Introduction
The Creality K1C is a CoreXY 3D printer with a 300x300x350mm build volume. It has a direct drive extruder and a 32-bit controller. The printer is designed for ease of use and has a number of features that could make it a good choice for beginners and experienced users alike. The printer is a big upgrade from my Tarantula Pro, which has a smaller build volume, is less rigid, and prints much slower. Just check out how fast this printer runs:
Thanks to SainSmart for sending me the Creality K1C to review. You can find the printer on their website here.
Features
The Creality K1C has a number of features that make it a good choice for a wide range of users. Some of the key features including a filament runout sensor, an enclosed build chamber with an active carbon filter, an enclosure fan, and a large side-mounted part fan. The enclosure has a temperature sensor to allow better control of the ambient temperature in the print volume. This allows for printing of materials such as ABS, which suffer from warping.
The Creality K1C uses core-xy geometry, which is a 3D printer geometry created by Ilan E. Moyer. It can print very fast (between 200mm/s and 500mm/s) and accurately. The direct drive extruder is also a big plus, as it allows for more flexible materials to be printed. And, the printer comes with a hardened steel nozzle, which is a necessity for printing abrasive materials like carbon fiber.
Unboxing
Setup
The first thing to do, once your printer is unboxed, is to open up the manual. The setup guide is very detailed and easy to follow. The printer comes mostly assembled, so you just need to attach a few items, like the door handle, air filter cartridge, spool holder, and display. Also, be sure to check the voltage switch and remove the 3 screws holding the bed for transportation, both are described below.
Install the door handle:
Install the air filter cartridge:
Install the spool holder:
Install the Display:
Install the damping pad on the top cover:
I believe the idea behind this is to prevent the cable chain from knocking off the top cover when the cable chain contacts the top cover when the toolhead moves quickly to the left, however, I found that the top cover can still be knocked off if the toolhead moves quickly to the left:
Before you turn the printer on for the first time, be sure the voltage switch on the power supply is set correctly for your region. Mine was set to 220V, so I switched it to 110V:
Remove the 3 silver screws holding the bed in place for transportation:
The first time you power the machine on, it will walk you through the setup and auto-calibrate the machine. This process takes about 10 minutes and is very easy to follow.
You'll also want to remove this final piece of foam from underneath the bed once the bed raises during calibration:
Side Spool Holder (Optional)
By default, the spool holder goes in the back. However, included on the printer are two files for mounts that allow the filament spool to be held on the side of the printer. Here I am printing one of the two side-mounts included with the printer. Wow, this printer is fast!
To install the side spool holder, first remove the three screws on the right side of the printer. There are 3 longer, but unlabeled screws included in the box. Screw on your new mount with the 3 screws from the box, then unscrew the spool holder dowel from the back spool holder and insert it on the side spool holder:
Firmware Update
While it's optional, I suggest you upgrade the printer's firmware, if it is not already up to date. To do so, downloaded the latest firmware from the Creality Support Site and save it to a USB drive. Plug the USB drive into the printer and the printer will prompt you to update the firmware:
Once the upgrade is done, the printer will prompt you to re-run calibration:
Click both checkboxes:
You can leave the printer to calibrate once it's started:
Loading and Unloading Filament
While there is a filament load/unload feature, the buttons are labeled in a way that could be confusing for new users.
To unload filament in the machine, first click the Slider Button (left side, 2nd from top), then click the "Extrude/Retract" tab. Finally, click the "Retract" button. This will release the filament from the toolhead and allow you to pull the filament out of the feeder tube.
To load filament, cut a clean end at a 45 degree angle on the filament you're loading. Bend the first inch or so of the filament straight. Push the filament up and into the feeding tube through the filament runout sensor and all the way to the toolhead until it cannot be fed any further. On the display, click the Slider button, then the "Extrude/Retract" tab. Then click "Extrude" to pull the filament the last few millimeters into the toolhead. Once you can see plastic coming out of the nozzle, you're good to go.
Slicer
Creality provides their own slicer Creality Print, but I've been using Orca Slicer 2.0 lately as it includes the latest slicer features, such as the Scarf joint, Sandwich mode, and more.
Orca Slicer includes a profile for K1C, so you can get started right away. Simply type "K1C" into the search bar on the printer setup page.
I've been using the 0.16mm "Optimal" profile for most of my prints, but you can adjust the layer height, print speed, and other settings to suit your needs.
You can also add the physical printer to your Orca Slicer configuration, but you'll need to Upgrade the Web Interface first. The IP address of the printer can be found under Settings -> Network on the printer's display.
Upgrade the Web Interface (Optional)
While the K1C runs a custom build of Klipper, the UI is custom software. We cannot directly upload the Orca Slicer output to the printer using the default printer configuration, but we can use the web interface to upload the configuration.
