Tronxy X5SA Pro review: A large format CoreXY 3D printer (with issues) 

I guess I was very lucky. I bought this Tronxy X5SA Pro and the upgraded A8 Dual extruder at the same time, and I really had no issues with anything. This was my first two printers, and I mostly used the Tronxy. I must add, I took my time with the assembly and watched numerous videos before I completed it. The only thing was the Mini SD card that was corrupt and I could not use any files. I did however format it, and at least can use the card. I searched everywhere for the Tronxy slicer with no luck. I started of with Cura and am glad at the end that I did not get the Tronxy slicer. I'm now just busy building a nice enclosure to print ABS better during this winter months. Thanks for the video.

When you mentioned that you were going to review this printer a while ago I was very interested in your results. These printers have always looked like good value for the print volume but I've seen a lot of mixed reviews. I trust your review to be unbiased and I value it above the others. Thanks for taking the time and hopefully Tronxy understands your concerns and tries to make the necessary fixes. Otherwise they'll just be left behind along with all the other manufacturers who don't appear to be concerned with quality or safety.

I bought one of these in April, and was quite impressed. This is the first 3D printer that I have bought , and the main reason for buying this one was size (I actually wanted one of their larger models, but there were none in stock). Assembly was reasonably straightforward, but I am used to doing that sort of thing. Initial results were pretty good. I printed a number of things with reasonable results - a few failures, but that could be user error. I didn't realise there was the need for Z-offset adjustment, but once I had that figured out it was OK. Then I had feed issues - it was printing what was more like candy floss (cotton candy) at times. Eventually sorted those out, then the Z-stop sensor failed. I had lots of help over this time with Tronxy tech support (they were good), but not from other departments. Repeated requests for a replacement Z-stop sensor resulted in no response at all. I eventually bought a replacement one from somewhere else, and also bought a replacement printing plate - actually just a square of aluminium, thicker than the original (6mm I think) and an adhesive sheet to stick on it. Since then my printing success has been impressive - still some problems with getting the initial layer correct (auto-level the bed, set the Z offset, start printing and watch it, adjusting the bed height as it goes until it's about right), after which it just prints. Quality compares well with other 3D printing that I did a while ago. Pleased with it at the moment, not at all happy with Tronxy customer support apart from Tech support.

Thanks for the honest review of this printer, your experience pretty much reflects my experience with the previous model of this printer (the X5S). There were a lot of issues with the printer out of the box and a lot of very poor design choices made by the manufacturer. It is unfortunate that in in today's world of affordable 3D printers that perform great out of the box that Tronxy is not able to produce usable products.

I also bought one of the X5SA back in October, and it's been printing ever since. Sure I've had a few issues, and I would not recommend it to a 3D printing novice either. But as stated in this video, the printer can really do some descent printing once dialed in. When the company I work for asked me to recommend them a cheap reliable printer to make test and prototyping on, I told them to buy the X5SA. When it arrived after only 7 days, I discovered that it had the new silent stepper drivers. Awesome! At the price I think it's a bargain, just be aware that you have to tinker a bit to make it really perform excellent!

I've had one since last May. It's not a beginner machine for sure. It didn't print well out of the box mostly because of a poor hot end setup. I put on an E3D V6, BMG dual drive extruder (clones) and neoprene/fiberglass belts. That made a big improvement. I also spent a lot of time squaring everything and trying different belt tensioning. I didn't have much problem squaring the x gantry. If you slide the x extrusion all the way back to where the pulley plates touch the stepper plates, it's much easier to square up (providing the stepper plates are square). Also ended up adding an SKR 1.4 w/2209s's and added linear rails to x and y, though it wasn't really needed, it helped a little. It prints very good now and very smooth. I get almost no noise at all in my prints. I had read the reviews and knew what I was getting before I bought it. I paid $245 shipped and figured I would use it as a base to build from. It's a very good printer now and was a lot of fun (and sometimes frustration) to mod. But that's what I like to do. Those that don't like that may want to pass on this printer.

Thanks for the great review. I bought an X5SA Pro a few months ago as my first 3D printer. I knew I was in for a project but it matched my price range and size requirements. I have had many of the same issues you detailed. Including the exact problem with the z-offset not being set and damaging the bed on my first print. I ended up ordering a glass bed from Tronxy and putting a thin sheet of steel under it to extend the range of the bed leveling sensor. That has helped a lot. I have also replaced all of the fans on the printer, the bowden tube, hot-end, etc. I can't say that I recommend the printer, but I have learned a huge amount through the process and gotten a lot of useful prints along the way. So I don't regret my purchase.

Thanks for the review, it was about what I expected. I'm still looking into buying this or the X5S when I can afford it, as I'm going to use it as a base and then upgrade it with good parts.

Just bought one of these as my first ever printer. Didn't have any problems assembling it, no problem tensioning it at all got it perfectly square first go. My first test print came out just about as perfect as you can get. Didn't have any problems you describe. This is my first ever 3D printer and my first ever print came out really good, much better than any of the ones you have shown. I can only assume that the problems you describe have been fixed a year later.

i built a X5SA 400 Pro, startes the day before yesterday. it is my first own 3D Printer but i am used to 3d printing on prusa mk3s at our university. this one is very different. th manual differs from the parts and construction ways at some spots. it is very confusing on some steps to understand what tronxy wants to tell you in the manual. I am so very happy, that here on youtube many others documented their experiences, this really helped me a lot. Some of your points are serious, some others could be eliminated by a user who does really care about details. Anyone who wants hust a toy to use out of box, well I refer to go for an Artillery Sidewinder X1 V2 or X2, they are built up and ready to use in just a few Minutes, do good quality Jobs and everything is fine. But for me, being on a budget plus 400x400 (X/Y) is the absolute minimum I need for my projects, there was no affordable alternative, but buying used. But used 3D Printers often come modded or disfuncional, if not both. Do i went wit this new Model.

