I always think I should add a BL touch of some sort on my machines, but then I remember I manually bed level the machines like once every 6 months, if that. I think the glass bed helps.
In a way they are over rated. If you do a good manual level, I think the only advantage of Auto Bed Leveling is it usually probes more points and compensates, but only on the 1st layer. I used to auto level before every print, but that is slow and really no need so I stopped doing that.
@@timothymusson5040 ideally glass doesn’t warp. In practice it does, though. I had a glass bed that started out flat, but took on a slight “taco” warp within a few months. Addition of the BL Touch helped deal with that. I now mostly print to a steel plate with a smooth PEI sheet, and that’s working for me right now. I run the bed probing maybe every ten prints or so.
Yes! Finally someone with pictures of the inside and it reveals ... an optical sensor! That alone makes this thing so much better than a BLtouch. No more interference from nearby magnetic items or electromagnetic fields. A lot less tuning required to get it to trigger consistently (because of the Hall sensor in a BL-touch). And the mechanism to deploy the pin seems much more robust - from the movies I saw I guess it needs to be actively deployed, so no more risk of the pin dropping by heavy shaking of the gantry. This looks like a winner to me ... except for the price maybe, but I guess it won't take long for cheap clones to appear and because of the less tricky technology in here, I think those clones will be way better than even an original BL-touch. This might get me away from building my own (servo + opto-sensor) probes ...
Everything you said seems pretty accurate to me. The probe does need to be energized to extend so it fails safe (barring mechanical binding of course). As for testing while power cycling, if / when I get wiring to testing on other machines I’ll see about doing that. The price is a fair but more than a standalone BL touch but I’m already seeing these kits for the CR Touch with like $5-6 off coupon codes on Amazon. So seeing them around $40 isn’t far off I’d bet.
I just bought this kit for $32. I got a SD card with all the instructions pre installed on it, and setting it up was very easy. All 3 brackets are also included!
Check out the Blog Post about this sensor for more Photos and Testing Details: www.hotrodhippie.com/post/new-creality-cr-touch-abl-vs-bl-touch-sensor-for-3d-printers Link to my GitHub with the Firmware (Ender 3 with 4.2.7 Board ONLY): github.com/MandicReally/CR-Touch-Firmware Also newer versions of the CR Touch exist that come with an SD Card and an "Anti-Rattle" piece on them now.
11:17 The visualizations require a known 100% accurate control to be of actual value against each other. Otherwise you would have conflicting images w/ no real understanding of which is correct. However, the accuracy values, and those images you've shown basically say the 2 are within margin of error of each other.
The point of including the visualizations was that in the absence of a known good value, all we could do is compare the readings between the two to see if they were reading similarly. The visualizations show they are. As you noted, I did provide more data than JUST the visualizations though. Yes they are arguably just margin of error from one another, that was largely my point here. I wasn't trying to tell folks "BL TOUCH IS NOT ACCURATE!" just show whether Creality's offering is comparable. Many people automatically assumed the CR Touch was a cheap knock-off off the BL Touch that would not be as good. I set out to see if that was accurate and found it was not. This isn't meant to be a scientific study of the effectiveness of a Probe Type bed level sensor, just a comparison of two against each other. Arguably in this instance the BL Touch IS the "Control" as it is the most widely adopted Touch Type probe on the market.
Niiice, you showed the insides and it's just how I understood it from their page: it's got an optical sensor on it, instead of the magnetic one. Love seeing the insides of stuff. Also the M48 was exactly what I was looking for. That's far more accurate than I was expecting (frankly the BL Touch also did surprise me, I thought it wasn't gonna be as high either).
Great video, but I think the firmware story is everything. There's so much in the marlin firmware that makes life easier that Creality could ship if they could be bothered to put in the dev time. The marlin corners wizard, both in probe and non probe varieties is probably the most helpful thing I can think of that's missing, but it's been a while since I used Creality stock firmware. 0.04 accuracy is a full step of your z, you need a well sorted printer to benefit from less than that, and my experience of bl-touch and the better clones is they're mostly within one microstep and variance might be because the true reading is closer or further away from an exact step.
Great video. I bought an E3V2 really early on and attempted to put a BLTouch on it right away. Fighting with firmware and not wanting to compile my own, I abandoned it. I struggled with manual bed leveling for too long and some nozzle clogs. Then my E3V2 became a nice dust collector for nearly a year. Anyway, this video inspired me to put a little effort back into getting it up and running. Bought the CRTouch, reverted from a direct drive modification and went back to a stock setup with this ABL sensor. I'm now printing really high quality prints again with ease and loving it. Thanks for the great video!
Sir! Very well done! Oh my goodness. No kidding my son and I are 3 weeks deep into our new 3D printing hobby. We have an Ender 3. I Ordered the CR touch and tried to install it yesterday. First step was to watch the two minute Creality install video. LMAO Sir I said to my son “it looks too easy to be true”. First hurdle was an absolute struggle to figure out which dad gum frimware to use. The instructions from a neonates perspective are awful. Figured out the firmware and ran into the wall that is the Z offset. Oh man! I didn’t get too frustrated because I accepted it was beyond me at that point so I walked away for the evening. In my trouble shooting research I actually saw a thread that mentioned the Marlin Z Offset Wizzard but crawling then walking came to mind. I might give that a shot as I patiently await your Z Offset solution. I appreciate your work and I’ll compensate your time through purchases through your sites etc. Shaun
I originally found you on TT. But i have to admit, this was a very professional and informative video. Honestly, i could see you doing this professionally for a living. Keep up the good work and I'll be waiting for new videos to appear.
Well the CR Touch has two things I like about it that I didn't like about the original: the flimsy probe is gone and it doesn't look god awful anymore. The flickering led inside the white chassis just really looked out of place on any of my 3D printers/
First video coming from TikTok, great production value👍🏼 One of my new favorite printing channels out there. That being said I told myself from the beginning to ‘learn the hard way’ and forget the bl-touch; wanting to master manually leveling the bed before buying one. I felt like I had, so I purchased the CR touch after watching this video and I’m glad I did. First layers are nearly perfect every time and it takes some of the worry out of starting a print and wondering if it’ll survive 😂 only issue I seem to have with mine is the rattle coming from the metal touch probe as it prints, but I’ll live with it for now
Thank you. I agree that is the best way to go. A Bed Level sensor is just a "nice to have" that supplements a good manual leveling. Supposedly they have updated the CR-Touch to deal with the rattle. My original one never really had that issue but I have one of the new ones too to see if it happens on the updated design. Just haven't had any time to mess with it yet.
I bought the CR touch because of this video! Works great after I worked through the nightmare that was the z offset. The directions were..... not good. You should do a video on calibrating it:-) I'm excited for the ender 3 v2 display to be natively supported by Marlin. Might get to use that magically Z Offset Wizard you speak of.
I give up on using a feeler gauge or paper. Doing it for nearly four years, enough is enough. Time for ABL thank you for the most useful and above all helpful tutorial.
I'm glad to see more competition of bed leveling sensors that aren't just copies of the BL Touch. I went with BL touch to support them though. If I need a sensor on a new printer I'll certainly consider the CR Touch.
I've seen a LOT of 3DP videos. I don't think I've ever seen this subscriber count (1.2k @ time of writing) and this quality of content. I also don't think I've subbed after watching 1 short video from a channel. SUBBED
You should probably have shared the standard deviation for the m48, the average is good, but a repeatability once of 0 and once of 0.002 would average out to 0.001.
Old versions of bltouch used to come with metal probe. But they moved to plastic as the metal in the probe would expand and measure longer in heated situations
Loved the video and your testing method, and have the BL and CR Touch and am thinking of installing the CR and giving it a try. There is one additional comment on the differences between the BL and CR which may be a deciding factor for someone using the CR Touch, i.e. it doesn't require a leveling screw. The biggest pain point I've had with the BL Touch is the probe randomly deciding to not drop, and using the adjustment screw is hit-and-miss. Also when cleaning or replacing the probe on the BL Touch the set screw needs to be recalibrated, so not having to worry about the set screw fine tuning is a bonus.
