What should you expect of the Longer LK5 Pro in terms of features, specs and performance? How about the build volume and quality of print? Read our Longer LK5 Pro 3D printer review to find out.
The Longer LK5 Pro is an upgrade of the Longer LK5, and comes with a number of features that make it easy to use, even for beginners.
The printer is quite intuitive and produces reliable prints. This unit is cleverly designed, allowing large objects to be printed without interference from vibration or other factors.
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LONGER LK5 PRO 3D Printer Review
Technical Specs
General Specs
| Technology | Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Assembly | Partially assembled |
| Mechanical Arrangement | Cartesian X-Z head |
| Manufacturer | LONGER |
3D Printer Properties
| Build volume | 300 x 300 x 400 mm |
| Feeder system | Bowden |
| Printhead | Single nozzle |
| Nozzle size | 0.4 mm |
| Max. hotend temperature | 250 ℃ |
| Max. heated bed temperature | N/A |
| Printbed material | Textured glass |
| Frame | Aluminum |
| Bed leveling | Manual |
| Connectivity | MicroSD, USB Type-B |
| Print recovery | Yes |
| Filament sensor | Yes |
| Camera | No |
Materials
| Filament diameter | 1.75 mm |
| Third party filament | Yes |
| Filament materials | Consumer materials (PLA, ABS, PETG) |
Software
| Recommended slicer | Cura |
| Operating system | Windows, Mac OSX, Linux |
| File types | STL, OBJ, AMF |
Dimensions & Weight
| Frame dimension | 580 x 540 x 663 mm |
| Weight | 13.5kg |
What’s in the Box?
The Longer LK5 Pro is shipped with everything you need for assembly and to get started with your first print.
Also included in the shipment is a small test filament. Of course, if you want to print something substantial, I’ll recommend you order some extra filament from your favorite store.
Here’s what’s in the box:
- X-axis with printhead
- Mounting for the Z-axis
- Screw rod for the Z-axis
- Stepper motor for the Z-axis
- Z-axis limit switch
- Textured glass bed
- Filament sample
- Power cable
- Spatula
- Touchscreen
- Filament holder
- Cable tie
- Allen key
- Wrench
- All screws needed
- Card reader
- Micro SD card
- Instruction manual
The MicroSD card has printer setup tutorial, instruction manual, Longer 3D Sclier and multiple G-code files for printing
Easy Setup
The Longer LK5 Pro comes mostly pre-assembled. The only thing you need to do is to screw the individual parts together. This took us a few minutes. Moreover, there is a comprehensive installation manual that clearly explains what you need to do.
The printers cables are also number to prevent any confusion during setup.
Assembling the LK5 Pro 3D Printer
The Longer LK5 Pro comes partially pre-assembled. Therefore, it will only take you a few minutes to fully assemble the unit.
Inside the package is an instruction manual that has easy-to-understand pictures. You can also follow the setup instructions by watching the setup tutorial available on the MicroSD card.
Here are the steps to follow to set up the Longer LK Pro 3D printer:
1. Mount the X-axis on the frame
Inside the box is a pre-assembled X-axis with a printhead. You do not need to assemble the filament sensor, extruder or hothead. Since the printhead is already mounted on the X-axis, the only thing you will need to do is to put on the frame with its guide wheels. Pay attention to the correct orientation when mounting printhead on the frame.
2. Mount the Z-axis on the frame
After mounting the printhead, mount the Z-axis on the frame. This is done by mounting the stepper motor at the bottom of the frame, and turning the screw rod from the top through the X-axis. Finally, connect the screw head to the stepper motor at the bottom.
3. Install the frame to the base
Use the 4 screws included in the package to screw the frame (both the X-axis and the Z-axis) to the base of the 3D printer. Take your time here to find the right position for the individual frames.
4. Stabilize the frame
The Longer LK5 Pro has quite a large volume area. Therefore, for stability, the printer has diagonal struts. You’ll need to adjust the struts to end up with a perfect 90° angle between the frames and the base. Use the nuts and the screws of the rods to fix the settings.
5. Mount the Filament Holder
Use two screws to mount the filament holder at the printer base. The holder protrudes to the rear at a 45° angle.
6. Mount the Touchscreen
Use two screws to fix the touchscreen at the base.
7. Connect the Cables
All the cables of the Longer LK5 Pro are market with letters. Consult the table in the instruction manual to know where each cable should be plugged. The connectors are designed in a way to prevent them from being plugged in the wrong way.
8. Install the Glass Plate
You can easily place the glass plate on the print bed base and fix it with the paperclips included in the package. When placing the glass plate, confirm that the paper clip on the front left s not on the very outside. Otherwise, the nozzle could collide with it when starting a print.
Leveling the Print Bed
The LK5 Pro print bed has to be leveled manually. On the printer’s menu, there is a submenu for leveling the printbed. However, this menu is only for additional support. On the menu, you can move the printbed to 5 points. From there, you will have to level the bed manually.
You can level the print bed using the paper method. This is how it works:
- Take a piece of paper with a thickness of approximately 0.1mm
- Place the paper on the printbed and lower the nozzle down towards the paper
- Make sure the nozzle is so close to the printbed and touches the paper such that the paper can be removed with some resistance
You can use the rotary screws at each of the four corners of the print bed to adjust the height of the glass plate.
