Hi I’m Gidon from thetechnologyman.com. The Creality Ender 3 S1 Pro should be the
most capable printer I’ve reviewed so far. As well as your standard PLA and PETG it can
print engineering grade materials like Nylon and Polycarbonate and it comes with many features
that make it easy to use include a spring steel removable print surface, an all metal
direct drive extruder, automatic bed levelling, a touch screen and it even has a handy LED
lamp built in. I’ll test all its claims, printing a range
of models in a variety of materials to try and help you decide if this printer is right
for you. If you’re new to 3D printing I’d highly
recommend watching at least some of my earlier video that introduces 3D printing with the
budget Creality Ender 3. I’ll provide a link on screen and down in the description,
and I’ll provide full timestamps if you just want to skip to the chapter of this review
you’re interested in. So let’s take a closer look.
Overview The printer comes well packaged and requires
basic assembly. First you need to attach the print head to the top gantry assembly with
the 4 M3 bolts and then install the gantry into the base, securing it in place from underneath
the printer with 4 M5 bolts. The bolts are in individual bags which are clearly labelled
with their sizes which is a nice touch. Then you install the screen on the right side of
the printer with 3 M4 bolts, snap on the spool holder and plug in the cable to the filament
runout sensor which is already attached. Now you can attach all the cabling starting
with the first Z axis motor, expansion interface for the LED light and the filament detector.
Next connect the cables to the LCD screen and the second Z axis motor. And finally attach
the cables to the X axis motor and limit switch and plug in the 24 pin connector into the
print head. It’s easier to follow the video included on the SD card that guides you through
the assembly process. I think the manual would be hard to follow if this is your first 3D
printer. If you prefer following a manual, the SD card contains the full user manual
and you can see the illustrations more clearly. It’s worth checking at this stage that nothing
is loose. You can tighten the bed, Z-axes and print head rollers with a fraction of
a turn of their eccentric nuts, using the supplied spanner. There should be no play
and none of the wheels should be able to rotate individually. You can also adjust the belt
tension for both the X and Y axis with the built in tensioning knobs.
You get a decent assortment of accessories with the printer including some side cutters
and a spare nozzle. There's also the Quick Installation guide and a useful materials
guide. There should be an SD card and reader, but my printer was missing these. I downloaded
the SD card contents from Creality onto my own SD card.
The build quality of the printer is generally good with the base enclosed in moulded plastic
and the cabling all neatly organised with a thick sturdy cable to the heated bed. And
the spool holder is particularly nice, rotating on smooth bearings.
You can see its dimensions on screen, but it’s quite a large printer considering its
relatively small 220 x 220 x 270 mm build volume. Especially when you compare it to
the original Ender 3 which has a similar build volume. It also weighs more than the Ender
3 at 8.6kg. Still it doesn’t use that much more desk space when it’s actually printing.
Before turning the printer on, check the power supply is set to the right voltage for your
country. The factory setting is 230V which is correct for the UK.
After turning the printer on you need to level the bed. Tap on Settings | Levelling and then
tap on Start. The printer then uses its CR Touch probe to measure 16 locations on the
bed. The whole process takes around two and half minutes. You then need to set the Z-offset
- the height of the nozzle above the bed. Tap on Aux Level and then adjust the height
of the nozzle until it just touches a piece of printer paper. Tap back to complete the
levelling process. Unlike other printers I’ve reviewed recently,
you can manually adjust the tilt of the bed with the four levelling knobs. The manual
only suggests doing this if the maximum variation of the bed is over 2mm which will cause the
automatic levelling to fail. Tap on Level and then Aux Level and move the nozzle to
the five preset positions and adjust the levelling knobs at each corner so the nozzle just scratches
a piece of paper. Looking from the top of the printer, turning the knob clockwise increases
the height of the bed, and turning the knob anti-clockwise lowers the bed.
I’d recommend doing this manual levelling at least once, just to check your bed is as
flat as possible. It should help the automatic bed levelling.