Firstly thank you for confirming that it's a straight swap with the BL. Something that amuses me is how many install videos feed the big end into the board and mention the difficulty, but when I installed the BL I ran the small end out the other way and it was easy
Please test the BLtouch while turning hotend and bed heating on and off. I've had that significantly influence 3D-touch results, I think because of the current spikes causing EM pulses throwing off the Hall sensor. The original BLtouch might be "tuned" to better avoid this, but gimme an optical sensor over a Hall sensor any day ...
I bought a cheap knock off BL touch and kept having issues with it dropping the probe when the nozzle went to do the prime at the edge. So I bought a genuine BL touch and it did the same thing. When I updated Cura the problem went away. Neither ABL sensors have any issues now. I don't know about accuracy, but the $24 cheaper works just fine.
Thank you for this excellent breakdown. I just replaced my original Ender 3 V1.1.4 board with a V4.2.7 and am working on setting up a CR Touch for the first time. As of Sept. 2022, it appears that the "2020-04-25" BLTouch Merlin firmware is still the most current copy. My only big complaint about Creality is exactly as you described. Their instructions and repositories are a complete mess. Every new Creality accessory I buy sends me to a different URL that is usually a dead link or entirely foreign (Chinese) page. I am very thankful for channels like this one that understand how to communicate information targeted toward the consumer/hobbyist instead of engineers/professionals. Even though I'll be done with this project today, I'd still like to request a video on tuning Z-Offsets in this scenario as you mentioned. It would be extremely helpful to people like me who don't tend to mess around in the controls/firmware very often because of how much niche and conflicting information is out there. I think people will be making these upgrades on the Ender 3 series for many years to come and your presentation style for this would be incredibly helpful and appreciated! Thanks again for your effort and sharing your wisdom with the rest of us!
I’m running tiny machines firmware with my cr10s with the bl touch. If I went with the cr touch would I need to flash with the creality firmware or is it plug and play once one or the other is already in place?
Can you put the firmware they sent you back in the description? The current firmware on their website doesn't work for me. I can't go below 0 on Z offset.
So I have a CR-10 v2 and had a horrible time with leveling. I purchased a BL touch and thought the instructions were horrid and never attached it. Ultimately this killed my desire to print. This was probably 2 years ago. I got the bug again but instead bought a CR-6 se with auto bed leveling and this has been a night and day difference. After seeing this, I will probably purchase a CR Touch and try to resurrect my CR 10 v2. Thank you!
Great vid! My very small gripe with the BL touch is how much noise the metal rod makes when moving around. I also couldn't properly update my firmware for two weeks. Small suggestion for the video: at 9:00 there is a lot going on and I think burring out the background further would help tell the pictures and text apart. Great content and camera work!
Thanks for the constructive input. After I was all done this edit I kind of felt that same way but was too beat to go back. Now that I see someone else feels that way I will bear it in mind. 👌🏻
I recently purchased and installed and they did update the kit. I still had an issue with the firmware that i downloaded from the site. After loading sd card my screen was blank. I ended up trying the firmware that came on the sd card they sent and after trying a couple the ender 3 pro version load and flashed properly. I ran some mobility tests and was found i had a loose wire on one of the stepper motors. In the process of troubleshooting that i tried the other firmwares i download and they loaded and flashed properly after that. I’m not sure what i did wrong but it’ll seems to be working now. So far I’m really liking the CR Touch. I wish i had found this video before i attempted the install though!
I am pretty grumpy about this purchase, from the CREALITY website, the ENDER 3-v2 with the 4.2.2 board and the CR-TOUCH sensor, and put it together, had fun doing that, and printed out the PDF instructions and for the HOW-TO slicer software and put all that into a 3 ring binder and one step at a time, finally get to turn the power on..... 90 hours later (no joke) going down a rabbit hole of common problems that folks have as I trouble shoot the many problems my unit has from the factory, shorted out cables, which torched the drivers of the motherboard, the powersupply has a fluttering output of 19vDC to 36vDC with a 2 ms dropout approx every 20 ms when I hook this piece of junk up to the oscilloscope, the Z-axis is intermittent due to poorly constructed cable. I can go on and on about how depressing this whole thing has been. yet, I am at a stand still as I am now expected to wait on an email from CREALITY, which I did get, but it was first needing to confirm that I did buy a machine from them, "proof of purchase" which is fine, but now I wait... I was reading a few REDDIT post, and folks there were saying, it may take months before they reply back, just hoping you will go away... That breaks my heart. as I was super excited for this and didn't mind spending the additional $80 to $100 USD buying it through the CREALITY website, in hopes that would mean I am getting an untampered with new unit, vs. some of the issues I have had with AMAZON resellers and affiliates, which sent out NEW but ended up being used, LOL... Nah, my experiece with this has been exceptionally irritating.
After all the hard work replacing anything that made noise on my Ender 3 v2 my BL Touch died and I replaced it with one of these. Now I have the metal probe contantly rattling and driving me nuts. Argh!
My BL needed to be replaced on my Ender 5+ (with Creality Silent board) so I ordered the CR. After mounting the CR I ran into issues with the bed continually lowering. I tried getting assistance from Creality and Ender groups but no resolution. I ended up ordering another BL and returning the CR. The only thing I could figure is that the CR wasn't compatible with silent board, even with firmware updates.
I like the metal probe. I've had many of those plastic probes warp and even get gummy over time, especially when enclosed and working with high temp materials.
I've found firmware and configurations like this to be... problematic details to cover in my style unfortunately. I simply do not have to the time to be a go-to support system for folks and my emails fill up with questions after I cover those topics so I've had to steer away from them unfortunately. Michael over at Teaching Tech has done a good video on the topic of Z-Offset and Z-Probe Wizard, the problem is that the Z-Wizard requires a firmware that has it enabled. So to cover it, I really have to cover firmware compiling, and it snowballs fast. Here is Michael's video: th-cam.com/video/fN_ndWvXGBQ/w-d-xo.html
Pre production? I got mine a couple of weeks before this video from Amazon for a few bucks cheaper than the bl touch ($34). I fed the lead through the loom from the pcb side, it’s easy. I downloaded and installed the Jyers firmware and totally recommend it. Good review!
I bought an ender 3 s1 from microcenter as my first printer because there was a deal and was only $200, it comes stock with a CRtouch and i love it, i manually tram then run abl, with PVA glue i get a nice flat first layer every time
Thanks for this video. I also would like Creality to update their firmware more often. Why is it so hard to find a version of their firmware that has both the filament runout sensor and the auto-bed leveling? Sigh.
I was also hesitant to compile my own version of Jyers but it turned out to be really simple. Just edit two files with the desired options and press a button to compile. Super easy. Check out Brians video for step by step: th-cam.com/video/so0FfFVEmiw/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for all the detail. The part about “z axis offset” really helped me. I didn’t know what this meant. I installed my CR Touch and got usable firmware that works with my touchscreen on my Ender 3 but I had almost no success with it, I suspect because I didn’t do the z axis offset. I’ll retry my CR Touch with this info.
To be honest, I do not want to approach any sort of auto bed leveling anymore. When I bought my first 3D printer Ender 3V2 I didn't have any experience at all, and bed leveling was super hard for me. Especially with the stock firmware. So after a few weeks I bought an original BLT. And it was even worse than manual. I usually used to stay with my printer for the first to layers to check if it is okay, and the nozzle will not crush into the bed. I thought that my pain was ended with the BLT. First time I plug it, adjust the z offset and all of that, start a test print. To my horror, the level failed, but I didn't know that yet, it just started flashing red. The result was that the probe git the bed, and bended. Lucky I could bend it back, but still try after try, the BLT would crush in the probing phase. Somehow, magically it stopped failing, but the results were not great. It was not able to probe correctly and it was always off my few mm here and there. In the result I found Jyers firmware and it is THE best thing you can do, for you Ender 3. The version with 3x3 manual mesh is a miracle. I calibrate it ones or twice a year and I don't have to think about anything y anymore. I just start the print and go away and I know that the print will come out perfect. The best feeling in the world. Install Jyers firmware.
I had nothing but trouble from my BL Touch. I am an engineer. I watched every video out there. It just kept sticking. I should have sent it back, but I am stubborn. I watched this video. Bought the CR Touch. It has worked flawlessly for weeks now. I probably got a bad BL Touch so I am not saying don't buy one. But I value my time and the CR Touch has been perfect.
Was a little ironic that you said how confusing their website was to find the firmware, added that you had a link to the one file that worked for you...but ended up just linking to their confusing website anyway. Other than that, it was a pretty neat video.
I've had an ender 3 pro over 3 weeks now, I just learned today that the z-offset on a cr-touch printer means the distance between the probe and the nozzle, i thought it was a setting for overpressing the bed and it was about signaling the probe where the bed was and not the other way around
Creality has a newer updated firmware on there site now for the cr touch. It seems to be a more up to date version of Marlin with way more features. I tried cfw but it didn't let me adjust the z offset at all. The only issue I have with creality's firmware is that I can't adjust the z offset with baby stepping.
If you plug into the printer, you can send a specific z-offset, if you need something in between. I have never needed more resolution myself. The gcode is M851. So if you need a z-probe offset of -2.521 you send 'M851 Z-2.521'
That 72 nanometer difference in repeatability variance, has absolute zero impact on actual printing - it's orders of magnitude beyond the accuracy of the stepper motors. It could easily be accounted for by EMI, thermal expansion etc - or just compression of the probe tip. Personally I'd be more interested in absolute numbers with a precision control. Maybe support the bed so it cannot bow from weight, then first probe straight on the bed. Next, probe against a size calibration block placed in the same spot? It's nice to have tight _repeatability_ - but it doesn't do you much good if it turns out the absolute distance reading is poorly calibrated, generally inaccurate, or doesn't scale linearly with real distance. Like lets assume the printer's movement system was highly accurate. And the _repeatability_ of a probe reading is 60-80 nanometers, with an absolute distance reading of 0.2mm, when the real world distance is 0.12mm (so the absolute reading is off, enough that a 1st layer squish with a small nozzle could end in a crash). And then the next spot is reading 0.51mm, while the real distance is 0.3mm (turns out its absolute distance readings doesn't scale linearly with real distance either). A bit in the extreme, but hopefully it illustrates my thinking..
man i really like the tunnel u have in yo ears :D interesting position ngl als great vid, i have my ender 3 pro for 3 yrs now and barely used it after a while, currently im getting back into and getting some upgrades. even tho i probably wont get autoleveling since my printer is still almost full stock, i have alot of other stuff to upgrade :D
Please ask Creality to make the 5015 blower available to purchase, as it's the best blower fan I've every seen on any of these printers. WE NEED THIS BLOWER available to the customer base who have placed their trust into Creality and purchased one of their printers. Thanks.
I can't give any long term reliability testing yet obviously but like I said, I'm leaving it on the Ender 3. May pick another one up for another project.
The machine used the Z axis to actively move the print head up and down to compensate for the bed level readings. So just like it actively moved X/Y while printing it will move Z slightly. However Auto Bed Leveling is not a replacement for manual leveling. It’s only a nice addition to it. Starting with a bed that is well manually leveled will allow the auto level to work much better.
I added this to my cr10s pro v2 which i read wouldnt work at all. But i plugged it in and it works fine without any firmware updates. Its literally plug and play. Just need to flip the bracket round that the bl touch used and adjust the spacing
So it works with the Merlin wizard or do I have to use the creality one? And if so then good but how do I upload the Merlin program onto the printer itself because that is something I need to know as I haven’t done this at all. Also can I just change the code to enable the settings in merlin by just clicking it and so on? I’m not great with code
I am running a Creality CR-X printer and it has a BL-Touch currently installed on it the main board is the creality v2.1.1 and due to mishap I had I am replacing that board with a Creality v2.2 board since the BL-Touch was operating fine, do you think the CR -Touch will work it can be mounted in the same location which is on the right side of the hotend and I still will have to get the correct firmware and because of what you mentioned I am a little leary I really like the aspect of the metal probe instead of the plastic one. In subsequent Bed levelings I get a difference that I feel falls out side of the range so am looking for a better way or product
Hey, very nice in depth review, you helped me decide to get a CR Touch instead of a BL Touch! Just one question, my CR Touch has a rattle, vibration noise, when my printer moves the print assembly in the X axis. I tracked it down to the actual probe metal tip, if I just touch it stops rattling against the plastic body. Have you had any level of rattling noise on your tests?
I opted for the CR Touch mostly because of the probe sturdiness and I liked the look. I found it difficult to install the cable and had to take it off my 3d printer in order to plug the cable in. Also, on the cable I received the blue and red wires were swapped though luckily they were swapped on both ends so it did not affect the operation. It works well though the mesh is not centered on the build plate. Probably because after I installed the Micro Swiss Direct drive, the nozzle homes off the build plate now.
been a couple years, still isnt clear: do i remove the Z axis stopper or not? some say yes, some manuals say no. troubleshooting this install is tricky.
i have the ender 3 v2 and i tried to get the CR touch to work for over 10 hours to no avail. i have the 4.2.2 board and thought i had the right firmware but i still havnt gotten it to work.
Thanks for the vid, i was installing it and I need to see how it operates, as I was seeing it as place higher than my hotend, meaning it would have smacked into the bed catastrophically... But of course it lowers it print to sense much like bl touch, do it's a none issue... I use the jyers firmware, and I had a bltouch installed there before, until I froze it and broke with done clue, because I sprayed way to liberally
You said both your machines are 4.2.2 but the firmware they sent you was 4.2.7 only …. A bit confusing. Do you have the compiled marlin software available at all?
Salut de France ! Thank you very much for your very accurate video for the installation of the CR Touch on a 3V1 Ender in 4.2.7. The provision of the firmware in 1.1.2 helped me well because the official on the website of Creality is a horror. Thanks again a lot, my old and faithful Ender 3 wonderfully walking!
Hey, great video. Could you tell me how you can get that warped-bed map at 10:58? Ive been looking for a way to see what my bed distortion is. Is this a software on the PC?
You have to use a combination of some type of "Console" printer control (Such as via Pronterface or OctoPrint) and web programs that produce the map. I think there is an OctoPrint plugin as well that can do it within the OctoPrint platform. This is the one I used in this video: lokspace.eu/3d-printer-auto-bed-leveling-mesh-visualizer/
Great video and useful information, just a heads up - I just got in a BL Touch yesterday from Amazon, it came with nothing! ZIP nadda - no diagrams, instructions and worse it did not come with the mounting bracket, so now I have to take time from my day to build a bracket myself. Very disappointed and wish I'd gone with the CR Touch after watching your video.
I've ran an Ender 3v2 and now a CR10v3 with the BL and CR touches and I haven't ever seen the benefits of either. Am I wrong in thinking it should act as a compensation for a warped bed? For example, I've got a Snapmaker Original and there's no way to level the bed itself, but you go through and adjust the four corners. Granted, the bed is a 4" square, but you adjust the corners and the machine compensates for any high or low spots on the bed... Am I wrong in thinking the BL and CR's should do the same, essentially? Or am I doing something wrong? Cause it's super frustrating when you've got a warped bed and no way to print anything outside of the middle few inches of a 12" build plate.
