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Creality K2 Combo Review - I'm Replacing my Bambu X1
Feb 19, 2025
Buy the Creality K2 Here: https://geni.us/CrealityK2 UPDATE: I've gone back to my X1 for now, i;m just sick of errors in Crealitry Slicer and it's annoying me that this is so opposite to the workflow I use on other printers (Orca/Bambu Studio or other similar derivites) Once Orca is fully workking with the CFS, I'll be using this full time unless something else comes out of equal size and a better workflow. Still a great printer for anyone who wants One Printer, but the Slicer differences and bugs annoy me too much to have this as my primary machine right now. 3D Printer Cleaning Mat: https://geni.us/3DPrinterCleaningMat (This and all Amazon links in our video description are affiliate links. Clicking these and making any purchase will earn us a commission from Amazon at no cost to you) This Video is part of our series looking for the Best 3D printer for Miniatures; https://www.fauxhammer.com/top-10/the-best-3d-printer-for-miniatures-models/ Get any printer working easily with the Photonsters XP Range Finder - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6023738 (watch my video for full instructions https://youtu.be/Gm0-z971tgY) Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_9Jsf3SP8aMJgn0xv5jHjA/join Buy WARGAMER - The best Resin for Miniatures https://yesthats3dprinted.com/pages/wargamer?ref=FauxHammer Artis Opus FauxHammer Essentials Set: https://store.artis-opus.com/products/fauxhammer-mixed-brush-set-5-brush-deluxe FauxHammer Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/PaintHub
View Video Transcript
0:00
I had a lot of questions about City's
0:02
latest enclosed core XY printer is it
0:05
good will it replace my current favorite
0:07
fdm printer and why the did I lift
0:09
its 40 kg onto my worktop just to show
0:13
the box I think if we cut to the chase
0:15
the biggest question is whether or not
0:17
creality have been the first to properly
0:19
Trump Bamboo's two years of domination
0:22
or whether this is just another cheap
0:24
large clone and honestly I'm kind of
0:26
hoping it's the former so we can all
0:27
move on from the is this better than
0:29
bamboo thumbnails that yes we're all
0:32
doing anyway honestly there's many ways
0:35
that I think this exceeds even the X1
0:38
but there is one small and I'm going to
0:41
say up front now and not you
0:42
it's a minor thing where it's clear that
0:46
some things haven't quite fully clicked
0:48
for creality but it's so damn close
0:51
we'll get into all that hi I'm Ross and
0:54
this is f Hammer videos now my
0:56
relationship with creality printers have
0:58
been love hate I've generally enjoyed
1:00
the machines themselves but a lot of the
1:03
ancillary stuff around it with the
1:04
overreliance on so many different models
1:07
on the market and messy applications
1:10
have been an element I've often referred
1:12
to as caless and it's never been meant
1:15
in the most positive of ways but the K2
1:17
genuinely is a clear sign of a new way
1:20
for the brand from unboxing to use this
1:22
has been an absolute joy to use and I
1:25
genuinely hope this is the start of a
1:27
new modern creality let's walk through
1:30
it unboxing can be tricky because it's
1:33
heavy aside the cardboard This is 40
1:35
kilos which is near on 90 to1 something
1:39
like that I don't know how pounds work I
1:41
use them to spend to buy things here in
1:44
the UK anyway this weight is about the
1:47
same as my doctor probably suggests I
1:49
should lose but included within this
1:51
weight is the CFS and a couple of small
1:53
rolls of filament just to get you
1:55
started along with some packaging and
1:58
various plastic retainers setup is
2:00
straightforward unbolt the CFS and then
2:02
unbolt some retainer clips and then
2:04
unbolt the bed and as small as a benefit
2:07
as it is I was genuinely happy to see
2:10
that every bolt you remove along with
2:12
all the bolts I use to connect things
2:14
like the filament reel holder all have
2:17
the same 2.5 mm hex head so there's no
2:21
need to Fumble around with different
2:22
tools despite reality providing a
2:25
decently stocked tool case with this
2:27
machine once you've got it out just
2:29
attach the screen and the side filament
2:30
reel holder plug it in and you're pretty
2:33
much good to go walk through the
2:35
onscreen setup guide connect to Wi-Fi
2:37
and creality Cloud if you like and then
2:40
it's ready to print now if you get this
2:42
as a combo with the CFS that CFS
2:44
connection is a bit of a longer process
2:47
but I do want to talk about that
2:48
separately because it's got its own
2:49
features and I suspect there'll be some
2:51
people out there getting a K2 Plus
2:53
without the add-on now I have to say I
2:56
was immediately impressed by the build
2:58
quality the sturdy metal frame which
2:59
which clearly adds to the overall weight
3:02
