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Longer3D has recently launched a new budget 3D printer in 2020, It’s called the Longer LK5 Pro. I can’t understand why they moved up to a pro edition is it because “PRO” is more tempting than LK5 or is it a marketing strategy. Who knows but let’s continue on my take with the Longer LK5 PRO FDM 3D Printer Review. Id love to see some colour going on, you can tell by the picture that they all look the same. Maybe having a theme to them it will be more appealing to customers, I especially love going for something with a colour to it. Yes u can upgrade and change it if you wanted to, but for me that’s too much hassle.
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- LK1 £167.96
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- LK4 £131.28
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- LK4 PRO £139.35
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- LK5 PRO £241.30
Longer LK4 Pro And LK5 Pro Differences
I’ve taken a brief look at Longer3D’s website to point out that there are a few improvements, but with a price difference of around £100, I’d agree it’s worth it. I don’t think you could upgrade an LK4 pro to be like the LK5 Pro for the same price point.
Triangle Structure Z Brace
Longer3D created the LK5 PRO budget 3D printer with diagonal pull bars, creating a solid triangle arrangement that effectively eliminates errors caused by vibrations.
Upgraded Lattice Glass
Excellent adhesion and quick to detach models by hand. And super flatness conducts heat evenly across the build surface to ensure better printing effect.
High Temperature Resistant Teflon Bowden Tube
It is better to stand higher temperatures and not easy to soften to reducing nozzle clogging, and this would increase printing quality.
Bigger Print Volume
Measuring at 11.811.815.75 inches, 300 300 400mm the size of the LK5 Pro build plate goes nearly unrivalled in similar printers. The printing speed max up to 180mm/s, which makes your ideas came true quickly.
Spool Holder
The Spool holder on the LK5 Pro is now located on the lower left-hand side of the 3D printer with an angle that is more direct to the filament sensor and extruder, allowing the filament a more direct passage.
Main Specifications of the Longer LK5 PRO 3D Printer
- Classic black look, durable.
- Power off, intelligent induction without fear of power failure.
- Broken material detection, sensitive sensor real-time monitoring.
- 4.3 inch touch screen, large size can be touched.
- Auxiliary levelling, humanized design.
- All in one machine design, modular installation, assembly worry-free.
- lattice glass, hot sticky cold take, easy to take model.
- triangle structure of inclined rod ensures stability without shaking.
- High-quality blue Teflon tube, boosting smooth feeding.
- lower installation inclined material rack, low centre of gravity does not shake, oblique into more smooth.
- hot bed with safe voltage can heat faster.
- TMC ultra-quiet drive: TMC ultra-quiet drive, 256 subdivision, printing more fine, more delicate lines.
- new user-friendly UI design operation is more simple and convenient.
- Hand screw large nut, super nut design is more convenient for levelling.
- Open source motherboard, more in line with the personality pursuit of makers.
- The switch power supply is built-in to improve safety.
General Specifications
| Build Volume: 300mm(L)*300mm(W)*400mm(H) | Lattice Tempered Glass for Easier to Take Off | Filament Type: PLA, ABS, HIPS, PETG, Wood |
| Layer Thickness: 0.1-0.4mm | Dual Inclined Rod for Stable on Printing | Support Software: Cura, Repetier, etc |
| Printing Speed: 180mm/s; suggested 30-60mm/s | Built-in 3kits of TMC2208 for Quiet Printing | Operating Systems: Windows/Mac/Linux |
| File Format: STL/G-CODE | Connection: USB cable or TF card off-line print | Electricity: Input:100-120V AC 7A,200-240V AC 3.5A, 50-60Hz |
| Operating Temperature: 5℃-35℃ | Relative Humidity: 30%-90% | Output: 24V/DC 15A; Maximum Power: 280W. |
Longer LK5 PRO 3D Printer Review
The Longer LK5 Pro review has by far been my hardest 3D printer to review yet, because it performs beautifully just keeps spitting out perfect 3D Prints. I find it a lot easier to blog about challenges and finding solutions to 3D printer problems. So the Longer LK5 Pro review will mostly be me showing you great 3D prints. This is the first 3D printer I have used that has a triangle structure Z brace and a high-temperature resistant Teflon Bowden tube. Every other feature of the LK5 PRO budget 3D printer is just standard to me. I’m not going to be pessimistic about the LK5 PRO not having anything innovative. It works extremely well for the price point. After all, this is a budget FDM 3D printer.