I came to this video specifically to figure out which one I wanted to get for my Ender 3 V2. I'm very new to 3d printing and I'm having issues with my first layers and not sticking. I've upgraded my bed springs and e extruder. My first print even, the cat, will not stay. I figured the auto bed leveler would help or at least not hurt. So I'm going with the CL Touch. Thank you
I don't recommend modifying a machine until you have reached the limits of what the stock setup can do. Spending time to learn and improve what you have will take you a longgg way. If you aren't getting a good first layer there are a lot of things you can do. 1) Check Bed Level (I know its so basic, but so many screw it up, its the basics because its important). 2) Pre-heat your bed well ahead of your print. (Especially with a glass bed, the heat takes a long time to actually reach the print surface. Pre-soaking the bed with heat will help adhesion.) 3) Print your first layer hotter. (5-10C on bed & filament, but it really depends on the specific filament. You have to tune for your filament.) 4) MagiGoo Adhesion promoter is a great product to help get a sticky solid layer. 5) Print your first Layer SLOW. I usually do 20mm/s on almost everything I print. 6) Print a thicker first layer (Slightly taller and higher extrusion width. I usually do .2mm first layer and .5mm extrusion width.) 7) LASTLY a bed Level sensor. You can see this video I did on TikTok about this topic: www.tiktok.com/@hotrodhippie/video/7048716946724031790?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
@@MandicReally Thank you SO much for your reply, and very quickly too. I can't tell you how much it means to me. I took your advice and did another crazy in depth manual leveling again. I had to do a bunch of tweaking but I did finally get a fully finished print. It still doesn't look all that great, but at least it completed and stuck down. This is still just the first print that comes on the SD card with the Ender 3 V2. No matter how tight I get the leveling, I had to set the z offset to -3.0 to get it to fully stick, also had to have the bed at 80c and the nozzle at 205c (this is with the sample pla included). I had several failed prints before so when I finally got it going, I ran out of filament and paused the print and changed to a small reel. When I did this I got terrible lines and what looks to be like it sized larger. I have started watching your tiktoks like you directed. I hope to learn and figure this out, for it's been a passion of mine to start for a while now. I did notice that a lot of your printers have auto leveling devices installed. I know that it doesn't not replace manual leveling but I figured something to help get the distance right to start a print. Alright, I've talked too much.
i can piece it all together later of course, but no one has a cr10v1 install for the cr touch. im sure the bl touch surgical videos are the same process.
Still somewhat confusing for this noob. I will be getting this , along with the 4.2.7 board and V2 Display to update my Ender 3 PRO in a big way. I get the install and even the firmware upgrade to enable the touch sensor. What I don't see a lot of info on is how to set up the height of the probe relative to the nozzle and what other changes are needed to get this to work. YOu touched on one I had not heard but it makes sense - I wont need the Z switch any longer as the CR Touch will take care of this. Thank you for a great video.
I ordered the CL touch and it doesn’t seem to help me with leveling. It runs but it doesn’t actually move the Z up or down based on the bed. Not sure. About to give up and sell my printer
I have and ender 3 I Installed the cr touch and all is good. But for some reason one corner of my built plate no prints will stick to it. I have looked all over for someo e to show me where I should set the manual bed level adjustment knobs so I can get a fair reading. Everything I've seen people have there z offset set to -1.0 to almost -2.0. But mine is like -0.2. Why is that.
My BL Touch just stopped working... this review came at a good time. Insted of ordering a new probe, i'll just upgrade the gizmo. Hoping this one has a longer life than just a few months.
I hope it works well for you. The one thing I can't factor into reviews like this is Long Term testing. Just not enough time for that to be realistic while still getting a review out in a timely manner. The ONLY issue I've had so far was it didn't work on my Elegoo Neptune 2 at all. However that system is... funky even with the BL Touch (I'll discuss it in a dedicated video soon). So who knows what was up there.
Found your video most helpful. I have just bought myself a CR Touch for my Ender 3. When I went to download the firmware I was completely lost and ended up reaching out to Creality for help. The file they sent me is for Marlin 1.1.2 2020-04-25. My mainboard is 4.2.2. Although it does operate the CR I am having a lot of problems with setting up the Z offset. It certainly does not contain the auto wizard you mention. So I was wondering if you could recommend a different file to download? One of the issues I have is after doing the bed leveling, the screen shows an error saying "Err To Far away" or something along those lines. So Im guessing that it is setting the z height to high as anything I try to print, the first layer doesnot stick to the board. I was hoping to figure out how to get the wizard you mentioned see if it helps with more accuracy. Thanks for the video.
Despite them being entirely different sensors the Firmware views them the same way. So yes you can use it with a BTT Board and just configure Marlin as if it was a BL Touch. That is how I compiled my own firmware for the 4.2.2 board. I haven't installed it on my machine with the SKR Mini E3 in it, but the Firmware should not care at all and the port wiring is the same.
@@MandicReally that means that you can simply replace the bl-touch with the cr touch? too lazy to open up my printer now. and i do want to replace my bl touch as the stick got warped due to a non sticking print...
@@PtR-ec1wz you should be able to, yes. I’ve done it a couple times. On my Elegoo Neptune 2 it didn’t work, for no reason I can discern. But everywhere else I’ve tried it’s been fine. (Creality and BTT boards.
I’m late to this party but oh well🤷♂️ I just purchased a ender3 roughly 3 weeks ago, I am probably on my fourth or fifth print as of right now. And I am working on a design of my own for something that my wife needs. The biggest pain in the ass for me right now is getting the correct Height for printing. I believe I am going to pick up the CR touch, to assist me in that end. My biggest reservation is I don’t exactly know how to do all the firmware updates to make everything function. Installing it Mechanically is not a problem. I guess there is “nothing to it but to do it” and see how it goes. If anyone has any suggestions. I am definitely all ears
I always think I should add a BL touch of some sort on my machines, but then I remember I manually bed level the machines like once every 6 months, if that. I think the glass bed helps.
In a way they are over rated. If you do a good manual level, I think the only advantage of Auto Bed Leveling is it usually probes more points and compensates, but only on the 1st layer. I used to auto level before every print, but that is slow and really no need so I stopped doing that.
They help if your bed is warped. Which glass should not be…
@@timothymusson5040 ideally glass doesn’t warp. In practice it does, though. I had a glass bed that started out flat, but took on a slight “taco” warp within a few months. Addition of the BL Touch helped deal with that. I now mostly print to a steel plate with a smooth PEI sheet, and that’s working for me right now. I run the bed probing maybe every ten prints or so.
@@timothymusson5040 My bed is so warped that even glass doesn't fix it.
Except when it breaks. Which mine did after 2 weeks.
Yes! Finally someone with pictures of the inside and it reveals ... an optical sensor! That alone makes this thing so much better than a BLtouch. No more interference from nearby magnetic items or electromagnetic fields. A lot less tuning required to get it to trigger consistently (because of the Hall sensor in a BL-touch). And the mechanism to deploy the pin seems much more robust - from the movies I saw I guess it needs to be actively deployed, so no more risk of the pin dropping by heavy shaking of the gantry. This looks like a winner to me ... except for the price maybe, but I guess it won't take long for cheap clones to appear and because of the less tricky technology in here, I think those clones will be way better than even an original BL-touch. This might get me away from building my own (servo + opto-sensor) probes ...
Everything you said seems pretty accurate to me. The probe does need to be energized to extend so it fails safe (barring mechanical binding of course).
As for testing while power cycling, if / when I get wiring to testing on other machines I’ll see about doing that.
The price is a fair but more than a standalone BL touch but I’m already seeing these kits for the CR Touch with like $5-6 off coupon codes on Amazon. So seeing them around $40 isn’t far off I’d bet.
@@MandicReally So in your opinion should I get the BL touch or CR touch for my Ender 3 Pro?
@@kenopyowo cr, I just went threw all this lol
@@jimsinnovations2737 ah shit i just recently got a bl touch. lets see how this goes. I haven't installed it yet, im printing the hero me gen5 first
@@kenopyowo it's awesome make sure take Off that one z step on bottom
I just bought this kit for $32. I got a SD card with all the instructions pre installed on it, and setting it up was very easy. All 3 brackets are also included!
Where from?
From Ali express
amazon
wich one? BL or CL?
Check out the Blog Post about this sensor for more Photos and Testing Details: www.hotrodhippie.com/post/new-creality-cr-touch-abl-vs-bl-touch-sensor-for-3d-printers
Link to my GitHub with the Firmware (Ender 3 with 4.2.7 Board ONLY): github.com/MandicReally/CR-Touch-Firmware
Also newer versions of the CR Touch exist that come with an SD Card and an "Anti-Rattle" piece on them now.
works great!!
