Bed Leveling Tool - Mount Adapter for Many Creality Printers (not all) by BustedChain

Last crawled date: 3 years, 4 months ago

UPDATE:
1> I fixed the smaller of the 2 pieces. The mount posts needed to be further out to allow clearance for the screw heads and washers.
WHAT IS THIS?
These are 2 adapters that will connect a 3D Printed Bed Leveling Visual Indicator Tool to an Ender 5 Plus (and probably many other Crealirty) 3D Printers that have the same kind of metal cooling fan cover. The bracket that goes around the metal fan cover is specific to the Ender 5 Plus (also used on CR-10, CR-10S, and many of the other Enders) but does not fit all variations (V2, V3, CR-10S Pro models does not fit.) A list of the printers I think this might fit and know that it won't fit without more work is near the bottom of this.
The other part is designed to be universal so that someone could mount it on their fan cover directly if they OR they could design a mount for their printer and use this. The flat mount has 2 holes that are sized for M3 screws and are 26mm apart on center. I have provided more files than you need. There are a couple versions of the bracket that mounts to the Creality Fan Cover depending on how you want to print them. I have provided a 3mf project so you can see how I printed mine. You certainly don't need all these files that I've provided but maybe they help some people or maybe you give me feedback on the settings I'm using and we all learn.
The Bed Leveling Tool by urkansan is a fantastic little tool for visually observing the level of your bed. The post-it note feeler gauge test is great to get your bed level when you have no other way, but once you've gotten your bed level, wouldn't it be nice to be able to SEE that it is still level or see that one of the corners is out of level? That's where urkansan's tool comes in:https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3007018
ONE TIP: The less "slop" or less play there is on the pins holding the bed leveling tool together, the more accurate that tool is. The looser the pins are, the more slop you'll have. You want the indicator arrows and the bottom most moving feeler foot to be able to move freely with no drag, but the arrows themselves should not wobble in the mount if you can find something that will fit them snugly. I used a heavy gauge paperclip, but it would be nice to find something even tighter than that.
MATERIALS NEEDED / WHAT TO PRINT:
Most of the parts from the link above, but you might want to try my Main that has been modified with Cura to fill the nut hole and puts a 5mm hole for heat set nut insert.. OPTIONAL: The "CFFFP_Bed Leveling Tool Base with HeatSet Nut Insert Hole Fix.3mf" from this project. I used Cura and a cube shape to fill in the nut recess on the Tool Base and then I used a 5mm cylinder shape to make a cut out in the center for a heat set nut insert. If you prefer to use the captured nut from the original design, that is fine too. NOTE: You will want to shrink some parts by 0.1 or 0.2mm and expand other parts by 0.1 or 0.2mm I printed everything at their normal size and had a lot of filing to do to get a smooth fit that wouldn't bind up. My thoughts would be to make the Base 0.1mm bigger, leave the Main Slider size alone, reduce the Rod and Fixed Sliders by 0.1mm. (You might want to reduce the Rod Slider in only the X direction and not the Y direction because of how it attaches to the mount. As of writing this, these resize suggestions are untested. I just know that my fairly well calibrated printer made all these parts without resizing too tight and I had to hand fit most of them. I will be printing a second set of Bed Leveling Tool Parts, so wish me luck. It shouldn't take much to make things fit better.
3 each M3 Screws (2 each 8mm long for the mount, 1 each 10 or 12mm long for the bed leveling tool itself.)
3 each M3 Heat Set Nut Inserts (5mm outer diameter, 4mm mounting depth, M3 Threaded) (2 for the mount, 1 for the bed leveling tool that I provided in the 3mf file)
M3 Washers - Optional but recommended.
Small Rubber Band (Loom Band) - There are a couple of "ear" tabs on the left side of the bracket that goes around the fan to "hug" it. You can hook a rubber band on there to improve the grip if needed. (Get a heavier duty rubber band if you can. You want just enough tension to cause the pin to move freely, not more than that.)
A flat metal file and/or a needle file - Depending on any printing artifacts you encounter, you may need to file the opening. I tried to leave some room for relief in the inside corners of the opening, but I still had a tiny bit of hand-fitting to do in the corners where some build-up still occurred. I used a needle file to clean out the holes a little bit.
For one of the printers that this mount might work with (see list below), you will want both the flat adapter and the creality mount adapter. The creality mount attaches to the metal fan cover. The flat adapter attaches to the creality mount once you've added the heat set nut inserts to the creality mount.
I have included my Cura Project File, but do NOT use it without changing it for your filament, your Flow Rate Compensation Factor, and any other settings. It might have my printer selected, so you would need to change it to your printer and your filament. I only include the project file to give you a head start IF you are willing to take responsibility for adjusting it first to your needs. I have included a couple of custom settings Mesh Modifiers (the little blocks in the air overlapping the part that changes settings for those layers) to try and make the support material easier to remove.
I have included a Creality Fan Mount Adapter that does not have Support Wedges attached to it. The one with SUPPORTED in the file name and the .3mf file have support wedges that you have to carefully cut off and file down for a proper fit. I don't like 90 degree unsupported overhangs with PETG, so that is why I have them there. If you are printing in PLA you might not need them. If you prefer Tree Support or some other kind of support for those small clips at the top, then you can do your own.
FIT THESE PRINTERS MAYBE (PENDING VERIFICATION):
Might fit: CR-10/10S/10Mini/10 S5/(not Pro), CR-20, Ender 3/3X/5/5 Pro/5 Plus/6, ALL pending measurement verification.
MEASUREMENT: The Ender 5 Plus fan cage is approximately 48.7mm wide x 46mm tall, but my printer is moving right now so I can't re-measure it to make sure.
Will NOT fit without work: CR-10 V2 or V3, CR-10S Pro, CR-10 Max, Ender 3 V2, CR-6 SE, CR-10 S4, CR-X. If you can figure out where to put 2 3mm (1/8") holes that are 26mm apart on center vertically, then you might be able to just mount the flat mount directly to the fan cover. It is very light weight.
I printed and am using my second to final draft of this part. I needed to lengthen both clips a little bit more. Since my second to last draft worked, I see no need to print the final one. So, if there are any problems with it, please let me know, but I may need confirmation that it isn't something specific to your printer. I use layer heights that are increments of 0.04mm because of the distance traveled in a full step of the stepper motor. This tends to make z a little more consistent and less noisy than values that aren't divisible by 0.04. This will vary based on your printer, but lots of them can use 0.04 as a starting point. Some can use increments of 0.02. I could have printed this with 0.4mm layer height on my 0.6mm nozzle.