Ender 3 V2 Dual Z Axis Upgrade (And Results)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มิ.ย. 2024
- Check out the dual Z-axis upgrade for the Ender 3 V2 with before and after printing results. This is a very easy beginner upgrade that can easily be finished in an afternoon.
Just a forewarning, you will not really be able to move your printing gantry up and down manually by hand anymore after this upgrade.
Link to the kit I purchased:
amzn.to/3zw8NAY
Official Creality upgrade kit:
amzn.to/3KBf9FI
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0:00 Intro
0:20 Reason for Upgrading
1:15 Unboxing
2:38 Install
7:05 Wiring
9:06 Testing
9:36 Conclusion - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I am getting ready to do this upgrade and was hoping someone had created a good how to video. This one is EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thanks!
You are welcome! Glad I could help!
Me too Richard!
Never comment on videos but man the lack of Creality instructions stressed me in my kit and your video made it pretty much seamless. My kit was slightly different but nevertheless got it all working. Thanks for the great video, much appreciated.
My kit was different, but pretty close in general, and you provided actual instructions, unlike Creality.
I won't know until my new X stop switch comes in how well it worked, but it's at least all put together, thanks entirely to your video. Subbed for that alone 👍
I picked up a very well used Ender 3 the other day, and thought this might be a good upgrade to do as I repair the worn out parts. Thank you for the video.
Thanks for making this video, I got this upgrade kit for Christmas, found your video since the print on the instructions were to small for me to see. this helped out alot.
You're welcome! glad it helped!
Great video with every step covered. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
i'm doing the dual z upgrade on my ender 3 pro today while i'm waiting on my 10w laser kit to ship. thanks for the easy to follow vidya!
I just installed dual z to my ender 3 v2 thanks to u all went good!!!
It’s done perfectly in 15 minutes! Thanks alot
you're welcome! Glad I could help!
I guess I'll just order the kit and do it all from the start - my Neo is still in its box... Thank you for pushing me in the right direction 😊
I just picked up a V2, the only upgrade that has been done the hot end. I will be buying these parts and doing this next week thank you so very much!!
You’re welcome! Happy upgrading 😃
Better bed springs and a metal extruder imo are absolute musts even before you print for the first time. I say that because with me the stock plastic extruder was cracked and I had no idea. Every single print I attempted ended in utter failure pretty early on. I adjusted and re tightened and readjusted my adjusments so many times that I was ready to just give up on 3d printing and throw my printer out my 2nd story window. I was so frustrated beyond belief. Still not knowing my extruder was cracked, I bought springs and the metal extruder because that's what majority or almost everybody recommends as first upgrade. Well sure as sh!t I discovered the cracked extruder upon installing the metal one. Put the new springs on and every single print from then on has been pretty much flawless. I know I can't be the only one and it's sad because I know people have completely given up on 3d printing cause they didn't realize a small issue like that and didn't put two and two together. Anyways just thought id share lol
can I ask if you recommend i do this to my V2 too ?
Thanks mate. Ordering mine now. Good video!
Hope you enjoy it!
Just performed this upgrade and this video was an amazing help. Thank you.
Was the upgrade worth it? Has it cause any kinds of problems that were unexpected?
@@Impuritan1 Upgrade hasnt improved nor deteriated the print quality. It did help with the ABL probe, as I use klipper and do two probes per spot. After upgraded to a direct drive system. ABL would error out on the left side of the bed due to the readings not being the same. After the Z axis upgrade it eliminated shagging on the X gantry when going to the left side of the bed and ABL probing has been spot on with little deviation between the probing.
Upgraede was under £20 as well from aliexpress so not a huge cost.
Great video! Thanks, first time in a while where I didn't have to pause and extrapolate some missing step.
Glad it helped! I was trying to be thorough 😁
This walkthrough not only was crucial for upgrading my Ender 3V2 but also taught me a lot more about my printer AND highlighted another issue with it (a missing screw). Thanks a ton!
can I ask if you recommend i do this to my V2 too ?
