Creality Ender 3 V2 - Fixing the Hidden Problem that Can Cause Stringing and Unresponsiveness

very wrong approach

i solved that problem with a lot of hot glue

I found a super simple solution to the tube loosening in the bowden tube adapter, use one of the amazing goop products like shoe goo to basically glue the bowden tube to the plastic ring of the adapter, it doesnt take a lot just a fillet between the adapter ring and the ptfe tube. A tip here is lick your fingers and you can shape the fillet without glue sticking to your fingers. This glue sticks solidly to the ptfe tube and the ring, the ring can still rotate in the fitting, and the glue peels off easily when you need to remove it. I have done this on ender 3 pros right out of the box and they lasted until I replaced the whole extruder setup over a year later, the glue peeled off the tube and fitting easily and left no residue.

Good video but I am now convinced Ender 3s are just pure trash.

It's videos and tubers just like this guy that are the reason you should not just watch one video but multiples. first off those fittings are compression type fittings they require the keeper to be held up while you push the tube in and the reverse action is taken to pull the tube. so you did not show anyone how to insert the tube properly and you did not put your spacers back in that keep the release in the up or locked position.there's a release by the way my guy, the reason that you can only move it one way across the tube once you took it off it's because you don't know what you're doing ! and you're teaching people how to not know what they're doing. all you had to do was push down on the keeper that's the thing with the little blue c shaped piece under it you take the blue c shaped piece out you push down that keeper you push down the tube then you pull it out of the fitting. Congratulations you took a simple operation and completely flubbed it up

Retraction doesn’t help

The problem I have with mine is it starts stringing and won't adhear to the bed

I'm new to this 3D printing world. I was having a serious issue of underextrusion, tried everything and nothing was solving it, until I found this video. Thanks dude!

Iv'e swapped fittings many times, along with the tube due to this problem. I found that the design itself is the issue. The bowden tube (even capricorn) just won't hold up forever and the fittings teeth will dig in to it and create slack. After a couple of years with this problem i converted my ender 3 v2 to direct drive...

it is dangerous for health heating PTF above 260°С, especially when you use fire.

Hi, what is the best method to remove a stuck pneumatic joint. I believe that the threads stripped after my 3rd print and now I can't remove stuck filament. Any suggestions? Thanks

Do you put graphite on your rollers? I saw they look similar to mine. I started using pencil cores to "lube" my wheels to potentially prolong their life.. Mine have the same grey sheen as yours does!

I first used the pencil lead to lube my Linear Rod as I remembered that locksmiths use dry lube such as graphite to lube the inside of locks instead of grease and oil which capture dirt over time.

Friend,I really appreciate your work. We are looking for reviewers, would you like to review Longer's 3D printer & laser engraver?

Can I say that I have found that your "less expensive" filament will throw you curve balls and jam every timer, regardless of fittings. What a pain in the butt!
Quality counts! And I know, that some folks will have no issues printing with crap filament, so, your mileage may vary.
Just my .02.

I'm reeaally done! I want to throw the printer out the window

Im going to teach you a trick. If you insert the PTFE tube into the heat choke you should be able to push it out the other side without a nozzle. Pull it back slightly just even with the opening of the nozzle insert, so when you tighten the nozzle it lays flush with the PTFE tube. Lock heat choke coupler in place and thread a 2 full turns. By further tightening the nozzle will push back on the coupler. Release coupler, while tightening nozzle snug. Engage coupler, hand tight nozzle.

After setup my new 3d printer it exploded and smoke come out 😭

how to remove the tube from the fitting without breaking the ftiing from the extruder side? i pulled themettal parts out i did push the ring down. and goofgled my *sss of but i did not finfd a solution. it seems mine is th only ne getting stuck. glad creality added a spare fitting i now know why.

I wonder how many people watch stuff like this and think this is a good idea.....

Thank You for this video!!!! It was really helpful

I'm not sure if your still working on better solution but if you go get a brass ferrel and compression fitting for regular plumbing works great. I think also microswiss has somthing simular now

When you put the hot side in, push it all the way down. Then tighten that last one. It pushes the tube down.

thanks a lot, really help me. Greetings from Chile

Thank you for making me see the truth, I'm sure very few realize that

The Bowden tube completely detached from my Ender 3 Pro extruder during a print once. I'll be upgrading the tube and fittings when I make the upgrades to print with TPU filament.

