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Oh, and CFS needs reels to be a set size - read specs.  And ideally plastic spools, although it can work with cardboard, as long as the edges are good.

TBH it's not a *need* at all. I'm certain that with a new hot end fan (to cure an annoying buzz on startup that goes away after c1min) and some fettling the ender 3 would soldier on no issue, its definitely more of a want. So my *want* factors

Want always = NEED


- not fart-arsing around with a USB/micro SD card any more when I want to print (biggest want)
Virtually all have remote printing now, either via cloud or via LAN, or both.  Creality Flagship series do both.  I do personally seem to get a lot of occasions when the printer seems offline on the LAN, but still online on Cloud, which I think is due to the Wifi briefly disconnecting.  I keep meaning to try a cat5 instead, as I do live in a very, very hostile WiFi area.

- filament enclosure so that I can be lazy during machine down time and not bother removing and storing reels of filament properly.
CFS can do that, *BUT* it's dried via desiccant. I use desiccant crystal that can be reactivated, which I have to pop them in the microwave every week, or more often if I open the CF too regularly to swap spools.

- enclosure to reduce noise - it shares swmbo's office and it's annoying enough to her that I don't print while she's working - which definitely slows production
K1 Max was noisy, I think the way the idea fan was mounting on a perspex side. K2 is not silent, but seems les intrusive *except* nozzle wiping and CFS feed/retract.  Mine is in the box room office I work from (as was the K1, the brilliantly named Artillery Sidewinder X1, and the very noisy Anet)

- enclosure to stabilize temps - we don't heat that room at night so ambient temps can drop to mid-to-low teens this time of year which I wonder if could be affecting reliability
Enclosures also help with other filaments such as ABS. My office stays fairly warm due to all the other shite running, so even recently, hasn't gone under 15C.  K1 has fan to cool the chamber, K2 has an active heater as well.  In both cases, you will need to print a lid riser, and I'd recommend one with vents that can be opened and closed, leaving open for long PLA prints, esp on warm days.

- direct drive and enclosure to allow me to confidently venture beyond pla. Not sure what for yet, but I'm sure ideas will present themselves, just like they did when I got the ender 3.


- better quality to allow me to print scale models - very low level want as I suspect the money spent to improve quality would more than buy a cheapish resin printer that would give vastly superior results.
If you are talking about models to print and paint and display, resin is definitely the way to go.

- ability to 'hot swap' reels of filament when one runs out - an annoyance on larger prints as the pause and swap method on the ender 3 is seriously hot and miss and can easily wreck a print.
CFS does this automatically *IF* the filament is the identical (brand, model and colour). Upon installing a reel, you tell the printer what filament it is and its colour. Or for RFID filaments, it reads it itself. In both cases, it can only do this *BEFORE* a print is started, not during.  I use this all the time - if a spool is looking low, I chuck in another, so it can use up the empty one first, then change to the full one.

- multi filament printing - very very low level want. My son will think it's the coolest thing in the world for about 90s before carrying on with his day.
Do some research on K2 pooping, and the amount it generates.  You will need to print either a poop bin or poop chute with bin.  Plenty of models available, or design yourself.  Be aware that as it changes filament, that causes a CF retraction and CFS feed (obviously), and several nozzle wipes (number seems to depend on how big a colour change), which do make a lot of noise.

If God had intended us to p*ss around trying to talk to software, he wouldn't have given us keyboards and mice.

Don't try to tell me you don't use the voice commands on your car

The XE, well certainly the LoLine fitted to her poverty spec one, doesn't appear to have a voice command to cancel the satnag.  That is REALLY annoying, as means pissing around on the touchscreen trying to find the option.

The only time I use voice command is when I tell it to STFU, if it suddenly decides to interrupt a conversation that is none of it's business.

And according to the ffluid interface, it's now done 6592.80 m of filament. Unclear if that's the incoming 1.75mm filament or the distance the head has moved when extruding at 0.4mm.  I'll do a test print and try to work it out

That appears to be incoming 1.75mm, rather than the 0.4mm extruded.  Which seems about right, as I've probably run 20 1kg reels through it, and its around 325-350m per spool....