is very indicative of a unit that should
3:04
last a long time it's got an almost
3:06
redundant USB port covered on the right
3:09
hand side and I say redundant because
3:11
Network and in regard to network yeah
3:13
it's got ether a it's also got the power
3:15
socket on the back and it's got built-in
3:17
Wi-Fi too one thing I'd like to have
3:19
seen is slightly adjustable feet and I
3:22
have actually seen a couple of
3:23
unfortunate reports of the existing feet
3:26
sharing off in shipping for some people
3:28
and the only solution seems to be a
3:30
thread extractor to get the remaining
3:32
parts of the screw out and then a new
3:34
bolt to put it back on but as someone
3:37
whose hobby is 3D printing more than 3D
3:40
printers again the tech stuff just
3:42
doesn't excite me the things that I love
3:45
are mostly just the nice convenience
3:47
features so it's got dual Park calling
3:50
fans either side of the chassis which
3:51
are great and it's also got dual VOC
3:54
filters at the back of the machine and
3:56
what I love about this the most is that
3:59
they can also be used to cool the
4:00
chamber which means no longer do I need
4:03
to have the glass lid off or the door
4:05
open just to ensure my filament doesn't
4:07
get too hot so when compared to the K1
4:09
or any other open printer this
4:12
significantly dampens those fan noises
4:15
to the point that I'm comfortable
4:17
sharing a room with it not like that but
4:20
anyway the point is the CFS itself
4:22
changing filament is actually louder
4:24
than the printer and this also has a
4:26
heater between those exhaust fans too so
4:29
for tougher filaments it can heat the
4:31
chamber up to 60° it's got some usual
4:34
modern stuff like the Pei plate slides
4:36
into place easily and the hot end has an
4:38
easily removable cover for better access
4:41
to the components that frequently need
4:43
maintenance or Replacements which is an
4:45
upgrade from the K1 series and speaking
4:47
of Maintenance the dual lead screws on
4:49
either side of the print plate are much
4:52
simpler to get access to for cleaning
4:54
and regreasing when compared to what
4:56
I've seen on similar printers but it's
4:58
work reality have included the CFS that
5:01
really impresses me and this is intended
5:04
to be backward compatible with the last
5:07
year of Cali printers too once they get
5:09
round to releasing the conversion
5:11
Hardware packs for them now setup of
5:13
this was also straightforward thanks to
5:15
every part being clearly labeled okay
5:18
the translation isn't that great but the
5:19
pictograms make it obvious where
5:21
everything goes and with the Hub
5:22
included you can actually connect up to
5:24
three additional CFS units for a total
5:27
of 16 automatic material changes in in
5:29
one print now one thing I've just got to
5:31
say and this isn't about this printer
5:33
but just these in general we really need
5:36
to pick a brand agnostic acronym for all
5:38
these different filament loading systems
5:40
we now have AMS acce mmu whatever elegu
5:44
plan to make and now CFS for creality
5:47
filament system and again I'm not
5:49
blaming creality here but I just don't
5:51
think we need this many names for what
5:53
is essentially the same thing across
5:55
different brands now personally I prefer
5:58
AMS or mmu because AMS was the first one
6:01
I had and mmu just means multimaterial
6:03
unit it's agnostic on its own anyway
6:05
rant over what's your preference let me
6:07
know in the comments but yeah I really
6:10
like this not only does it come across
6:11
as a better sealed unit than other units
6:14
which should increase the likelihood of
6:16
filament staying dry and it supports
6:19
both the plastic and all the cardboard
6:21
spools that have used the accessibility
6:23
of Parts the way it connects up to the
6:25
K2 and the way you load the filament a
6:28
marked improvement over the competition
6:31
now it does have a built-in temperature
6:33
and humidity sensor which is on the
6:35
front display but you need to know it's
6:37
not a heated system it won't dry your
6:39
filament out there are two recesses at
6:41
the bottom to hold desicant bags for
6:44
this purpose but yeah it's the little
6:46
things like the flexible hoses to load
6:48
the filament into where the bamboo AMS
6:50
could often do with a printed guide or
6:53
the lever on the back of the CFS Hub
6:55
which lets you easily remove the PTFE
6:57
tube and swap over to the side Ed re
7:00
should you want to use a filament like
7:02
TPU a material which is notorious for
7:05
being trouble in these loader systems I
7:08
think due to the size of the K2 plus
7:10
though I'd have actually liked to have
7:11
seen them extend the width of this CFS
7:13
to add a fifth reel which would have
7:16
both trumped the existing four-color
7:18
systems and matched the number of reels
7:20
available at once on the prer XL but I
7:23
expect it was kept this size for what I