Your flaring idea is great! A similar technique is used in vhehicular brake line fittings. A previous commenter pointed out that such fittings are compression. I solved the play in the extruder fitting on my older Ender 3 Pro by ty-wrapping the bowden tube and wiring cable directly to the end of the fitting. The result is zero movement. Thanks for the vid!

RETRACTION will not working at all when you use PLA+.

I’ve never had any issues using the blue tubing, heating it deforms it.

Amazing.

Very good find my friend.

What about a wedge clip

Worked Perfectly 👌 thanks buddy 👍 😎

D'oh! Thanks man. Was browsing while a print was running next to me and thought I'd put a marker spot by my extruder for the hell of it. And sure enough it had play... Thanks a mil, or a sub at least.

Please note that Teflon at very high temperatures, releases a Florine Compound that is poisonous, so feat forming with a lighter is probably OK, but for short amounts of time.

Thanks for the video. That type of fitting was introduced by a Japanese Company called SMC back in the late 80's. I had never seen it used in this kind of mechanical application. I have seen this kind of movement on cheaper versions of this fitting (when the line is charged). Try SMC.

Holy crap I now understand I was misunderstanding what refraction was! Hopefully this'll help with stringing! Thanks so much!

I just got those same calipers yesterday! Weird!

Good tip. . . put your build plate in the freezer to remove stubborn parts. It works great, and by removing the build plate from the printer when you remove your parts you're not exerting any pressure on the bed, which can throw off the levelling! Also a good tip, If you're going to be printing any tight fitting precision parts, then I strongly recommend that you first square off the frame of your printer.

OK, so I purchased my second E3V2 3D printer a couple of weeks ago. My first printer was a major source of frustrations at times, and especially up until 2 weeks ago. But, it gave me a heads up as to what to expect after printing on an E3V2 3D printer 24/7 for 7 months. I'd had extruder problems, under-extrusion problems, bed-levelling problems. You name it, I probably had the problem. The lever on the stock extruder of my older first printer also cracked, and I replaced it with an aluminum one. In my opinion, these types of extruders, both plastic and metal, are flawed in design. They are inadequate for feeding filament to the hot end, and especially at lower temperatures. So even PLA can become a problem to print. In any case, they do not seem to be 100% compatible with Creality's stock hot end.

As with anything else I do, I attempted to find that sweet spot where everything works smoothly and perfectly. To solve the under-extrusion problem, I'd tried slowing down print speed and making the hot end hotter, but neither of these things helped me to eliminate the clicking sounds coming from these types of extruders. In theory, slowing down the print speed should have given the filament enough time to melt. If so, the extruder would not have had to force the filament through to the hot end. But this was not the case, and the solution was far from obvious. It should also have kept the extruder gear from grinding down on the filament, because when the filament is melted properly the extruder does not consistently bite down on the same segment of filament. After I got fed up of experimenting with these things, and realizing that these weren't working, I switched to Creality's direct drive. This shortened the travel length between extruder and hot end, and reduced drag on the filament caused by friction in the long Bowden tube. I had to reduce retraction down to 1.5mm and my prints are printing perfectly. Enough about the printer feed system.

Next, these printers also lack X-axis gantry support on the right side of the printer. Auto bed-levelling devices only help with bed surface irregularities. These do not level the bed, so all that hype on the internet is actually misleading. It's not a bed-levelling device at all! It's an irregular bed surface compensation sensor which uses a mesh pattern to raise or lower the Z-axis depending on the depth of the bed from the sensor's tip, and indirectly, the hot end nozzle. The lack of X-axis gantry support causes the gantry to sag on the right side. I'd removed and disassembled the gantry in an attempt to raise it slightly, but that didn't do very much. You might not think this matters, but on their own that single brass nut and lead screw are not enough to support the extra weight on the right side of the gantry. I'd had major bed-levelling issues and I believe that this was because of the sagging gantry. So, I added a second lead screw to the right side of both of my printers at a cost just under $200 CAD. The screws must be synced together, otherwise it can lead to other problems. This is easy to do. I left the setscrew (grub screw to some of you) that fastens the lead screw to the coupler loose on both sides of the printer. I turned the couplers to move the gantry up as high as I needed it to, so that I could use gravity and physics to align the teeth on the screws. Then, I used the Move>Z axis, and dropped the gantry as low as needed to sync the screws together. When this was done, all I needed to do was fasten the lead screw to the coupler with the setscrew. I raised and lowered the gantry several times to make sure there weren't any problems. I didn't get it on the first try. I had to try a couple of times before everything worked smoothly, and without locking up the stepper motors. This not only added gantry right side support, but once adjusted, it also keeps the gantry perpendicular with the frame side extrusion. It also makes it easier to level the bed. In theory, if the gantry is perpendicular to the frame side extrusions I can level the bed so that it is parallel with the gantry. A good way to test this is to print a square part. The part should be perfectly square or as close to it as is possible, and not a skewed version of it.

