Creality CR-10 Troubleshooting: Common Problems and Solutions

The thing about the Creality Company is that it really doesn’t like to rest on its laurels for any extended length of time. As a matter of fact, its all-new CR-10 3D machine is state of the art yet rugged workhorse in the 3D printer world.

Here, the CR- 10 definitely lives up to the time-honored and great tradition of this awesome Chinese company.

The CR 10 is great because it expands the lineup of the venerable and tried tested previous 3D printers produced by the Creality Company. This 3D printing unit has a large volume. Apart from that, the CR 10 also adds various brand name components along with various value-added features.

All of this is easily available for under $1,000.

The thing is that the CR 10 3D printing unit has been around a long time, and cool and new components have routinely bolstered it. I.e., parts which are more than capable of really taking the CR 10 machine to the very next level. In this case, it is up to you to figure out if the size is all that matters or that this venerable workhorse has any weaknesses that require any amount of trouble shooting.

We will try to ensure that you make up your mind on the various troubleshooting tips regarding the Creality CR-10 3D printing unit. Since true perfection does not exist in our world, it is an axiomatic assumption that something or the other will go wrong sooner or later, and you will need to use various trouble shooting tips.

The purpose of this blog is to guide you through all of the more important insights, not to mention various experiences that you might want to understand regarding the dos and don’ts of the CR 10 3D printer.

As can be gauged by any number of reviews, this is arguably one of the single most popular 3D model printer models out there, not just for hobbyists alone but also for some serious users too. In keeping with the usual Creality company tradition, the age-old tried and tested CR 10 version is also like its predecessor models.

At least in the sense that it comes suitably well-equipped with its very own large build plate that is better than various other competing brands, not to mention various other Creality offerings. Apart from that, the CR 10 also has amazing print quality compared to most of the other 3D printer models currently available today.

However, all this does not mean that this 3D printer is absolutely foolproof. On the contrary, there are various issues that it has to face.

This is the part where a really good troubleshooting guide comes into the picture. Let us take a quick look at all the issues that can potentially go wrong with the CR 10 and precisely what you can do to eliminate the problems at the most possible time. That is long before they get a chance to occur.

Troubleshooting the Creality CR-10

All filaments based 3D printers have certain issues and problems that will have to address properly if they are to work properly, day in day out. Much the same applies to the Creality CR 10 as it does with other 3D printers.

One of the biggest 3D printing problems for a filament-based printer such as the Creality CR 10 s is the problem of ‘under extrusion.’ Let us check this problem in a bit more detail:

What Is Under Extrusion and What Does It Look Like in the CR 10?

There are fairly simple ways to figure out if your unit is under extruding. However, it won’t do you much good if you don’t know what the term actually means regarding the Creality CR 10.

Why is the CR 10 under Extruding the Filament?

Basically, your CR 10 machine is said to under extrude whenever an overly low amount of filament is being extruded while the CR 10 machine is engaged in the 3D printing process.

If left uncorrected, this can result in all kinds of problems such as missing layers, insufficiently small layers, large gaps, and sometimes tiny little holes or dots right in between even the top layers. In a nutshell, both overall print quality and print strength end up becoming heavily compromised whenever any sort of under extrusion occurs during the CR 10 printing process.

It can create even a fairly simple baby Yoda statue of Skeletor that look like a terrible mess. Under extruded 3D objects can look like sieves full of holes, if the problem is not rectified. Needless to say, such 3D objects builds are basically useless, and you will have to proceed to spend a lot of time and effort getting rid of the mess.

You will lose time and valuable filament as your CR 10 machine won’t be working properly. Even if the object has retained its shape, it might lose its structural integrity and end up with various small lines running all over it.

Apart from everything else, it wastes a lot of filament and increases overall wear and tear on your Creality CR 10 machine.

How Do You Fix Extrusion problems on your CR 10?

However, there is no need to worry, and it does not have to be this way at all. There are plenty of easy fixes and troubleshooting tips that can aid you in getting rid of all of your CR 10 under extrusion 3D printing related problems, once and for all. Let us check out a few such tips below:

Increase Temp even as You Decrease Print Speed on your CR 10 Machine

Various people who are very new to the world of 3D printing and who have bought the Creality CR 10 as their very first printer tend to overlook both printing heat and overall flow rate.

It is very simple, really. The higher the flow rate means the more the material coming out of your machine. Moreover, a higher temp is also more of a causative factor for increased filament flow.

However, it is important to be able to understand here that an overly high temp can also cause a lot of stringing and oozing related issues.

If you want to stop that, you will have to increase the melted filament’s overall flow rate by five percent or so; on your CR 10 machine. At the same time, it would also be a good idea to simultaneously increase the heat by approximately 3 °C.