I know I'm 2 years late, but I have fortunately had mostly good experiences with my 3yo X5ST-400 (an X5SA-400, but without the automatic bed-leveling). It worked ok out of the box, worked much better with just the addition of (self-printed) corner-braces (to greatly reduce ringing), and just a few days ago I finally flashed it with stock Marlin firmware. I recently bought an X5SA-400 Pro (with Titan clone, BLTouch, and glass bed) that I have yet to assemble (we're doing a video on it for a channel I'm associated with), so despite this being my first printer, it neither failed me nor scared me off 3D printing or TronXY as a brand. Great review, I agree with everything you found, and as you say, most of this can be fixed quite easilly (which makes it geared more towards people who are experienced, or at least like to tinker).

Bought this on sale at GearBest a little over half a year ago, paid $300 inc shipping. I found the assembly quite intuitive and easy, but then I have mechanical experience. Same with belt mounting/tension. Before mounting the belts square up the frame and move the sliding bar all the way back and it will be parallel to the frame. I have later reinforced the frame by fitting aluminium triangles on the outside of every corner where space allowed for it, 12 out of 16. I actually found the long filament tube to be a good measure, it allows for routing choises. Mine has the roll mount, filament sensor and feeder motor mounted on the side, so no problem there. Neither is the alignment or feeding the filament. The cable chain caused the described problem in the begining, but was easily fixed as there are several ways to attach and align it. And apart from the ribbon cable I managed to hide all the other cabling inside the frame and hide it with the supplied tubing. It looks very tidy. Auto leveling and Z-hight took some time to work out and I had the nozzle dig into the bed several times. But with some experimentation and the right sequence of procedures it actually works very well. I make/check the rough basic alignment with a digital level and always take the print plate off the bed before removing any prints. The aluminium printing plate is the largest problem as it looks flat but quickly becomes "micro wobbly". I also had a big problem with stringing in the beginning. Only printing PLA. However after some experimenting and tweeking the standard settings on temp/speed/retraction it became very good. The heater element burnt out and I have to admitt it was a pain and lot of unnecessary disassembly to get it changed. I'm also planning to print out and change the filament cooling duct. This blows only from the right side and gives less cooling when printing left to right. It's not a plug and play printer for the unexperienced and/or impatient, but all in all I'm very pleased with it's performance vs price and being able to make large format prints at such a relative low investment.

Thanks mate, you have save me time and money I was about to get this 3-D printer.

I love the review and the courage to tell it like it is. Thanks!

Great review as per usual...! Love your work🤜🏼🤛🏼🇦🇺🍀🍀🍀🤓

Solid review. Completely describes my experience with the printer over the past couple years.

Excellent and honest review. Thank you.

The play in the gantry is mitigated by simply tensioning it while it's pushed to one end. Also the acrylic motor mounts are now metal. The layout of the belts is now more clearly shown in the updated manual. They have also changed the mounts which hold the hotend rail. The extruder and filament sensor have now been relocated to the right hand side of the printer. Adjusting the wheels that run on the tracks is now easier. All 3 fans are now a lot quieter, along with the motor drivers. The firmware has also been updated. The pids for the hotend come pre tuned. Only briefly fluctuating + - 1c

They’ve included a squaring guide that seems to help on the newer versions. Marlin works wonders for adding proper thermal runaway protection and the example configs seem to do a good job with adding a lot more features. Definitely has a few areas for improvement. My unit’s motor mounts shattered under only a moderate amount of torque while mounting. Thank goodness for printable mounts.

Micheal thank you for doing a review on this model, I’m xy core with a big build platform, after watching this video, I might want to steer clear of this make n model

I bought this printer beginning of February. It is my very first printer. I had some issues here and there, but most of them were user error, and the vast majority were fixed switching to cura 4.5, instead of using the SD card. Also my instruction book was full color, just like the pdf. Maybe I got a later release. I'm also leaving this comment before I watched the full video or read any other comments. 1 thing however, there are no tnuts in the gantry, just m4 screws. And I used clamps to clamp gantry to the frame while I tensioned the belts. Kept it all square. I suppose that wasn't in the instructions though. And second, you can't move the motor mounts over as all belt sections that change size as the gantry moves must remain parallel to the frame. I'm sure you are aware of this. I found all this out before I bought the printer. Now for the rest of the video.

Also have an x5sa pro, i got mine through amazon about a couple months ago, it is an excellent printer, but exactly as you said, it's taken a lot of time with tronxy support to get there. I had most of the same issues stated in the video. except aligning the upper xy gantry, the manual showed how to do that pretty clearly by holding it against the upper support bar while tightening, the alignment of that was hard to mess up. another issue i had, it shipped without the bracket to hold the runout detetion sensor. Tronxy support shipped me the bracket (with another sensor attached) no issues there. The biggest issue was some x axis skipping i was getting on larger long prints. Tronxy support had me open the motherboard case, which mounts upside down and requires removing the whole assembly. I then sent them pictures of the mobo, because i guess they coudln't identify my revision from model or software version. They replied with bad instructions on adjusting the x/y axis power supply potentiometers, which requires ownership of a multimeter and knowledge of how to use it, and a very steady hand, since you need to live adjust on a hot board the pot. anyway, after that I am now printing some beautiful things. oh and figuring out a cura profile, which i do have after lots of tweaking, i should share that somewhere...