@@fahadxxdblyes, the more and more I’ve been printing with my ender 3 v2 over the years the more I realize they gave you the bare minimum for the printer. I had to upgrade my extruder and buy a cr touch and my printer still has horrible consistency and will sometimes not print whatsoever.
@@punk8570 thankssssss, are you sure about the consistency? I’ve had 2 for 3 years and noticed that as soon as you have cr touch and *really* good maintenance schedule, I almost never have any issues at all with +98% success prints
But thanks I’m definitely gonna go for the dual axis now :D
(I printed a custom cooling cage for the hot end and it’s definitely worth it but by an extra 4020 fan first)
@@fahadxxdbl it definitely could be my printer specifically but I’ll print something and it’ll be perfect then I’ll try to print a couple more things and I’ll get objects that will have terrible bed adhesion. But ya having a dual z axis rod like this is honestly one of the better upgrades you could get.
@@punk8570 ohhhh, then the issue is from both the bed and the hot end, I had this issue with my second printer before getting a cr touch (cr touch won’t fix it but help maintain the fix), use glue and before the levelling strengthen the bed springs + check for issues in your hot end cuz it’s the most likely root cause that extend these issues
It took me 3 months to figure this out, not sure how common this issue is though since all online fixes were basic
I'm thinking about doing this upgrade to my E3V2. I just purchased the E3V3 and find that the printer solves almost all of the problems I had with the V2. The biggest is the dual z-axis rods.
Now if I could find some way to do the auto z-height adjustment on my V2, I'd be all set!!
Just hot my dual kit in today. Going to install over the weekend. I was hoping for a good tutorial, and I found it. New to 3d printing, considering a resin printer too.
Thanks for this. I've got a kit for Ender 3 v2 I've been meaning to install so I appreciate your nice walkthrough.
You’re welcome!
can I ask if you recommend i do this to my V2 too ?
Appreciate the video. Doing this upgrade tomorrow ;-)
Have fun!
Just ordered my kit. Will be doing this shortly
Good luck and enjoy!
Great video. Thanks for the walkthrough. Where did you find the extruder head motor decorations? Really like it and would love to add it to mine
Significant improvement in the end result. Way less wobble!
Probably one of my easiest upgrades so far!
Excellent walkthrough! I just followed you and installed my extra Z axis without issue. One thing to note, not all of these Creality kits are made equal. For example, my new cable had no female end like yours. I had to remove the original cable entirely and attach my new (longer than yours) cable to the motherboard and then to each of the steppers independently.
Thanks for sharing, that's what I've been hearing.. a lot of variability in the wire harnessing and connectors. Hope you got yours installed without having to order new parts!
do you need a different board? or is it just buy the kit and can already upgrade it off the stock Ender 3 v2?
No different board required. The new harness plugs into the original jack on the board and does a Y split to the 2 motors
I found the same thing. This video explains how to fix the issue. th-cam.com/video/hXOCofkMAwc/w-d-xo.html He is not as easy to understand as this video, and I had to cut the wire tie to get the old cable out, but other than that, seemed to work well, I'm doing a test block right now. All the other steps I took right from here. Very helpful! Thanks!
@@DesktopInventionsdoes it need more power coming from one switch but powering 2 motors...
Oh man i absolute love that cooling fan setup on your hot end is that something you made or can you share the link to please? I would love to add that to my e3v2
Nice video straight to the point. I guess it's time to buy a kit.
You're welcome!
@@DesktopInventions All installed working perfectly!
Waiting on my package to come in the mail, my kit is also belt driven. Also doing a fan upgrade for my ender 3 micro swiss NG 4020/5015/MB Fan.
You should also make sure that in the end, the x-gantry is parallel to the bed. It can become tilted at an angle.
How do i fix that
@@aidenkahn4338 I liked this video tutorial : "X Gantry Rework Section 2.1.2 featuring the Ender 3"
@@LordLazaruss ty
Love the energie in the intro 😂
Thanks Danny Devito! That's high praise coming from you 🤣 I will try to keep up this energy in the future!
Good video no nonsense
before you bought this kit, did you tune your eccentric nuts on the right and left to try and get that skinny tower better? Man that tower looked like a good reason to upgrade.
