If you’re in the market for a 3D printer either for hobbyist purposes or even if you’re looking for one for business use, it’s simply hard to go wrong with one of Creality brand’s 3D printers. In the blog below, we’ll explain why we as 3D Printing Store recommend Creality 3D printers. We’ll also educate you about the differences between the various models in the Creality printer range to help you decide which one is best for YOU. Let’s get to it!
First Of All, Why Creality?
The main reason we advise clients to purchase Creality 3D printers is because not only do they offer an impressive level of quality and reliability, they do so at an incredibly reasonable price. As part of our on-demand 3D printing service here at 3D Printing Store, we operate a number of Creality 3D printers nearly continuously. We’ve been continually impressed at the reliability of the printers. For our business, having a printer down is a major issue that affects our ability to fill orders for our customers, so we’re motivated to find reliable printers that won’t let us down.
The out-of-box experience with the Creality printers is another strong point in their favor. We started with 3D printing in the days when you had to assemble a printer from a kit and spend weeks calibrating it to get decent prints. Those days are behind us. In our experience, it takes about an hour to set up a new Creality printer and do the basic calibration steps before trying a test print. These printers work great with very little calibration, which will allow you to get great print quality without spending all of your free time making adjustments.
Finally, if you are looking to print large, Creality has one of the best large format offerings of any consumer 3D printer brand. While these printers do cost substantially more than the smaller entry-level printers, they are much more affordable than other large format printers, which are primarily targeted for the business space.
Right! So Which Creality 3D Printer Is Right For You?
Creality offers a number of different 3D printers, and it can take some time to find the one that is best for you. We have organized the 3D printers into categories to help you determine which one will fit your needs best. In each category, we’ll discuss the various choices and help you make the best decision.
Entry Level
- 220mm build size
- affordable pricing
- Includes the Ender 3 and Ender 5 Pro
Standard
- From 300mm build size
- mid-range pricing
- Includes the Ender 5 Plus and Ender 3 Max
Large Format
Entry Level
If you’re just getting into 3D printing or if price is an important factor in your decision, an entry-level Creality printer will be a good choice. Entry-level machines have a smaller build volume and a lower price--it’s not always better to get a more expensive machine! The most important thing is what you will be using the machine for.
Creality Ender 3 V2
The Creality Ender 3 V2 is one of our favorite 3D printers of 2021. If you’re just getting started with 3D printing or need a second machine for your workshop, this is probably the machine for you.
- 220 x 220 x 250mm print volume (8.6” x 8.6” x 9.8”)
- Popular entry-level choice
- Upgraded version of the highly regarded Ender 3
The Creality Ender 3 V2 is the newest version of the Ender 3. The Ender 3 series of printers has become very popular since their introduction, for good reason. They’re very affordable and offer excellent print quality. With a 220 x 220 x 250 mm (X, Y, Z) print volume, they’re still large enough to print models and small parts, and won’t take up too much space on a desk.
The new V2 model adds several improvements to the classic Ender 3, such as silent motor drivers, an improved print bed surface, and a color LCD display.
The Ender 3 V2 typically comes in at around R6,000 more than the Ender 3, but we think it’s well worth the added cost. With its quiet operation and improved design, this is a premium-feeling printer in an affordable package. It’s one of our top picks for 3D printers in 2021.
Ender 3 series printer. The Ender 3 has an optional glass bed, not shown here. We prefer the glass bed for ease of removing prints and a nicer bottom surface finish.
- 220 x 220 x 250mm print volume (8.6” x 8.6” x 9.8”)
- One of the most popular 3D printers
- Can purchase an optional glass bed for smoother print bases
The Creality Ender 3 is one of the most popular 3D printers on the market, especially for users new to 3D printing. It’s earned its reputation. Its print volume of 220 x 220 x 250mm is a standard size in consumer 3D printers, and it’s compact and easy to fit onto a desk.
There are two models of the Ender 3; the regular Ender 3 and the Ender 3 Pro. Both the 3 and 3 Pro include a slightly rougher bed material which is designed to be more sticky to prevent prints from dislodging. While this does work well, it has the unfortunate problem of making it more difficult to remove prints from the bed after printing. We therefore prefer the glass.