7:26
presume is an upcoming K2 normal that's
7:29
just a guess but it makes sense to have
7:31
a lower cost version as a direct rival
7:33
right another handy feature I like is
7:35
that creality have even included an RFID
7:38
reader on the side of the printer so
7:40
changing filament on that side reel when
7:43
using a roll with a compatible RFID tag
7:46
is as simple as scanning it across the
7:48
reader and when you hear a beep it's
7:50
been read and you just Mount The Reel as
7:52
normal and I'm saying compatible R FID
7:54
tags because right now these only work
7:57
with creality filaments but it would be
7:59
nice to see the industry adopt a
8:01
standard of RFID data across all
8:04
material Brands but if you are using
8:06
filament with no RFID tag it doesn't
8:09
matter if you're using the CFS or the
8:11
side reel you can actually configure
8:12
this manually in the UI to tell it what
8:15
the material type is and the color I'm
8:17
going to come back to the UI in in a in
8:20
a minute with this being a multimaterial
8:22
unit it does of course have a purge
8:24
shoot coming out the back commonly known
8:26
as a poop shoot but I don't want to be
8:28
too crass in my video
8:30
well I want to be crass on my terms but
8:32
next to this is also a really handy
8:34
rubberized nozzle cleaner with little
8:37
rubber teeth which personally I think is
8:39
much better and more easily replaceable
8:42
than the little nodule thing on the
8:44
bamboo lab machines now I've got to be
8:46
honest I'm not the biggest user of
8:48
multicolor printing because I just don't
8:50
like the waste of both material and time
8:53
I'd rather print Parts in separate
8:54
colors and stick them together like I
8:56
did on my K1 reviews but there just
8:58
aren't many designers out there making
9:00
models that way I am however a big fan
9:03
of these systems autoloading the
9:05
filament for me and when I've got two of
9:07
the same material loaded it's swapping
9:10
To The Next One automatically when one
9:11
runs out but honestly the handiest
9:14
feature I noticed of this machine as
9:16
Tiny as it is is the same thing I
9:19
noticed on the K1 you see when you're
9:21
printing you can often get errant bits
9:23
of filament loose in the chamber heck
9:25
when it does it's often the pre-print
9:27
calibration that I just PE off and throw
9:30
below the bed so the fact that the base
9:32
of the printer is level with the door
9:34
frame it's a small thing but it means
9:37
you can easily slide out these errant
9:39
bits of crud without having to dig
9:41
around inside yeah small stuff but it's
9:45
handy over time especially for lazy
9:47
people like me who just leave crap here
9:49
this has other great modern features too
9:51
like a 1080p camera used for both
9:54
time-lapse creation and spaghetti
9:56
detection though I do think the fixed
9:58
angle of the camera is a bit high for
10:01
time lapses because it cuts off the
10:03
bottom of your print before it's even
10:05
reached a third of the build height
10:07
there is a second camera in these
10:08
machines and it's actually inside the
10:10
print head itself which replaces the K1
10:12
Max's liar sensor which apparently was
10:15
meant to come to the other k1s but never
10:17
did but this isn't directly monitorable
10:20
it's only used by the system firmware to
10:22
calibrate flow rate and pressure Advance
10:25
which are two great features to ensure
10:27
your filament output is spot on honestly
10:30
I think this is one of the reasons why
10:32
these modern printers are more plug
10:33
andplay most of the time now all you
10:36
need to do is get the temperature right
10:38
which for most materials it commonly is
10:41
so with all these great features when I
10:43
look at the usability of this machine up
10:45
against something like my bamboo X1 well
10:48
I've got to say this not only Stacks up
10:51
and is a larger machine than anything
10:53
they offer in a few simple ways they've
10:55
done what no other brand has done yet
10:58
and actually G Beyond bamboo in terms of
11:01
some of the functional Hardware design
11:03
so what's the catch well I've got to be
11:06
honest it's the software again now don't
11:08
get me wrong creality have done some
11:10
wonders with their phone app for one I
11:13
used to frequently complain that this
11:15
was a very unintuitive mess designed
11:17
more to make you spend money on some
11:19
weird t-u style creality storefront with
11:22
tokens and crap but this has since been
11:25
tidied up significantly but I did still
11:27
have a couple of issues where the just
11:29
wouldn't connect to my camera to check
11:31
on the print and I'm not going to
11:34
complain about the UI I mean I can't
11:35
complain about the UI because this is
11:38
such a direct copy of the UI on the
11:41
bamboo X1 it's it's almost like for like
11:44
including color like I don't want to
11:46
have a go at this but I can't not call
11:48