Does this firmware have the Z offset wizard as well? or nah?
@@joshuamasterson2062 nope, it’s one of the things I criticized Creality for not including. I haven’t tested any newer releases (if there are any).
@@MandicReally Do you still have the software that you used containing the wizard? It would be really helpful to have for a beginner like me.
ender 3 pro have a 4.2.2 or 4.2.7?
you are honestly a lifesaver for giving us that software i have been searching for days lmao
11:17 The visualizations require a known 100% accurate control to be of actual value against each other. Otherwise you would have conflicting images w/ no real understanding of which is correct. However, the accuracy values, and those images you've shown basically say the 2 are within margin of error of each other.
The point of including the visualizations was that in the absence of a known good value, all we could do is compare the readings between the two to see if they were reading similarly. The visualizations show they are. As you noted, I did provide more data than JUST the visualizations though.
Yes they are arguably just margin of error from one another, that was largely my point here. I wasn't trying to tell folks "BL TOUCH IS NOT ACCURATE!" just show whether Creality's offering is comparable. Many people automatically assumed the CR Touch was a cheap knock-off off the BL Touch that would not be as good. I set out to see if that was accurate and found it was not.
This isn't meant to be a scientific study of the effectiveness of a Probe Type bed level sensor, just a comparison of two against each other. Arguably in this instance the BL Touch IS the "Control" as it is the most widely adopted Touch Type probe on the market.
Niiice, you showed the insides and it's just how I understood it from their page: it's got an optical sensor on it, instead of the magnetic one. Love seeing the insides of stuff. Also the M48 was exactly what I was looking for. That's far more accurate than I was expecting (frankly the BL Touch also did surprise me, I thought it wasn't gonna be as high either).
Great video, but I think the firmware story is everything. There's so much in the marlin firmware that makes life easier that Creality could ship if they could be bothered to put in the dev time. The marlin corners wizard, both in probe and non probe varieties is probably the most helpful thing I can think of that's missing, but it's been a while since I used Creality stock firmware.
0.04 accuracy is a full step of your z, you need a well sorted printer to benefit from less than that, and my experience of bl-touch and the better clones is they're mostly within one microstep and variance might be because the true reading is closer or further away from an exact step.
Great video. I bought an E3V2 really early on and attempted to put a BLTouch on it right away. Fighting with firmware and not wanting to compile my own, I abandoned it. I struggled with manual bed leveling for too long and some nozzle clogs. Then my E3V2 became a nice dust collector for nearly a year. Anyway, this video inspired me to put a little effort back into getting it up and running. Bought the CRTouch, reverted from a direct drive modification and went back to a stock setup with this ABL sensor. I'm now printing really high quality prints again with ease and loving it. Thanks for the great video!
Download the Jyers marlin firmware for the E3v2. It's like getting a whole new printer. Makes it seem like a an E3v11.
@@TheTurbinator Your right! Night and day difference. My Ender 3 V2 prints beautifully now. Jyers really did an outstanding job.
This video was filmed really nicely. The lighting, the camera work, the editing, everything looks super professional. Keep up the good work.
Sir! Very well done! Oh my goodness. No kidding my son and I are 3 weeks deep into our new 3D printing hobby. We have an Ender 3. I Ordered the CR touch and tried to install it yesterday. First step was to watch the two minute Creality install video. LMAO Sir I said to my son “it looks too easy to be true”. First hurdle was an absolute struggle to figure out which dad gum frimware to use. The instructions from a neonates perspective are awful. Figured out the firmware and ran into the wall that is the Z offset. Oh man! I didn’t get too frustrated because I accepted it was beyond me at that point so I walked away for the evening. In my trouble shooting research I actually saw a thread that mentioned the Marlin Z Offset Wizzard but crawling then walking came to mind. I might give that a shot as I patiently await your Z Offset solution. I appreciate your work and I’ll compensate your time through purchases through your sites etc.
Shaun
Did you ever figure out the Z-offset?
@ at some point I did sir. I don’t remember how. My son has graduated to a different 3D printer since.
I originally found you on TT. But i have to admit, this was a very professional and informative video. Honestly, i could see you doing this professionally for a living. Keep up the good work and I'll be waiting for new videos to appear.
Well the CR Touch has two things I like about it that I didn't like about the original: the flimsy probe is gone and it doesn't look god awful anymore. The flickering led inside the white chassis just really looked out of place on any of my 3D printers/
I didn't like the lights because I have a camera with octoprint and it just lights up the whole frame - very distracting.
This is a pretty high quality video, you should have more than 739 subscribers.
Thank you very much. I'm plugging away at making more content, hopefully the subscribers catch out.
Well he is close to doubling that number now!
First video coming from TikTok, great production value👍🏼 One of my new favorite printing channels out there.
That being said I told myself from the beginning to ‘learn the hard way’ and forget the bl-touch; wanting to master manually leveling the bed before buying one. I felt like I had, so I purchased the CR touch after watching this video and I’m glad I did. First layers are nearly perfect every time and it takes some of the worry out of starting a print and wondering if it’ll survive 😂 only issue I seem to have with mine is the rattle coming from the metal touch probe as it prints, but I’ll live with it for now
Thank you. I agree that is the best way to go. A Bed Level sensor is just a "nice to have" that supplements a good manual leveling. Supposedly they have updated the CR-Touch to deal with the rattle. My original one never really had that issue but I have one of the new ones too to see if it happens on the updated design. Just haven't had any time to mess with it yet.
I bought the CR touch because of this video! Works great after I worked through the nightmare that was the z offset. The directions were..... not good. You should do a video on calibrating it:-) I'm excited for the ender 3 v2 display to be natively supported by Marlin. Might get to use that magically Z Offset Wizard you speak of.
I started working on a Z Offset video today after quite a few folks asking.
@@MandicReally video released?
@@MandicReally video released?
Link to the video? Please. My S1 will be in Thursday. I'm starting from nothing. Lol. Can't find anyone local that does this yet.
@@MandicReally Any update on this release of the video?
I give up on using a feeler gauge or paper. Doing it for nearly four years, enough is enough. Time for ABL thank you for the most useful and above all helpful tutorial.
I'm glad to see more competition of bed leveling sensors that aren't just copies of the BL Touch. I went with BL touch to support them though. If I need a sensor on a new printer I'll certainly consider the CR Touch.
I've seen a LOT of 3DP videos. I don't think I've ever seen this subscriber count (1.2k @ time of writing) and this quality of content.
I also don't think I've subbed after watching 1 short video from a channel. SUBBED
Just purchased in 2023 kit is the same... same issues I am having issues seeing up firmware and offset! Thanks for this review
You should probably have shared the standard deviation for the m48, the average is good, but a repeatability once of 0 and once of 0.002 would average out to 0.001.
Loved your fabrication content, glad I stumbled on this channel!
Thanks for being here! Fabrication content will be ramping back up more in the near future too!
hey! i was your 1K! Dope, i enjoy using your nuke and keg barrel design!
Thank you for carrying us over the line! And glad you like the designs. 👌🏻👍🏻
I really like the placement of the port on top. The metal probe is interesting and I like the general look.
Old versions of bltouch used to come with metal probe. But they moved to plastic as the metal in the probe would expand and measure longer in heated situations
I have a 3dtouch, the oin looks like metal, but its not, well its plastic with a metal cover...i think thats its was yuo saw
Loved the video and your testing method, and have the BL and CR Touch and am thinking of installing the CR and giving it a try. There is one additional comment on the differences between the BL and CR which may be a deciding factor for someone using the CR Touch, i.e. it doesn't require a leveling screw. The biggest pain point I've had with the BL Touch is the probe randomly deciding to not drop, and using the adjustment screw is hit-and-miss. Also when cleaning or replacing the probe on the BL Touch the set screw needs to be recalibrated, so not having to worry about the set screw fine tuning is a bonus.