Hi Michael, thanks a lot for the video. It contains some very valuable hints for the construction of my own large format printer (40 x 40 x 80) 👍

You are the only reviewer I trust :)

I've never seen a 3D printer, but I went ahead and ordered the X5SA Pro. This was even after seeing this video review. The reason I did this is because I enjoy DIY and based on other videos on this printer, it seems a lot of the issues you pointed out can be fixed with tweaking of the slicer. I hope I'm right. What I'm waiting for now are upgrade videos on this printer. You're the only one that's stated you would post upgrade videos on this. I can't wait because for me, I'm working with this as a platform that'll allow me to gradually upgrade to meet my needs. The reason I'm doing this is because I can't afford a large format printer that's tops out of the box. It seems all these budget printers have a lot of flaws. One of the 1st things I'd like to upgrade is go to a direct drive, I hope it's one of your upgrade videos. Another is to go with a flex bed like the one that comes with the Tronxy XY2-Pro. I've been looking for a flex bed, but it seems they're all magnetic, which isn't what I'm looking for Can't wait to see your upgrade videos. BTW, the thermal protection.. Did you upgrade the software? Another RU-vidr posted that he notified Tronxy about this and they've since (mid November '19) upgraded all their printers to enable thermal protection. The software upgrade is supposedly available on their website.

They should pay you for the punch list you give them. It's worth more than another raw, unrefined product.

i'm glad i watched your video before i bought one. I am good with electronics and problem solving and done a lot of researching on 3d printer. Though seems like i should go with another model till i get actual hands on experience.

I have the Tronxy x5s not the x5sa. But i think you touched on some points that have been glaring issues with tronxy printers. Particularly lack of instruction and issues with stock hardware. Lot of people seam to target creators who post valid criticism of the tronxy printers but it does no service to the community to sugar coat printer and not highlight their problems. This is a great video

just bought this printer its my first 3d printer and i really like it, Im having tuning it and some of the problems you had have been fixed on the version i got

I was new in 3d priting when i buy my Tronxy x5sa a year and a half ago..and i have no problem with assembly my first 3d printer like you

bought one about a week ago. Tronxy now has some videos on assembly and some youtube videos that helped with assembly. overall assembly went well and did get good dimensional print. however, it does still have that temp variation. my printer fluctuated about 14 deg. its causing all sorts of issues when printing. bad part is I can't find any information on how to PID calibration on stock Tronxy firmware. probably end up changing to marlin or klipper. good video, keep up the good work.

I actually bought an X5SA because of this review. You showed all the problems that needed addressed, and I planned and built my machine to alleviate the cons.. It is my best, most reliable printer now. (Though hardly a TronXY anymore)

I bought the non pro version a while back so no liniar rails and extra features. I had no problem with the belt tensioning and thermal protection was enabled. However, it came with an old development version of marlin. I bought it for 265€ or something there about. Tested it before modding it but had no such problems.

Damn, your review came in the day I received my tronxy printer 😅. I hope you make an upgrades video. Pretty please 😁

I own one of these printers. My initial experience was very similar to yours. I knew from the beginning that the printer would be rough around the edges, and I had planned to upgrade it over time once I got it running. However, it was basically unusable for me in stock form. I never was able to get a successful print with the stock mainboard installed. I tried many times to home the printer, level the printer, set the Z offset and print, but every time it would jam the nozzle down into the bed at the start of the print. One time it jammed the nozzle down so hard the hot nozzle burned right through the print surface to the aluminum! It may have been something I was doing wrong, but I have been 3D printing for over two years, so I daresay I should have been able to get it to print without so much trouble. I have the printer working very well now. It prints fast and reliably like a CoreXY printer should, but it was way more work than it should have been to get it to that state. Here's a list of the mods I have done: - Replaced the controller for an SKR 1.3 running TMC2209 stepper drivers and Marlin 2.0, with a TFT35 V3.0 screen (thanks in large part to your excellent tutorials) - Installed an external MOSFET for the heated bed - Installed a buck converter and 12V Noctua fans for the controller case and the hot end (The stock fans are terrible as you mentioned, and I gave up trying to find high-quality quiet 24V fans) - Relocated the extruder to the front right corner and designed / printed a new spool holder so that filament can be loaded without access to the back of the printer - Replaced the stock bowden tube with Capricorn tubing - Made a polypropylene sleeve for the comically long bowden tube to keep it from sagging down into the belts (this is a great cheap mod - a roll of the tubing was less than $4 USD from my local hardware store) - Replaced the Z axis linear flange bearings for metal ones (the stock bearings felt like there were metal chunks stuck in them, even after thorough cleaning and lubrication) - Printed and installed pillow blocks at either end of the Z-axis threaded rods to minimize Z wobble (there are still minor artifacts in the prints, but I think I have reached the point where I won't be able to improve further without overhauling the whole Z-axis motion system) I'm sure there's more that I missed, but you get the point. :) If someone is looking for a printer to take out of the box, assemble and go, this is not that. If someone is looking for a kit to build up into something great, it does have potential, but be prepared to do some work. I would suggest two things to anyone who decides to buy this as a kit. First, do yourself a favor and buy a cheap machinist's square. I bought mine off Amazon for less than $20 USD, and it was indispensable for getting everything aligned during the build process, especially for aligning the Y axis gantry. Mine is the kind that has one center beam and two outer beams pinned at 90-degree angles to it. That design allowed me to use the square to align the three extrusions at each corner perfectly perpendicular to one another while I tightened the bolts (this is a huge pain without something to hold things in alignment). Second, when tensioning the belts, the goal is to just remove the stretch out of them. If your belts are so tight that parts are flying off and trying to kill you, maybe loosen them up a bit. :)

Thnx for youre review i wanted to buy one now thnks to you review i pass 🙏

Got on on 11.11 a 400 pro. Love the machine. It's not for absolute beginners that don't want to thinker. And it's a lot more complex then many other printers to assemble. It's for people who want to have a good result out of the box (after assembly). And a possibility for a great result after some tinkering. Thinking on getting a 2E now on black Friday for my GF. I think she would like the dual color.