Just ordered mine upgrade today. So lets see hoe it goes in couple of days
I reversed the pin head bolts to face the front my ender came with the nuts facing forward however on the website the round heads are all facing forward so if it matters to you i think it would look much better with the nuts facing the rear however great video!
Good tip! Just have to make sure there’s no interference on my printer
I probably will do this some day, just for the heck of it, but I'm good for now with all the upgrades I have at the moment.
Yea, upgrades can be a bit painful as you’re always needing to retune and adjust things. Sometimes it’s nice to have a printer that just prints and is tuned well. I am definitely going against the “if it ain’t broke don’t try and fix it” theory here 😆
@@DesktopInventions You sure are, and I am glad you are! It's great to be able to check out some of these mods here before diving in myself.
Köszönjük!
Hi, nice video !
Do you think a dual Z with a simple timing belt isn't a better option than dual motors?
That's a good question, I have heard of other people doing this with success. I'm not sure if it's better or not than 2 servo motors. Seems like it would have more mechanical backlash/lag, but on the other hand, you don't have to worry about 2 motors fighting each other.
Actually mine is coming here tomorrow. Today I!ve installed CR touch today successfully. Can't way :-)
Congrats! Upgrading your 3D printing is fun and can be addicting!
Oh yours came with instructions. I with the Creality kit came like yours. My splitter went to the main board.
Yea seems there’s a ton of different kits out there with slight variations!
doing the same upgrade, however, I am changing to an octopus bord(overkill) for g34 so I can level the x-axis , also i am installing backlash nuts and flexible couplers
I’m working on an octopi upgrade in the future too! Good luck on your upgrades 😄
Keep in mind that the V2 Display is not compatable with the octopus board
Great tutorial! I may do the same upgrade on my V2. I see the video is 5 months old. Do you still feel like you get better print quality? Any issues or unexpected things after 5 months? Thanks
No issues here, just make sure your gantry is set the same height on both sides and don’t manually move your Z axis in the future or you can possible get the motors out of sync and have to re level
One time I move the motors manually and struggled for a few prints as the nozzle kept wanting to dig into the print. Turns out the right side of the gantry was lower. Other than that one time no other issues 😃
Yes I'm thinking about it, but I'm curious your kit didn't require a connection to the main board?
You really shouldn't tighten everything right away. Those issues at the top of the post upgrade print are probably because you didn't take time to adjust with everything a bit loose to account for machining errors and warping, leading to binding or similar. Otherwise this is an excellent video, but to anyone who follows along - make sure you adjust both lead screws correctly before tightening everything.
i plan to do this upgrade myself in the future
Enjoy! It’s a pretty easy upgrade just pay attention to the wiring. Heard of some people getting the wrong plugs or wires mixed up.
@@DesktopInventions will do! Thank you for the heads up and a nice video. Keep it up!
The top brackets gave me really bad binding. Took them off and it's smooth as butter now.
Yea if you have warped Z axis rods, you'll want to skip the top brackets. Without the top brackets, the top of the rod is able to swivel freely if it's warped. But if you put the brackets on the top, it fixes the top of the rod and causes the middle of the rod to swivel where your gantry is and can cause binding. I got lucky with some fairly straight rods on my kit.
I had issues with binding right off the bat but I loosened the bottom bolts on the couplers and it corrected the issue. I just had them too tight apparently.
@@uskeeze2131 err, you should test for binding with them loose, to let them settle in a natural position. Then you should tighten them up pretty well. That will help or eliminate binding, and avoid z skipping. If you loosened them up so much that it fixed itself, it's probably too loose still.
I will do this!
I did this upgrade in my ttb, my kit have belt to sincronize the 2 screws. I had o buy a divisor to connect both motors in board and need to invert z axis in firmware too.
Interesting, 2 motors and belts? So the belt just keeps them from getting out of sync?
