I’m back with an update, in case anyone is interested.
If you want to know the lore, here are my previous posts: Do NOT buy Creality, and Creality K1 woes
Quick summary: I still think Creality is garbage.
I started with a used Ender 3 v2 that I picked up cheaply to see if I even liked 3D printing. It drove me insane, but I figured it was old and used, so maybe a newer printer would be better, easier, and less frustrating. During Black Friday 2025, I bought a Creality K1.
It was a nightmare the entire time I owned it.
The machine had constant problems, and Creality did the bare minimum to help. When it became clear that the printer was not reasonably repairable, they still refused to take it back. I ended up reporting the issue to Consumer Protection through Ontario’s Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement.
Because of that, the store I bought it from eventually refunded me and took the machine back. I still lost several hundred dollars on extra hotends, replacement parts, repair attempts, and the camera Creality sells separately. I sent all of it back with the K1. During that entire mess, Creality offered me one free replacement part, never apologized, and never made any real effort to make things right.
I’m done with Creality permanently and forever.
That said, I still wanted an enclosed printer. I spent a few weeks researching options, narrowed it down to a few brands, and eliminated them one by one until I landed on Elegoo — specifically the Centauri Carbon 1. I bought it in early April when it went on sale. It ended up costing roughly $100 CAD more than I paid for the K1 during Black Friday.
And honestly? This printer is the absolute tits.
After almost four months and dozens of prints, it has failed twice. Both failures were filament-related, and both were fixed by restarting the print. I’ve run several brands of PLA and PETG through it, from brand-new rolls to old filament that had been open for months and never bagged or dried. It just chews through everything and puts out clean, reliable prints.
It has been such a relief after dealing with Creality.
The other interesting update is that Elegoo actually followed through on their multi-filament system for the Centauri Carbon. It’s called CANVAS, and it’s listed at $80 CAD, compared to the $600 Creality wants for theirs. I might buy one eventually, but I’m not an early adopter anymore, so I’ll wait until people have the first units in hand.
I’ve mentioned the Centauri Carbon in comments before, but I wanted to make a proper post after spending enough time with it to feel confident recommending it.
One note: it does not have a dedicated mobile app. That said, I’ve been using OctoPrint with it, and it has been flawless for me.
TL;DR: I will never buy another Creality product. The Elegoo Centauri Carbon has been amazing and super reliable, and I genuinely think anyone buying a new printer should consider it, at the very least.
For an HP or brother printer, you’re absolutely right. For something that is more of a CNC, your attitude is not as productive - takes a lot more to get a CNC going.
Paper printers, having a larger pool of users, have also been improved over time a lot more to be more of an appliance than the complicated mess I had to deal with in the 80’s. CNCs and 3d printers have not had enough mass adoption that simplicity of use has not been designed or battle-tested as much as with paper printers.
A 3d printer is closer to a lathe in ease of use, not at all similar to a paper printer.
3d printers have been around in consumer form for close to two decades now. There’s no excuse for this any longer. The reason there’s such a learning curve with printers like this (I’ve been through it myself) is because they’re built with shitty, scrap bin parts to keep prices low. The commercial folks using CNC machines would never, ever settle for junk that fails often and needs a bunch of aftermarket parts swapped in just for basic functionality. I went years on a bed slinger like these with years of more troubleshooting than printing and I would never go back nor would I tolerate it with a new printer.
I think you need to touch grass, bud. It’s not a secret club.
Lots of people use cncs, lathes, drill presses and other stuff. Its a bigger club. Felt more inclusive.
That’s how it was 10 years ago. For all the deserved hate, Bambu changed things dramatically. They made 3d printing an appliance, not a hobby.
Every printer in the last 3 years should be expected to work like an appliance. My cheap S1 has required many replacement parts over its thousands of hours but works like a laser printer. My U1 is a tank. Perfect prints and I’ve never once done a manual calibration.
Is the Ender 3 v2 from the last three years? It’s not. It comes from the CNC mindset. Your wishes are noted, but they are not the mindset that will help with the Ender 3 v2. You will run into nothing but frustration. Just get a bambu that is appropriate to your level of skill and interest in the thing.
The “CNC mindset” is perfect copies every time. That’s the entire purpose of CNC otherwise everyone would just hand cut parts. Stop trying to wear your years of toiling like a badge of honor that permits you to look down on others.
The user was talking about how his Creality K1 didn’t print reliably. You responded by saying that a 3d printer, (you didn’t specify your particular ender ) is like a cnc.
I already said that Bambu has deserved reputation to hate it. I said I have an Anycubic S1 and a Snapmaker U1.
If you want to build a Voron, that’s great. But the OP was complaining about a K1.
OP started complaining about an Ender 3 v2.
OP has a low skill/knowledge level. OP then buys a K1, a maybe easier-to-use model, but not by much?
The ender 3 v2 won’t print well right out of the box - needs setup just like a cnc. K1 also wont. They’re not HP Laserjets.
The K1 is marketed as a competitor to the Bambu P1s, CC, Anycubic S1 etc. It should work without tinkering. Unless you are building your own Voron, modern printers reliably work out of the box. It’s not 10 years ago when 3d printing was like home cnc machining.
OP bought a used Ender 3 v2. OP had it working just fine, until it needed repair, and stopped doing the thing it’s designed to do - print. Then, OP bought a K1 because the Ender printed fine. It’s not a skill issue, champ, I’m doing just fine. I don’t think you actually read my posts at all. If you did, you having a reading comprehension issue.