Creality K2 Pro Simple Riser v1.3

Got a K2 Pro and you don't like that PTFE tube happily scratching a weird trapezoid into the glass top's coating every time the XY-axis move? Understandable. This basic vented riser lifts the entire glass top and gives your PTFE tube a bit of breathing room.

Changelog:

• v1.3: Small Updates to the print profile:

  • Checked all paint-on supports. Supports should only appear for the tiny overhangs at the end of each main piece, and NOT for the sliders channels

  • More tolerance between sliders and channels. Shouldn't let any air out when using heated chamber anyway.

  • Print profile has been updated to Creality Print 7.1

  • Fixed solid infill angle on sliders

• v1.2 : First release

Before You Print (IMPORTANT):

• To make sure everything fits like a glove, you MUST let the printer do its Calibration before every single print in this project, for all four plates. I left enough space to the sides specifically for that.

• Material: I used Flashforge ASA. You could also use PETG, but only if you're 100% sure your chamber temps won't get into the range where it starts getting soft. I don't know if ABS would be good as the pieces are long and would probably warp. Budget about ~450g for the whole thing.

• The project file should have the correct settings baked in if you're printing with a K2 Pro and using Creality Print 7.1 and upwards. You shouldn't have to touch anything BUT make sure that settings make sense, especially for paint-on supports (I've seen people in the comments having issues with supports appearing where there shouldn't have been any)

• Heat-soak the bed! Get it to your material's required temp (100° for my ASA) and let it sit for 10-15 minutes with the chamber closed before starting the print. Even better if you let the whole chamber reach 50-55° if you're using ASA/ABS.

ASSembly:

1. Slide the sliders in their tracks (it's foolproof and they're all the same) and move them back and forth to wear them in a little before closing everything up. It makes a noticeable difference in how easily the vents open afterwards.

2. Looking at the underside, match triangles with triangles and circles with circles. The riser is not squared, it's 10mm longer in the Y axis just like the top glass (CREALITY, WHY???) and my first prototype didn't have these markers. I hate measuring so I added them.

3. Press in the bowties/double-dovetails dowels with a clamp or, if you have one, a vise to make them flush with the riser's surfaces. They have close to no tolerance so that they can be as tight as possible. If you don't have the tools or your tolerances are slighly off, reprint only the dowels applying -0.1 contour compensation to them. If that's still not enough, try -0.2 and if that's not enough, you're doing something wrong. 

4. DONE! Put it on top of your printer, place you glass top on the riser, and now your PTFE tube and your glass won't rub against each other anymore. Plus, more ventilation for PLA prints and no more rear fan kicking in.

The Part Where I Manage Your Expectations (Also Important)

Apparently, the K2 Pro's wiring is just as good as the K2 Plus, meaning it's unnecessarily strained. Creality designed that PTFE tube to rub against the top, and apparently, it presses the cable chain down a bit too.

If you install this riser and your printer suddenly starts throwing errors or acting up like mine did, it's not (i hope) inherently the riser's fault. It's a sign that your printer just wants her PTFE tube rubbing against the top like it was meant to, happily scratching away, keeping the hotend cable pressed down just a little. You might just have to surrender to a no-riser life.

The only real fix for this (purely my hypothesis) might be to be replace the hotend cable running through the chain with a new one from Creality, I'll try to reach out to customer support after publishing this. So, if you're not ready to potentially go down that rabbit hole, maybe hold off. A riser is not 100% necessary, and in my experience you can print PLA with the door closed and let the back fans kick in.

If you print this SUBMIT A MAKE PLEASE! I broke my riser by dropping it 'cause I'm an idiot and now i don't have real photos of a finished riser, and I'm out of grey ASA.

I could only post unfinished renders from Blender. I suck at CAD, please bear with me.