@@DesktopInventions yes
Dude where can I find the stl for your printer head set up? That’s really cool.
check it out here! www.thingiverse.com/thing:5397797
What’s the newest version of the Printhead you are using? And also so have the exact setup as you with 3 noctuas on the printhead. One set up with a buck converter and the two part cooling ones in series right? Or is it parallel im not quite sure. I don’t quite know if they are blowing as much air as they could be:/
I’m using the print head from www.thingiverse.com/thing:5397797. Yea the 2 part cooling fans are in series. At one point I had them in parallel with a buck converter hooked up before them so I could turn them up to 14-15V but didn’t really seem necessary so I took out that buck converter.
Whats about the voltage/current for now two steppers? I might be good to adjust it on board after the upgrade, or not?
Mine was stock at 1.20V and I later adjusted it to 1.37V for some troubleshooting on a different issue. I didn't notice any difference. My understanding is since the current is split between the 2 stepper motors you don't have to increase the voltage from the stock setting.
would it be a good idea to check the 5mm gap a the bottom of the original rod ??
Really curious about that hotend shroud. Is it on Thingiverse?
yes! Here's a link: www.thingiverse.com/thing:5397797
great video but the dual z-axis upgrade has been a nightmare for me. I got the one from creality and it has been massive problem after massive problem. I spent hours on it and after finishing it I noticed an odd 'quiet' noise from what I assume is the motor. Then my prints would produce weird rings at certain heights and worst of all I noticed the frame along the x-axis (so the bar connect the two vertical bars) was not perfectly straight... never doing this mod again lol
Sorry to hear about your poor experience with this upgrade. I’m starting to plan a follow up video to try and address some of the finer challenges/issues with this upgrade.
How do you know if the z rods in sync with each other. This could mean they make the x axis not level what do we recommend for this. I only ask this because everythings been loosened off
@DesktopInventions , Hey what's up. Could you please share this handsome cable management stl
Where did you get your drag cable chains from? I have been wanting to add those to my 3v2 but I can't find the right ones.
Maybe, ERM, if only you knew somebody with a 3d printer.
What brand or who made the duel z axis kit you used? I just got one from Creality and installed right up to the hooking up the 2nd motor. This kits wiring is different that the one you show. It's a Y cable but all 3 ends are the same plug.
Mine was made by Siboor. That's a pain when they send the wrong cable! Sorry to hear.
I guess you might found out already but, the Creality Dual Z kit replaces the original one stepper cable with a new one. So you have to remove the original from the board and use the supplied one.
@@PC1I yeah it wasn't the simple "T" inline connectors. I had to open up and replace the whole harness. It's just to bad the new harness is long enough to wrap once around my house and still plug into the machine. Luckily I have the resources to cut the harness and put new plug ends on it.
Hi, I just assembled my V2, and I observed that reaching the full 250mm height should be impossible without the Bowden tube + cable crushing into the top rail. Did you have this issue? If so does your direct drive setup improve upon this?
Hi sorry for the late reply I forgot to test this. For the supercharged V8 printing setup I have I can go about to 235mm height and after that the cables will start to rub on the top frame. With some different cable management I could definitely go to 250mm, nothing hard is physically interfering.
@@DesktopInventions Thanks!
I decided to go for belt z instead of dual z, but turns out I have to buy a new top rail extrusion and cut and drill it to size, due to the Ender 3 V2 NEO having stupidly changed the extrusions and removed one of the V-slots.
That’s a lot of work unfortunately! I’m interested to hear how the belt works out!
@@DesktopInventions worked great, fixed all my z axis related issues
Hi, after all this time do you still recommend or there are some problems?
Regards
I still recommend this upgrade. It has made the Z axis a little more consistent in my printer
Is it good practice to use non permanent thread lock for this?
I think you certainly could. The aluminum coupler flexes so much though it puts constant tension on the screws. I actually had a tough time backing the screw out without threadlocker.
at 9:23
why it gets worse on the high point and its okay on lower point?
can we fix it or its just the maximum the printer can produce? Just curious.
why it gets wobbly on higher points.
We can improve it, but it's just the physics of a tall skinny rod, pretty much a slight breeze or movement in the printer bed can make it wobble slightly.
