3D printing got more good – the ‘Creality K1C’ is fit for purpose and ticks many boxes

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If you’ve DNA that aches to invent or make things, a 3D printer can deal with that need. Or if you’ve concern for the education of kids, these printers impress as learning tools. Or if you couldn’t find a needed thing on ebay, were that possible, you might decide to make it. I said all this when I bought my first 3D printer in 2019 but I gained a hobby I couldn’t recommend without warnings*.

The Creality K1C 3D printer arrived in 2024 as an updated version of the Creality K1. The K1 feature set was highly desirable except that the product had flaws and was universally criticised. Better go buy its Bambulab competitor they said – but for reasons below, I’m glad I waited for the Creality K1C.

• If you value 3D printing but don’t have enough uses for a printer consider outsourcing this. For example, you can send files to firms such as PCBway and they will print your things using methods you’ll not have at home.
• * In 2019 I needed 30 copies of a plastic part that ebay listed at £20 each so I bought an ANET A8 plus to make them. The ‘Anet A8 kit’ was an icon of its time, making 3D printing affordable to all (£150) and you learned lots as you assembled the printer. Six months later I discovered that more success could be had with a Creality 3D Ender 3 Pro and seeing that on a sale (£155) my original ideas could at last be fulfilled. Furthermore I attached a Raspberry Pi 3 to this printer and used Octopi, a server app, to control it. It worked and provided solutions. It needed a lot of maintenance, but also lots of days to print anything good and strong.

why the Creality K1C impressed

• The Creality K1C looks like a proper enclosed 3D printer but costs much less. Its case protects against dust, reduces noise and looks less clunky in a home office. The enclosure is required for printing with some plastics.
• The first ten or so models that I printed are not at all shabby and look really presentable. These models were downloaded from websites such as Thingiverse; Creality Cloud; Prusa Printables. You can make your own models using an online tool such as Autodesk Tinkedcad or an open-source tool called Blender. Many 3D CAD applications allow you to draw an object and save it for printing in 3D.
• Having drawn or acquired a model you use Creality Print software on your laptop/desktop to tweak and slice it into layers that will be printed. This intermediate step is needed to orient the model or scale it and more. Creality Print software is versatile. It can open and save numerous file formats that used to require other tools to convert them into the correct form.
• Bed levelling and printer calibration are handled with a one-button routine. A camera is built-in the machine to monitor printing progress. A touch screen on the front of the printer initiates calibration, printing and maintenance although you can do this from your desktop PC. Internally the Creality K1C runs Klipper software – which offers awesome flexibility (needed only once you’re into the hobby).
• This is a networked printer with its own wifi. You send models to it via Creality Print app or a browser and/or phone app and/or Creality Cloud website. You can receive print finished notifications, watch printing in progress as well as record printing as a time lapse video. The video can be shared as a link eg via Whatsapp. This range of killer features was set up in minutes and hasn’t failed me. You can use either or both versions of the Creality Cloud phone app – one does the job, one does the job with more notifications than some people want.
• The K1C can print special materials such as PLA-CF; PETG-CF, ABS and possibly more. The CF (carbon fibre) additive gives a smooth matt finish – it’s hard but not as strong as PETG or ABS. For speed and good looks I print with matt finish PLA; PLA-CF which also has a smooth matt finish. For stronger parts I’ll use PETG. For flexible parts I’ll use TPU which is notoriously tricky. For seriously strong parts I’ll use ABS or Nylon which are also tricky.
• You can spend less on a printer – as above I bought two printers before I was satisfied with this one.

• It’s very fast, several times faster than many printers available in 2024. If you’ve never been near this hobby then printing will seem slow – a 4cm object consists of about 240 layers and can take 2 hours to print. Compare this with a regular paper printer needing to print 240 pages of a design layer by layer – that would take just 6 minutes and the printer would jam at least once.
• It’s from Creality meaning it’s more open-source, more open to third party modification and with less costly spare parts. The market area around competitor Bambulabs is more tightly controlled. You’ll know what I mean if you know how Linux, Windows and Apple systems differ in their approach to open markets.
• Changing the filament so that you can use a different plastic is much better than the older setups I’ve used. It is fairly easy to swop in a new roll of filament but there’s still a knack to it.
• Getting printing models to adhere to the printing bed (and be removable) seems to be entirely possible by simply wiping the printing bed with glue-stick (cf Pritt stick). The magnetic print bed is now easier to position correctly, thanks to two locating screws.

can’t you think of any any negatives?

For a critical reviewer, bringing more experience I’d point you to Daniel’s ‘CROSSLINK’ channel on YouTube. This is a search link for that. I’ll post one of his critiques which I considered held no deal breakers for me.