Really the printer should heat up the nozzle and bed before levelling, particularly when
adjusting the Z-offset but it doesn’t. So you need to manually preheat the nozzle and
bed if you want to set the Z-offset more accurately. This will take account of any thermal expansion,
but also melt any hardened filament since you’ll normally have filament loaded.
Tap on Ready | Manual | Preheat PLA. Then tap on Level | Settings again and then Aux
level and adjust the Z-offset with the up and down arrows. This appears to be the only
way to get to Z-offset before a print, which is a little cumbersome. And you can only adjust
this Z-offset in 0.05mm steps - I’d prefer finer steps. Tap on Back when you’re done.
There’s no automated way of loading filament. Just make sure you’ve tapped on Preheat
PLA as just described or you can set the nozzle temperature to whatever you want under Nozzle
temp. Once the nozzle is up to temperature, trim the end of the filament at a 45° angle
and push it through the extruder and hotend and out through the nozzle, whilst depressing
the extruder lever to release tension on the extruder gears.
There’s no way to unload filament automatically either. As before just ensure the nozzle is
up to temperature, depress the extruder tension lever and push some filament out of the nozzle
and then pull the filament out of the print head.
The front of the printer has a full size SD card slot and a USB-C port for connecting
to a computer or a Raspberry Pi with Octoprint for example. Beside these ports there’s
a useful generously sized tray for your accessories. On top of the printer there’s an LED lamp
with its own power switch. This is a great addition, especially when printing at night.
Performance This is a pretty capable 3D printer. It has
an all-metal hotend which can reach temperatures up to 300°C. This allows printing of a wider
range of materials including engineering grade filament like Nylon and Polycarbonate.
And it’s a direct drive setup, with a dual geared extruder that sits directly above the
hotend unlike your typical Bowden setup where filament has to travel through a length of
PTFE tubing from the extruder to the hotend. This makes loading and unloading filament
easier and should allow printing of more flexible materials that can be difficult to print with
a Bowden setup. I started out printing the Ender coin supplied
on the SD card in eSUN PLA+. You can adjust the Z-offset while printing if need be by
tapping on the printing parameters at the top of the screen and then Z-axis Comp. This
print came out very well - it’s hard to spot any flaws. And the S1 Pro uses a removable
textured PEI build plate that makes removing prints easy. You either wait for the bed to
cool down and they generally just pop off, or you can flex the sheet as soon as the print
finishes to remove them. Next I sliced my own models in Cura. Creality
prefer you use their skinned version of Cura that already has profiles for this printer
but it’s based on an older release of Cura. I had to set up this printer manually but
you can copy settings from their slicer. And Creality supplies a useful guide that provides
settings for various materials that will get you started. It would be easier though especially
for beginners, if Creality just supplied profiles for popular materials that you could import.
I’ll include my custom profiles down below in the description but I’m sure this printer
will be included in a future release of Cura soon.
Next I tried the 3DBenchy test print which is a great way to identify any printing issues.
This is one of the best quality prints I’ve had off a 3D printer with no tweaking. Easily
as good as my Prusa MK3S+ at almost twice the price. The weight of a direct drive setup
can cause ghosting or ringing, but not with this setup. Although this isn’t a fast printer
which will contribute to the quality of this print. This print took just over 1 hour 50
minutes. I’m sure you could get this faster with some tweaking but that’s what you get
out of the box. And even slicing with Creality’s own program and settings gave the same print
time. Next up I printed a calibration cube to test
the accuracy of the printer. This is another excellent print and is very close to bang
on 20mm in the X and Y planes and just a little off in height, but that does depend on other
factors like the initial layer height and Z-offset.
For a more challenging print I again printed the Fab365 A-Team van. This uses up almost
the entire bed which checks the accuracy of the bed levelling, but also has very tight
tolerances for the live hinges that let you transform this flat print into the final model.
This came out very well. I left the print overnight and you can see it just released
itself off the bed. The wheels rotate and the sliding door slides. But this did take
almost 14 hours to print. Compare that to the Flsun SuperRacer delta printer I reviewed
recently that took just over 5 hours to print the same model - and the quality wasn’t
far off the S1 Pro. With some eSUN silk silver PLA loaded I printed
a vase that used almost the entire print volume. I sliced this in vase mode which prints in
one continuous spiral. You need to tick Spiralise Outer Contour in Cura. I had issues with this
print where the printer kept pausing momentarily resulting in regular small blobs of filament.