We'll install Moonraker and Mainsail, after which we'll be able to upload directly to the printer from Orca Slicer.
The printer comes with the root account available on the printer itself, just open up the System Settings page, click the Root Account information button. Wait 30 seconds and accept the warning:
Then, the username and password will appear. On my printer the username was root and the password was creality_2023.
Now, find the IP address of your printer by looking under Settings -> Network. Open a terminal or follow the ssh guide to SSH into the printer, replace the IP address 192.168.1.100 is the IP address of your printer:
Now, install the Creality Helper Script.
git clone https://github.com/Guilouz/Creality-Helper-Script.git /usr/data/helper-script
Then run the helper script:
sh /usr/data/helper-script/helper.sh
- First, backup the original Klipper configuration by pressing
4) [Backup & Restore] Menu, thenenter, then1) Backup Klipper configuration files, and confirm withy. This will backup the configuration files tobackup_config.tar.gz.
Note: that Moonraker and Nginx is required to be installed before any front end, such as Fluidd or Mainsail, can be installed.
-
Now install Moonraker and Nginx by pressing
1) Install Moonraker and Nginx, thenenter, then1) Install Moonraker and Nginx, and confirm withy. -
Now install Mainsail by pressing
3) Install Mainsail, thenenter, then confirm withy. -
Install any other things you might want, I've installed
5) Klipper Gcode Shell Command,10) Improved Shapers Calibration,11) Useful Macros,12) Save Z-Offset Macros,13) Screw Tilt Adjust Support,14) Virtual Pins,15) M600 Support,4) Entware, and17) Moonraker Timelapse.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ [ INFORMATIONS MENU ] │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ •ESSENTIALS: │
│ ✓ Moonraker & Nginx │
│ ✗ Fluidd │
│ ✓ Mainsail │
│ │
│ •UTILITIES: │
│ ✓ Entware │
│ ✓ Klipper Gcode Shell Command │
│ │
│ •IMPROVEMENTS: │
│ ✗ Klipper Adaptive Meshing & Purging │
│ ✓ Buzzer Support │
│ ✗ Nozzle Cleaning Fan Control │
│ ✗ Fans Control Macros │
│ ✓ Improved Shapers Calibrations │
│ ✓ Useful Macros │
│ ✓ Save Z-Offset Macros │
│ ✓ Screws Tilt Adjust Support │
│ ✓ Virtual Pins Support │
│ ✓ M600 Support │
│ ✗ Git Backup │
│ │
│ •CAMERA: │
│ ✓ Moonraker Timelapse │
│ ✗ Camera Settings Control │
│ │
│ •REMOTE ACCESS: │
│ ✗ OctoEverywhere │
│ ✗ Obico │
│ ✗ GuppyFLO │
│ ✗ Mobileraker Companion │
│ ✗ OctoApp Companion │
│ ✗ SimplyPrint │
│ │
│ •CUSTOMIZATION: │
│ ✗ Custom Boot Display │
│ ✗ Creality Web Interface │
│ ✗ Guppy Screen │
│ ✗ Creality Dynamic Logos for Fluidd │
│ │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ b) Back to [Main Menu] │
│ q) Exit │
│ │
│ 5.3.0 │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
-
Make the Mainsail interface the default interface now by going to the main menu and choosing
2) Customizethen3) Remove Creality Web Interface -
Finally, reboot the printer by pressing
qto exit the helper script and typerebootand pressenterin the ssh terminal.
Now, you can access mainsail by opening the local IP address of the printer in your web browser.
You'll need to configure the camera in the Mailsail GUI by pressing the gear icons on the top right navigation bar, go to the INTERFACE settings and configure the camera settings like this:
Once everything is configured, your new printer web interface will look like this:
Running Improved Shaper Calibration
After installing the improved shaper calibration tool, it can be run by pressing the INPUT_SHAPER_CALIBRATION macro in the Mainsail interface. This will run a series of tests to determine the best shaper settings for your printer.
Alternatively, you can run the BELTS_SHAPER_CALIBRATION to see the resulting plots.
Summary
The Creality K1C is a great printer for beginners and experienced users alike. It works right out of the box and prints impressively fast. While there is no multi-material system for the Creality K1C and the software ecosystem is not as refined as BambuLabs, the K1C hardware is great and the openness of the software is another benefit for advanced users who might want to use their own slicer and web interface to control the printer. For, currently, $120 less than the BambuLabs P1S, the Creality K1C is a great printer at great value.
Example Prints
Here's a SpaceX Starship model printed K1C. Note that the printer resolution and finish is great. The thin lines are part of the model.
The black parts are printed in SainSmart's high speed PLA:
And here is a timelapse of the silver parts, printed in Coex's Metallic Silver PLA:
Here are the finished parts:
