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Creality K1 Max as an alternative to Bambu Lab P1S?
Price
★★★★★
Fabrication
★★★★
Software
★★★
Innovation
★★★★★
Service
★★★★
ø 4,2 ★★★★
Creality has accepted the challenge and responded to Bambu Lab with the Creality K1 Max 🛒
Features & Benefits
✓ Large installation space 300 × 300 × 300 mm
✓ Print nozzle 300° / print bed 100° / pressure chamber approx. 60° Celsius
✓ Fast XY-core-mechanics
✓ 4,3 Zoll touchscreen
✓ Closed printer housing
✓ Elegant workmanship with glass door and top cover
✓ Lidar sensor
Large variety of materials arer available from in-house filaments to third-party filaments.
The first layer decides. ( The ABL works satisfactorily at a size of 300 x 300 mm as of 09/2023; The latest firmware update V1.3.2.20 significantly improves the precision of the ABL (as of 12/2023)
Taken directly with Creality Print via camera
Counterarguments
✗ Immature slicer settings
✗ Touch screen layout disorganized (as of 09/2023) with firmware update V1.3.2.20 many bugs have been fixed (as of 12/2023)
✗ Noisy radial fan in the print head
✗ First printer series of the K1 models require an upgrade kit (more precise extruder mechanics & hotend with bimetal heatbreak (as of 09/2023)) According to Creality, only new models with improved extruder and hotend are now on the market (as of 12/2023))
Core data
The big boy of the new K1 series is the Creality K1 Max.
The small Creality K1 (220 × 220 × 250 mm) offers a similarly large installation space as the Bambu Lab P1S (256 × 256 × 256 mm). The Creality K1 Max, on the other hand, has a huge 300 × 300 × 300 mm print area.
⊳ Print nozzle: 300° Celsius / print bed 100° Celsius
⊳ Print chamber temperature measured in the test approx. 60° Celsius (at 100° print bed)
⊳ Lidar sensor monitors error-free printing process and pauses printing in the event of printing errors (Make sure to load the latest firmware update V1.3.2.20. This significantly improves the error detection performance)
⊳ Smooth camera image
⊳ Slicer software with image monitoring in real time
The AI registered with the lidar scanner print errors and paused the printing process. Screenshot of Creality Print device window
First impression
In recent years, 3D printing has been in hibernation from an innovation perspective. In 2021, Bambu Lab emerged and presented a PlugNPlay 3D printer with six times the printing speed - a novelty at the time!
The major manufacturers, such as Creality, Elegoo and Qidi Tech, had to react quickly to ensure their customers didn't change their minds in the long term. Creality's own research and development team launched the new K1 printer series overnight. There is a lot of reference to Bambu Lab's innovative zeitgeist, but the manufacturer also remains true to its credo - best quality for the best price!
With the K1 series of high-speed 3D printers, Creality offers a stylish design, significantly higher printing speed and high user comfort. Nevertheless, the workmanship of the product, out-of-the-box print quality and user convenience do not yet come close to the print quality of Bambu. Understandably so, as Bambu Lab has been working on it for more than two years and has luminaries in software and motion control on board.
Anyone looking to buy a small 3D printer in particular needs to weigh up whether the price difference compensates for the compromises in terms of print quality and user comfort in the long term.
But today's article is about what I consider to be the best large-capacity 3D printer with high printing speed, the Creality K1 Max.
Final result for quick readers:
⊳ In terms of print size, the K1 Max 🛒 beats all Bambu Lab printers.
⊳ In terms of user comfort and print quality, Bambu Lab 🛒 is still ahead.
For general purchasing decisions, we recommend taking a look at list of the best high-speed 3D printers (coming soon)with a small build volume. Sneak preview, the test results of the small printers are largely reflected in those of the large ones.
Impeccably processed
Technical data
Source: Creality
High-speed 3D printer with large build space
If you need to print larger than 250 × 250 × 250 mm, you can't rely on Bambu Lab. There are currently four manufacturers to choose from: Anycubic, Creality, Elegoo and Qidi Tech. There are positive and negative reports about all four manufacturers on the Internet. Some of these results were confirmed by 3DHeaven in the test procedure, while others were quite surprising in terms of fluctuations in quality.
With factory-fresh models, whether from Anycubic, Bambu Lab, Creality or Qidi Tech, it is normal for problems to occur. In today's test, a Creality K1 Max from the second generation with a more powerful extruder and hotend with bimetal heatbreak was tested.
Tip from the editors:
If you own a model with an extruder (chrome-plated metal parts) and hotend with a black silicone sleeve, you should definitely upgrade it with the upgrade kit from Creality. This improves quality and significantly reduces the error rate. You can easily recognize the second generation by the red silicone sleeve on the hotend.
The minimal reductions in print quality are mainly due to immature slicer settings and the still vulnerable hot end. Micro Swiss acted quickly here and offers a precision hot-end for 77.99 euros 🛒.
Left: K1 extruder first generation
Right: improved second generation K1 extruder with more stable mechanics
Left: improved K1 hotend with bimetal heatbreak
Right: First generation K1 extruder
Following the list of the best high-speed 3D printers with a small build envelope (link coming soon),the list of the best medium-sized 3D printers will be published in January. Due to the good offers for the Christmas season, here is a sneak preview:
1st place: Creality K1 Max
⊳ Compared to the Qidi X-Max 3, the K1 Max works much more smoothly (especially with third-party filaments) and was therefore able to ensure better results at significantly higher printing speeds. In addition, the print chamber temperature reaches almost 60° Celsius even without build chamber heating and the operating system of the K1 Max runs more smoothly and stably.
⊳ Compared to Bambu Lab printers (256 x 256 x 256 mm), the K1 Max offers a larger print area (300 x 300 x 300 mm).
The biggest disadvantage: the print quality is not as perfect as with Bambu Lab. An unclean extrusion is noticeable, which produces smeared layers and slight Z-offset. The extent to which this is due to the movement mechanics and/or hotend performance is still being tested. The FlowTech Micro Swiss Hotend provides a remedy here.
Source: Micro Swiss
2nd place: Bambu Lab P1S
(Test report) Price $ 749.00 🛒
If the built area of 250 x 250 x 250 mm is big enough for your projects, that's the printer you want to go for. The biggest disadvantage of P1P and P1S is small pixels display instead of a convenient touchscreen.
Of course, there is also the luxury model X1-C with a stylish touchscreen. Slightly reduced from $ 1.349,00 down to
3nd place: Qidi X-Max 3
(Test report) The X-Max 3 scored well at 3DHeaven test. Compared to the K1 Max, the Qidi X-Max 3 offers a heated print chamber (reached a maximum of 60° Celsius in the test), 350° Celsius print nozzle and 120° Celsius print bed.
In principle, more filament types can be processed with the X-Max 3. However, as the K1 Max also reaches 60° Celsius in its printing chamber without a heater and 90° Celsius printing plate temperature is usually sufficient, these features quickly fade away.
In addition, the new Qidis have major problems when processing foreign filaments (the biggest culprit here is also the hotend). On the other hand, the speeds of in-house Rapido filaments also had to be reduced in order to ensure good print quality.
The price directly from Qidi is $ 899.00 🛒.
4th place: Elegoo Neptune 4 Max
for $ 470.00 🛒 the best bed pusher for high-speed.
A detailed test of its little brother Neptune 4 Pro can be found here on 3DHeaven. The big brother has slight problems with ABL (automatic print bed measurement). Unfortunately, this problem occurs with all large bed pushers.
Due to the movement mechanics of Cartesian 3D printers, they unfortunately do not come close to the print quality of XY-Core. Here, the moving mass on the print bed slide is too important, especially for large models with many print peaks.
In contrast to Anycubic, Elegoo offers more sophisticated movement mechanics (four POM rollers instead of just three on the print head carriage; additional belt stabilizer for the print bed's toothed belt) and a more sophisticated user interface.
