I knew this day will come. Finally Creality has developped a budget CoreXY 3D printer – the Ender 6. The new Ender6 pretends to be the most performant and precise machine in Creality low-end offer – not only in the Ender range, but also in the CR-10 series.
Ender 6 succeeds the popular Ender 5 /Ender 5 Pro (cartesian printers with cube frame) and claims to provide 3 times faster printing.
Ender 6 – Technical Specs
Mechanics: CoreXY
Frame: 2020 and 2040 profiles
Linear motion: V-wheels
Printing speed: up to 150 mm/s
Build volume: 250x250x400 mm
Machine size: 495x495x650 mm
Power supply: Meanwell 24V/350W
Extruder: Bowden
Build platform: Cantilever bed
Stock accuracy: 0.1 mm
Layer height with stock nozzle: 0.1-0.4 mm
Control display: 4.3″ touch screen
Stepper drivers: TMC2208
Silent operation: Yes
Filament runout sensor: Yes
Printing resume function: Yes
ABL function: N/A
Print surface: Carborundum glass
Enclosure option: Yes, semi-enclosed with acrylic sheets
Ender 6 – few thoughts
On the specs Ender 6 seems great 3d printer and I am sure it will deliver the promissed performance for some time. I see however a threat for a consistant printing quality – the stability of the cantilever bed. It is moving on V-wheels and those wear for couple of months of daily use, leading to slop.
The size of the bed is already big for a cantilever (the optimum dimensions for this architecture would be 200x200mm), and if you print tall models (height is 400), the weight of the print will further disturb the stability. Some may argue popular high-end printers use large cantilever beds and have no slop, like the Ultimaker 2 (230×225 mm bed). Well, those have much more robust mechanics and smaller height. So, I am sure the first mods we’ll see on Thingiverse will aim to improve the bed stability by implementing rods or linear rails.
Ender 6 – should I buy it?
Ender6 is certainly very capable budget machine with CoreXY mechanical architecture. It offers most of the modern features like print resume after power outage and filament runout sensor and is equipped with quality components like Meanwell PSU and German TMC2208 drives. On other hand Creality enjoys large community contributing great mods and upgrades.
No matter if you are starting with 3d printing or if you are experienced enthousiast, you can’t go wrong with Ender 6. It delivers quality prints at speeds up to 150 mm/s out of the box, and when things start to break you can upgrade it with user contributed modifications.
Will I buy the Ender 6? Yes, if the price is under $400 for the Standard version. I am not really interested in the semi-enclosed version, because I believe I could find a better DIY solution, once the design allows for enclosing.
Ender 6 – where to buy
Ender6 is not yet on the shelf. It will count on crowdfunding on Kickstarter for its production and you can preorder there.
The normal production should start on May 15 and you’ll be able to find the 3d printer on Amazon and Aliexpress in June.
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