually need to do or would it be fine to roll it up and zip tie?

Great video as all ways 👍

jo VlaD, u need to flip the belts around so that only the stepper uses the toothside of the belt, the cornerrolls needs to use the flat to deincrease the vibration in the belt from the steppermotors. with this u got more cleaner prints. AND be sure the belts are not sliding on the edges at the steppermotors-toothroll

Love ur vids

do you have any cura profiles to get started with? i am waiting for mine to come in and its not easy finding cura files.

Thank you for making this! The in box directions were not at all helpful. Also, great job detailing each step. Would’ve taken forever to get the bed leveled without this.

the vibration is from that wobbly ass table you have it sitting on.

How does this compare to the tevo tornado?

What did you use for retraction settings on your benchy prints?

Can you please help me out? I was setting the level with manual setting like you did but when we tried the auto it went over the clip and broke the clip off... can you please tell me how to exactly bring the bed closer to the printer needle?

What website do you guys get your files from? Any help would be appreciated for this noob starter lol.

I just my Pro this week, should get it in a month....How is your unit? Do you think they improved it since it;'s release?

well thats me decided, off to amazon i go lol

So from X5 to S to SA to SA PRO. Next version will need to be SA PRO GOLD I guess.

TRONXY X5SA 3D Printer or Creality CR-10 original?

Marlin firmware is now available on these machines ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_B95y2u0lcw.html

Some issues 1. The machine wasn't hot enough eventhough I adjusted it. 2. The plastic wouldn't stick on the glass Please help me

Great video, appreciate the time and effort. Helped me waaaay more than the manual that came with mine LOL

X5SA Pro a few months ago in the DIY version which increased build-time, but it made a big difference when I have to diagnose an issue. I am very pleased with the results of my build and the machine itself. I spent a couple of months looking into various machines and settled on the X5SA due to a variety of reasons: most importantly is linear rails. Rubber wheels running inside of the extruded aluminum was out.; I like the size and I can make modifications.; I like that the X-axis has a limited amount of movement.; while I was skeptical about belts vs lead screws, I'm fairly impressed with them, thus far. I have some experience with cnc milling as well as some programming skills, (not a ton, but more than the average individual. I am familiar with G-code). I completed the build, squared the frame, levelled the bed, and homed everything. It wasn't too difficult, as long as one follows the instructions. A few test runs and some adjustments, and I had my 20mm x 20mm square. Not too bad. Then... A few days later the wire guide, my biggest complaint, got caught on something while I was homing the machine. It was enough to knock the whole machine out of whack. I decided to purchase corner brackets, 16, .0625" rubber sheets, rubber washers, zero backlash nuts, and made adjustable feet for leveling the machine. My main goal is to remove as much vibrations as possible. For instance, while watching your video I noticed the machine shaking as a result of the xy movements. It is not a reflection of your build skills, rather the size and type of machine, and that is one reason that I am using corner brackets. I am making rubber gaskets the go between the bottom and top of each vertical aluminum piece. This includes where the corner brackets touch the base and vertical piece. I cut 2 gaskets to fit under the stepper motor mounts, as well as the top pieces that have the pillow block, and attachment points for the lead-screw and 8mm bed guides. The frame has been isolated. When I removed the 2 pillow blocks I noticed that bearings were not properly seated, and I am skeptical about the quality of the blocks. I'm watching your video about the Saphire Pro and I like hot the top frame is designed. Aluminum is a material that vibrates more than other metals. Based on a small amount of 'research' I learned that cast iron vibrates less than aluminum. I am looking into creating a base for my machine. It can't be too robust due to being in my home vs a garage. Ideally, I would like to build a frame similar to the Saphire Pro, except out of cast iron. Also, instead of simply bolting it all back together, the cast iron frame connect directly to the base. I am trying to create a set-up that is extremely rigid, but not as robust as a milling machine. Picture something similar to a Bridgeport, except a 3d printer. Lol. I just attempted to shake my machine and it is pretty damn solid. And I am not even close to the half-way point of putting it back together. I'm also looking into the motherboard and firmware. I don't like the motherboard set-up, especially the drivers. It's pretty obvious that I like over-kill. The goal is to reduce vibrations and any other types of unwanted movements. I will try to find my response in the future and update it. I am hoping to start a conversation, and I am looking for constructive criticism. Thank you, Just Vlad, your video got me thinking about some good stuff. Thanks, Adam.

Its Tron-X-Y Btw

I got one of theez but i don’t understand how to put it together

I truly admire your work. Learned a lot from your videos. Great job, keep them coming :)

first of all, buy a carbon belt, the one in the package is very low quality!