Good review. It is as one can see your concentration NOT to scream at the camera... Thanks for sharing this review :-)

X5SA is my second printer after the ANet A8. I didn’t have squaring problems BUT I did go through 3 main boards that the Z stepper drivers kept getting cooked on. Third time was the charm, probably came down to replacing the power supply at the same time tho. Once I got it working it’s honestly a decent printer if you like tweaking. The big extrusion frame makes a great base to put mods on. I have a bunch, ranging from a MOSFET and separate supply for the bed, to support brackets, to Octoprint, to a Z synchronization belt, and a few still in the works (X and Y adjustable tensioners and direct drive). It’s honestly a bit like a game. And I’m printing laps around my buddy with an Ender 3 in terms of quality! One issue I still have to figure out is actually using the full bed (I have the 400x400 model). Prints that deviate too far from the center seem to get warping problems, getting worse the further from the bed center it is. Probably need to enclose it, although cutting out the 24V DC middleman and making the bed a mains bed is also something I’m considering.

I wish Tronyx people would pay attention to your comments and review and use them too. They can make good printers if they listened to their customers. Thanks for a comprehensive review.

Thanks for your integrity man.

Thanks a lot for the review. I got this printer few days now. I like the structure of coreXY though this machine is giving me some problem too. As you mentioned, I had quite a big issue to make it perfect rectangular as it was going out of square after some time again. Also, same issue with fixing the belts. Luckily I got the belts right and it's working well.But I am having issue with web as in your video. As the prints go higher the web gets horrible. I tried few retraction changes but still having the issue. Don't know how to get rid of this issue.

i bought the tronxy x5s the 330x330x430 model as a first print and what a pain took me almost 4 month to get it to print nice i replaced all the plastic mounts with aluminum or aluminium for those of you who say it incorrectly. replaced the stock computer with a duet2wifi the bed heater is a 120volt bed heater from a artillery sidewinder with glass sheet bed and a atx power supply for the hot end duet board and motors. also a nema23 for the extruder after i burn out the stock nema17 now it prints like magic. also remounted the extruder on the front and spool on the front lower right corner.

thanks for the review, I am looking for a LARGE format FDM that can handle 300° prints, this had been in the running, but I think I'll stick with my plan to build a modified HeVO

I got the X5S back in 2018, and it needed its share of modding. More of a collection of parts that can become at least a useful machine. What helped me with getting it square was to add corner pieces, and to tension the belts I pushed the X gantry to the rear against the end plates...

Love reviews that don't shy away from bashing bad products.

I could not understand how I went from my first 3D printer, an Anet A8 which was rather simple (in the context of building a functioning printer), and getting in wayyyyy over my head with the Tronxy X5S. I ordered the first iteration and didn't open it right away. There was only one or two reviews on the printer, but figured since it was a step up from my Anet, it had to be better. I couldn't have been more wrong. I didn't get the printer put together until the spring of 2019 (before Easter). I luckily had a close friend who picked up one and enjoyed tinkering with it. I found the FW could not be re flashed thanks to the limits of the included control board. The hot end was horribly sloppy, not matter how much I tightened it. And yes, I had the worst time getting it to print something. My major issue was getting a half decent print, or even a 1/4 decent one. I could never fix the under extrusion no matter what I tried. The motors kept binding up... and the dam thing is impossible to level. It was so much work, I just walked away from it for a year. I just started up again last month, now that I have lots of quarantine time at home. Seems it is till a PITA. Now the Z axis will not stop sinking. Still making it impossible to level. And, each time I click the home button, the "home" location is in a different spot each time. I thank God for my buddy who has helped me though all this. He is in the process of creating a new xy print axis using linear rails. He has ditched the 2020 extrusion and is in the process of getting it all to work correctly. As for me, I think this is it. Time for the trash, I've wasted too much money and time on it. I'm ready to go to something simple and easy like a Tevo Tornado, which my friend also has. Same bed size, and very much updated compared to my Anet. I do not recommend this printer to anyone. Not even a recommendation for someone to play with. I would rather take it apart and try to build a new one out of it instead.

I purchased my machine directly from TRONXY early this month (March) and I did not have anywhere near the problems described here in assembling and squaring up the printer. I did get the movement in the gantry on first tensioning the belts, but it was readily apparent what the error was and it did not take me long to establish a more reliable method of squaring and tensioning. My biggest gripe with machine is the overhead chain, it is awful. Attention to good design principles would have solved this right out of the bat - the chain and cables are simply too heavy and flexible for the mounting system. Getting prints off the bed is a bit of a challenge, but for me that is better than prints not sticking at all - a problem I have with my Lulzbot way too often. "Just Vlad" has a very good construction video that helped me a lot. Out of the box for me - yest some quality issues with the prints stringing, blobbing etc., but it is dialing in ok - The prints are definitely square, and bed leveling works fine for me. I never bothered with the TRONXY slicer has I run a mac house and TRONXY, despite there advertisements, do not support Mac. I use S3D and they have a ready made profile for the printer. A big shout out to the support and sales team at TRONXY - with Covid etc., there were some issues with freight and the team kept me well informed as to status and helped out with some issues in Hong Kong. They also responded really quickly with a couple of questions I had and the answers were spot on. Thank you to the other poster re the comments on the firmware - I have not ventured that far "inside" the machine yet. I also own a Lulzbot Mini and a Photon resin printer - none of these had to be "built", so I am new at building a 3D printer, but I have to admit to building a 1 meter square CNC router from a fairly low level kit - so I guess that helps

