Creality CR-10 Smart - 30x30x40cm

A small battle to begin with but its a great wee printer abl is a major plus from unboxing to first print after following check and adjust process 45 mins

I'm an occasional user of 3D printers that requires a reasonably large print volume. I can go months without using the printer, to using it constantly for days or weeks. I was looking to purchase a new printer and had decided the CR10S Pro V2.

After talking to the Technology Outlet sales team, they recommended the slightly cheaper and wireless enabled CR10 Smart. After making the purchase and while waiting for it to arrive, I did a bit more research on this model. A lot of mixed reviews and several not very positive, which made me wonder why I didn't check before ordering. However, most of the reviews were of pre launch models. The biggest issue they seemed to highlight was the Auto Bed Levelling not working as expected, and a loose print bed.

Reviews also slated Creality's built-in wireless functionality. Initially I was intrigued by the wireless but really quite content to transfer gcode files via the SD card, just as per my previous printer.

Having received the printer the following day, I was very pleasantly surprised by the build quality and tidiness of the wiring. A vast improvement on my old printer. All parts seemed to be secure, including the bed.

After assembly, I immediately updated the firmware for the main board and the display. Instructions on how to do this are on the Creality web site, and was easy enough to follow.

However, after updating the firmware, I thought something major had gone wrong when a lot of the text on the display was missing. It took a while to figure it out, and after several attempts to re-flash the firmware, it was simply needing the language to be set. Once that was done, the display was perfect. There was no mention of this in the the video guide for the Firmware update.

My reason for purchasing this printer was for the build area (300 x 300 x 400), quieter machine and simpler interface from the one press button rotary encoder control I had previously been used to. The way I see it, is that the fewer options to tinker with on the printer itself, the better. After all, most parameters of the printer can be affected via the slicer, right?

Anyway, I tried a couple of the print examples on the accompanying SD card, the Cat and the Dinosaur. The cat came to really nice, and I would say its the best quality print I've produced on any of my printers, all be it that it took several hours to print. The dinosaur was all wispy and looked quite awful, but the joins worked just fine. I did have issue getting the first layer down and that may well have been resolved by upping the heated bed and filament temperatures a few more degrees. The default Z offset of 0.2mm seems to be fine, although I did tinker with it, then later returned it to its default. I have to say that the Z offset setting on this printer is a breeze compared to all my previous printers. No bits of paper and no calculations needed.

I did check the X axis left to right hight from the bed, and it was about 0.5mm low on one side, so I slackened off the right hand Z axis and adjusted the lead-screw accordingly, then auto bed levelled again.

Some reviewers have noted that the printer is slow to start prints and does a bed levelling procedure for each print. Yes the Bed does take a long time to warm up, but my experience is that bed levelling only occurs when requested via the display, so not an issue. As soon as I power up the printer, I put it into the PLA pre-heat while I prep my files for printing, buy which time the bed is warmed up, so again, not an issue for me.

The printer manual does come with a sheet showing a set of gcode start and end instructions, so I have added those to the slicer. I currently use Simplify3D, that doesn't offer a profile for this printer, so I had to use the base CR10 profile and work from that.

I did try the Creality slicer (Cura), but I just don't get on with it. Even after loading the profile for the CR10 Smart, my attempts to print were terrible. Interestingly, sliced files for my old printer seem to work very well on this printer.

I have just taken a look at SuperSlicer, which looks an interesting alternative, but a steep learning curve no doubt, so for now, it's Simplify3D for me.

Important:
The manual states the glass bed can be cleaned with Isopropyl Alcohol. Luckily I'd seen some comments on forums stating that the alcohol removes the special coating. On the Creality web site, I did find a not saying not to use alchohol, so the manual is in error!

Therefore I just wash the glass sheet with washing up liquid and hot water, rinse and dry it. I find it holds the model very well. Sometimes to well and I have to place the sheet in the freezer for about 5 mins, where the model releases without any further issue.

The stepper motors are very quiet, but the hot end fan that cannot be shut off, is a slight irritating. I might look to try and find a quieter fan.

Although my previous printer had the same build volume as the CR10 Smart, I couldn't get it to reliably print large items, assuming that the bed was probably not levelled well enough. The CR10 Smart has been great by comparison.

I have seen from a couple of reviews that the internal wiring can be re-configured so that the printer can be directly controlled and monitored from a computer via USB. I carried out said alteration, but so far the computer doesn't see the printer. I may well need to try a different micro USB cable.

Although I don't want or need to tinker with the printer settings directly, It is sometimes useful to be able to interrogate the printer via a computer.

I notice there is an Ethernet port on the side of the printer, yet no mention of what its intended use is. I will assume it's an alternative to a USB connection to a computer, but I've yet to see a review mention it. Something else to try.

All in all, I am very pleased with the CR10 Smart printer, with not much to dislike about it. Diehard 3D printer experts may well knock it down, but compared to my previous printer, it's much easier for me to set up and use, and will do me just fine for the time being.

I just need to master the slicer settings.

I'm pretty new to 3D printing and initially bought a Voxelab Aries via Amazon. I had a lot of issues with it and ended up sending it back. After a visit to Technology Outlet, I ordered a Creality CR-10 Smart which has been so much better. Putting it together wasn't difficult and I soon had it printing with no issues at all. In the 3 weeks I've had it, I've made about 20 prints and only had a couple of fails. Very happy with it.

Still learning but I'm loving this machine...

My first 3d printer. Straightforward to put together and set up. Great service and support from Technology Outlet too. First print done, now looking forward to larger projects