The New 3D Printing Thread

Well as the followers of this thread will know, I recently purchased myself an upgrade from my first 3D printer (Creality Ender 3) to a Creality CR10s Pro, fundamentally a similar design, but with all the upgrades I've ever wanted along with better quality and an even bigger build area.

However sods law rules and just about a fortnight after I bought that what comes to my notice?  But a one off Amazon 'Warehouse' deal on a Creality CR-X, 'as new, but with damaged packaging'.  Well normally I wouldn't even consider a 3D printer return, but when I saw it was around half the price of a normal CR-X and knowing the Amazon return policy I decided to splash the cash while I had the chance.

So it arrives and then has been sitting in its box, I did briefly open it to check it and indeed it did all look brand new, including the two unopened 1kg reels of filament it arrives with.  But then I've just not had the time to set it up and have a proper play with it, what with work, 3D designing, prototyping etc, etc...

But this week I'm on leave!! Yah!  So I decide its time to check it out, before the Amazon return window closes, only I find I've had it sitting here for so long the window has already closed <sigh> so with some trepedation I get it out, assemble it and throw the switch.  Great, it boots up all normally, seeks to home and all looks good.  So I then go through the normal calibration stuff like bed levelling, loading filament and then trying a couple of the test prints.  Good news is it seems to work perfectly and the only sign of any use I can find is it has one small mark on the print head protective cover.

Soooo, I guess you're asking why after buying the CR10s Pro was I even interested in this model?  Well to look at in a quick glance it looks almost the same as the CR10s Pro, same build size, same solid base with touch screen, same large build plate, except this has a glass bed rather than an aluminium one, no auto bed levelling.  But here's the rub, it has two extruders feeding in a 'Y' format into the print head and can print dual colour!!

Here's a vid showing a normal 'Benchy' (the usual benchmark print), then a CR-X dual colour one and finally a 'flexy' butterfly.  This latter piece is printed in one piece with the articulation already built in (i.e. no assembly required).  Have to say I can see plenty of scope for what I can do with this and even forgetting the dual colour facility I now have a second large format printer to use