Firstly thank you for confirming that it's a straight swap with the BL. Something that amuses me is how many install videos feed the big end into the board and mention the difficulty, but when I installed the BL I ran the small end out the other way and it was easy
Please test the BLtouch while turning hotend and bed heating on and off. I've had that significantly influence 3D-touch results, I think because of the current spikes causing EM pulses throwing off the Hall sensor. The original BLtouch might be "tuned" to better avoid this, but gimme an optical sensor over a Hall sensor any day ...
Is there more data on this topic?
I bought a cheap knock off BL touch and kept having issues with it dropping the probe when the nozzle went to do the prime at the edge. So I bought a genuine BL touch and it did the same thing. When I updated Cura the problem went away. Neither ABL sensors have any issues now. I don't know about accuracy, but the $24 cheaper works just fine.
So glad i discovered your Chanel
Thank you for this excellent breakdown. I just replaced my original Ender 3 V1.1.4 board with a V4.2.7 and am working on setting up a CR Touch for the first time. As of Sept. 2022, it appears that the "2020-04-25" BLTouch Merlin firmware is still the most current copy. My only big complaint about Creality is exactly as you described. Their instructions and repositories are a complete mess. Every new Creality accessory I buy sends me to a different URL that is usually a dead link or entirely foreign (Chinese) page.
I am very thankful for channels like this one that understand how to communicate information targeted toward the consumer/hobbyist instead of engineers/professionals.
Even though I'll be done with this project today, I'd still like to request a video on tuning Z-Offsets in this scenario as you mentioned. It would be extremely helpful to people like me who don't tend to mess around in the controls/firmware very often because of how much niche and conflicting information is out there. I think people will be making these upgrades on the Ender 3 series for many years to come and your presentation style for this would be incredibly helpful and appreciated! Thanks again for your effort and sharing your wisdom with the rest of us!
I’m running tiny machines firmware with my cr10s with the bl touch. If I went with the cr touch would I need to flash with the creality firmware or is it plug and play once one or the other is already in place?
Can you put the firmware they sent you back in the description? The current firmware on their website doesn't work for me. I can't go below 0 on Z offset.
So I have a CR-10 v2 and had a horrible time with leveling. I purchased a BL touch and thought the instructions were horrid and never attached it. Ultimately this killed my desire to print. This was probably 2 years ago. I got the bug again but instead bought a CR-6 se with auto bed leveling and this has been a night and day difference. After seeing this, I will probably purchase a CR Touch and try to resurrect my CR 10 v2. Thank you!
Nice video bro. Fast, Short and direct. Keep the same way to teach. Thanks.
Great vid! My very small gripe with the BL touch is how much noise the metal rod makes when moving around. I also couldn't properly update my firmware for two weeks. Small suggestion for the video: at 9:00 there is a lot going on and I think burring out the background further would help tell the pictures and text apart. Great content and camera work!
Thanks for the constructive input. After I was all done this edit I kind of felt that same way but was too beat to go back. Now that I see someone else feels that way I will bear it in mind. 👌🏻
This is how a review should be done!
I recently purchased and installed and they did update the kit. I still had an issue with the firmware that i downloaded from the site. After loading sd card my screen was blank. I ended up trying the firmware that came on the sd card they sent and after trying a couple the ender 3 pro version load and flashed properly. I ran some mobility tests and was found i had a loose wire on one of the stepper motors. In the process of troubleshooting that i tried the other firmwares i download and they loaded and flashed properly after that. I’m not sure what i did wrong but it’ll seems to be working now. So far I’m really liking the CR Touch. I wish i had found this video before i attempted the install though!
I am pretty grumpy about this purchase, from the CREALITY website, the ENDER 3-v2 with the 4.2.2 board and the CR-TOUCH sensor, and put it together, had fun doing that, and printed out the PDF instructions and for the HOW-TO slicer software and put all that into a 3 ring binder and one step at a time, finally get to turn the power on..... 90 hours later (no joke) going down a rabbit hole of common problems that folks have as I trouble shoot the many problems my unit has from the factory, shorted out cables, which torched the drivers of the motherboard, the powersupply has a fluttering output of 19vDC to 36vDC with a 2 ms dropout approx every 20 ms when I hook this piece of junk up to the oscilloscope, the Z-axis is intermittent due to poorly constructed cable. I can go on and on about how depressing this whole thing has been. yet, I am at a stand still as I am now expected to wait on an email from CREALITY, which I did get, but it was first needing to confirm that I did buy a machine from them, "proof of purchase" which is fine, but now I wait... I was reading a few REDDIT post, and folks there were saying, it may take months before they reply back, just hoping you will go away... That breaks my heart. as I was super excited for this and didn't mind spending the additional $80 to $100 USD buying it through the CREALITY website, in hopes that would mean I am getting an untampered with new unit, vs. some of the issues I have had with AMAZON resellers and affiliates, which sent out NEW but ended up being used, LOL... Nah, my experiece with this has been exceptionally irritating.
After all the hard work replacing anything that made noise on my Ender 3 v2 my BL Touch died and I replaced it with one of these. Now I have the metal probe contantly rattling and driving me nuts. Argh!
That rattle is absolutely insane! It's louder than my fan and steppers. If I'd known it was this bad I'd have bought the BL Touch instead
My BL needed to be replaced on my Ender 5+ (with Creality Silent board) so I ordered the CR. After mounting the CR I ran into issues with the bed continually lowering. I tried getting assistance from Creality and Ender groups but no resolution. I ended up ordering another BL and returning the CR. The only thing I could figure is that the CR wasn't compatible with silent board, even with firmware updates.
I like the metal probe. I've had many of those plastic probes warp and even get gummy over time, especially when enclosed and working with high temp materials.
Hello beginner here, I would really love the probe offset wizard video you were talking about. This thing is driving me crazy.
I've found firmware and configurations like this to be... problematic details to cover in my style unfortunately. I simply do not have to the time to be a go-to support system for folks and my emails fill up with questions after I cover those topics so I've had to steer away from them unfortunately.
Michael over at Teaching Tech has done a good video on the topic of Z-Offset and Z-Probe Wizard, the problem is that the Z-Wizard requires a firmware that has it enabled. So to cover it, I really have to cover firmware compiling, and it snowballs fast. Here is Michael's video: th-cam.com/video/fN_ndWvXGBQ/w-d-xo.html
Pre production? I got mine a couple of weeks before this video from Amazon for a few bucks cheaper than the bl touch ($34). I fed the lead through the loom from the pcb side, it’s easy. I downloaded and installed the Jyers firmware and totally recommend it.
Good review!
What did you put it on ender3?
I bought an ender 3 s1 from microcenter as my first printer because there was a deal and was only $200, it comes stock with a CRtouch and i love it, i manually tram then run abl, with PVA glue i get a nice flat first layer every time
Thanks for this video. I also would like Creality to update their firmware more often. Why is it so hard to find a version of their firmware that has both the filament runout sensor and the auto-bed leveling? Sigh.
Do you have one?
Go for Jyers, so much better than stock.
@@MysteryDuels I have both parts of hardware. Still looking for firmware that has both active in it. Not confident in compiling my own.
im still struggling to find a firmware that isnt 180 out. most annoying
I was also hesitant to compile my own version of Jyers but it turned out to be really simple. Just edit two files with the desired options and press a button to compile. Super easy. Check out Brians video for step by step: th-cam.com/video/so0FfFVEmiw/w-d-xo.html
In my opinion and experience I prefer the inductive probes, are more precise, what do you think?
Yes, assuming your bed is not warped.
Thanks for all the detail. The part about “z axis offset” really helped me. I didn’t know what this meant. I installed my CR Touch and got usable firmware that works with my touchscreen on my Ender 3 but I had almost no success with it, I suspect because I didn’t do the z axis offset. I’ll retry my CR Touch with this info.
