Sunlu S9 Plus to Creality CR-10 Conversion

The main goal in this kit is to bring my Sunlu S9 Plus more in line with the configuration of my CTC A10s, which is another cheap CR-10 clone.  Sunlu was using these obnoxiously placed electronics enclosures on their FDM printers that extend forward several inches, with integrated displays that aren't fully visible when the heated bed moves forward.  In the case of the S9 Plus, this enclosure is steel and houses the Meanwell LRS350 PSU as well.

My CTC A10s came stock with an electronics enclosure that sat off to the side just like the original Creality CR-10, making it even more obnoxious than that of the S9 Plus.  I had relocated all of the electronics for my A10s years ago, integrating them with the frame design of the printer and making the machine “stand alone”.  I wanted to do something very similar with my S9 Plus, and that's what this kit is for.

Sunlu incorporated many interesting design choices into the S9 Plus that I personally have little interest in.  I purchased my S9 Plus from Amazon when the machine was already “end of life” for $179.00.  A CR-10 clone using decent quality components at that price seemed like a good deal to me at the time, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Now that the machine is over a year old, I'm removing the elements I don't care for, and installing options that better suit my workload.  Neither the 8 bit main board or touch screen display that are stock with the S9 Plus were to my liking.  I'm perfectly happy with cheap 3rd party boards intended for the Ender 3, as well as the stock encoder type 12864 display of the Ender 3.  I've installed a Makerbase MKS Robin E3 board:  https://www.amazon.com/Lysee-Printer-Parts-Accessories-Makerbase/dp/B092TKWXM1?

and a stock Ender 3 display:  https://www.amazon.com/Printer-Screen-Display-12864-Ramps/dp/B0DPRN5TSN?

The electronics enclosure portion of this kit should easily accommodate any main board intended as a drop in replacement for a Creality Ender 3 board.  The display portions of this kit are specific to the Ender 3 / CR-10 style 12864 display.

With practically all my 3D printers, I like to relocate the power “on/off” switch to the very front of the machine.  I like using 30mm X 22mm lighted rocker switches for powering my printers on and off.  I've included two power switch brackets with this kit, one that has an additional opening for a three digit LED display I use for monitoring PSU health, and one that simply has the opening for the rocker switch.  For the incoming A/C mains power, I included a mount for a 10 amp IEC 320 C14 connector that's intended for use on the back side of the machine.  I did NOT use the stock IEC connector that came mounted in the stock electronics enclosure because I didn't need the tiny rocker switch that came integrated, and I'd already made a mount for a standard IEC plug years ago.  I usually acquire those IEC connectors from old dead PC power supplies, but didn't have any handy for this build so I actually ordered a 10 pack from Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DCXKNXQ?

Since the front rubber feet of the S9 Plus are short and attach directly to the big hocking steel electronics enclosure, and since I'm also removing the small rear steal panel that has feet attached so I can attach my IEC power connector there, I designed new taller feet that raise the machine to its original height.  While every other printable component of this kit is intended to be printed in PETG, the feet are intended to be printed in TPU.  I'd originally intended to make PETG risers that I'd attach the stock rubber feet to, but decided it would just be quicker and easier to print new feet in TPU that would attach with four M4 screws and T-Nuts to the four corners of the machine.

NOTE:  When I modeled the electronics enclosure and the feet, my intent was to secure the four TPU feet to the very end of each of the two 40mm X 20mm extrusions that are on either side of the machine, which is how the feet of my CTC A10s are attached, but after installing the electronics enclosure and on/off switch mount, I thought I'd see how the machine would look if I were to attach the feet fully forward, screwing the front two holes of each front foot to the front 20mm X 20mm extrusion, and rear screws into the front of either 40mm X 20mm extrusion.  I decided I prefer the look of the machine in that configuration, and mounted my rear feet mirroring the front feet.  I'd modeled the electronics enclosure with a 60mm cut-away on the left hand side with the intent of those front feet attaching fully to the outer extrusions.  I considered removing the front screw hole for attaching the front of the enclosure to the front 20mm X 20mm extrusion, reducing the 60mm cut-away to 40mm so it would butt up against the back side of the foot, and adding a forward mounting hole for the enclosure on the left side, but decided against it.  I didn't make those changes because the enclosure, as is, will work perfectly with the feet mounted in either position.

On to the elephant in the room…  The Sunlu S9 Plus comes stock with an integrated Sunlu S1 dryer box which attaches to the main board and is controlled through the S9 Plus's touch screen display.  While initially, I thought Sunlu's inclusion of the dryer box with this printer was a pretty nifty idea, in practice, the attached dryer box proved to be a dud for me.  I use the heck out of dryer boxes since I'm in a more humid area of the country, but a box tied directly to a single machine just wasn't working at all for me.  The S1 dryer box maxes out at 55 degrees C, it's noisy, and its rollers don't turn especially smoothly.  Subsequently, this kit ignores the fact that there was ever a dryer box attached to the machine.  Sorry, it's just not worth the effort of wiring it in to a more common board, nor supporting it in my custom firmware builds IMO.  :(

The Sunlu S9 Plus uses a single 4010 fan for cooling its mainboard.  Unlike my Sunlu T3, I wasn't encountering overheated stepper drivers, but since much of this kit was designed in parallel with my T3 kit, I left the dual 4010 fan setup in the electronics enclosure lid.  A second 24v 4010 fan can be added wired in parallel with the original, or if one wanted to spend the money on some nice Noctua fans, two 12v Noctua 4010's could be wired in series.

While on the subject of wiring, the original endstop switch connectors to the main board were using 2 pins of a 3 pin JST connector.  For those who don't have handy 2 pin JST connectors, and for those too impatient or cheap to order those two pin connectors, the unused 3rd pin portion of the original connectors could be clipped off using flush cutters, or the three pin connectors can be removed and replaced with a printed 2 pin connector.  I have a selection of printable JST connectors which include any connectors you may need for this upgrade:   https://www.printables.com/model/560373-jst-connectors-for-3d-printer-mainboards

If the main board you're using for this upgrade is a Creality board, or if it's an aftermarket board that has the five pin BLTouch connector, the Touch sensor cable that came stock with the S9 Plus with the five pin main board connector will work fine out of the box, however, since the MKS Robin E3 board I'm using does not have that five pin header, and instead uses two three pin two three pin headers, three pins on Makerbases “BL Touch” header and two pins of the “BL Touch Endstop”, I replaced the five pin connector with two three pin connectors.

Everything in this kit is intended to be printed as oriented in the STL files.  The PSU bracket will need to be printed twice, and the feet will need to be printed four times.  The display back and bezel pieces will benefit from adding supports “to buildplate only” to protect the screwholes, and the PSU fan shroud will DEFINITELY need supports “to buildplate only”.  Other parts of this model neither need, nor will benefit by the use of supports.