K1 Max Review: The Printer We HATED 

We were *this* close to greatness

the thing with the partial Clog is caused by the bowdentube-angle into the extruder and then the extruder f%&king up. Had that issue twice in the first 2 days, then printed a riser for the top glass and a small guide for the filament tube and since then the problem disappeared immediately. Now like 300h + without issues.

I've heard people say Bambu printers don't really hold up well long term and their customer service is bad. What has your experience been with them, since you've had them in your print farm for so long, with many hours of use?

I had the same issues when i was printing with the top on, removing the top fixed all issues for me

Damn I was really hoping this was going to be a good printer. I’ve been wanting to jump on to the bambu bandwagon but the smaller build area kinda kills it for me.

Change to tree support and also in the slicer settings you can set the gap between the print and supports.

Yeah, the K1 series (k1 and k1 max) have hotend and extruder issues that are supposedly fixed with replacement parts. Creality didn't do enough field testing before releasing it. In terms of support, you can use Orca or Bambu Studio with the printer using third party profiles. The support settings should be better in that setup than in Creality Print.

Look at the Qidi X Max 3 or X plus 3. They work fabulous. Basically perfectly tuned profiles out of the box

I think most of these problems are on you, no? Like, why does your choice for supports reflect on the printer? That makes me think you don't know much about 3d printing.

I'm sure the machine is a big part of this, but the areas you show concern over look like slicer settings? Just asking - not trying to be insulting - but are you drying and doing some basic calibrations (temp, flow) prior to these big prints? Zyltech filament is pretty cheap and I find I have to dry it before use and do a few short test prints to dial in the correct flow and temp settings on the machine it is used on. I just did some testing with their Ceramic White PLA last night and found I had to dial back the flow to 93% to get an accurate bead width. Hope this helps!

I got the K1 back in the beginning of summer. After waiting for the hopeful bugs and kinks to be fixed. I was super disappointed tho in the end because my K1 had all of the initial bugs... Atrocious panel gaps and belt path. No camera, no air filter, and dont even get me started with the software. I returned it that same week for a P1S and I couldnt be happier. The P1S is everything I dreamed of and more.

Only person I’ve seen have trouble with this printer. 🤔

I'm not having any of those issues with mine. You should review your parameters. I'm not hating my K1 Max, in fact I'm quite happy. I'm printing mechanical prototypes, and doing awesome with the tolerances. My only advice would be, DO NOT USE CREALITY FILAMENTS, and also I do not print at 600 mm/s. That should be it. Sorry I can't like your video, since I'm not having any of those complications with my printer, and I seriously think the problem is your setup. And no, none of those helmets are complex models.

You should send this helmet file to Frankly Built to have him try it on his K1. Maybe you have a faulty unit, and this would let you know right away.

got a k1 max running straight out of the box . but have seen mixed reviews. looking for a way to use the lid to keep the noise level down but can't use it with pla

I've had my K1 Max for 7 months and yet to have any issues. I use Orcaslicer with it. My supports come out so clean. I run regular PLA at the speed Creality recommends on the label inside the door with no problems. I also pulled all but one clip that holds the Bowden tube to the cable chain off. And no lid unless printing ABS.

As someone who is also doing Halo props, I appreciate the review. Guess I'll stick with my X1C. Hopefully Bambu will release a printer with a bigger build plate.

Appreciate the honesty and you make a good point on it not being a turnkey product as it should be for the price. I've seen some reviews where guys had better luck but they had to manually level the bed by doing modifications but that would not fix the support sticking issues you described and showed. What did you end up replacing the older gen printers with in your farm?

I have not had good luck with Creality. I got a printer that worked fine for a week, then just stopped staying level. Support could not figure it out either. I ended up just returning it and getting something different.

There are two types of makers, one that is OK with a company making turn key closed source product, and one who is not. Nothing is comparable to the bambu printers, because the bambu printers are locked down. When they stop making parts for the "older models", you will officially have a paper weight. With as many reviewers out there showing significantly better results on their K1 Max's, this video paints a picture that all of the issues he had were users error. Supports not releasing from a part well is 100% a settings issue, not a printer issue. Also, clogged nozzles are purely the result of worn nozzles or shitty filament, one of those i highly doubt caused the issue.

