Help. New Creality CR-10 dead.

I recently got a CR-10. After assembly, I did two test prints then the third failed. The hot end lost temp and dropped to room temperature. On a forum several people complained about the same problem. One person said they "jiggled" the wires and it worked again. I did the same and mine briefly came alive, then died and never got hot again. I decided to change the hot end heater.

Yesterday I replaced the heating element and the machine worked. I got two very nice prints. On the third print, the hot end heat again stopped heating and the print failed. Some info.

1. I saw the Temp suddenly begin to drop during the print, all the way to room temp. This should mean the Thermister is working as it registers the Temp dropping and displays room temps when it reaches that?

2. I checked my solder connections on the new heater I installed. They are good. (So were the solder connections on the original heater)

Could two heating elements really go bad like that or is it something else? I have no Idea what to check next. Someone suggested replacing the motherboard. That is the most expensive part of this machine. I'd like to be sure that is the problem before spending the money.

I bought a 10 pack of heaters, so I can change it 9 more times. But I wonder if there is something in the control that is killing them?

Do you have a volt meter?

With the machine off & unplugged, and the heater unplugged from the motherboard, start by measuring the heater element to see if it is still intact. Measure the ohms across the heater. If it's burned out the ohms reading should be open or millions of ohms. It should measure around 5 to 20 ohms if it is still good. Compare it to the other 9 you have.

Is the CR10 a 12V or a 24V printer? Measure your power supply voltage output to make sure it is putting out the voltage it should be.

Thanks for the response and info. I changed the heater again an made 2 prints. No problems. The last two times it failed on the third so we'll see on the next print. I believe my model is 12v. I'll have to verify that. I do have a meter, so I'll check ohms now that I know what I'm looking for.

The CR-10 is a 12 Volt 3D Printer

Boards are dirt cheap, but check the power supply. For a cheap kit like that it will be a very low quality psu.

So I changed the heating element again. This time I put more solder on the joint. It is working now. I noticed that the last time the solder joints got hot enough to shrink the heat shrink. I'm thinking the original solder joints and my first attempt were poor, and broke after the unit heated up a few times. That's why people who had this problem got a temporary fix by jiggling the wires. I still haven't verified this with the meter on the old heaters to see if the are really dead.

Soft solder typically has a melting point range of 90 to 450 °C
Most believe solder is solder incorrect. There are many different kinds of solder Kesler high temp is the best Solder to use for your Hot-End and Hot-Bed.

High Temp Solders
Sn1Pb97.5Ag1.5 309C
Sn5Pb95 301-314C
Pb100 328C

Mid Range Solders
Sn40Pb60 183-238C
Sn50Pb60 183-216C
Sn60Pb60 183-190C

Low Temp Solders
Sn43Pb43Bi14 144-163C

And Lead Free Solders
Sn100 232C

Are the solder joints heating up and causing the heatshrink tubing to shrink while the printer is IN USE? Or is this happening during your soldering process, or just due to proximity of the joints to the heaters? If it is occurring while IN USE, then it may be the result of an extremely poor electrical connection and you may need to do a more thorough job of stripping whatever is coating the wires before soldering, or if the wire material is not solderable, switching to a really good crimp type connection. Please take the time to ohm out (measure the resistance of) all the heaters, a comparison might tell you a great deal regarding what is going on.