Creality announced a significant upgrade to their Ender series, with the new Ender-5 S1 3D printer.
Creality has perhaps the most 3D printer models on the market, and sometimes it’s hard to keep up given their tendency to frequently upgrade their equipment. Let’s review where the Ender-5 sits in their product line.
The original Ender-5, now discontinued, was a bit of an upgrade over the Ender-3 series that is far more well known. The Ender-5 series incorporated a full cubic frame, rather than the i3-style of the Ender-3. This results in a far more rigid frame that should increase print quality. Creality describes this as “advanced stability”.
The original Ender-5 eventually became the Ender-5 Pro, which was visually similar to the original, but included a more advanced controller board that used silent stepper drivers. Other improvements included a more advanced Bowden tube and an adjustable extruder.
Then the Ender-5 Plus was announced, and while it included features similar to the Ender-5 Pro, it offered a much larger build volume. From the 220 x 220 x 300 mm of the Pro version, the Plus has a much larger 350 x 350 x 400 mm build volume.
Now Creality announced another model in the Ender-5 series, the new Ender-5 S1. The machine is a more professional-level device than the Ender-3, and offers a number of more advanced features.
Creality introduced the “S1” features on their Ender-3 series, which provided significant improvements in many ways for the Ender-3s. Now they’ve adapted similar improvements for the Ender-5 series.
The visual appearance of the Ender-5 S1 is a bit different. While it still includes the rigid cubic metal frame, it now has a sleek case design with color touchscreen for controlling the device. The touchscreen also includes the latest and most advanced user interface from Creality, which I can say is very easy to use from my experience on the Ender-3 S1.
The main new feature, however, is an upgraded motion system that permits faster 3D print speeds. The motion system includes high-precision stepper motors, steel shafts to sync the dual Y-axis belts and other features.
Creality said the Ender-5 S1 can now print at speeds up to 250mm/s, which is 4-5 times faster than typical desktop 3D printers. This is only possible because the cubic frame absorbs momentum changes during printing.
As an example, Creality was able to 3D print a standard #3DBenchy in only 35 minutes on the Ender-5 S1. That’s quite a bit faster than the usual 90 minutes you’d see on most other desktop 3D printers.
Creality has also adapted the hot end to be compatible with high-speed 3D printing. When filament is flying through the hot end at faster speeds, there is less time for the thermoplastic to soften. This means all high speed FFF 3D printers must have some adaption in the hot end to transmit heat more effectively, and that’s precisely what Creality has done on the Ender-5 S1.
It is possible that the Ender-5 S1 could be more sensitive to filament types, as some materials that don’t soften as quickly could have issues in high speed mode.
The Ender-5 S1 is also configured to handle hot end temperatures up to 300C, which means it should be able to print with a much wider variety of engineering materials. The new hot end also includes a special titanium alloy heat break to ensure there is no temperature leakage.
New air duct designs and upgraded fans ensure the extruded thermoplastic is cooled from all sides and result in crisper prints with the ability to handle even more dramatic overhangs without issue.
Along with all the new features, the Ender-5 S1 includes a number of standard features you’d expect on a machine of this type, including a magnetically-attached print surface, automated calibration, and more.
Creality also offers a unique acrylic enclosure that could increase the quality of prints in high temperature materials.
The Ender-5 S1 looks like a very interesting machine, and is one of the very few high speed 3D printers that is available at a low price. In fact, Creality happens to be offering the device at a discount of US$469 until December 4th, when the price rises to US$559.
Via Creality