I have this printer since october last year! It is very good and work nicely, done some uprades and its been printing daily ever since Cant wait to see how you would design the enclosure on this one. I will be looking forward to that 😀

Great video man! I'm going to get my X5SA Pro delivered tomorrow. It's going to be my first 3D printer. I saw both good and bad reviews and figured by now they have improved it quite a bit so I decided to go for it. One question though. Do you think the way you put the filament tube through the cable organizer will cause some extra friction? I'm just wondering if I should do the same. It looks very neat that way though.

There is very little chance, I would be able to put this printer together without our video. Thank you so much for doing this.

I bought the same printer through Amazon in 2021, and I agree that the build process is extensive. But the final printer is worth the effort, in my estimation; i really like it. Congrats on a great video!

Hi Vlad, thx for the excellent review. Would torque shock absorbers on the motor mounts and frame corner brackets to stiffen the frame reduce the vibrations to the print head to get a better finish?

How the hell I'm supposed to pick which printer to buy

Great job, nice to see someone that knows mechanical assembly. Thanks for the video.

I know this is 3 years ago, but did you work out the screw they said not to tighten is a "positioning" screw, that is meant to align the pulley if they are not sitting quite square so the belts stay aligned :). I am currently researching a replacement for my Ender 5, which led me to this video. I had to make a decision, replace all the parts on the ender 5, spending several hundred dollars in the process, or just get a different printer that has a coreXY design already. Given my Ender 5 has several faults developed, and I don't need a high capacity / high production content, the TronXY looked like a good option.

MAKE SURE YOUR LINEAR GUIDES HAVE BRASS BUSHINGS INSTEAD OF PLASTIC!!! Just started assembling mine, and it came with plastic. Apparently, anything that comes directly from tronxy, plastic, but amazon gets the good ones that all pro models are SUPPOSED to come with. And haven't heard back yet, but I think there were more acrylic parts in older kits. Mine does have a few, the x and y stepper mounts are acrylic and maybe the bearing plates on top. They're definitely not metal, or of they are, the finish is like matte glass.

I have the 2020 model of the X5SA printer, Mine one must be a bad faulty printer as I can't get it to level the bed right either using auto leveling or manual. I tried so many try's to get it to work and even had the newest firmware sent to me from Tronxy and still it won't level right. I spent hour even doing the leveling and still no luck. On my box it had written "Customer Return" I told Tronxy when I saw this after the delivery and they stated hat was just a reused box? I now think I got a returned bad machine! ( they just told me it was just the box to get that sale money ) I wish now I researched more online looking at more build and testing 3D printer videos and brought a better working machine? I did print two good prints but had to stand there and watch the printing and keep manually adjusting the bed to get the hot end to work level wise. But overall this mach is crap. I now saving up for a better printer, like the much reviewed Creality Ender 3 V2 printer, yes it has a smaller than mine bed size and height of build. But it works well, mine don't even level right. WHAT EVER YOU ALL DO, DON'T BUY A TRONXY X5SA PRINTER THEY ARE CRAP.

Great job Vlad! I love your style of videos! You need to do a Delta! SeeMeCnc Delta! Rostock V4

Great video. When I try and feed the filament through the sensor light isn't coming on to detect the filament and doesn't load. Can you offer any advice about how to fix it ? The machine is on and all connections seem correct. Thanks

just bought with direct extruder upgrade ... and the belt setup not like at urs !!!!

How is the wire gage this time? I think on previous models you mentioned the wiring getting warm.

I hope Tronxy will add some better solution than the micro SD cards to load the print files. My SD slot has already broken down and does not like to hold the cards so I have to hold them in with a piece of tape - after some ten prints. Why do they not use an onboard memory card you can load by USB, and then print from this ? My old and trusty Dremel 3D20 has way over 4700 hours done by now, and the USB connection is still working great! I could imagine a WIFI data transfer too, these things are getting cheaper every day. So why not give us users this comfort? Other than that I am quite happy with the quality all over. One thing I am going to try - a massive 5cm concrete plate as a base under the printer to get a higher stability.

While this product is good, I myself is not good at and incline in assembling this whole thing. I hope there's a pre-build version because this one is very good as far as price and product size is concern. By the way, first I watched your video before I bought the g29 steering wheel. And it looks like I have to watch several video of yours as well just before I'm gonna buy my first printer. I wanna try this new hobby but I'm looking for around 300mm+(in length) product size. - New subscriber.

where are all of your corner braces ? , at least you had luck I bought 2x and none working ( 1 hotend not working , 2x non working stepper motors or drivers , 1 dead psu , many bent fame parts. I think the e-bay seller was selling seconds ... between them I might have a working one after I sand down the domed build plates .. that is what I got when buying with a 30% discount

Did you get a level print bed? mine has failed and failed every print halfway through to the point i'm returning it to amazon as if I was to do a full box on the print bed, part of it would adhere on one side, then it would fail going towards middle, then it would stick on the middle , and work, then maybe in a top corner it would fail but bottom corner work Despite my ABL reporting I was 0.1 tolerance in all points.

anybody knows where to find a better manual? the one that ships with the printer is confusing and very brief. for example there is nothing said about z axis motors orientation, should i install them with connectors facing backwards or should i install left z motor with connector facing forward and right with connector facing backward? i'm scared that shit will jam and something will brake. also hotbed seems was soldered by my grandmother there are blobs everywhere i dont know if this will work or should i redo the soldering removing the mess? photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPCmbWo21yFn0jC8XEjkpxFUZ7swIE780O4olQg help?