I got this to print successfully after turning off power loss recovery. I added a line of
code to the Start G-code in Machine Settings in Cura to disable the power loss recovery:
M413 S0. This feature does regularly write the current state of the print to the SD card
so that the print can recover if the printer loses power. I tested the SD card I was using
and it did have poor write speeds which was the cause of this issue. I’ve since switched
to a faster SD card and turned power loss recovery back on. I’ve not had any issues
since. The vase looks very good with no noticeable
artefacts and a perfect first layer. The dual Z axes help it maintain accuracy over its
full height. I tried printing a more detailed model, again
in this metallic silk PLA. This tiny model of the Queen which we used to decorate this
trifle for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. I used tree supports which came off easily.
It could do with a little more clean up and ideally I should have switched to a 0.25mm
nozzle for something like this but, the print looks pretty good considering its size which
is smaller than my thumb. I moved onto printing PETG, another Benchy
in Prusament Galaxy Black. I changed the nozzle temperature to 245°C, increased the bed temperature
to 80°C and increased the retraction slightly from 0.8 to 1 mm. I also reduced the cooling
fan to 50%. This is an excellent PETG Benchy - pretty hard to fault even under close inspection.
And it released from the textured bed just as easily as PLA.
To put the all-metal Sprite extruder to the test I tried printing some NinjaFlex TPU which
is very flexible and notoriously difficult to print. I needed an adapter for a USB vacuum
pump that came with some EIBOS vacuum bags so I could use it with these eSUN bags. I
modelled up something in Fusion 360 and tried printing it in Sapphire Blue NinjaFlex. I
used PLA settings but lowered the print speed from 50 to 30mm/s, increased retraction to
1.6mm and turned cooling back to 100%. I tried the print at 230°C and although it’s not
the most challenging print it came out well and performed its task perfectly.
I thought I’d try printing the handle for the printer that’s included on the SD card
in ABS. I used PLA settings but changed the nozzle temperature to 250°C and the bed temperature
to the bed’s maximum 110°C. I also dropped the fan speed to 20%. I did use some Dimafix
on the bed to help with adhesion and release. The heated bed took over 6 minutes to reach
its maximum temperature but didn’t quite get to 110°C and checking with a Flir thermal
imaging camera, there was considerable variation in temperatures with the front of the bed
not getting close to temperature of the middle of the bed. Something to watch out for with
larger prints. The print came out ok in eSUN ABS+ but there
was a little scarring on the top surface where the layers above the supports started to warp
slightly. Since the hotend supports high temperatures
I tried printing a set of tweezers to clear the nozzle of spurious bits of melted filament
in Polycarbonate, PolyMax PC specifically. I turned off print cooling, and printed at
270°C again with the bed at 110°C and again using some Dimafix. Even with no enclosure
these printed out nicely. Finally I tested the filament runout sensor
and power resume feature. I was printing this storage container in vase mode. The nozzle
moves to its home position when the print runs out of filament and you’re prompted
to change filament. The nozzle and bed temperatures are maintained, but you can’t change anything
via the touch screen - you can only tap to confirm you’re ready to continue. After
a power outage you’ll just get a message to continue the print. Both features worked
as expected and the print did complete although you can see where the power was interrupted
since the nozzle doesn’t get a chance to move out the way.
Like nearly every printer I review the S1 Pro is advertised as silent but it really
isn’t. It has a 32bit mainboard with silent stepper drivers and head movements are very
quiet. Unfortunately fan noise isn’t particularly quiet and most frustratingly the power supply
fan remains on constantly. I would be very happy to pay a little more for a printer with
a decent power supply that you only hear when the printer is printing - like on my Prusa
MK3S+. I leave this on all the time so I can send prints wirelessly via Octoprint, and
can’t hear a thing until the print starts. Although print head movements are quieter
with the S1 Pro and it’s certainly a lot quieter than my old Ender 3.