Watch the video tutorial below for a visual guide on manually leveling the print bed.
Generally, you will need to adjust the nozzle several times to ensure the print bed is properly leveled. If you have never leveled a print bed manually before, you may need about 5 trials for you to get it right.
Wobbling Print Bed
Sometimes, you may realize that the print bed is wobbling after you have leveled it. You don’t want a wobbling print bed as this can affect the quality of your prints.
To stop the wobbling issues, simply tighten the screws of the print bed’s guide wheels on the underside.
Quality of Print
The quality of print that the Longer LK5 Pro delivers is at par with that of other high quality 3D printers in this price range. The printer has a layer thickness of between 0.1mm and 0.4mm, and an accuracy of 0.1mm.
You will hardly see the individual layers if you have chosen the right settings.
Longer LK5 Pro Cura Profile
Cura 4.10 and later editions have profiles for Longer 3D printers. When using the slicer, it will automatically detect the size of the printer as well as where the coordinate system starts.
Cura also has preset accuracy models that you can select. These settings make it easier for you to get started with your first prints.
Features of the Longer LK5 Pro
The Longer LK5 Pro comes with a number of useful features. For example, the unit has a modern, colored touchscreen on which the menu is operated from.
This printer also stands out with its special design and textured glass bed.
Here is an overview of the features of the Longer LK5 Pro 3D printer.
Triangle Design for Stability
One of the problems that most large format 3D printers have is vibrating and wobbling during the print printing process. To prevent this, the Longer LK5 Pro features a triangular design that is achieved through two support struts and the shape of the frame.
During our test, the printer remained stabled even when printing at high speeds. Overall, the construction is stable and hardly experiences any vibrations.
You can adjust the two support struts and fix them for even more stability. Another plus is that the 3D printer stands on four feet and the leveling screws are easy to access.
Build Volume
The Longer LK5 Pro has a build volume of 300 x 300 x 400 mm. Therefore, you can print large objects in one go.
While there are other 3D printers with large build volumes, for the price, the Longer LK5 Pro is definitely worth its size.
Glass Bed
The 3D printer has a textured glass bed that helps to improve adhesion of your prints. During our test, we neve had issues with the prints sticking on the bed. There was no instance where we had to resort to using a print adhesion aid such as Blue Tape.
The other advantage of a textured glass bed is that prints do not stick on it after cooling.
Supported Print Bed Leveling
You have to manually level the Longer LK5 Pro print bed. There is a support menu on which you can press a button to move the printbed to 5 different locations.
How easy or difficult it is to level a print bed depends on the printer. With some cheap printers, you may need several attempts to level the print bed properly. With the Longer LK5 Pro, we were able to successfully level the print bed on the first attempt.
Also, after leveling the print bed, it stayed in the same position during all our test prints.
If you wish, you can install an optional BLTouch on the Longer LK5 Pro to automatically level the print bed. The sensor is installed on the side of the printbed housing.
Display
The Longer LK5 Pro has a colored display touchscreen with an intuitive menu navigation. The touchscreen responds to your input quickly and makes for a good operations experience.
The display touchscreen is quite big, measuring 4.3-inches, and the navigation menu is self-explanatory. All the important features are just a few clicks away on the touchscreen.
Teflon Tube for High Temperatures
The Longer LK5 Pro 3D printer comes with Teflon or PTF tube, which allows it to manage higher temperatures and achieve overall better results. The tube also significantly reduces the possibility of the filament getting tangled or the nozzle clogging.
TMC2208 Stepper Motors
This budget large format 3D printer has built-in TMC2208 stepper motors from Trinamic. The stepper motors ensures that the printer runs quietly during operations.
Test Print
For the test print, we used the most accurate of the preset settings in Cura. The target layer thickness was 0.12mm. Keep in mind that the higher the accuracy set, the longer the print time.
If you choose a smaller thickness layer, the printhead will move over the same areas more often to print the same volume as with a setting of larger layers.
For the first test, we printed the Benchy. The test was successful.
We were impressed by the quality of the surface as well as the accuracy of the details. Of course, we could have gotten even better results with a little fine tuning.
We printed the Benchy four times consecutively, just to test how reliable the Longer LK5 Pro is when it comes to quality.
Apart from a few cosmetic issues on the surface, the four models were virtually identical.
To see how the printer performs when it comes to printing large models, we printed a vase using the Z-axis. While the vase geometry is a little complex, the print turned out well without any issues.
From our tests, the LK5 Pro really delivers. The unit prevents vibrations and dimensional inaccuracies and high altitudes.
Pros
- The structured glass bed ensures good adhesion and easy release of your prints
- Stable construction
- Easy assembly process
- The nozzle heats up fast
- Good print quality
- Quite operations
- Large build volume
- Intuitive and modern touchscreen
Cons
- The unit does not have automatic print bed leveling. However, it is BLTouch compatible.
Conclusion
The Longer LK5 Pro is a cheap 3D printer that can print large objects. This 3D printer is simple to operate, has a large build volume, simple manual print bed leveling and a modern touch screen.
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