CR-X Mechanical / Thermal / Extrusion Self-Test
Non-printing G-code to exercise every subsystem of a Creality CR-X before running OrcaSlicer calibrations. Run via OctoPrint (upload, then print the file — nothing is deposited on the bed).
Files
| File | What it does | Heating? | Extrudes? |
|---|---|---|---|
CR-X_selftest_cold_motion_only.gcode |
Homing, X/Y/Z travel, diagonals, corners, speed range | No | No |
CR-X_selftest_full.gcode |
Everything above plus bed heat, hotend heat, fan ramp, extrude/retract | Yes | Yes |
Run the cold one first. If motion is clean and quiet, run the full test.
Before you start
- Stay with the printer the whole time. Keep the power switch / e-stop in reach.
- For the full test, load filament first (the extrude stage feeds ~90 mm total). ABS or any filament is fine — nothing is printed.
- Clear the bed and gantry of tools/clips.
Assumptions (edit if yours differ)
- Build volume 300 × 300 × 400 mm. All moves keep a 5 mm margin from each axis limit and 20 mm off Z-max.
- Bed heated to 100 °C (CR-X rated ≤100 °C).
- Hotend heated to 230 °C only — safe for the stock PTFE-lined hotend and hot enough to extrude ABS without grinding. Cold extrusion is never commanded.
- Bowden retraction test uses 6 mm.
If your CR-X has a filament runout sensor that halts on the extrude test, disable it for the run or ignore the trigger. (The M runout ignore line in the full file is a comment placeholder, not a command — remove it if your firmware flags unknown lines; most Marlin builds just skip it.)
What each stage checks (watch the LCD M117 messages)
- Homing — endstops seek/back-off/re-tap. Listen for grinding or a crash.
- X / Y sweeps — full-width and full-depth travel, belts smooth.
- Z sweep — both lead screws must turn together; gantry stays level.
- Diagonals + corners — combined XY motion, no binding.
- Speed check — fast then slow moves; listen for chatter/resonance.
- Bed heat 100 °C — smooth climb on the OctoPrint graph = good thermistor/heater.
- Hotend heat 230 °C — same, no wild swings (that would mean a PID/thermistor issue).
- Fan ramp 50 % → 100 % → off — part-cooling fan spins clean, no bearing rattle.
- Extrude/retract — steady flow, no clicking or skipping on the Bowden gears; the 6 mm retract should visibly pull back.
- Cool down + park — heaters off, gantry dropped, bed presented, steppers disabled.
If something fails
Note the M117 stage name shown on the display when it went wrong — that pinpoints the subsystem. Common ones:
- Axis grinds at home → endstop or belt/pulley.
- One Z screw lags → coupler grub screw or binding rod.
- Temp graph swings or bails with a MINTEMP/MAXTEMP → thermistor/heater wiring.
- Extruder clicks → nozzle not hot enough, clog, or filament not loaded.
After a clean pass, move on to PID tuning and the OrcaSlicer calibration workflow.