Ender 5 Max Hot end

Ender-5 Max Printer
1

Hello!

I just bought my Ender 5 Max. After adjusting the belt tension and updating the firmware, I finally got some decent prints.
I’m printing with PETG, and two days ago, the hot end got completely clogged. The PETG had glazed over inside.
I unclogged the hot end as best I could, but it clogged up again during the first test print.
I ordered a new hot end from the Creality spare parts website, but in the meantime, I’ll lose a week for delivery :-/
Is there a way to use a different hot end (by which I mean the cylindrical part where the nozzle screws)? Like a K1 hot end, for example?

2

I’ve had four of these hot ends (and one extruder) fail for one reason or another in just the last month. When a third party comes up with an aftermarket for this printer, yer damn right I’ll be switching to it.

Three began leaking where the heating element connects to the heat break, just oozing out of that connection. One could be salvaged, two were completely entombed in goop and the wiring damaged. The silicone condom traps the leaks and starts shoving it back up and around the hot. Huge mess.

One also jammed for no apparent reason; just went to swap colors after a job and it won’t feed. Can’t get a needle down through the block. Haven’t had time to try to disassemble that one and see if it can be cleaned out.

Amazon sells them now, which will save you the month waiting for them to arrive from Chyna. I was down my entire first month waiting for parts from Chyna too. (Amazon also has a fantastic return policy… just Saiyan. :fire:)

3

As I know you can replace original hotend with k2 hotend and also use k2 nozzels. I will try this in few weeks.

4

I’d be interested in knowing how this turns out.

5

Decided not to change for now. But you can check how it works on 4pda forum (ender 5 max topic).

6

MicroSwiss told me they’re working on aftermarket parts for the Max, but no timeline yet. Still in dev and testing. But hopefully we’ll just have a proper not-ass replacement for this printer within the year.

The hot end is terrible, and the extruder is strangely fragile in ways I don’t understand. One knotted spool and the extruder just needs replaced. And I don’t know why.

So you get a knot and it just sits and grinds until it finally breaks the filament. The drive wheel has every little tooth filled up with PLA, now it won’t grip anything. Ok, happens. I’ve pulled one apart multiple times, picked the plastic ground into every tooth out by hand, cleaned everything, a little new lube on the drive gear, and it still never works right again. Nothing looked worn on the drive wheels, but random extrusion problems guaranteed from then on.

New hot end first in case something there got gummed up from sitting hot and empty for so long, nope. It needed a new extruder.

I still love this printer enough to own two of them, but damn if they’re not princesses when something goes wrong.

7

Emmmm…I don’t have any troubles with extruder, it works fine.:thinking: All I need is (love tu-tu-ru-tu-tu khm…sorry) a hardened steal nozzels and enclosure.

8

Ender 5 Max - K2 Plus hotend conversion.pdf (2.4 MB)

Here are the instructions I wrote to do the K2 conversion.