Best video totally sold me on it I am putting it on a Promega creality core-z I'm working on
To be honest, I do not want to approach any sort of auto bed leveling anymore. When I bought my first 3D printer Ender 3V2 I didn't have any experience at all, and bed leveling was super hard for me. Especially with the stock firmware. So after a few weeks I bought an original BLT. And it was even worse than manual. I usually used to stay with my printer for the first to layers to check if it is okay, and the nozzle will not crush into the bed. I thought that my pain was ended with the BLT. First time I plug it, adjust the z offset and all of that, start a test print. To my horror, the level failed, but I didn't know that yet, it just started flashing red. The result was that the probe git the bed, and bended. Lucky I could bend it back, but still try after try, the BLT would crush in the probing phase. Somehow, magically it stopped failing, but the results were not great. It was not able to probe correctly and it was always off my few mm here and there. In the result I found Jyers firmware and it is THE best thing you can do, for you Ender 3. The version with 3x3 manual mesh is a miracle. I calibrate it ones or twice a year and I don't have to think about anything y anymore. I just start the print and go away and I know that the print will come out perfect. The best feeling in the world. Install Jyers firmware.
I had nothing but trouble from my BL Touch. I am an engineer. I watched every video out there. It just kept sticking. I should have sent it back, but I am stubborn. I watched this video. Bought the CR Touch. It has worked flawlessly for weeks now. I probably got a bad BL Touch so I am not saying don't buy one. But I value my time and the CR Touch has been perfect.
Getting the CR touch today. I’ll let you know. I’m also adding it to my Creality Direct Drive on my Ender 3 v2 .
Was a little ironic that you said how confusing their website was to find the firmware, added that you had a link to the one file that worked for you...but ended up just linking to their confusing website anyway. Other than that, it was a pretty neat video.
I've had an ender 3 pro over 3 weeks now, I just learned today that the z-offset on a cr-touch printer means the distance between the probe and the nozzle, i thought it was a setting for overpressing the bed and it was about signaling the probe where the bed was and not the other way around
thanks, i got a couple old a8 plus's i'm about to retrofit and think this would be a good addition to the design
Creality has a newer updated firmware on there site now for the cr touch. It seems to be a more up to date version of Marlin with way more features. I tried cfw but it didn't let me adjust the z offset at all. The only issue I have with creality's firmware is that I can't adjust the z offset with baby stepping.
If you plug into the printer, you can send a specific z-offset, if you need something in between. I have never needed more resolution myself. The gcode is M851.
So if you need a z-probe offset of -2.521 you send 'M851 Z-2.521'
That 72 nanometer difference in repeatability variance, has absolute zero impact on actual printing - it's orders of magnitude beyond the accuracy of the stepper motors. It could easily be accounted for by EMI, thermal expansion etc - or just compression of the probe tip.
Personally I'd be more interested in absolute numbers with a precision control. Maybe support the bed so it cannot bow from weight, then first probe straight on the bed. Next, probe against a size calibration block placed in the same spot?
It's nice to have tight _repeatability_ - but it doesn't do you much good if it turns out the absolute distance reading is poorly calibrated, generally inaccurate, or doesn't scale linearly with real distance. Like lets assume the printer's movement system was highly accurate. And the _repeatability_ of a probe reading is 60-80 nanometers, with an absolute distance reading of 0.2mm, when the real world distance is 0.12mm (so the absolute reading is off, enough that a 1st layer squish with a small nozzle could end in a crash). And then the next spot is reading 0.51mm, while the real distance is 0.3mm (turns out its absolute distance readings doesn't scale linearly with real distance either). A bit in the extreme, but hopefully it illustrates my thinking..
Where is the info on setting the Z axis? Thanks. Great video
Thank you, one question solved in this video.
I have another question - Can I attach v2 motherboard inside the older CR 10S pro?
I would happily swap the stylish box for some decent instructions. Has anyone successfully installed a CR Touch on a Cr 10v2?
Is a breeze to fit it to a SKR board too, same 5 wires as BL-Touch.
man i really like the tunnel u have in yo ears :D interesting position ngl als great vid, i have my ender 3 pro for 3 yrs now and barely used it after a while, currently im getting back into and getting some upgrades. even tho i probably wont get autoleveling since my printer is still almost full stock, i have alot of other stuff to upgrade :D
Please ask Creality to make the 5015 blower available to purchase, as it's the best blower fan I've every seen on any of these printers. WE NEED THIS BLOWER available to the customer base who have placed their trust into Creality and purchased one of their printers. Thanks.
Been nervous to add ABL to my e3... Maybe I'll give this one a go.
I can't give any long term reliability testing yet obviously but like I said, I'm leaving it on the Ender 3. May pick another one up for another project.
@@MandicReally most definitely gonna stay tuned. Found you on tictok, love your stuff!
How does the auto-leveling work if you can only level the board by hand anyway?
The machine used the Z axis to actively move the print head up and down to compensate for the bed level readings. So just like it actively moved X/Y while printing it will move Z slightly.
However Auto Bed Leveling is not a replacement for manual leveling. It’s only a nice addition to it. Starting with a bed that is well manually leveled will allow the auto level to work much better.
I added this to my cr10s pro v2 which i read wouldnt work at all. But i plugged it in and it works fine without any firmware updates. Its literally plug and play. Just need to flip the bracket round that the bl touch used and adjust the spacing
My BL Touch just bent its pin for the second time and is now failing. Thanks for your video I'm getting the CR-Touch now.
So it works with the Merlin wizard or do I have to use the creality one? And if so then good but how do I upload the Merlin program onto the printer itself because that is something I need to know as I haven’t done this at all. Also can I just change the code to enable the settings in merlin by just clicking it and so on? I’m not great with code
I am running a Creality CR-X printer and it has a BL-Touch currently installed on it the main board is the creality v2.1.1 and due to mishap I had I am replacing that board with a Creality v2.2 board since the BL-Touch was operating fine, do you think the CR -Touch will work it can be mounted in the same location which is on the right side of the hotend and I still will have to get the correct firmware and because of what you mentioned I am a little leary I really like the aspect of the metal probe instead of the plastic one. In subsequent Bed levelings I get a difference that I feel falls out side of the range so am looking for a better way or product
Hey, very nice in depth review, you helped me decide to get a CR Touch instead of a BL Touch! Just one question, my CR Touch has a rattle, vibration noise, when my printer moves the print assembly in the X axis. I tracked it down to the actual probe metal tip, if I just touch it stops rattling against the plastic body. Have you had any level of rattling noise on your tests?
I opted for the CR Touch mostly because of the probe sturdiness and I liked the look. I found it difficult to install the cable and had to take it off my 3d printer in order to plug the cable in. Also, on the cable I received the blue and red wires were swapped though luckily they were swapped on both ends so it did not affect the operation. It works well though the mesh is not centered on the build plate. Probably because after I installed the Micro Swiss Direct drive, the nozzle homes off the build plate now.
been a couple years, still isnt clear: do i remove the Z axis stopper or not? some say yes, some manuals say no. troubleshooting this install is tricky.
i have the ender 3 v2 and i tried to get the CR touch to work for over 10 hours to no avail. i have the 4.2.2 board and thought i had the right firmware but i still havnt gotten it to work.
Is the firmware and manual situation better now in Dec 2023?
do you have a pin out based on the color of the cable for the CR Touch. i would like to use the CR touch with a different board.
Where is the download you used as it's not listed in the description. Please and thank you kindly
Hey there, would this work plug and play on my Longer LK5 Pro?
Thank you for the video
Thanks for the vid, i was installing it and I need to see how it operates, as I was seeing it as place higher than my hotend, meaning it would have smacked into the bed catastrophically... But of course it lowers it print to sense much like bl touch, do it's a none issue... I use the jyers firmware, and I had a bltouch installed there before, until I froze it and broke with done clue, because I sprayed way to liberally
You said both your machines are 4.2.2 but the firmware they sent you was 4.2.7 only …. A bit confusing. Do you have the compiled marlin software available at all?
Salut de France ! Thank you very much for your very accurate video for the installation of the CR Touch on a 3V1 Ender in 4.2.7. The provision of the firmware in 1.1.2 helped me well because the official on the website of Creality is a horror. Thanks again a lot, my old and faithful Ender 3 wonderfully walking!
gettin one soon because of this review
I just put the direct drive upgrade on my Ender 3. I'm assuming the CR Touch fits just the same?