I thought the dual z upgrade would involve some firmware changes and an additional stepper driver to drive the other motor. what if they get misaligned? how do you make sure they are both level?
Exactly the same way you would before this upgrade, by printing some gantry leveling blocks and using them to fix alignment from time to time. Usually only necessary if you man handle the gantry, or leave the machine unpowered for long periods.
The nice thing about this upgrade is that when you have some time and money, you can get a dual z board and install a version of Marlin with G34 auto leveling. Completely eliminating gantry misalignment. This of course requires a touch sensor, but I assume you'd have that long before doing this upgrade.
As to how this works, both motors use the same drivers, and run at half power just fine. This is not a great choice for direct drive extruders as the two motors may not have enough power for that - perfectly fine for the bowden setup however, since two half power motors is still equal to one full power motor.
You have an ABL system, why don't you use M34 for DualZ leveling as it produces the best results
My Y splitter cable doesn't have an end to plug in the existing wire
So did it improve your prints?
First of all, thanks for the video. Ender 3v2 4.2.2 Motherboard. I am using dual Z axis motor. What should be the vref setting of the Z axis driver? I am using BMG extruder with Direct Drive. What should be the vref setting of the extruder driver?
Öncelikle video için teşekkürler. Ender 3v2 4.2.2 Anakart. Çift Z eksen motoru kullanıyorum. Z eksen sürücüsünün vref ayarı kaç olmalı? Direct Drive ile BMG ekstruder kullanıyorum. Ekstruder sürücüsünün vref ayarı kaç olmalı?
My Ender 3V2 was set at 1.1V for Vref. I didn't adjust this value and I haven't noticed any problems.
upgrade to the 4.27 mother board
I did this upgrade but my z gos up instead of down when I home or when I manually move z it gos down when I’m trying to ease it how do I fix this ??
Why did you use the kit you did instead of the one from Creality?
No reason really I just didn’t find the official creality one in my area.
I am having issues levelling my bed now after installing the dual z axis. I use a cr touch, do you have any pointers or a video, thanks.
I use the Jyers firmware to setup a 5x5 or more grid for probing the bed. This works pretty well for me. Here’s a short on installing Jyers th-cam.com/users/shortsGjY0mlFpynE?feature=share
@@DesktopInventions Thank you, i will try this today. My Z offset is non responsive, will this software help with this too.
How do you ensure that the gantry doesn’t move by itself due to gravity when unpowered? Mine seems to continuously sag slightly on the new z axis side
I had a similar issue to this. The frame will actually force one side to sag if everything is not square. I remember I did a lot of measurements and found that the steel plate attaching the horizontal gantry extrusion piece and the wheels riding on the left vertical were not square. I had to loosen the screws attaching the plate to the horizontal extrusion, square everything up, then retighten. You might find the same issue or you might find another connection is not square. Hope this helps!
@@DesktopInventions Thanks a ton, I'll be giving that a try! I'll let you know if it worked
the wooden table is not something i woould use to accurately check flatness on an object. in order to accurately check flatness, the surface your measuring it against needs to be exactly flat as well =]
True, but you still get a pretty good idea when you roll something across a surface since the rod will undulate if it’s not straight.
I cant decide weather should get the cr touch or the dual z axis for my v2
Touch is going to be able to account for gantry tilt somewhat, and makes life way easier in general. It's also not a very complex upgrade. Start with that, and print some blocks to use for aligning the gantry (which shouldn't be very common).
You can do this in the future, if you want to, but I would go for a belt solution if you're not planning to get a better main board at some point. It's more moving parts, but you don't need to worry about z skipping or the machine being powered off causing misalignment. Dual Z stepper motors makes way more sense with a Dual Z board + G34 auto leveling. Otherwise you're still going to do manual leveling, just far less regularly.
i did this and my printer is having issues cant print now or probe or home its just keeps going up
Where did you get the fan cover stl from?
All of the printing head parts are in this Thingiverse link: www.thingiverse.com/thing:5397797
I was told you have to flash the mb in the printer for this to work!? Is this true? Just got my first printer for Christmas, was thinking about adding this on during build.