Same situation here, im just in the process of replacing all of my bed slingers machines with a next gen printer. And just waiting for the moment where bambu labs will announce a bigger printer, but it really seems like they are going to announce a small printer on the 20th 😢

I have both the K1 C and the K1 Max, and so far as the K1 Max is concerned, I had an issue with the filament getting stuck in the Bowden tube, and it wouldn’t push through the filament run out sensor, so I had to take the Bowden tube off of the filament run out sensor, then pushed it out with another filament while it was detached from the filament run out sensor, then replaced the Bowden tube into the filament run out sensor, and put the filament back in the tube that I am currently printing, and it worked perfectly. My K1C was just replacing the hot end and replacing it with the Micro Swiss hot end, and it works perfectly fine as well.

I know it's not supposed to be this way, but I'm wondering if it is the slicer? I'm thinking the firmware should be open source and tangentially, open to other slicers like PrusaSlicer and Orca. But yes, I wholeheartedly agree with you - 2023 printers should work as expected, out of the box. Tweaks should only move it from good to great.

I was going to get a k1 but so many bad reviews. I ended up with an elegoo 3 plus. Its not the fastest but the default settings are awesome

I used orca slicer seems to make a better quality print. Also if you remove the top cover this will resolve the clogs when using PLA.

Irony, this video was followed by a Creality ad. 😂 Man, I was rooting for it... but darn.

699 micro center way better price than buying a bambu. yeah can get the p1s or p1p but they dont come with alot of features the k1 max has. seem like a bambu master race review

I got the k1 & the printer is good . But the extruder is crap & the hot end is the biggest piece of junk i have ever had . Than the service help from creality ....WHAT A JOKE.... every thing was my fault . setting's filament ..what ever other crap they could palm me of with .... I have a ender 3 pro & have never had a problem in the time i have had it NONE stop working on all kind's of things . DO NOT BUY A K1 ... & the after sales service is SHIT...

So.... did you print with the lid on or off?

I had purchased a K1 and a K1 Max, Just a horrible experience with both machines. That combined with the terrible slicer and extremely bad customer support made me realize what a huge mistake that I had made. I ended up selling both machines for a fraction of what I paid, and replaced them with a couple of Bambu Lab P1S printers, My experience with Bambu has been so much different!. I will never buy a Creality product again

Just got this bad boy a week ago and while I havent tried a 36 hour print yet.. its been friggin amazing.

If I am going to own a printer that requires a bunch of time.....I will choose a Voron 2.4. At least when that printer is done and dialed in, it is fantastic. This one is not for me.

have you tried ABS? why those enclosed machine ABS is easy to print and easier to sand than PLA. You could give it a try

I am seeing so many mixed reviews on the k1 and k1 max but thy are becoming mostly negative nowadays and I can agree because my k1 out of the box lasted one print and then jammed and this was no ordinary jam somehow molten plastic flowed back into the extruder, somehow mid print, causing the gears to weld themselves to each other and there’s molten plastic all the way through the hot end and even in the cooling park so even if I heat up the I couldn’t unplug it so back to Creality it went

Dang this was going to be my last review before pulling the trigger I really wish it went well. Gotta cross my fingers for a new bambu!

lol the supports fusing to the print is such an easy fix. turn on support interface cooling higher. and also increase support x/y distance. all user issues.

The kobra 2 Max seems look great. 3d printing nerd just released a vid so I say look to him to see how he’s getting on maybe send a file to him to do a test print and see if that it works for you(it’s also a 42x42x50 buildzone) and does average speed of 300mm

glad i didnt jump on this ship. stayed with my bedslingers until new generations came out

Most errors look like slicer errors. And the clog issue there is a fix for (a riser for the top glass). But you can send the printer to me if you are unhappy with it :D With that said, I think Creality needs to iron out the kinks in the K1 Max and it will be a winner.