And last, but not least, I replaced the recommended stronger yellowish-colored bed springs for more rigid silicone mounts. Neither the stock springs or suggested yellowish-colored springs make any bit of difference at maintaining the bed level once it's been adjusted. Vibrations can easily unscrew those knobs and throw off the levelling. The silicone mounts made a huge difference. For example, I've had my new printer setup as described above. It's been printing 24/7 for 2 weeks without having to be relevelled. My older printer has been setup this way for only a few days, but it too has not needed to be relevelled. I remember having to relevel the bed on my older printer every couple of days with the stock springs. The yellowish-colored springs kept the bed level a day or so longer. But neither of these kept my bed level and printing 24/7 for 2 weeks time! Oh, and I've started my 3rd week of printing. All I've had to tweak is the Z-offset by about 0.1mm, but my bed has remained consistently level for all this time.

Now that my older printer is set up this way, all the problems I'd had with it are completely gone. My second, newer printer hasn't had any problems yet, and I think I've solved the issues I'd had with these few simple recommendations.

Thank you!!! This totally solved my problem!

try a teflon mig wire(aluminum mig wire liner)

I'm not going to lie to you here, as a PC enthusiast I'm banging my head into the desk asking why this isn't a compression fitting. It would make the most sense to just have a collar you twist down and know it's secure.

I always replace the quick release fittings with compression ring fittings, No movement at all

This is the exact issue on my ender 5 pro, the fitting is wearing out and have changed to the spare one but it still does it since never thought to expand it like this or just the stock fittings have too much play in them. (Comes stock with Capricorn)

Will have to look into buying new fittings

I had the same issue on the Ender 3 Pro I had. I solved it by getting rid of this entire joke of a filament distribution system and going with an E3D Hemera!

Helpful video, good advice and I learned what to look for. I do cringe when you use pliers on your fittings, use a proper wrench, your fittings will love you for it.

what if you just sanded the end of the tubing, and used masking tape like that? Granted, you'd have to be careful not to get any dust in your machine from sanding, but if you can avoid that, I'd guess it would be an alternative solution. You could also lightly scrape the end with a knife if you don't have sanding paper, as long as you don't pierce through to the inside. Just some ideas to throw out there.

Ok why didn't workout ??.. I got an Ender3 v2, before this I never had any kind of 3D printer. and I did not have nor do have any issue .. I dont get it why so called expert are having so much issue with the 3D printers .. dont u guys have any basic ( maybe 5th standard ) engineering knowledge ??

How to fix it from curling

There are many assumptions in this article.
Firstly Bowden is pronounced Bow as in WOW.
The PTFE tube and fittings are specifically designed and made for compressed air or fluid use not as a guide tube.
The fittings are a bastardised Festo design for a quick connect air fitting with the sealing O ring removed, hence the slack in the line fit as the barbs are not hold in the correct position.
What is required is a Swagelock style asymmetrical ferrule and fitting.
This style fitting will grip the tubing and as long as not over tightened will be a vast improvement over stock.
Additionally the excess movement is calculatable if you measure the inside id of the tube and the od of the filler and for every 15 degrees of bend allow for the difference.
Outboard motor control cable design is basis for formula.
E.G. the id is 3mm the od is 2.5mm difference is 0.5mm bend radius is 45 degrees 45/15 = 3. 3 X 0.5mm is 1.5 of excess filler movement.
Measure bend at several hot end and z track heights and average the bend radius.
Interesting diagnosis but some assumptions are not so sound.