it out for being so on the nose I
11:51
suppose if it's not broke don't fix it
11:53
is that the right analogy no if if good
11:57
artists imitate great artists steal so
11:59
if creality are an artist yeah yeah copy
12:03
the UI maybe this is a clip of standard
12:05
I don't know but the thing I'm not the
12:07
biggest fan of is creality print now
12:10
again it's usable sure but it's got a
12:12
lot of the aforementioned creality so
12:16
for those who aren't aware this is based
12:18
on Orca slicer which is a good thing
12:21
Orca slicer is based on bamboo studio
12:24
and that is based on prer slicer and the
12:27
bamboo element in all this creat created
12:29
what I would call a more visually
12:31
streamlined workflow it's a little thing
12:34
but like having the settings on the left
12:36
the editing in the middle and the output
12:38
Data before you send it to print on the
12:40
right you know in the order of input
12:42
process output in that left to right
12:44
Journey it worked creality have now
12:47
reversed this back to what it was with
12:49
prer slicer and well I just don't like
12:52
it in the same way an old man would yell
12:53
at a cloud and there were a few odd bugs
12:56
as well like at one point I tried to
12:57
delete a part because it had started
12:59
failing mid print but I couldn't
13:01
actually navigate round that part of the
13:04
UI in the network connection to do it is
13:07
that an own Ora book or is it is it
13:09
something reality have done I I just
13:11
don't like it at all but yeah I think in
13:14
this area and a few people have pointed
13:16
it out creality have got a few bugs to
13:18
sort out and they need to improve this
13:21
software they could do with just going
13:23
back to how it was and changing The
13:25
Branding I think that would have been a
13:26
bit better for everyone I genuinely feel
13:29
we don't need this many differing slices
13:33
on the platform when they're all based
13:34
on each other and then we're changing
13:36
the interface but I get how getting used
13:39
to one potentially not locks you into a
13:43
Brand's ecosystem but holds you a bit
13:46
more riant on that Brand's ecosystem and
13:49
not wanting to go elsewhere which is
13:51
good for the brand but not for everyday
13:55
users who might want to chop and change
13:56
printers every few years depending on
13:58
who who got the best one there's so many
14:01
elements of the printer and the hardware
14:02
where they've taken what exists already
14:04
and made it better but in my opinion
14:06
creality print they've taken Orca slicer
14:08
which is great and made it worse so now
14:12
there's the bit that I need to say to
14:14
cover my ass is just the fact that we've
14:16
got Cali's history of quality to
14:20
consider but we aren't going to truly
14:22
understand where this machine faes until
14:24
a good year or so into its life and on
14:27
the whole the k1s have been pretty
14:30
decent but honestly I think this is a
14:33
great machine and since I've only got
14:34
room to store one in my office to use
14:37
yeah I'm actually going to be replacing
14:39
my bamboo X1 with the K2 plus and that's
14:42
not any kind of political anti- bamboo
14:45
thing based on what they've done
14:46
recently it's just that I've got this
14:49
printer this printer does what the
14:51
bamboo printer does for me but this one
14:54
gives me more print volume and it's also
14:57
got potentially more upgradeability too
14:59
because this is more open source it
15:01
means that the more technical users out
15:03
there can connect to it and use it in
15:05
whatever ways they like so yeah whilst
15:08
I'm not going to be Pro or anti- recent
15:10
changes from other brands because
15:12
despite my own views on it I have to
15:15
remain objective as a reviewer I would
15:17
say it was probably a bad time for
15:19
bamboo to release an update which makes
15:21
their machines more restrictive with
15:24
things like this coming
15:26
out let's just see where it goes shall
15:29
we there's still some software work to
15:31
do here but I'm going to trust slh hope
15:34
that creality are on the right path
15:37
seeing them Implement a more upto-date
15:39
technical Wiki is a decent step in the
15:42
right direction too I think it's a bit
15:44
too early to tell where this one's going
15:45
to end up because there's a lot of
15:47
competition on the horizon but this is
15:50
certainly one that's on track to
15:52
becoming the new Top Dog and putting
15:53
creality back at the head of the home
15:56
user market and it's been a while since
15:58
the Ender do you think we'll see a
15:59
smaller K2 let me know in the comments I
16:01
want to say thanks for watching with a
16:03
huge thanks going to our members who are
16:05
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16:07
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16:11
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16:14
quote fa hammer out
16:20
[Music]