Hey, great video. Could you tell me how you can get that warped-bed map at 10:58? Ive been looking for a way to see what my bed distortion is. Is this a software on the PC?
You have to use a combination of some type of "Console" printer control (Such as via Pronterface or OctoPrint) and web programs that produce the map. I think there is an OctoPrint plugin as well that can do it within the OctoPrint platform.
This is the one I used in this video: lokspace.eu/3d-printer-auto-bed-leveling-mesh-visualizer/
@@MandicReally Thank you for the reply. I'm checking it out as we speak.
Great video and useful information, just a heads up - I just got in a BL Touch yesterday from Amazon, it came with nothing! ZIP nadda - no diagrams, instructions and worse it did not come with the mounting bracket, so now I have to take time from my day to build a bracket myself. Very disappointed and wish I'd gone with the CR Touch after watching your video.
Good shit. I was about to go crazy and break shit. You saved me a lot emotions. I got to print a lot of things.
I've ran an Ender 3v2 and now a CR10v3 with the BL and CR touches and I haven't ever seen the benefits of either. Am I wrong in thinking it should act as a compensation for a warped bed? For example, I've got a Snapmaker Original and there's no way to level the bed itself, but you go through and adjust the four corners. Granted, the bed is a 4" square, but you adjust the corners and the machine compensates for any high or low spots on the bed... Am I wrong in thinking the BL and CR's should do the same, essentially? Or am I doing something wrong? Cause it's super frustrating when you've got a warped bed and no way to print anything outside of the middle few inches of a 12" build plate.
Can you please do a video on using this sensor on other cnc machines?
I came to this video specifically to figure out which one I wanted to get for my Ender 3 V2. I'm very new to 3d printing and I'm having issues with my first layers and not sticking. I've upgraded my bed springs and e extruder. My first print even, the cat, will not stay. I figured the auto bed leveler would help or at least not hurt. So I'm going with the CL Touch. Thank you
I don't recommend modifying a machine until you have reached the limits of what the stock setup can do. Spending time to learn and improve what you have will take you a longgg way.
If you aren't getting a good first layer there are a lot of things you can do.
1) Check Bed Level (I know its so basic, but so many screw it up, its the basics because its important).
2) Pre-heat your bed well ahead of your print. (Especially with a glass bed, the heat takes a long time to actually reach the print surface. Pre-soaking the bed with heat will help adhesion.)
3) Print your first layer hotter. (5-10C on bed & filament, but it really depends on the specific filament. You have to tune for your filament.)
4) MagiGoo Adhesion promoter is a great product to help get a sticky solid layer.
5) Print your first Layer SLOW. I usually do 20mm/s on almost everything I print.
6) Print a thicker first layer (Slightly taller and higher extrusion width. I usually do .2mm first layer and .5mm extrusion width.)
7) LASTLY a bed Level sensor.
You can see this video I did on TikTok about this topic: www.tiktok.com/@hotrodhippie/video/7048716946724031790?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
@@MandicReally Thank you SO much for your reply, and very quickly too. I can't tell you how much it means to me. I took your advice and did another crazy in depth manual leveling again. I had to do a bunch of tweaking but I did finally get a fully finished print. It still doesn't look all that great, but at least it completed and stuck down. This is still just the first print that comes on the SD card with the Ender 3 V2. No matter how tight I get the leveling, I had to set the z offset to -3.0 to get it to fully stick, also had to have the bed at 80c and the nozzle at 205c (this is with the sample pla included). I had several failed prints before so when I finally got it going, I ran out of filament and paused the print and changed to a small reel. When I did this I got terrible lines and what looks to be like it sized larger. I have started watching your tiktoks like you directed. I hope to learn and figure this out, for it's been a passion of mine to start for a while now. I did notice that a lot of your printers have auto leveling devices installed. I know that it doesn't not replace manual leveling but I figured something to help get the distance right to start a print. Alright, I've talked too much.
i can piece it all together later of course, but no one has a cr10v1 install for the cr touch. im sure the bl touch surgical videos are the same process.
Still somewhat confusing for this noob. I will be getting this , along with the 4.2.7 board and V2 Display to update my Ender 3 PRO in a big way. I get the install and even the firmware upgrade to enable the touch sensor. What I don't see a lot of info on is how to set up the height of the probe relative to the nozzle and what other changes are needed to get this to work. YOu touched on one I had not heard but it makes sense - I wont need the Z switch any longer as the CR Touch will take care of this. Thank you for a great video.
I ordered the CL touch and it doesn’t seem to help me with leveling.
It runs but it doesn’t actually move the Z up or down based on the bed. Not sure. About to give up and sell my printer
I am so getting one. Getting tired already of having to keep making those fine adjustments all the time. I just want to print.
I have and ender 3 I Installed the cr touch and all is good. But for some reason one corner of my built plate no prints will stick to it. I have looked all over for someo e to show me where I should set the manual bed level adjustment knobs so I can get a fair reading. Everything I've seen people have there z offset set to -1.0 to almost -2.0. But mine is like -0.2. Why is that.
My BL Touch just stopped working... this review came at a good time. Insted of ordering a new probe, i'll just upgrade the gizmo. Hoping this one has a longer life than just a few months.
I hope it works well for you. The one thing I can't factor into reviews like this is Long Term testing. Just not enough time for that to be realistic while still getting a review out in a timely manner. The ONLY issue I've had so far was it didn't work on my Elegoo Neptune 2 at all. However that system is... funky even with the BL Touch (I'll discuss it in a dedicated video soon). So who knows what was up there.
Do you have any videos on setting up the CR Touch? When I home it, the probe is off the bed plate when I "home"
When you home it, if it touches twice and raise up after, then you need decrease Offset.
The ender 3 pro I picked up last month also had a 'sorta silent' 4.2.2 board. I think most on the shelf still have this board.
Found your video most helpful.
I have just bought myself a CR Touch for my Ender 3. When I went to download the firmware I was completely lost and ended up reaching out to Creality for help. The file they sent me is for Marlin 1.1.2 2020-04-25. My mainboard is 4.2.2. Although it does operate the CR I am having a lot of problems with setting up the Z offset. It certainly does not contain the auto wizard you mention. So I was wondering if you could recommend a different file to download?
One of the issues I have is after doing the bed leveling, the screen shows an error saying "Err To Far away" or something along those lines. So Im guessing that it is setting the z height to high as anything I try to print, the first layer doesnot stick to the board. I was hoping to figure out how to get the wizard you mentioned see if it helps with more accuracy.
Thanks for the video.
Does this only work with Creality-provided firmware and boards, or can we use it with BL-Touch enabled Marlin firmware on an SKR Mini E3 v2?
Despite them being entirely different sensors the Firmware views them the same way. So yes you can use it with a BTT Board and just configure Marlin as if it was a BL Touch. That is how I compiled my own firmware for the 4.2.2 board. I haven't installed it on my machine with the SKR Mini E3 in it, but the Firmware should not care at all and the port wiring is the same.
@@MandicReally that means that you can simply replace the bl-touch with the cr touch? too lazy to open up my printer now. and i do want to replace my bl touch as the stick got warped due to a non sticking print...
@@PtR-ec1wz you should be able to, yes. I’ve done it a couple times. On my Elegoo Neptune 2 it didn’t work, for no reason I can discern. But everywhere else I’ve tried it’s been fine. (Creality and BTT boards.
thanks for the video but you mention the z probe offset and do not say how to set it whitout the wizard
I’m late to this party but oh well🤷♂️
I just purchased a ender3 roughly 3 weeks ago, I am probably on my fourth or fifth print as of right now. And I am working on a design of my own for something that my wife needs.
The biggest pain in the ass for me right now is getting the correct Height for printing.
I believe I am going to pick up the CR touch, to assist me in that end. My biggest reservation is I don’t exactly know how to do all the firmware updates to make everything function. Installing it Mechanically is not a problem.
I guess there is “nothing to it but to do it” and see how it goes. If anyone has any suggestions. I am definitely all ears