The Ender 5 Pro uses an external frame for added rigidity. This might increase print quality by a small amount, but we don’t feel that this justifies the added cost over the Ender 3.
Creality Ender 5 Pro
- 220 x 220 x 300mm print volume (8.6” x 8.6” x 11.8”)
- Enclosed frame for added rigidity
The Creality Ender 5 series offer similar print volume to the Ender 3 series, but use an enclosed frame design for added stability. This reinforced design is intended to reduce vibrations and shaking during printing, which helps avoid some common problems with larger/taller prints, such as Z-wobble. This design also keeps the print bed stationary in the X and Y dimensions.
The Ender 5 Pro includes a few other upgrades over the Ender 3, such as quieter motor drivers and a magnetically-attached bed surface which can be removed to make print removal easier.
While the Creality Ender 5 series offers features which should improve print quality, we feel that the Ender 3 series (specifically the Creality Ender 3 V2) provides a better value for most users.
Standard
The printers in this category offer a sizeable print bed of 300 x 300 mm. This print volume is becoming more common, but is larger than the majority of 3D printers from other manufacturers. It’s a large enough size to allow you to print most functional parts or models. If you’re not sure which class of printer you should get, we recommend opting for a standard size printer which offers much more versatility than the smaller Entry Level machines.
Ender 3 Max
The Ender 3 Max combines the larger size of the CR-10 series with the affordability and body style of the Ender series
- 300 x 300 x 350mm print volume (11.8" x 11.8" x 13.7")
- Larger Ender series printer with modern updates and affordable price
- Support for aftermarket upgrades such as an auto bed leveling probe
The Ender 3 Max was released in 2020, and combines the large size of the CR-10 with the lower price point and unibody design of the Ender series. It features an improved power supply, quieter motor drivers, and a durable metal extruder assembly, which we always recommend as an aftermarket upgrade for machines that don’t come with one. It also uses dual part cooling fans, which will ensure that the print is cooled evenly.
The Ender 3 Max can be upgraded with auto leveling, but the process is a bit more difficult than other printers such as the CR-10 V2. The Ender 3 max also has 50mm less vertical build volume than CR-10 series printers, but we have found that most parts do not require this extra height in our experience.
Ender 5 Plus
The Creality Ender-5 Plus is the bigger brother of the popular Ender-5 Pro 3D Printer. This printer features a 350 x 350 x 400mm print volume and the latest genuine BL Touch bed leveling sensor. The printer frame is a stable cubic frame for extra stability and is easy to assemble. It comes standard with a filament runout sensor, power outage resume and the new carborandum glass printing surface.
Large Format
One area where Creality really stands out from other 3D printer manufacturers is in the large-format FDM 3D printing category. Their offerings in this category are great machines that are much more affordable than competing options. If your printing needs are larger than the 300 x 300 x 400mm offered by the CR-10 series printers, you’ll want to consider one of these large format machines.
Creality CR-10 Max
The CR-10 Max greatly improves on the design of the CR-10 S4 and S5 by using the new “unibody” design and adding additional reinforcement to the frame. This printer also resolves the heat bed issues from the S4 and S5.
- 450 x 450 x 470mm print volume
- New unibody design reduces printer footprint
- Significant component upgrades over CR-10 S4 and S5
- Improved bed heating over the CR-10 S4 and S5
The Creality CR-10 Max offers major improvements over the other printers in the large-format category. These features come at a price, but the CR-10 Max is still more affordable than most printers in this category from other manufacturers.
Similar to the CR-10S Pro V2 and the CR-X Pro, it features a unibody design with the printer electronics under the machine. With a printer this large, saving any amount of space is helpful. This also means that the CR-10 Max includes Creality’s touchscreen UI, which makes for a much nicer user experience when operating the machine.