5th place: Anycubic Kobra Max 2
$ 549.00 🛒 Even the Kobra 2 Max as a Cartesian 3D printer does not achieve the speeds with the same print quality (instead of 300 mm/s only 150 - 200 mm/s + larger, filigree models even slower). Nevertheless, PLA, PETG and TPU 3D printers such as the Anycubic Kobra Max 2 and the Elegoo Neptune 4 Max are a good alternative for newcomers.
ASA is comparable to ABS. However, ASA is more light stable than ABS and unfortunately also more difficult to print. 260° print nozzle / 90° print bed / 10 - 25% fan
Scope of delivery
Creality offers classic 3D printer accessories. In addition to maintenance tools such as metal spatulas, watchmaker's fine pliers, nozzle cleaners and various wrenches, there are also some spare parts included. The spare parts are a replacement hotend and a glue stick for the new PC surface of the print bed.
Accessories
1 × Metal Spatula
1 × Watchmaker's Fine Pliers
1 × Nozzle Cleaner
1 × User manual
1 × open-end wrench 8/10
1 × hexagon socket 7
1 × Slotted Screwdriver
1 × hexagon socket 1.5 - 3
1 × Glue Stick
Spare Parts
1 × Hotend
2 x Screws
Accessories - scope of delivery
new hotend design
Installation video
Hardware
In general, Creality offers significantly more features compared to other manufacturers. The K1 Max has a large print area, closed enclosure, XY-core-mechanics, 4.3-inch touchscreen, camera, lidar sensor and stylish glass optics.
Design
When it comes to design, Creality scores across the board. The die-cast frame in combination with acrylic glass, glass door and glass top cover give the printer a high-quality appearance. Everything fits precisely and the door and top cover are almost airtight.
The only point deduction is on the hinge side of the glass door. There is a 1.5 mm wide, air-permeable slit here. Despite this disadvantage, the K1 Max achieves a crisp 60° Celsius pressure chamber temperature. (Measured at a pressure bed temperature of 100° Celsius at the height of the radial fan).
Mechanical stability
In order to provide sufficient support for the rapid movements of the print head, the entire construction sits in a hollow cube frame. This is done by the die-cast aluminum frame, which runs along all sides in a cube design.
In contrast to competitors Bambu Lab and Qidi Tech, the stepper motors sit in smaller plastic mounts and are not flanked by a double frame structure in the upper third. The number of round bearing guide rods for the print bed and y-axis are identical to the competition. The X-axis guide rods are a special feature. Here Creality relies on a 2 - 3 cm oblique offset of the rods to keep the print head better on track. The movement mechanism is solidly integrated into the frame and the minimalist brackets for the stepper motors and frame elements accentuate the transparent design even more. Thingiverse
Print bed & print head with new extruder and bimetal heatbreak
The new print head system is a direct Bambu Lab clone. Qidi Tech does it the same. Instead of the 7 × 12 mm ceramic heating plate from Bambu Lab, both manufacturers rely on a round ceramic shaft that surrounds the print nozzle. The heating wires in the ceramic inlay are clearly visible. In contrast to Qidi, there were no printing problems or interruptions with third-party filaments during the work on the test report.
The new print bed surface results in a beautiful, smooth surface. PLA and PETG adhere excellently to this coating in combination with adhesive spray. The smooth surface reaches its limits with high-temperature filaments. In this case, a coarse PEI-coated printing plate should be used.
Monitoring
An enormous leap forward! Creality has been gathering experience in printer monitoring for a year now with Sonic Pad (test report), Creality Wifi-Box in conjunction with an HD camera. The K1 Max has a camera on the front right as standard. This allows printing processes to be monitored and timelapse videos to be recorded at any time via Creality Print or Creality Cloud. The lidar sensor monitors the printing process for printing errors, such as filament wool or detached model parts. During the test report, the K1 Max repeatedly reminded us of the unclean print surface, which we then dutifully wiped clean. When processing ABS-PC filament, misprints occurred several times, which the Lidar sensor recognized and paused the printing process.