If you get the desired results with regard to the extrusion flow on your CR 10, all good, just as it should be. Otherwise, you might like to simply keep increasing the temp by around one degree at a time. Here, you should make sure to keep your printing temp no hotter than 10 °C maximum. That is over the usual heat range of your Creality CR 10 machine.

Adjust and Clean the Nozzle of Your CR 10

Sometimes this problem is frequently caused by a partially clogged nozzle. Creality CR 10 nozzles tend to be more prone to clogging-related issues, just like many other units.

If you are not really sure if the filament is flowing freely through the stem of the nozzle, just extrude the filament in little bits and pieces and check and see if it comes out of the nozzle in a uniformly straight line or if it curled up a bit.

If the latter is the case, then that means that the filament is coming out of a partially blocked nozzle on your CR 10. This issue is mainly caused by foreign particles that are found in many low-quality filaments.

Since these particles and pollution cannot be melted away, they end up getting stuck in the tip. The solution is to opt for a better quality filament material.

Cleaning the Nozzle of the Creality CR 10 with the help of a Needle

In case the nozzle of your Creality CR 10 3D printer is clogged, you might like to consider pushing the filament material through the nozzle tip via a very fine pointed needle. Here, you will have to be very careful not to accidentally hurt yourself or damage your CR 10 machine.

You should also consider using a cleaning filament too in order to try and rid of the clog in the CR 10 nozzle. In fact, it is considered a very good idea to always keep a good supply of cleaning filament always at hand to ensure that these clogs don’t ever occur in the first place.

If your cleaning filament is not up to the task at hand, you might have to clear out the Creality CR 10 Bowden tube. Here, it will be a good idea to disassemble the whole extruder assembly altogether. Open it, clean it, and flush out all the residual plastic waste from each and every part with your heat gun and a thin metal pick.

Related: Z banding and wobbling

Filament won’t stick to the print bed of your CR 10

It is always very important that the first layer of any 3D print or build is always strongly connected to the CR 10 3D printer build platform. This way, the remaining portion of the 3D print may be built on the foundation layer of the build.

If the first layer does not stick properly to the build platform, it will definitely create problems for all subsequent layers.

As a general rule, most common filaments (such as PLA, for instance) do not require a heated bed under normal 3D printing circumstances.

But here, the key thing to remember is that sometimes over-adhesion can also mean that your 3D prints will automatically stick to the CR 10 bed. So much so that they may break or fall apart whenever you try to pry these prints loose.

On the other hand, if the prints don’t stick to the hotend properly enough, you will automatically end up with all kinds of under adhesion issues, and your 3D printed part would end up turning out to be useless for any kind of work.

Filament Not Sticking to the CR 10 Print Bed: Solutions

A 3D print that does not stick to the print bed of your CR 10 is not really the end of the world. On the contrary, it will enable you to learn more about troubleshooting your Creality CR 10.

It will also allow you to explore the 3D printing world in general by learning to fine-tune your CR 10 and your 3D printing work. You may try to manually level the hotend so that it is perfectly even with the Extruder. Apart from that, you can also carry out the following troubleshooting tips:

Print with a Pre-Heated Bed

In order to avoid filaments not sticking to the CR 10 bed properly, you will need to figure the ideal bed heat settings on your Creality CR 10 3D printer. Here it is important to understand that there is no specific setting as such.

In this case, you CR 10 printbed heat temperature settings will have to be gauged by the time-honored trial and error method. You will have to experiment up and down the pre-heated bed spectrum till you find the desired temperature settings for all of your prints and builds.

If the CR 10 3D printer is too cold or there is too much heat, the odds are that the print won’t adhere as such right to the top.  On the other hand, if it is a bit too hot, the material of the filaments will become very soft, and it will get peeled off the print bed while being stuck right to the extruder nozzle tip.

Here, you will have to take the nozzle of your CR 10 into account, as it plays a key role in regulating your unit’s printing temperature. If the nozzle is at the wrong temperature, it can harm the printed part.

You also need to check and see if you are using the proper bed for your unit. Sometimes the Creality CR 10 bed is not equal to the task, and you may have to get an aftermarket one to ensure that the filaments stick as well as they are supposed to on your CR 10.

Try to Print on Painters Tape

This is another great way to ensure that the filament sticks properly to your CR 10 bed. If you are using a stock CR 10 print bed then using a special build platform material on the printbed will help significantly with increasing the bed adhesion. It will also help ensure that the basic first layer will also stick to the bed as well.

If your CR 10 is giving a problem regarding adhesion to the printbed you may use painter’s tape on the bed. For example PLA filament works very well with painter’s tape and comes off very easily when pulled from a surface covered with this sort of tape. With its help your 3D prints will come off quite with no actually visible lines on the bottom edge.

