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Creality K3 Review: It’s a Tool Changer, not a game changer
Creality’s K3 is a solid entry into the swelling tool changer market, but without the lid and TPU Kit ready at launch, we’re left wondering what else this machine is capable of doing. The overly large spool holders impose a frustrating limit on the brands of filament you can use. Still, this is a good printer for fans of the Creality lineup who only need PLA or PETG.
Top hat and TPU printing kit not available at launch
Spool holders are too large for many 3rd party spools
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Creality has finally caught up with the tool changer fad, presenting us with a speedy, four-nozzle system named “KliTek” mounted on a Creality K3. Tool changers are the way to go, since they do not compromise speed for color and eliminate the need to waste your filament in the form of “printer poop.” The K3 is still programmed to create a purge tower on multicolor prints, but this is a small fraction of the filament wasted using any type of AMS-style color system.
The new KliTek nozzle system supports printing with different-sized nozzles in the same print, which sounds more useful than I actually found practical. Users will also be able to blend colors in Creality Print, a trick picked up from Snapmaker’s open-source Full Spectrum. This method creates the optical illusion of new colors by stacking very thin layers of filament.
The tool-changing system works very well and never dropped or misplaced a tool during the review. Creality has tucked 37 sensors inside the printer, with 12 dedicated to the nozzle swapping process alone. No, I’m not going to name all of them, but they do work. I didn’t get a single bad print during the review, even when running at higher speeds.
However, the K3 looks suspiciously like a Snapmaker U1 clone, departing from the black and grey aesthetic of the K1 and K2 3D printers. It has conveniently placed, side-mounted spool holders that are a tad too large for many 3rd party brands of filament. We’re not sure if they’re trying to herd us towards a walled garden of Creality plastics, or if they simply didn’t check out all the options.
Unfortunately, the Creality K3 needs a lid for printing high-temperature filaments, and this “tophat” was not ready at the time of the review. Creality says the top hat will be packaged with a TPU Kit to enable the printing of super soft materials.
The K3 is currently on preorder with a price tag of $849. The competition for affordable tool changers is pretty stiff, and Creality hasn’t brought anything new to the table, which is keeping the K3 off our list of the very best 3D printers you can buy. But if you’re a fan of the Creality ecosystem, it’s a welcome addition to the fleet.