I had my X5SA pro October last year. I decided to get this printer because of its build volume and core XY style. There where some problems with the set that I received, I will summarize them here below in order of the build. • The frame whatever I did was not square because one main leg was shorter than the others. I measured each leg and found the one short, so I fixed it by placing a washer in between the extrusions to make it a little near the length. Ultimately it would be best to cut them all to length. • The carriers that ride on the metal rods were a bit tight. I firstly adjusted them before I bolted the gantry on. There is a vid of a guy that adjusted them on youtube. They are a bit of a pain to adjust but can be done. • Aligning the x gantry was problematic due to what Michael showed on the vid. I fixed this by pulling the entire gantry, with loose bolts, to the back butting them to the x and y motors. This would align them equally on both sides so that when you tighten the bolts it would be square. It is best if you first align the frame before you push the gantry all the way back to the motors. • For the belt tension, I had some extra belt tension springs that I placed on the two belts. I just ran the belt and cut them to length. The tension was not to tight and not to lose. I used the guitar frequency method to tension them with the springs. Moving one tooth on the belt in or out and then using zip ties. • The cable chain was a problem too for it is long and the placement of the arm that holds the chain is displayed to be in the center. The holder should be placed in a corner at the rear. I placed mine in the inside part of the extrusion facing the build area and almost in front of the motor. Removing links of the chain where it would just reach the very opposite corner will help with the droop of the cable chain. Also tightening the holders and aiming them up will help with the drooping chain. • Bowden tube supplied is very long. Having a spare Capricorn tube, I used that. I snipped the tube to the length where there is not much slack and no sharp corners are present on the tube. the hotend is at home in a corner and the extruder motor is placed in the center of the rear extrusion. Just the right length will help with extrusions and control of retractions. • For wire management, I stuck the wire inside the extrusions and used the given decoration tube and snipped a few pieces of it to hold the wire in place. • The 2 z motors are not coupled so they need to be level nearly the same. I just modeled and printed a block to place near the z rods so that when I raise the bed they butt up to the block. I just manually adjust them to exactly the same. After that initial build, I started printing and it is quite nice. A limitation was the software and control board. But once dialed in before printing, it will just print. But for me, I was not satisfied with the quality, (compared to my modified ender 3). So I did some upgrades on the hotend side. Designed a part and hotend cooling duct which I posted on thingiverse. That fixed a problem where the cooling fan will blow all over the print without the part cooler is on. That gave better cooling control. Having an ender 3 I have an extra skr mini E3 v1.2 and used that on this printer. Amazingly it works but I killed some fans for their connections are reversed. And coupled with a BTT TFT35 with the reversible touch to the rotary encoder, it is very good! Bonus for the configurability with the software and the silent tmc2209 stepper drivers. Bed heating might be an issue but placing a heatsink on the transistor helped a bit with the cooling when the bed heater is on. I am now designing an external case for the skr for I will be making a sealed enclosure for it. I might have left a few more info out but feel free to ask a question. This comment is getting quite long though Thanks for the informative vid Michael! I can't wait to see what you will do to the printer! It is a very capable "parts" printer to upgrade.

My few cents after a few months with both, an X5SA Pro and an X5SA. Ive purchased both at the same time, the pro was an open box and i planned to just mod it while the normal x5sa was new and meant to be converted to a VzBot330. Ive never ran the X5SA as stock, just built it once, made a few motion tests with a new board and Im still converting it to the VzBot. On the Pro on the other hand, Ive built it stock but known the electronics wasnt to my liking (as most of stock boards). After I finished building it, I suffered the same problems descirbed in this video: Large printer, with extruder and spoolholder on the back with unalligned filament sensor and extruder. I got problems with octoprint disconnecting, so Ive converted to klipper. Bad idea, the driver for the Z Axis deactivated itself when trying to build a mesh. Even when I used different drivers on the stock board for dual indipendent Z, same issue. For the XY motors and heaters ive converted to an skr pico. The stock probe was replaced by a klicky, the hotend first by an E3D Revo, than with a MK8 Volcano style hotend from aliexpress. I went from the revo to the volcano, since the tronxy kept destroying my revo nozzles, but thats most of the time my fault. For dual Z, Im using the old Board from my ender 3, the creality v.4.2.2. The toolhead is now redesigned with an orbiter v2 in direct drive config. Oh and really the first upgrade ive printed was a better motor mounting system with fine adjustement via screws. Summ: The electronics are garbage. Even in a "tronxy community" discord, the boards have different failures ranging from disconnecting from klipper or deactivating a driver mid print. The probe is kinda OK, but i dont like it. The bed is a taco. Belt tensioning is on stock a nightmare. The Hotend is still PTFE lined. Part cooling is kinda OK, its basically an Ender 3 toolhead. The screen is only usable with the horrible outdated tronxy firmware. I dont regret buying the two printers, but would only recommend to buy them if you plan on modding them are can get an X5SA for a VzBot conversion.

I got one coming my way, it's not my first 3d printer,I kinda look forward to playing with it and see if the newest model is any better.

Sound like a challenge?! maybe i will have to get one and see if I can figure out an easy way to assemble it? Keep up the great video's!