The printer has a 24V 14.6A Creality branded power supply and idling the printer consumes
around 7W, or over 13W with the LED lamp turned on. My test calibration cube used 66Wh to
print with the LED lamp off - my best result so far helped in part by the partially insulated
bed. The touch screen is fairly responsive but
the user interface is not very well thought out. For instance to Preheat Filament you
need to tap Ready then Manual then Preheat PLA. I’m not sure why such a common menu
item is so hidden away. And as I mentioned earlier Z Offset is awkward and time consuming
to adjust. But once you work your way around the menu, you can change all manner of more
advanced settings including maximum accelerations and temperature PID although I can’t see
a way to turn off beeps or adjust the extruder’s E-steps. For even more control I did try connecting
the printer to Octoprint which also lets me print wirelessly directly from Cura. But I
would love to see 3D printers start to have built in wireless functionality though.
I did try updating the firmware but even following the instructions to a tee, my first attempt
appeared to brick the printer. I did manage to get the latest firmware installed, that
also includes the option to swap the optional laser attachment. I’ll provide a link down
below to the firmware I installed and Creality’s instructions. I’d recommend updating the
screen firmware first which involves removing the back cover of the LCD screen and inserting
a microSD card. I was hoping the latest firmware would add
additional features but I couldn’t see any - only a slightly improved home screen. Z
offset could still only be adjusted in 0.05mm steps, and the printer failed to recognise
filenames longer than 59 characters. Impressively I got no clogs or jams printing
for hours on end with a whole range of filaments, which is a relief since it looks like a fair
bit of work dismantling the hotend and extruder. Conclusions
The Ender 3 S1 Pro is a huge upgrade over the original Ender 3 I reviewed almost 2 years
ago. It is pretty easy to assemble and produces very good quality prints in a wide range of
materials out of the box, with very little tweaking.
I’d prefer the bed was fixed without any levelling knobs, which just make the levelling
process more confusing, especially for new users. And the screen interface also isn’t
that user friendly. But generally it’s a very easy printer to use once you get used
to it. It’s all manual, but loading and unloading filament is quick with the direct
drive setup and the removable textured PEI sheet is a joy to use. It is thinner than
other sheets I have but prints stick well to the bed and release easily.
All this does come at a price. It’s one of the more expensive printers I’ve reviewed
at around £470 or $500. If you don’t need to print any high temperature materials the
non-Pro Ender 3 S1 is around £70 or $70 cheaper. It doesn’t have the all-metal hotend and
extruder, textured PEI sheet, touch screen or LED lamp but will still produce similar
quality prints. PersonallyI think these upgrades are well worth the extra money, but at least
you have the option. There’s also the Mingda Magician X I just
reviewed which is probably closer to the S1 than the S1 Pro. Bed levelling is more straightforward
and it’s even easier to assemble, but again it doesn’t have an all-metal hotend and
comes with a glass bed. And it struggled with very flexible filaments even with its direct
drive setup. I’ve not yet got around to reviewing it
but the Prusa Mini+ is the closest model in capabilities to the Ender 3 S1 Pro that I
own. It does have a smaller build volume and a Bowden setup, but it’s a little cheaper
and you’ll get better support from Prusa. I didn’t really have any reason to contact
Creality support but sent them a question on the firmware upgrade. They took a good
few days to get back to me. In contrast Prusa has their 24 hour chat support. And I also
had very attentive support from Mingda. I’d say prints of the Prusa Mini+ are very similar
to the Ender 3 S1 Pro. Finally there’s the Prusa MK3S+, although
if you buy this assembled it’s almost twice the price of the S1 Pro. It has similar capabilities
and I don’t find the prints noticeably better but it does use higher quality components
like linear rails, Bondtech gears, a genuine E3D hotend and a much quieter branded power
supply. Plus you’ll get more responsive support.
This is still one of the most capable all-round printers I’ve reviewed so far. But I’d
love to hear your thoughts. Are you considering this printer or if you already own one what
do you think of it? Please let me know down below!
And as always, if you have any questions, please ask - I read every comment and will
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