Longer LK5 PRO 3D Printer Assembly
Whilst I’m in the excitement of opening boxes, it seems fitting to start there. The Longer LK5 PRO is packaged well with thick pink foam and has been cut to ensure minimal movement. The first thing to check is if there are any missing parts, you can see these parts in the instruction leaflet and always check the power supply to see if it is on the correct voltage. On the Longer LK5 PRO, they set the default voltage to 220v, but it’s always best to double-check. Longer3D have already made a video on how to set up the longer LK5 Pro FDM 3D printer. So there was not any point in making a new one. Longer made a video that is easy to understand.
Longer LK5 PRO 3D Printer Problems And Solutions
With any 3D printer, you are bound to have issues at some stage and of course to any 3D printer problem there is a solution. There were only two that I found on the LK5 PRO.
LK5 Pro Layer Cooling Fan Duct Problem
First look at the Longer LK5 Pro I notice the layer cooling fan duct was facing the wrong direction. Is this meant to cool me down while looking over the prints?. That was just a small quality control problem that can quickly be resolved by rotating the fan duct towards the nozzle. So after the fan duct was rotated, another concern occurred. The layer cooling fan duct was too far away from what it’s cooling and pointing too much towards the 3D printer nozzle.
LK5 Pro Layer Cooling Fan Duct Solution
Simon Tillema has designed a new fan duct to cool the 3D prints better. It is still a work in progress, but once it is done I shall put a link here so you can download it. You should have better layer cooling on your Longer LK5 PRO.
LK5 Pro Power Resume Problem
Yeah, it is good to have a 3D printer that can resume when there is a power outage. The power resume function on the Longer LK5 Pro works if you catch it in time before the heated build plate cools down. If you leave it till the heated print surface cools down fully, the model will come loose from the build plate, resulting in no real usage of the power resume function.
LK5 Pro Power Resume Solution
If you want the power resume function to work properly, I would suggest to purchase a 3D printer print surface that has a lot more adhesion when the heated build plate has cooled down fully. Or you can use adhesion promotors, like hairspray, Elmers glue or any other additives but not SUPER GLUE!
Longer LK5 Pro 3D Prints
There is a selection of filaments that have been used from T-PLA White (unbranded), Geeetech White Pla, Rainbow Silk Pla+ (unbranded) and Geeetech Transparent PLA. After the calibration prints, I went through and sorted my slicer profile settings. And I’m very pleased with the results I’m getting with the profile.
Calibration
| Raft: NO | Top Solid Layers: 6 |
| Support: NO | Bottom Solid Layers: 6 |
| Infill: 20% | Outline/Perimeter Shells: 3 |
| Layer height: 0.2400 | Filament: Geeetech White Pla |
XYZ 20mm Calibration Cube
This is a simple calibration test cube for your 3D printer with X, Y & Z written on the axis. To further calibrate your 3D printer more, you print one out and then measure this model’s dimensions against the expected dimensions. Once this is done, you can change steps per mm in your 3D printers’ firmware.
Designed By: iDig3Dprinting / From: Thingiverse
Cali Cat – The Calibration Cat
The Cali Cat is designed to calibrate and bench 3D prints. It’s a test print you can enjoy keeping. It consists of linear dimensioning tests of a calibration cube and more:
Designed By: Dezign / From: Thingiverse
Extruder Calibration Test
Flow rate and feed rate are no longer difficult to calibrate. However, to get your print quality to the next level, you will need to calibrate temperature and reversal settings for a given material. This is a fully parametric calibration test for both bridging and gap distances within the same part. From the pictures there are brown marks on the 3D printed model, this results from filament build up on the nozzle. I just cleaned it off, and it never happened again.
Designed By: Starnoc / From: Thingiverse
Lattice Cube 3D Printer Torture Test (Overhangs)
The super lattice cube is two lattice cubes rotated in on each other, and it makes everything look quite complicated. This is a great test for overhangs, temperatures, cooling, and retraction. This is a print where no settings had been tweaked on the slicer software i use Simplify3D (S3D).