Creality Print
Creality Print software
The new slicer software is much more sophisticated than the software version tested in mid-June. Improvements can be found in print speed, fan settings and layout. Data transfer via WLAN now also works perfectly and makes work much easier. Nevertheless, there are still many inconsistencies, such as a print bed temperature of only 45° Celsius for PLA. This may still work for small components, but it only wastes filament if the large box is printed incorrectly.
Creality Print is on the right track. It is by no means as sophisticated as Bambu Studio, but Creality Print is a stable, fast, serious slicer software with a monitoring panel and image transfer.
In general, the few setting options during the printing process are a pity. At the moment you can only edit the temperature, light and fan settings. Furthermore, the fan settings are very coarse, which could be forgiven. However, although fans can be switched off during the printing process, they restart with the value set in the slicer with each new layer.
Calibration
Creality Print offers five different fine settings for flow, pressure advance, maximum flow and vibration control.
Calibration submenu
printed calibration models
Pressure chamber temperature at 100° Celsius print bed temperature
Print quality
The print quality is more convincing with some filaments and less so with others. The test report tested PLA, PETG, TPU, ASA (similar to ABS) and ABS-PC. The biggest point deduction was for stringing - thread formation between the print areas. Here, even the lowest print nozzle temperature and highest movement speed could only produce minimal improvements.
90% of the prints were good to very good, mainly high-temperature filaments such as ASA and ABS-PC were almost perfectly realized. Nevertheless, there was some warping at the corners of the box with the black ASA print. PEI printing plates should be used here.
Image gallery of print models
Conclusion
Is the Creality K1 Max an alternative to the Bambu Lab P1S? Unfortunately, the answer is not clear.
In terms of installation space - definitely yes
In terms of print quality - no, not yet. (The FlowTech hotend from Micro Swiss is currently being tested, which could eliminate the last flaws in the print image).
Creality has made a great leap forward in terms of both hardware and software. Nevertheless, the K1 Max still does not exploit its full potential. This is mainly due to the still immature slicer software and firmware. As the largest 3D printer manufacturer, Creality should make improvements in this area to avoid losing customers to Bambu Lab in the long term.
Nevertheless, the Creality K1 Max is my first choice for a large-capacity high-speed 3D printer, which goes beyond Bambu Lab's build space.
This is mainly due to the design and wide variety of materials (third-party filaments) plus the impeccable wireless monitoring and control. Thinking ahead, controlling multiple printers via an app is essential for a printer farm. If you want to buy the K1 Max 3D printer, you still have to make fine adjustments to the slicer yourself.
Pricing
Creality K1 Max is available from the manufacturer, Amazon and European and international online stores. Amazon naturally offers the greatest security for customers, which is also reflected in the price of $ 999.00 🛒.
Another advantage over the competition - automatic belt tensioners
Price comparison
Since questions about conditions of purchase, return policy and warranty period of the various resellers arise again and again, here is a brief overview:
⊳ European Creality Store offers a 15-day return policy and one-year warranty. Customer support is provided by English and German-speaking Chinese and is moderately fast. If you have the serial number and proof of purchase, spare parts and advice are provided.
⊳ 3DJake offers a 30-day right of return and refers to the manufacturer's warranty obligations. Nevertheless, they offer their own customer support, which provides help and spare parts to their customers. In difficult cases, the devices can also be sent to you.
⊳ TomTop offers a 14-day right of return and a one-year guarantee. It is important that the goods are returned in the original box. Complaints during the warranty period are handled by the manufacturer.
⊳ Geekbuying offers a 14-day right of return and a one-year warranty. Complaints during the warranty period are handled by the manufacturer.
⊳ Amazon offers a 30-day right of return and refers to the manufacturer's warranty period. Incidentally, the seller of the Amazon store is operated directly by Creality.
In general, all complaints are handled directly or indirectly by the manufacturer, in this case Creality. If you have a serial number and proof of purchase, you are on the safe side with all providers.