Concerning the long Teflon tube - do not put it in their receptacles before you cut off at about 7cm - these will come in handy in between the filament sensor and the bowden stepper and fit perfectly there. Another thing to shorten is the cable channel to the extruder - taking off 5 elements will be ok but try it first. The issue with the filament sensor case blocking the filament can be fixed with a bit of some epoxy, or CA glue and baking powder, by modeling a sort of funnel - the case does not provide a guide for 1.75mm filament and the microswitch pushes the filament against the wall of the case and against a rectangular cavity. The cable management has been upgraded, I did not have any problems with it, just the hotbed wires and the wires for the sensor are way too long - I cut them short and soldered a new XT60 socket on (the sensor wires got soldered and shrink tubes) The problem with the height sensor is easy to fix, but there should be a point in the instructions on how to do it right, as well as the Z-offset. I have my amount of carving done in the bed surface.... BUT CURA 4.8.0 did the same and burned a hole down to the aluminum (and stopped the whole machine too). PLA sticks like hell - I am down to 35°C and not quite happy yet, 30°C is too low and parts will warp and pop off. The timing of the TRONXY slicer is way off - it said 6h20min but took over 20 hours to finish the part. Another minus is connectivity. Nowhere any info about baud settings for USB (115200), the USB port is not used at all with the TRONXY slicer, and finally, the micro SD card is a real PITA. I have ordered a special short adapter cable with micro SD to TF SD socket and will use a Toshiba WIFI card there, but in the end I will try to get the WIFI module from TRONXY and hopefully this will be the remedy. The steppers are running very silent (2209 drivers), just the fans are a bit noisy. but my old Dremel 3D20 (stepper and fans) was screamingly loud in comparison. A case around the printer might help if needed.

They've actually fixed allot of these issues in the current shipping models - not sure if it was because of this video or not. The motor mounts are now steel and work well. They added a third screw to each side of the X axis rail where it attaches to the gantry which makes it much more rigid. The gantry can be made square by butting it up against the back of the printer when tightening the screws and the belts which is what I did. The filament runout sensor lines up. The electronics ribbon cable is all black now. It comes with a glass bed that was flat enough.. Not saying its perfect but at the current sale price of $330 definitely worth it IMO. I do agree the instructions are very basic still, with basically just images to go off, so experience with 3D printer mechanics and construction will be necessary if you want it to work well right away... Someone who is not mechanically inclined should not purchase this printer KIT.

at 4 minutes: Move X-bar to its end first and hand tight screws. Measure distance fron X-bar to fram and check if it is equal on both sides and then thighten screws. After that you mount the belts. This is my first printer and even my first contact with a 3d-printer. You need to have good mechanical skills and understanding to set up this printer. None of the rails is perfect from the beginning. Understanding aligning is a must. Adjusting excentric bearings need to be done and there is no tools invluded for that. A normal retaining ring plier can be used. It took me a whole day, not just 3-5 hours, to get this printer up and running. But I was very careful and accurate when I was assembling it and I have no problems with stringing, missaligned etc. But the bed is horrible. Its almost impossible to get parts loose after printing. I have used 3D-prima's glue for heated bed. Works almost as good as superglue or epoxiglue. Hairspray is best for large surface printings an the glue for small surface printing. Stock top bed is warped 0.2mm in ABL. It is easy to fix with som gentle bending but glass bed is better. And with glass bed there is another issue. The bed level sensor isnt sensitive enough. Solution: laminate glass with thin steel sheet or change sensor to a capacitive. For the price of about 450 USD I think it is a good printer, but not out of the box. It needs a lot of tweeking and mechanical knowledge. For first time users I do not recomend a printer of this size. Buy a small 150x150x150 instead or maybe 200mm. This printer is huge.

Total newbie and this is my first printer. If I didn't have a friend with experience, it would have been a disaster, but as it is, I got into the hobby for under $200, and I'm not limited to small prints. Mine printed pretty nice out of the box as soon as I lowered the hot end temp. They seem to have it set on the high end by default, which leads to spaghetti. Did I mention they made a mistake and sent me 2 printers for the price of 1? these were amazon return units. The first looked like someone opened the box and said "hell no" and sent it back. The second had been assembled, broke a couple plastic pieces, made 1 or 2 prints then hastily taken apart and thrown into the box with all the screws just tossed in. I still dunno if I will build it or just keep it for parts. Maybe put it together and do the laser conversion...

I just ordered mine. Cost me 800 Canadian Dollars. Looking Forward to it. Thank you for your WOnderful Reviews. The best thing I ever did, was buy an Open builds Mini mill, That way I can Cut/make my own metal parts to fix the issues on this machine. It's not a MODIX big 60 machine (8gran) but at least it's somewhat near it. With some light modd's I'm pretty sure this machine can do much much better. An I do agree with you that its seem like it was made by a Novice Engineer, but also I think it's mainly cheap parts + quality control. Keep you informed when It arrives.

I was given this machine for my birthday a couple years back. and i just started to use it. I had to go online and find a build instruction video to help me assemble it as the assembly instructions are not that good. i had no issue assembling it once i found the video. sorry i do not remember who it was. my biggest complaint is the stringing. I have to run at a lower speed so my prints stick to the bed. and i do not know how to make it go faster once the first layer is down. i am sure that ill figure it out soon. but the stringing is the thing that annoys me most with the printer. I like the size. but you are right the is an issue with loading new filament into the extruder. i take my model clippers and cut the tip at an angle. it has helped.

Good video I love your channel

Got the electronics replaced on mine....decent printer now, the motion system and stuff are quite stiff, and with an skr1.4 kina nice having the independent dual z's

will you do an upgrade video sometime in the future ?

I have the updated Tronxy X5SA the 2020 model, After doing my nut for 3 months trying to get it to be level right and work, I at long last got it working and even found how to keep the prints stuck down too? I brought a ultra flexible Tronxy Build plate cover, which is magnetic. I just got the Titan extruder motor system to try TPU flexible filament soon! the silent stepper motors now on the frame are great.. the better touch screen is good too and the 24 Volt power set up means better quicker hot end and bed pre-heating. Thanks to Tronxy Support by email and the tons of online videos I got it working right.. So that 3 months of hell. was worth it.

wow you didn't pull your punches which is good, I'm about to purchase a 3d printer I know nothing about them, I'm glad I came across your review honestly is the best policy I won't be buying one of these think ill watch a few more of your reviews before I buy

I really appreciate your uncompromising reviews. This is not as common as I would hope. *hight Fives*

Interesting I just watched a review from Nexi Tech and it was the complete opposite. His prints were immaculate and was some how able to overcome all of the issues you described. It appears he has made this his main rig adding a whole suite of upgrades in a second video. His prints are some of the best flawless ones I've seen.