The CR-10 Max includes a number of other important component upgrades, such as a dual-gear metal extruder, reinforced frame, and an improved 24V power supply. However, there are two important upgrades that make this our top pick:
- BLTouch auto bed leveling - Auto leveling is a nice convenience on smaller printers, but it is a gamechanger on large format printers. Maintaining a level bed gets more difficult as the bed gets larger, and other large format printers without this feature can be difficult to work with
- Improved heated bed - Critically, the heater on the print bed on the CR-10 Max covers the entire print bed area (in contrast to the CR-10 S5, where it heats only the central 300mm square), and can be heated to 100 degrees Celsius, unlike the CR-10 S4 or S5.
Specialty Printers
Creality CR-30 (3DPrintMill)
- 200 x 170 x ∞ mm print volume (8" x 7" x ∞)
- Unique Belt design allows for infinitely long prints, or continuous printing of smaller parts
- Downside: 45 degree orientation of hot end makes slicing difficult and limits parts you can print with it
- Downside: Built for specific use cases and not suitable as a general purpose printer
The Creality CR-30 is a unique printer in that it has no limit to the length of parts you can print on it, which it accomplishes by printing parts onto a moving Belt, similar to a treadmill. In order to be able to continuously print very long parts, the extruder is oriented at a 45 degree angle. The standard vertical orientation would not work, since each layer would require the printer to traverse the entire length of the long print.
The 45 degree angle was harder than we expected to get used to, especially if you, like us, are already experienced with designing and orienting 3D prints on standard 3D printers. Also, not all slicer software supports belt printers as of this writing, so you will likely need to learn a new slicer (currently, the printer supports a specially modified version of Cura and Ideamaker, among others). For this reason, we don’t recommend this printer unless you are fairly experienced with using and setting up 3D printers.
While the printer is also able to print a single part continuously with no interaction, we have found that the limitations of the 45 degree angle made it so only certain parts with specific geometry were viable to produce. Based on this, we feel that the printer is best suited for applications for very long prints (such as cosplay weapons or long functional parts), which would not be possible at all with other machines.
Resin 3D Printers
Creality LD-002H
The Creality LD-002H is the monochrome screen version of the LD-002R. Monochrome screen means faster printing, longer service life and high resolution. This puts the monochrome printers on the next level of resin printing. The LD-002H is equipped with a 2k resolution monochrome screen and also features a bigger build volume than the predecessors. The structure has also been upgraded to a more sturdy and more accurate design. This all adds up to a better surface finish.
Resin printers are ideal for small very complex parts. The amount of detail that can be printed is insane and this opens up a lot of different possibilities!
The LD-002H works with any 405nm resin.
Specifications
- Printing technology: UV Curing
- Build Volume: 130 x 82 x 160mm
- Max printing speed: 30-50mm/h
- Printing Resolution: 0.03-0.05mm
- Connection mode: USB
- Compatible file format: STL, CTB
- Power Input: 200-240V AC, 50/60Hz, 2A
- Compatible resins: 405nm resins
- Slicing Software: Chitu Box (Included)
- Nett Weight: 8.3kg
- Machine size: 221 x 221 x 403mm
- Shipping Weight: 10kg
- Shipping size: 295 x 295 x 540mm
Creality LD-006
The Creality LD-006 is the bigger brother of the LD-002H. The LD-006 is equipped with a 4k resolution 8.9 inch monochrome screen and offers a big build volume of 192 x 120 x 250mm. The structure has also been upgraded to double linear rails for a more sturdy and more accurate design. This all adds up to a better surface finish.
Resin printers are ideal for small very complex parts. The amount of detail that can be printed is insane and this opens up a lot of different possibilities!
The LD-006 works with any 405nm resin.
Specifications
- Printing technology: UV Curing
- Build Volume: 192 x 120 x 250mm
- Max printing speed: 30-60mm/h
- Printing Resolution: 0.03-0.05mm
- Connection mode: USB
- Compatible file format: STL, CTB
- Slicing Software: Chitu Box (Included)
- Power Input: 200-240V AC, 50/60Hz, 2A
- Compatible resins: 405nm resins
- Nett Weight: 13.5kg
- Machine size: 325 x 290 x 500mm
- Shipping Weight: 18kg
- Shipping size: 430 x 400 x 600mm