You know so much about 3D printing that you didnt know to open the lid and or door to print PLA filament. xD

Take off the top, once i did that I didn’t have any clogs. The top push down on the extruder tube

Since you're printing PLA, did you open the lid like you're supposed to? You didn't mention it at all in the video, and every shot of the printer shows it with the lid on. Your issues could perhaps have been caused by user error?

I just saw your Captain Enoch, and he is incredible. When are you going to design the plans for the Stormtrooper. I would like to cosplay the Night Trooper

I was going to go to town and buy one today, ($1000.00 Canadian) But after seeing your video.... Nope.

I love my K1 MAX. best printer I have but I haven't tried bambu labs.

Now im second guessing on getting one, my Anycubic 2 Max works fine but wanted an enclosed printer

Try to calibrate the flow , download the speed a little bit , calibrate resonace compencetion and presure advance , try again

It's funny how every other content creator's have used this machine and have no problems, and rated it really well. I wouldn't be surprised if is a paid to rate it low video.

Best large form printer to easily bring up to that level, TwoTrees SP-5 Saturn Plus for £300, Core XY, 5 x 12mm square linear rails, new direct extruder, maybe lighten x axis linear rail removing 30-40% material a slot in the rear if going extreme CNC or farm it out. Case enclosure acrylic panels £83, prices quoted bangood but aliexpress same, the rails alone cost around £140 the frame is almost bomb proof, maybe a new MCU but still cheaper than K1 or P1S I think you can have a better printer. Form factor 300x300x350

You should look into getting the Qi di max 3 i’ve heard a lot of good things about it and it has a big bill volume and it is as fast as Bambu

You’re bitching and moaning about this brand new to the market printer, but you are still paying twice as much for those bambu lab printers that don’t have the build volume and have just as many issues if you take any time to read a little. Taking 5 whole minutes to check the tube will fix your “horrible terrible issues” along with running orca and skipping creality print altogether. Bambu has had the luxury of letting all the other printer companies do their R&D and then act like they are innovating. When your bambu lab printers break, and they will… let us know how easy they are to work on. 🤣

Interesting.. I updated the firmware when mine arrived after the Black Friday Sale and haven't had a single issue or clog after many prints. Though I think I got the latest version with the updated hot end etc..

Maybe next time give a review without the dip in your lip... not very professional.

I have tried various creality printers over time but never had a long-term relationship. One day, it prints great the next day it messed up i wouldn't have another one again

Have you thought about trying out Elegoo Neptune 3 max and they are releasing Neptune 4 max faster printing speed

Oh man almost a month and i can't get a damn helmet on this k1 man got 2 shift line in this print 😫 also tryed texture plate nope things keep falling off... now am going to slow this crap down to 50% if not and still have problems..... am sent it back got it April 2nd .... oh i feel you on this review...... 😮 my 1st printer..... not fun at all. Got the flies from u for boba fett..... just got 9 % done anthing bigger then the gun just.... not working....

I just bought your recon files like a week ago and its a great file. This being said, i bought a CR-10s from creality because of you and your channel. I was thinking about going for either the bamboo x1 or the k1 max. I've heard both good and bad and i would love to formulate my own opinion, but i trust you and what you're saying. I've had troubles with creality support as well and with your views on it, i think ill go with the bamboo printer.

K2 out soon july 31st

i just bought my second k1 and i have to say i love this printer.. with nearly no setup and adjustments i was able to print sucessfully out of the box and i love them. I am sry you didnt have a good experience with this printer. i have just orderded my first xic from bambu labs only for the ams system on it. if the k1 had an amu. ams. what ever the multi color option is called then i would have stayed with creality.

What are your Printer profile settings? I’m trying to print your Mano helmet for months and it’s not getting better… I have the cr10v3

For fast print speeds, you need heat resistant filaments. I have and still have a pile of ZYLtech filaments. They will always clog on high speed high heat prints. Try Hatchbox Carbon Fiber PLA that can easily take 230C at any speed. All these high speed printe need high heat, but prints eventually slow down in some places. Filaments without high heat capability will expand and clog during speed changes.