Got to love those "real print photos" where the photos show multi/full-color models on single-filament printers.

Which filament did you use for the skull? Looks very nice!

I have an tronxy X5S and after exchanging the powersupply, mainboard, stepper drivers, belt, rail system on the x axis(mounted a linear rail), extruder, hotend, part cooling fan and tinkered alot in the slicer settings i get really nice prints. Befor all of that i got a really rough surface on the z axis and alot of stringing and the heated bed could not reach 100 °C. The main thing that improved the print quality was the linear rail on the x axis because the stock system has so much play witch caused the rough surface on the z axis.

I have seen other reviews of this printer and they tensioned the belts at each change of direction and experienced none of the problems that you did. Pro 3D has designed a core XY tensioning system for his V-Baby 3d printers which will fit on the Tronxy!

Also my print quality was horrible until I tightened the belts, squared the axis, and tightened the carriage wheels. With that I could print at 80 mm/s with great quality.

I got a X5SA 2019 I. Feb 2020. They have made changes. I had little to no issues mechanical issues. I assembled it n about 3 hours. When I installed the belts I actually tywraped the gantry to one side so it couldn’t move during belt tensioning. I did need to check everything the wheels came with eccentric nuts which needed to be adjusted. The Achilles heal from my perspective is the Chitu board and the closed firmware. After the initial setup I started printing the test cube from the provided SD card. 3/4 of the way thru the x axis driver blew. I am very meticulous about checking everything there was no reason other that bad electronics for it to fail. The drivers are soldered to the board and unless you can do SMD soldering your SOL. Tronxy did replace the board with a newer version which has the TMC silent drivers with the heatsink on the bottom of the board. The fan noise is terrible. My first upgrade will be a SKR PRO v1.1 with independent z drive so the bed stays parallel. I really believe this can be and excellent printer, I do also believe that Tronxy is learning but the question is will the learn quick enough to save the model.

Just assembled one of these that i got on a great promotion. I had a different experience than yours. I built it very carefully and it worked from the first print - did not have to tweak it. Of course i have a later version than yours, the one that comes with the glass.

Thinking about getting this because the price and feature seem great, but not sure if the glaring issues have been solved. This would be my second 3d printer, I have a Tronxy X1. Or, what about a Hypercube Evolution? The SecKit SK go also seemed really nice, but the 2nd version came out and is a lot more expensive. Got any ideas? Thanks

Tensioning the belts can be pretty easy. Just push the gantry all the way to the back, making sure both left and right are hitting the back alu profile. Tie it in place with 2 tie-wraps on both sides. Now you can tension the belt and everything is straight. Also I had no issues with the firmware. Though I have a Tronxy X5S 2E. Not a X5S-A. Bed levelling seems to work ok for me. Not perfect, but Ok. I do have the horizontal banding though, and wondered if you know a way to get rid of it?

Pretty crazy to think this old poor printer with flaws is the core base for what one of the best printers of 2022-2023 the VZBot is built on. Very fascinating to see.

Honestly I'm a big fan of mine: a couple tips you can use scissors to shorten the belt and bowden so the excess material doesn't get in the way. As it is a kit you will only get as much as you put into it, you really do have to take your time to properly align all the parts, I used a machinist square and it turned out great! As for stringing just keep turning the retraction up until it goes away. Its a great printer if you want to really learn how to optimize and perfect printing techniques. Its not a great printer if you just want something that can print straight out of the box

I own this printer as a total noob and didn’t face most of problems pointed out. This machine can be improved for sure, but it works quite well. The biggest problem i found is the impossibility to use a 4mm glass bed with the zprobe provided. The stock fans are crap and i had to replace them after 1 week of use.

Looking at the current versions of the printer being sold, have they made the necessary changes to make the printer worthwhile now?

Hi Michael, what do you think of the planetary gearbox stepper motors Nema? Do you think they can improve the quality of 3d printers (ex: Ender 3 and Ender 5)?

Nice review as always.I probably will not buy this printer. I don't think you should have to basically redesign a printer out of the box to get it to work in 2022. Adding a few upgrades...Maybe but changing about half of the components and design, NO. I would rather just build a printer from scratch. But if I go into buying a printer very cheep knowing I am basically just buying a usable Frame that that would be different. On my Ender 3 Max I have the same issue with loading Filament through the Filament runout sensor. There is at least 2 major issues with my Ender that I can not recommend it to others. Hard to load through the Filament Runout season. 2: I can't get My Ender to connect the either Repeater server or Octoprint. And I am still dealing with a Under extrusion issue after several week of trying to figure it out. Also, it seems like you I have to print fairly slow on this printer, when I can get it to print at all. I wish more printers would just come with an Aluminum build plate not a glass plate. The good is that I took off the Glass build Plate and put my Aluminum Flex plate with Garolite top surface directly on the Ender's Aluminum bottom plate. at least that't a plus. Much Much Much better heat transfer.

Will you ever do a review on the ender 5 plus?

Oh jesus, i kinda want this printer then your video make me think about it. I just don't have anymore patien for tuning machine.

I got my X5SA (not pro) in July 2018. It did not come with a slicer software but had setting for cura. I have had stretching issues with the belts and can't get it to work with cura right. What cura setting did you use?

As far as I can tell the gantry alignment issue was solved and they don't use any acrylic parts for motor mounts/pulleys anymore either. Though I can only say that for the 500 Pro. But there are so many different versions out there that it's almost luck what you get. Especially with bad package delivery companies and warped / bend parts.

