Creality has officially announced the K3 desktop 3D printer.
Back in June, Creality announced a new toolhead technology they call “KliTek”. It’s a way to swap hot ends, rather than entire toolheads, during multicolor print jobs. The technology is Creality’s answer to the low-waste solutions recently released by their competitors: Bambu Lab’s Vortek, Prusa’s INDX, etc.
But in June, it was just a technology, not a 3D printer, and certainly not something you could purchase.
Now that has changed. On Creality’s website, we now see a small “Meet the K3” link at the top, where you are taken to a very detailed page describing the company’s next-generation flagship desktop 3D printer, the K3.
The device’s slogan is “Beyond Nozzles. Conquer Materials”, and as you might guess, it features the new KliTek technology, with a four-nozzle system.
The system is indeed a low-waste solution, as Creality indicates an 85% saving on materials. The reduction in purge time with KliTek also results in, they say, 80% less print time. Note, those figures are comparing the K3’s performance with, presumably, the previous-generation K2 — not their low-waste competitors.
They say that a nozzle change using KliTek on the K3 takes only 4.8 seconds, which is extremely fast. It seems that days-long multicolour print jobs are coming to an end.
One huge advantage provided by the K3 over rival equipment is its ability to mix and match different nozzle diameters in the same print job. This allows you to, for example, print infill quickly with a fat nozzle, but then complete very fine details with a small 0.2mm nozzle. In that scenario, the print job would complete much faster and still maintain exterior surface quality. You can choose between 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 mm KliTek nozzles.
It’s an advantage because the competing systems don’t seem to have enabled this capability yet. I’ve wondered about that, because it should be only a software problem, yet it hasn’t been done as far as I understand.
Another breakthrough is the K3’s ability to handle flexible TPU filaments. Normally, these are problematic to print, even on single-tool systems. But they are generally incompatible with most filament swapping systems: you just can’t push a flexible filament up a PTFE tube very well.
Even those systems that do support some level of TPU materials, you have to print very slowly to avoid jams in the extruder when the flexible filament curls around the gears.
In the K3, Creality seems to have at least partially solved this problem with their new “S-Drive” tech. They say that this hardware, combined with their software, can print TPU 85A and 95A up to 7X faster than competing systems. However, the fine print says that the 7X refers to TPU 95A, and the system maxes out at 15 cubic mm per second — but that is quite a bit faster than many other systems can print TPU.
This is quite a breakthrough, because TPU 85A is sufficiently flexible to be highly useful in many prints, and would be especially welcome in multimaterial objects: imagine a 3D printed brush that has a grippy TPU coating on the handle, for example.
This type of print should now be possible — and fast — on the K3.
Creality chose a four-colour capacity on the K3 specifically to allow for “full spectrum” style 3D printing. This method involves mixing small colour layers to generate new colour blends that appear visually. In other words, the K3 should be able to print vastly more than just four colours in a single job.
The nozzles are of an interesting design. They use a standard USB-C connector, held in by two bolts. This means it should be pretty easy to swap them, if required.
The remaining features on the K3 are pretty standard: 260 cubic mm build volume, AI vision problem detection system, colour touchscreen, etc.
The big question is, when is the K3 available, and what will it cost?
Unfortunately, we don’t know yet. Creality has not released that information. However, it would be a good bet that it shows up on their store within a few weeks or months, since they’d want to get it out before the holiday season.
Via Creality