I had high hopes that the K1 Max could give P2S out of the box performance with a larger build volume, but my fear is Creality will be inconsistent printer to printer. Maybe it will be great but I don’t have the patience to tinker and just want something that works ever time.

It’s a great printer. I’ve used it. This dude just got a dud I guess

I would recommend v400 flsun. 300 mm round, 400mms speed. You can build a helmet fast and clean. Let me know if you want to see how smooth they come out. I do 0.2 layer and 90% speed

I agree about the support aspect I can't speak to the machine I will take your word but I myself have had similar issues with Anycubic but they did make it right before a threat. I am sorry you had to go through that but I feel your pain and thank you for the review

Looks like my response got deleted. I have a K1 Max and it's incredible. I think you need to check your settings a lot more. I will say that there have been two major "batches" of this unit and the second batch - that I have - fixes the bowden tube issue and improves the extruder parts. (You can tell if you're getting the second batch by the signage on the box - blue k1 max logo instead of black. I saw some other guy call the Lidar "lie-dar" and I think he was being overly emotional. I'm no Creality fanboy. I have two Formbots (Raptor and TRex) and a Neptune 3 Max, as well as a custom printer. My experience on the K1 Max has been dreamy.

do a bridge test and an overhang test, you don't need all that support all around the print like that, PLA can print pretty far without supports

What I've heard is that there was an early run that has issues. If you get the newer version, it runs WAY better. Which creality should just swap out if the difference is that big.

That's really sad how "minor" mistakes can ruin a whole experience with a product. I have this printer, I had some of the issues you had - but in general I could figure them out, and I feel like it is a good product which wasn't really 100% done when it was released. But yeah, I also had a bunch of issues right after I printed the 3d benchy and agreed with you 1000%, they advertise a plug and play 3d printer, and it is not the truth. Unfortunately here in Brazil there's no way to really compare the Bambus with the K1s in terms of price, so that wasn't an option for me and I didn't have much other good options in terms of features provided, so I had to troubleshoot. But long story short, my experience wasn't as bad as yours (I don't even have a business, its just hobby), and just sharing so others can take a look and perhaps find fixes for their problems, the biggest issues I had/found were: - Closed chamber. I faced A BUNCH of clogs just because I was printing "regular" PLA with the closed chamber. Even with my room temperature lower than their recommendation it didn't work. Their hyper PLA worked fine with closed chamber, but all the others that I tried was a pain in the ass. Basically the heatsink can't get the filament cold into the cold zone, and then it clogs. - The extruder has an upgrade. Mine is the upgraded one, but even being upgraded I could see that it has a misalignment inside, that I imagine thats not good. I know that on the previous versions - probably the case on the video - its even worse. - Firmware upgrades. Yeah, after I printed the benchy that comes into the printer I tried to slice something and I couldn't find how to connect it to my wifi, the Network tab wasn't there at all. I had to download the latest firmware, put into a pendrive and run the process, then I could use the printer properly. So yeah, everyone should double check it. - Creality Slicer SUCKS. From all the things I think that was the most annoying for me. I have a mac m1, and this slicer completely SUCKS with it. It isn't just because its a bad and limited software, it crashes every 5min. So use OrcaSlicer then, its amazing and I've got really good prints with it out of the box. - Filament tuning. Yeah, via orcaslicer (or any other slicer), everyone should run all the calibration tests and update flow, temperature, PA, etc. It really varies depending on the filament you're using, and its really different than tuning on older machines. - Print a raiser for the lid. Yeah, the bowden tube runs compressed by the lid when its closed, so I think its really worth it to raise it so the bowden doesn't touch the glass. There are many other things that I still want to try on this printer, but these were the ones that I did at the first week and finally got able to get good prints out of it.

like other have said, free the PTFE tube, in fact change it to Capricorn tubing, move all the bi-directional cable chain links to the rear attachment except 2, level them out to shorten the cable chain and it will start working like a cable chain should. Run through all the setup prints to calibrate the K1, you will save time and money and do not use 7 year old filament in these printers, the extruder shreds the filament then clogs up..