Thanks so much for this vid. I just grabbed one of these and looked threw the manual that I downloaded and couldn't make sense out of half of it. But with this I can figure it out thanks.

just received my x5sa-400 pro and the cable chain is also backwards i came here trying to figure it out, i will go try your solution

I have the 2 extruder version. It has some quality issues, like cables being too short. How do I get the print to stick to the glass?

For some reason as the bed lifts, the left side stops short by 4 inches but the right continues... anyone know why?

80% Alcohol and Distilled water in a spray bottle makes a great cleaning and release agent for glass and other matertials.

Is that a direct drive or Bowden?

you completely skipped the regulate the Z axis section

At 42:44 you talk about leveling the frame how did you do that?

Nice Video! Looking forward to the upgrades and fixes Vid.

The antenna always comes off that dang rocket. 😄

Great video, keep them coming.👍🇺🇸

I have one and I'm tired of screwing with it. I got one good print, then that was it. It is unreliable, barely any documentation, email support is terrible, the wire carriage on top will drop and catch on the side then ruin a print, stepper motor will shift mid-print ruining hours of work, belts loosen so you have to buy new ones with tensioners. I'd rather spend money on something that works...mine is going in the garbage

How were you able to adjust your pulleys to keep the belt from riding and down?

Thanks , was a tricky start but I got it!

Vlad, thanks for the post. I just received my X5SA-400 Pro with the ChiTu board and I can get the presliced 20mm cal cube to print but anything i slice gouges the print bed. Would you please be so kind as to post your Cura machine gcode and also if you are using OctoPrint, your profile setting there?

wow

A surprisingly good printer. I already have a couple of thousand hours on it, including very big prints. However, for TPU it really needs direct extruder. It is good even for some engineering stuff.

My newer model X5SA (non pro) arrives Friday looking forward to it. only differences I'm seeing is a few more nonmetal brackets and the XY are running off Delrin v bearing in the aluminum extrusions.

Thanks, I just ordered one from amazon after watching this video. I should get it tomorrow and I'm very excited. Btw cura says that there's a X5ST version too. Do you know what the difference is?

@Just Vlad Would you say that this printer has any significant edge over the Longer LK5 pro you reviewed? (Other than the 30 mm difference)

The base is removable, hence the blue office paper binders holding the black flexible piece to the bed. Simply remove the blue clips and flex it until the piece breaks loose.

Tronxy printers are stupid cheap with a lot of features but a lot of reviews report issues with them. I think if they could go that extra inch with the build plate, frame rigidity & belt tensioning with the quality control they might be onto a winner.

Question are you earthed, as static discharge will blow the micro chips and then nothing works same as a pc internals, as replacing parts in a pc you need to be earthed to take the static charge all away, otherwise each part you touch could be overloadd by large static discharge, why do you think theres labels saying do not remove cover or break label, to ensure no one pokes their fingers all around the sensitive electronics ?

am i the only one who realized that the Y coordinate was called the z coordinate and the z coordinate was called the y coordinate

hi, wich setting do you have in cura for this printer? i have the same and when i slice with cura and after i print , the object is really bad . Which setting do you have for goods printing? thanks

I have this exact same printer from Amazon. All the components and build problems were exactly the same I had (chain mounting and motor pulley alignment). I did disable ABL and put in a mirror bed. The buildtak beds stick too well, as you experienced with your rocket. But it's a nice printer.

this printer/support has too many problems. If you like fixing things and not printing this is the printer for you. They saved too much money on the kit :(

This or the tevo tornado

Just ordered this -- any particular upgrades you recommend doing during the build? Other videos mention quiet a few for the standard X5S 12v model. Curious how this has worked longer term?

I just bought this printer, but after tightening all the aluminum extrusions, it doesn't sit flat. anyone else have this issue?

Excellent unboxing/setup video! Also, a bit of fan noise is a godsend for those of us with tinnitus. 😄

Due to all the install and construction I'd say this is one not really for beginners looking for a first time printer. More of an experienced user type. It looks pretty solid though. Thanks for sharing.