Also worth noting, one I got is a Neo.
No I did not need to flash the motherboard. My kit was pretty much plug and play no software needed.
@@DesktopInventions Thank you very much for the reply. If I may ask one more question. Is it worth adding on? I have yet to put together, just assumed it would make projects more “stable”.
I think so, I’ve had some issues in prints with the right side of the gantry sagging before. I just recommend spending time to make sure all of your frame is square when installing. Don’t 100% trust even the bolts installed by creality
@@DesktopInventions I will be putting it together tomorrow. First time, so I’ll see how it goes. It’s all a bit intimidating tbh.
WIll do this
Hey dude, Bro, weighing down that hot end with a bunch of stuff is not going to help matters either LMAO You got that poor machine all wrapped up LOL. Well I guess you are doing you. It does look cool I just have reservations on your color choices. Thx for posting it was helpful
Is this the official Creality one?
No I got a 3rd party kit.
Only one of my motor is turning. I tried them one at a time and each one works by themselves.
I got this for the v2 neo, but it doesn't really fit. Someone, please help :^(
can anyone please tell me.. will this kit work for the Anycubic Kobra? is it bad practive to split the power like that going to 2 motors? can it cause prolems down the road?
I’m not sure about the Anycubic Kobra, but splitting the power will not be bad for the stepper motors as long as they’re wired in parallel
No VREF adjustment?
No you shouldn’t have to. Each motor should be pulling roughly half the load with the same voltage since they’re in parallel. I haven’t had any problems running without adjustment.
@@DesktopInventions makes sense - thank you!
Since I upgraded my printer with a second z-axis, the movement of the z-axis is in the opposite direction. Can someone help me to fix this issue? Thanks!
You can swap 2 wires around on the connector that plugs into your main board. There are quite a few videos on it just search “inverting stepper motor Ender 3”
@@DesktopInventions thanks for your reply! Already switched the wires, but I had to mirror all four of them. Now the printer works fine!
How about the vref?
I did not have to make any adjustments to the Vref on my printer
noice
Mounting the stepper motor inward like that should be illegal
Mine came with half a page of no substance at all...
A side grade, these printers are fine out of box
yes they're very good out of the box, but that right side is cantilevered and can loosen or sag over time.
I hope no one expects to get that but driver in their kit. Perk of doing the video correct??
I just ordered the kit normally and was surprised as well to see the nut driver was included! I did not receive any special attention for this order.
Great video by the way!! I just ordered this kit but had to return it because they but all 3 of the ends on the splitter the same. 😡
Oh they didn’t give 1 female and 2 male ends? Sent all the same style? That’s a shame I’m sorry to hear about that! Did you get a nut driver with the kit?
Yup all male ends. And unfortunately no nut driver for me😔
Sorry to hear! Maybe it’s because I got the kit on taobao instead of Amazon I’m not sure 🤔
I have been contemplating a dual Z upgrade on my E3 Pro for a while, and my main concern with this option is missed steps (although rare) will actually create squareness issues.
Yes I’ve noticed improvements since installed this. Previously I would occasionally have the nozzle dragon on layers due to the right side sagging. I’ve not had this issue now
Try G34 Mechanical Gantry Calibration
@@floriankuhner6220 Pretty sure you need separate stepper drivers for that to work but perhaps not.
@@petercallison5765 you do, unless you want to do something janky like disconnecting one stepper at a time and a firmware modification.
Excuse me but WTF is that abomination on your extruder 😂 i think you need 2 more z axis upgrades m8
That is the supercharged V8 printing head.. yea it’s sort of a big deal 😂
After intstall, the bar is slightly off horizontal and I can't figure out how to adjust that to correct it. What am I missing?
Check to make sure everything is square. I had to loosen some bolts on the marek brackets that attached the roller wheels to my horizontal extrusion piece. Square it, then tighten again. Also the 2 motors are linked electrically even with the power off. So if you have to adjust 1 up or down manually, unplug it, adjust it, then plug it in again. Hope this helps!
I’ve heard of people installing a belt to keep the two rods synced.. any thoughts on this? Thanks