Ender 7, BLtouch setup question

Hi all,

I got my Creality Ender-7 a few months ago. I have been going through online tutorials (and got some help from friends and coworkers who had way more experience than I have) to try and get some good prints from the printer (with varying successes and failures).

I would like to ask if anyone else have experience with upgrading their Ender-7? In particular, would the BL Touch sensor be a worthwhile upgrade to help with print consistency and quality? (I found no matter how much I adjust the bed leveling, the print surface is just not “flat”. It is okay around the center of the print bed for small prints but the print bed would be too far away from the print head in opposite corners towards the edge of the print bed so it is not good for large prints. That’s why I am thinking of the BL Touch sensor).

Any comments, suggestions or recommendations are appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Gilbert

HELLO FROM TILLSONBURG ONTARIO, what type of print bed are you using? i use glass or mirror due to the fact A LOT of the beds come with either a low or high spot in the center of the bed. i find this happens when i use the stock bed sheet and not glass i cut myself. i wish you were closer or i would say stop by and i would cut you a bed for free as i have lots of glass and cut my own beds due to being dumb around glass and breaking them Constantly. lol

HI @glai

I cannot say as I have heard of a BLtouch on an Ender 7 yet.

Biggest problem I can see coming is finding firmware.
Belay that, After a quick search I found this

Please bear in mind this is UNTESTED by me. It’s a trusted link I often use from creality for their firmware sources. Most of it in the past is good. I cannot comment on the ender 7.

OK, that is taken care of following will be the mount and the wiring. Do you know the version of the board in it and I can see if I have the pins file for it?

Lastly is going to be the mount, It looks like the same dual head unit as is set up on the Ender 6 SE printers. Have no clue what it’s called offhand… I would imagine Thingiverse will have something.

I found this but not sure how it will actually work.

Hope this helps

Thanks @Whos3dprintingWhat ! Good question about the type of print bed. I am using the stock print bed, which is supposed to be glass with “silicon carbide” coating on top? I would say I like the print bed surface as the print generally sticks pretty well to it (when I am printing small around the center of the bed where the leveling distance is pretty good). And I like the fact that the print also comes off very easily when the bed cools (typically it just “pops” off when the temperature drops just below 40 degC). Only if it would be more “flat” :slight_smile:

Thank you @Jason ! Yes, it looks like there is indeed a version of the firmware for the Ender-7 to support the BL Touch:

And I also just got a reply back from Creality’s customer support with the STL for the mounting bracket (and the recommended screw - m3*6, as well as the recommended extension cable length - 2m). It might be the same one posted on Thingiverse. Their customer support also answered my question regarding the print setting for the mounting bracket. So it looks like I might have all the information I need to give that a try. :crossed_fingers:

@Jason : Actually, just realize there are different cables with different connectors (i.e., SM-XD, SM-DU, SM-XH-5P and JST-XD listed on 3D Printing Canada website alone). Any suggestions on which is the correct one for the Ender-7? From the video above (around 1:20 to 1:40 mark), it looks like the connector is the SM-XH-5P type. Does that look correct?

Thanks in advance!

Yes I would agree it does look like the 5P connector

In a pinch you can use the 2 Dupont-style ones as well, 3+ 2+

Thanks Jason! Yes, I might have to since it looks like the 2m 5P cable is currently out-of-stock… unless I risk it and try going with 1.5m instead (and hope it is just long enough :crossed_fingers: )

A quick update: unfortunately, the 1.5m cable is indeed too short :frowning:

I will have to looking at exchanging to the 2m cable and retry (maybe with the 2-Dupont connector as you suggested since the 5P 2m cable is out-of-stock at the moment :slightly_frowning_face: )

Sorry I never jumped in on that one earlier, I Was tied up here doing a build, The 1.5M will generally do something like an Ender 3 or Ender 5 Pro,

Past that you are going to jump to the 2M

Sorry about the trouble, So many shipments between Vancouver and here it’s ridiculous.

Did anyone else hear about a strike or something out west affecting shipments? Everything I was told was weather related. Does anyone know what’s actually going on?

Following up on this topic, the good news is, I got it installed and was able to run the auto bed leveling a few times:

The bad news: I made a mistake of trusting it to work (after a couple of test prints) and tried to run a print overnight (and woke up to this):

So I guess I am now in need of/search for a replacement hotend for my Ender-7 (and my 3D printing days are on indefinite pause until then) :sob:

I did a quick search, it does not look like 3D Printing Canada carry the Ender-7 hotends. @Jason , would I be able to place the order through 3D Printing Canada? Or I am out of luck here and will have to look elsewhere to buy the replacement hotend?

Thanks in advance! :pray:

For a typical Ender 7, Looks like a Dragon high temp hot end or the like.

I will be honest, I don not think I have ever had an ender 7 hot end apart. Let me check and get back to you.