Creality Ender 5 Review

The Ender 5 packs the best of the Ender 3 Pro into a more spacious, box-like volume. In this Creality Ender 5  review, we look at the specs, features, print quality and more.

Here’s an overview of the Ender 5.

Creality Ender 5 Overview

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The Creality Ender 3 became a popular 3D printer thanks to its brilliant print quality and affordable price. The printer was followed with the Creality Ender 3 Pro and now, we have the Creality Ender 5.

The Ender 5 has a spacious metal frame, which means a larger build volume. Like other printers of a similar style, such as the Tronxy X5SA, the Ender 5 packs the Ender 3’s favorite features into a large format box unit.

But is that convincing enough? Let’s see.

Creality Ender 5 Specs

Creality Ender 5 Review

Design

Creality is emerging as a formidable player in consumer 3D printers. The company’s CR-10, set a new standard for large-format but affordable machines. The Ender 3 line also quickly emerged to be one of the world’s most popular 3D printers.

The Creality Ender 5 features the compact Ender 3 frame. The box-like printer has a build volume of 220 × 220 × 300 mm and measures 440 × 410 × 465 mm. The printer is quite large, and therefore needs to be set up on a large working table.

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While the Ender 5’s  X and Y dimensions are the same as the Ender 3, its Z dimensions are larger. Each axis has its own stepper motor. It is quite unusual for the Z motor to push the support structure from both sides. However, this makes the movement smoother. The vertical axis is fixed in the middle of the platform with an 8mm pin.

The Ender 5 is robust. The machine is powered by a 350W/24V power supply, just like the Ender 3 Pro. The unit produces enough power to allow heat the printbed up to 100 degrees. The wiring is in order: nothing is hanging or taut. Modified

Creality Ender 5 Unboxing and Assembly

When you order the Ender 5, this is what you will get in the box:

• Creality Ender 5 3D printer
• 4mm nozzle cleaner
• USB cable
• SD card and reader
• Wrench and screwdriver
• Tweezers
• Spatula
• Spare nozzle
• 200 grams of PLA filament

Watch the video below to see the Creality Ender 5 assembly.

The Ender 5 is easier to assemble than the Ender 3 or Ender 3 Pro. The axles are already assembled. Therefore, you only need to fix the Z to the base and connect the printer.

You can assemble the printer in half an hour.

The box contains a useful instructions manual.

One problem that you are bound to encounter is that the cables of the thermistors of the hot-end and the heating of the platform are almost the same. But we managed to decipher the Chinese letter for you (pictured below).

Creality could easily solve this problem by using different colors.

As with the Ender models, threading the filament through the feeder into the Bowden tube is not easy. Since the material is slightly curved, it resists being threaded through a very small hole. Our tip: Cut the filament at a sharp angle so you can cut it faster.

Print Quality

The Creality Ender 5 can handle a wide range of materials, including ABS, PLA, PETG, SBS, FLEX, TPE, TPU, NYLON, and others.

We printed a few models with some of the materials. Here is our review.

PLA

We started our test prints on the Ender 5 with Benchy, a hilarious 3D printer torture. We took a 200g spool of white PLA that came with the printer itself. For slicing the model, we used Cura with fine settings from Creality itself.

The ship turned out to be nothing, but definitely not a fountain. We didn’t seem to notice the threads, but on the walls there were streaks. The text on the bottom was readable, but the sign on the stern simply disappeared. Not only that, cracks were visible in the upper layer of the deck, and the roof from the inside resembled spaghetti, which hung down due to the concentric filling set in Cura as standard. And one more thing: the layers on the nose are poorly aligned. So there is room to grow.

PET-G

We print Benchy with PET-G filament. The Ender 5 had no major problems. There are usually small threads, but there are some visible geometric distortions and slight under-extrusion.

ASA

Printing with ABS or ASA without a casing is 99% unsuccessful, but the Ender 5 managed to finish both Benchy, which is a significant achievement for a machine under $350.

As you would expect, there were cracks and distortions.

Autodesk Kickstarter Test

Finally, the Autodesk Kickstarter test, which evaluates the accuracy of FDM printers. Ender 5 showed the following results:

• Dimensional accuracy: 5 out of 5 points (24.92 / 20.05 / 15.03 / 10.05 / 4.93)
• Fine flow control: 2.5 out of 5 points (the pylons were printed full height, but there were threads)
• Fine gap printing: 4 out of 5 points (0.2mm cylinder does not come out)
• Canopies:  2 out of 5 points (some problems at 30 and 15 degrees)
• Bridges: 5 out of 5 points (no bridges touch the surface below)
• XY Resonance: 2.5 out of 2.5 points (no ringing)
• Z Alignment: 2.5 out of 2.5 points (layers indistinguishable)

Overall, the Ender 5 scored 23.5 out of 30. This puts it even above the Prusa i3 Mk3S.

Pros and Cons

pros

• Easy to assemble
• Produces high-quality prints
• Print speed can be increased (80mm/s without leading to  quality issues)
• Prints are easy to remove thanks to the magnetic platform
• Can be customized, hacked and upgraded

Cons

• The magnetic platform is flimsy and not very durable
• Filament threading can be tricky
• The menu does not have many functions
• Manual desktop alignment

Verdict

The Ender 5 is the Ender 3 Pro we wanted. While it is not perfect, getting great prints from it is easy. Overall, the Ender 5 is an interesting and budget 3D printer that is easy to get started with, even for beginners.