The tape applies very easily and cleanly to the CR 10 printbed and plate surface. It is non-corrosive and you can just simply lift the whole thing off and also reapply the same as and when you want on your CR 103D printing bed.

You just have to make sure that the first layer is always sticking properly on the bed. You can try different types of this tape in order to create the perfect 3D build. However, you have to be extra careful and make sure that the nozzle is the perfect height to create the desired 3D prints.

You can also use this tape for not just PLA but also ABS filaments and take care of the problem. Once you are done, you can simply remove it from the printbed of your Creality CR 10 and it will give good, clean, sure shot results, every time.

Even when using ABS, you can rest assured that any other layer that will come after the first layer will not need that much adhesion to begin with.

Use a Glass Bed

Using an aftermarket glass bed for your CR 10 can also help troubleshoot any problems with the first layer of your printbed. Many people use different kinds of glass beds to create that critically important first thin layer.

Such a glass bedded thin layer is perfect for various small but important 3D printed parts. The components will stick right because of enhanced layer adhesion of the glass bed. In fact you can easily get good adhesion levels at both high and low temperature settings of your Creality CR 10 3D printer.

You can also use hairspray to troubleshoot any lack of or even over adhesion of the printbed of your CR 10 3D printer.

Use a Raft for Building Large Parts

Sometimes big parts and components don’t always like to stick well to the 3D printing unit’s surface. If that is the case you may also use your Cura 3D slicer to add a small raft under that particular part.

This is a great option for your printing problems and it can also be used to provide a much larger surface for hot bed adhesion. Apart from that, it is also possible for you to utilize your printing machine’s bed leveling feature to get that first layer to stick well to the plate.

Stringing or Oozing Problems

Stringing is also a known problem that requires a lot of troubleshooting. It is called oozing, hairy prints, or whiskers. This problem occurs whenever very small strings of filament plastic tend to be left over on the X axis of the CR 10s printer while you are using it. This is a more common problem with the CR 10s machines rather than old ones.

Many people have reported this problem while using this unit. This is typically due to the filament plastic slowly oozing out of the extruder of the unit as it moves back and forth and up and down.

Not only can stringing leave an ugly string protruding out of your R 10s printer, but it can also jam the printer if left unattended. Apart from that, it also gives an unseemly and tacky look to both the printer and the 3D object being built.

Luckily, there are plenty of common remedies to this problem. If used properly, you will be able to use them well enough to get the job done without too much effort, even while using the Z axis.

How Do You Stop Stringing In Creality CR 10s?

You can easily eliminate this set problem with a bit of troubleshooting, once and for all by following a few simple troubleshooting steps. However, it is very important to understand enough, the set nature of the problem before you can resolve the issue satisfactorily.

If you are able to figure it out, you could take steps to get rid of it.

The Bowden extruder of your new printer must not deposit filament strands while 3D printing even as it travels over the hot bed. However, in reality, it happens that bits and pieces of molten plastic start leaking onto those parts of the printer where they should not.

This will leave your prints with a distinctive “whiskery” look and it can easily spoil your 3D printing job.

There are several solutions to this issue including the following ones:

Enabling Retraction

When your CR 10s pulls the filament back during traveling, odds are that it will automatically reduce most of the pressure from the printer’s extruder.

This is precisely why most Cura 3D slicer software solutions have advanced retraction settings. These settings will also help you find any sort of “no stringing” zone for your Creality CR 10s machine’s x axis.

Retraction Distance

Retraction distance is the single most critical retraction setting available in your Creality printer. It is possible to access it via your slicer software on the X axis motor. This setting will determine how far the PLA or any other filament will travel over the print surface.

As a general rule, the further the machine’s extruder can retract, the less likely will it be possible for the extruder to start oozing. But, if you were to retract the setting a bit too far, the PLA filament will not be available at the hot end once you decide to resume printing and even if you like to try, it will still give issues out of the box.

The retraction distance typically varies as per the extruder that you use on your Creality. You could start using it and you will see that it can move on its axis. However, it is important to understand that a Bowden extruder will almost always want a much higher overall retraction distance.

This is all due to the considerably longer distance to move in-between the extruder and the printing machine’s drive gear and z axis motor. Once set it is difficult to move enough.

Power Supply

The power supply of your printer may want to be upgraded out of the box. You will have to see if you want to be using a big and beefy one to get the job done right, especially for longer projects.

Conclusion

As we can see that while this Creality offering is a top printer, but it does require a bit of trouble shooting both via hardware and via the Cura slicer software. Once you have done the needful, this printer will give you many hours of excellent service.