Most high speed filament is made to melt faster and cooldown faster than normal filament so the previous layer can handle the next layer when printing fast.

You should give it away to a subscriber.

My K1 Max is a total piece of crap. Table unlevel and bent. Creality will do nothing to correct this problem. Smaller parts printed towards the front of the plate will not stick to the plate. One time, they didn't stick to the plate and melted into a ball of filament, damaging the hot end

I love this printer... however, I too had issues where anything the supports touch, get trashed. I use the Creality Hyper PLA, Creality Slicer and the default "Normal" profile settings. Completely out of the box everything. Prints fast and beautiful (other than what supports touch) I'm hoping for a setting tweak I haven't discovered or update to the Software or Firmware as it seems the problem lies in one of the two. For me, it's too close to being on target to give up on just yet.

As far as customer support, I’m having the same issue with my bambu, 6 weeks of can you show Me a video, then a picture… and this is just on an extruder. Ugggg

with creality printer you have to tune it well.. not just filaments.. i mean motor Voltages too! The clogs sometime is come cause the bowden tube or the extruder get to warm because to much volts! If you set it well it should be work as it should ;)

Thank you for your review. I had a similar issue with the elegoo Neptune.

Never had an issue with mine. Great machine.

Amazing printer. Quick and easy setup and off you go. I am new to filament printers and was surprised at how simple and easy it is to use. No issues so far. If as a newbie I get great results, your issues have to be either a bad machine or user error.

Thanks for the review, this made me not buy the K1 Max. Customer support that only treat people well when they learn they are a RU-vidr makes this even worse.

I had the same bad with there customer service I’ll never buy another one of there products again. Total waste of my time and money I got stuck with my printer.

Maybe try the Artillery X3 Plus? It has a 300, 300, 400 build volume. I've had mine for a bit and I love it!

I have a CR10 v2 also, and it would be amazing if I could get a copy of your profiles that you've found to be perfect for your print farm.

6:44 Rough? Coarse? Irritating? Snips? Okay Anakin. 😂

so this printer is just another creality: some people have perfect experiences with their models and some want to hit their's with a baseball bat. it's good to know but still a bit disappointing, especially since the customer support hasn't improved any

Creality is gotten bad as far as the quality of there products. I have a CR-M4 and after 30 or so emails I got a rebuild kit for my hot end. Elegoo is a great printer very reliable

Ufffff thats be sooo cool a 300x300 or a 400x400

Nah this printer success rate is about 50% the rest is not doing so good.

Maybe a Qidi, it is 325x325

I would not be categorical, as arshavin said, your expectations are your problems)

Excited to see people review the new Elegoo Neptune 4 plus and Max and see if they can keep up with the speed and quality as these newer generation printers do. Maybe something that could be meeting your requirements at the farm.

Returned mine. Maybe it’s my fault since I am new to 3d printing. But been having success after success after switching printers.

If the chicomms shut off the internet to the outside world, how will you print, since the Bamboo printers need to be online to function

I was looking at the K1 for if I can find the space. I am not a print farm and only have 1 fdm but my CR10s4 is getting old. Hoping for others you just got a lemon and its not a problem with every one of them.

i have no problems, use the triangle hotend with a mk8 nozzle (clone of bambulabs hotend, but with some improvements) returned my p1s since that. opensource klipper, finetune the config file and have it opensource is a DREAM printer! maybe not right out of th ebox, but for long term i think this printer is S Tier - just not plug and print like bambu :D

Maybe if you increase your horizontal and vertical support gaps.

one single item you trying to print can't make a verdict on how printer prints....

this is the first bad review i seen on the k1 max hmmmmm

Thank was looking to upgrade my farm, I will look in another direction.

I would to see a new 500x500x500. From old cr-105. Di love it