So now that I have been playing with my Ender-5 S1 for a while, I have discovered a few problems that I'm sure everyone else has solved before.... The basic retraction settings in Cura for the Ender-5 are for a Bowden (push style) extruder, not for the Direct-Drive (pull style) extruder on the S1.... There is a profile in the Creality Slicer with the correct settings for the 5-S1, but it is several versions behind Cura (4.8 vs. 5.3), so I had to make my own profiles to use Cura for the Ender-5 S1.... For retraction, instead of 4.5mm @ 45mm/sec, the setting should be 0.8mm @ 30 mm/sec.... I guess that is because with the Bowden type, the extruder has to pull back any slack in the filament inside the tube, whereas with the Direct Drive, the retraction is immediate.... Anyways, it made a huge difference.... The Ender-5 S1, with its Cube-Perimeter frame, is a lot more rigid than Creality models like the Ender-3's, so the default printing speed is much higher, at 120mm/sec.... I did some speed towers, and for extreme detail 60 mm/sec. is fractionally better if there are details in the wall (like a recessed number), but otherwise you would be hard pressed to tell the difference.... I am using the 120 mm/sec. for my default (which prints the walls at 60, the infill at 120), and I can use 180 mm/sec. when I'm in a hurry.... In fact, it still works well at 250 mm/sec, with just a hint of ringing.... certainly OK for quick and dirty stuff....The biggest problem I have had was bed adhesion.... Initially, with the original PC coated sprig steel bed, it was VERY difficult to remove parts.... For thicker, rigid parts you could remove and bend the bed and they would pop off, but it they were thin and flexible I had to scrape them off, and damaged the coating.... For those who don't know, you can't use Acetone on PC coating, it messed it up, causing it to crack.... So, I ordered a PEI bed, and had the opposite problem, I couldn't get anything to stick.... I increased the bed temperature, filament temperature, and eventually the initial layer, wall thickness, and flow, and it was OK for most smaller stuff, but larger objects still came loose at the edges when they got thick enough to start to shrink.... I got some Elmer's "purple" glue sticks, which dry clear, and that seems to have worked, but I have also started to ONLY do the first layer with the bed at 70*C (on PLA) and then let it cool to 50*C, and that seems to be working much better.... I think at over 60*C, the material next to the bed remains soft, and as the part tries to shrink it lets go.... Have any of you found this to be the case?.... In particular, what do you use for initial temperature on PEI beds, and do you let it cool a bit after the first layer?....Bob
I am having good success with the Elmer's Purple Glue Sticks on the PEI bed, using PLA.... I am using 70*C on the first layer, and then 50*C for the rest of the print.... To clean the bed, remove and wash in warm water with soap.... So far no more adhesion problems.... Bob