TBH it's not a *need* at all. I'm certain that with a new hot end fan (to cure an annoying buzz on startup that goes away after c1min) and some fettling the ender 3 would soldier on no issue, its definitely more of a want. So my *want* factors

- not fart-arsing around with a USB/micro SD card any more when I want to print (biggest want)
- filament enclosure so that I can be lazy during machine down time and not bother removing and storing reels of filament properly.
- enclosure to reduce noise - it shares swmbo's office and it's annoying enough to her that I don't print while she's working - which definitely slows production
- enclosure to stabilize temps - we don't heat that room at night so ambient temps can drop to mid-to-low teens this time of year which I wonder if could be affecting reliability
- direct drive and enclosure to allow me to confidently venture beyond pla. Not sure what for yet, but I'm sure ideas will present themselves, just like they did when I got the ender 3.
- better quality to allow me to print scale models - very low level want as I suspect the money spent to improve quality would more than buy a cheapish resin printer that would give vastly superior results.
- ability to 'hot swap' reels of filament when one runs out - an annoyance on larger prints as the pause and swap method on the ender 3 is seriously hot and miss and can easily wreck a print.
- multi filament printing - very very low level want. My son will think it's the coolest thing in the world for about 90s before carrying on with his day.

Like you I'd looked at Bambu and thought they embodied all the lock-ins I dislike about the apple ecosystem, with the added disadvantage they seemed expensive like for like compared to other brands.

And according to the ffluid interface, it's now done 6592.80 m of filament. Unclear if that's the incoming 1.75mm filament or the distance the head has moved when extruding at 0.4mm.  I'll do a test print and try to work it out

K2 Plus with 3 CFS units is going well, now that I've overcome the TPU issues - I printed some PETG shims to reduce extruder pressure, which prevents jams (and without modifying anything, so no further adjustments when swapping to other filaments apart from sliding out the shim), and need to remember to remove the TPU from hotend once print is complete, although annoyingly it seems to cut the filament sometimes at the end, which makes it impossible to remove without removing the extruder.

The only other issue is on some tall prints, particularly when printing thin walls, I sometimes get weird banding effects every few mm - I think the printhead may be pulling on the print causing this, not sure there is a remedy or is anything else would fair better.

It's definitely an improvement on the K1 Max I had and have now given away. Not enough of an improvement to warrant an upgrade unless you need the K2 Plus's larger print area, just more refined.

Like all Creality, it's a pain to swap nozzles. Not so much that if a nozzle fails its hard work, but if you like to swap between different nozzle sizes, definitely a pain.

I looked at the Bambu X1 when I bought the K1 Max, but immediately discarded it because it seemed utterly reliant on Bambu's cloud service, even just to print wirelessly.  I try to avoid stuff reliant on cloud services, as it allows that company to suddenly charge you, or control when you can't use the printer any more, or stop it working if they go tits up.  Creality Cloud is a horrible mess as well, but not essential to wireless printing from the same LAN.  Though the smaller Bambu printers are more competitively priced, it could be worth a punt.


I will say, if using multicolour CFS units, they do need a lot of space above to open them.  Bambu's AMS looks the same, though never seen an AMS in the flesh.


I'll add, the K1/K2 can't really do anything else that your Ender can do.  Might be a little faster, and less hassle and easier for those problematic filaments.  So have a ponder what you want from it.  Do you need multicolour (as that has a number of pitfalls itself)? Do you need the extra speed? Or is it just an Ender with a larger print area?

(Because reading SMS messages while driving is apparently bad, whilst reading an essay that comes up on the screen about how it's bad to read SMS messages while driving must apparently be OK).

A bit like the sat nag warnings for the same, but it appeases the do-gooders, and its probably called Little Johnnie's Law, as all such shit has to be now.

All 3D Printers aren't quite consumer ready, set and forget.  I don't think the Ender 3 is that bad - it's built to a budget, so you'll find that you upgrade parts anyway to improve it, right up until the point you get a CoreXY type printer, and start all over again

Well, I think today might be that day! 

Having run the ender 3 for almost exactly two years I'm getting the itch to upgrade. Something with a slightly bigger print volume would be handy (a lot of off the shelf stuff seems setup for Bambu' 255mm cubed). I also would like some ease of fettling - ie less faff when stripping a nozzle/print head down, and direct drive would be nice 🤣.

How are you getting on with the K2 TB? I don't think I'd want or need the max, unless it's a cheap upgrade.

Ha ha good idea, it will only take them a minute or two while you walk away muttering 🤣🤣