I think you should do another review on this printer. To see if they fixed all the problems. The creality had alot of problems too at the beginning. I would like to see if go fixed and hiw the prints are now?

Bummed about this printer tbh. I would love to see a review on the two trees sapphire plus and the sainsmart corception both of which are in the same price range

Pass on this one. Hard.

Marlin just arrived on chitu boards. Congrats!

Bought one of these March 2022. Most of the structural and fire safety issues have been resolved. the software and firmware are still hot garbage, and the instructions that come with the machine for assembly are a strange mashup of the parts in this review unit and the one they shipped me. I managed to piece it together, but I can see that easily being an issue for people less familiar with FDM printers. As an added bonus, the test gcode that comes on the SD card appears to be unsuitable for the print surface the new units ship with. Nothing sticks to the carborundum coated glass plates below 60C. the GCode tries for 40C. There is no way to adjust the calibration on the machine without Pronterface or some other method of directly feeding it GCode. As you mention, the potential is definitely there as the new hardware it comes with is pretty solid. The proprietary digital garbage it ships with is the major remaining hurdle. If they toss their gui and replace it with something a bit more conventional, it'll be a fantastic machine.

I've been looking at the X5st-500 500x500 model that has some upgrades, I'll be interested to see if they have made the improvements required.

To align the gantry on my x5sa i used 2 of the little 2 nuts and bolts in the path of the wheels i measured from the corner of that extruded alloy bar to the both sides just to double check pulled the gantry to it and fit my belts that way making both nice and snug was pretty easy that way This might be 2 years old but i still use my tronxy today its a alright machine its a bit wonky at times but in the end im able to make decent orints from it for my rc cars lol

Great review! Glad I watched before considering this one, definitely not buying this being new to 3d printing.

There is a nice simple belt tensioner on thingiverse for the X5s. It’s 2 parts that mount to the top front and lets you slide them to tension each belt. It’s worked great for my X5s so far.

on tensioning the belt, I would have figured to add a couple of cable ties to the end of the belts pull on the end of the belt and then tighten the tie once the belt is tensioned?

TronXY X5S I have had for several years now and a constant woe plus I had to do so much modding to it just to get it to semi work right.

Hey there, got the X5SA Pro some weeks ago BEFORE i saw your video... i have all the same problems you described but have to say it isn't that kind of drama you are describing. Its not plug and play - and thats for sure because its an kit. And if you don't know, what are you doing - you will fail. And some of the functions are... lets say - tricky ;D The ABL works perfect... but if you don't recognize that every time you get print of your bed you HAVE TO eneable the motors. If you don't, the stepper position is rotating. And the next print will fail. I think it's because of the large size of the bed... The stock extruder is okay but poor quality. It makes sounds and is wobbling around. Replaced with Full-Metall BMG... Next is bed surface... that really sucks! My bed is looking horrible.. but my first Enders too. What can we do to solve the problem? Nothing with stock. You have to change the board... cause the Chitu GCODEs are freaky... unnormal and i don't know WHYYYYYYY they have choosen this kind of board. You can't activate LinearAdvance, you can't install easily the modifications you want. Here you can find lots of gcodes wich will work... www.customize-3d.com/chitu-g-code-explained.html?start=20 I simply don't wont to learn them. F*** of... It do wired things like throttle the fan if its moving, the PID tuning won't work correctly and my PETG prints looks uneven. The acceleration settings are wired to... i set them to a much larger amount so Cura can control the movement. Octopi can connect but sometimes it does wired things. If you send M8500 (Thats chitu eq. to M500) it beeps and throws a lots of errors in terminal. After that, i HAVE TO restart the printer and octopi to work again. Annoying... I decide to replace the stock board with SKR 1.4 and then modifying to glas bed and BLTouch. Then i have Marlin2 and hopfully no problems. In the next weeks... Btw - you forgot to take a closer look at the stock hotend. My one is without a screw for attaching the temp sensors. It sticks in a hole with lots of air around ^^ The heatblock is silver sprayed and looks like it's carved by an trainee :D I replace with MicroSwiss All-Metall - that works greater and now i can reach higher temps for nylon an pc. The stock runout-sensor is... simple ;) The funniest thing - it looks like the have forgotten to make it screwable an drilled the holes after casting... i favorite my design with a little 6mm metall ball. Nearly no friction and i use PTFE tube to lead the filament in place. I like Gigantulla... but i like to tinker so its no problem.

I went for the X5s-2e - double trouble. I knew it was a crap machine and managed to pick it up for about A$250. It was not even core XY it was H-Bot (single long belt). I love to tinker, so I thought why not. Firstly got my head around Chitu firmware as best you can and added thermal runaway and ABL. I converted it to core XY , ran a couple of 2 cololur prints then decided to make an easy change head. Currently have the original dual colur head (similar to the cyclops), a rip off E3D V6 with a volcano nozzle and am currently working on the Titan mount to be anle to print flexibles. Thankfully I have a Tevo Black Widow and an original Tarantula that are just rock solid. This is definatly not a beginner machine. It can barely print without mods. I have a spare set of linear rails I might install and when I've had enough of Chitu, I have an SKR 1.4 and screen floating around here as well.

apologies if this is asked elsewhere ..@2:43...How do you get the STL model previews in windows explorer ???

Wish you had done more reserch on this one... Got the 2020 x5sa pro.. And it took some time comming from marlin controled boards to this Chitu board.. But get your esteps dailed in and do your calibration... its a great printer out of the box... ! Only made a few printed upgrades and print quality is great.. you will have to edit your config with gcodes and its easy.. Hope you do a followup... Seeing your video i can say that you need to look at this printer with other glasses (Not the marlin glasses !)

I own 2 and i love them