Designed By: Lazerlord / From: Thingiverse
Practical 3D Models
| Raft: NO | Top Solid Layers: 6 |
| Support: NO | Bottom Solid Layers: 6 |
| Infill: 20% | Outline/Perimeter Shells: 3 |
| Layer height: 0.2400 | Filament: T-PLA White (unbranded) |
Tooth Brush Stand
‘Tooth Brush Standz’ is a family of fun, easy to 3D print figures to use as tooth brush holders. They stand well on their own two feet and are angled slightly forward over the feet so they won’t easily fall over.
Designed By: muzz64 / From: Thingiverse
Articulated 3D Model
| Raft: NO | Top Solid Layers: 6 |
| Support: NO | Bottom Solid Layers: 6 |
| Infill: 20% | Outline/Perimeter Shells: 3 |
| Layer height: 0.2400 | Filament: Rainbow Silk Pla+ (unbranded) |
Floppy Dragonfly
How cool is it to print a model that once it’s finished, it moves around from its articulated joints. The designer created a pattern for the wings, which is like the real thing but with less detail to make it printable. But unfortunately for me that did not happen because of being printed to close to the bed so all the joins fused together. This is an easy fix adjust your z offset. Quite happy with the print quality, therefore i have attached a string to the tail and hanged it on one of my trees outside.
Designed By: crashdebug / From: Thingiverse
Ornamental 3D Models
| Raft: YES | Top Solid Layers: 6 |
| Support: YES | Bottom Solid Layers: 6 |
| Infill: 20% | Outline/Perimeter Shells: 3 |
| Layer height: 0.0600 – 0.2400 | Filament: T-PLA White (unbranded) |
Bane Diorama
Loved printing this 3D model very high detail that the Longer LK5 Pro budget 3D printer handled pretty well even for the smaller Harley Quinn and Poison ivy. The reason there is no close up of Harley Quinn’s face is because the way I join models made with an FDM printer is by heating the two sides I want to join and pressing them together but on this occasion, I heated it a little too much and my finger stuck to the head. Resulting in a smudged finger print on the printed models face. A quick and nice finish to a model is to do a rub and buff technique.
Designed By: Diaz Printables / From: Facebook
Multi-Colour 3D Prints On The LK5 Pro
| Raft: no | Top Solid Layers: 6 |
| Support: no | Bottom Solid Layers: 6 |
| Infill: 20% | Outline/Perimeter Shells: 3 |
| Layer height: 0.0600 – 0.2400 | Filament: Geeetech Transparent PLA |
To use this technique of using permanent markers to add colour to filament before 3D printing on this budget 3D printer. You won’t be able to use the supplied spool holder as it won’t work because the pen holder needs to be placed on the left Z extrusion. Therefore, you will need to use any other spool holder than can be placed at the top of the printer. The way this method works is by the extruder pulling the filament through the penholder resulting in multi colour 3D prints.
- Teddy Bear – Voronoi Style – Thingiverse
- Spiral Vase – Vase Mode – Thingiverse
- Marker Pen holder – Myminifactory
Longer LK5 PRO Simplify3D Slicer Profile (S3D)
you can find my profile for the Longer LK5 Pro on inov3D 3D printer slicer profile article.
Where To Buy The Longer LK5 PRO 3D Printer
You can buy the LK5 Pro from longer3D official website or from the other sources below.
Longer LK5 PRO 3D Printer Conclusion
The Longer LK5 Pro is a hobbyist budget 3D printer that produces high-quality 3D prints. Even with the small additions to the LK5 Pro has over its predecessors, I would still opt for this 3D printer simply because of the price point. And its large-format capability also With its addition of a z brace giving it a triangular structure this can help you print faster without the loss of quality. If you set the perfect first layer, you don’t need to use any adhesion helpers and everything sticks perfect.
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Well written! It is really now a matter of time to see the printing industry to the top position around the world. Printing press really changed the world and made everything easy to access!
hello and great information! I will be following alot of this when I assemble my LK5 Pro in a couple of days.. You mention the Simplify3d printer profile at the end.. Could you provide us that FFF profile in a link please 🙂
Hello you can find the longer lk5 pro profile here https://www.inov3d.net/3d-printer-slicer-profiles/