Multi Color 3D Printing – Creality Hi Combo

Today were taking a look at the Creality Hi Combo, it’s their newest most advanced bed slinger 3D printer to date. And along with the printer we are also checking out the CFS, Creality’s filament system used for multi-color prints

Key Specs

  • 95% Pre-Assembled
  • CFS expandable upto 4 units (16 colors)
  • All metal body
  • Fast Printing Max Speed – 500mm/s, Max Acceleration 12000mm/s (300 mm/s typical speed)
  • RFID Filament Reader
  • Auto Bed Leveling
  • 3.2” Color touch screen
  • Built in Camera
  • 260 x 260 x 300mm Build Volume
  • Dual sided Flexible Epoxy Build Plate
  • USB or Wi-Fi File Transfer
  • Creality Print 6.0 Slicer
  • Metal extruder gears
  • 300c Nozzle / 100c Bed

Unboxing and Assembly

Everything is included to get started, we have the quick start guides with information for assembly, setup and how to start the first print. We have a sticker sheet, a few different size pieces of teflon tube, the anti-tangle mount for the top spool holder, a sample of Crealitys white hyper PLA, the filament buffer for the CFS, the top spool holder, the power cable, connection cables for the CFS and a piece of double sided tape. And we have the tools and hardware for assembly.

The printer comes 95% pre-assembled so and after unpacking there’s only a few steps needed to get the printer up and running. The manual has clear instructions on how to assemble the printer and it’s a straight forward process and should only take you about 10 minutes.

Specs

The Hi model packs heaps of features that are usually found on the higher end models, such as the full auto calibration system, that calibrates the Z-offset, bed-level, and vibration resonance all automatically, which makes its easy to get prints started. It’s also fast printer, with print travel speeds upto 500mm/s with typical print speed of 300mm/s.

It has an all metal body construction with nicely designed metal base and uprights, and all the design of components have been well thought out with a high level of attention to detail to the fit and finish.

At the front of the printer we’ve got the foldable 3.2” color touch screen, this can be rotated to adjust the tilt or folded back. The display has clean user interface and is to easy to navigate for starting a print, adjusting settings and for the basic printer operation. And it feels responsive and is easy to use.

For connectivity the Creality Hi has built in Wi-Fi for file transfer and for remote access on a PC with Creality Print software or via the mobile app. There a USB port located at the side for offline transfer of files and for a secondary method of downloading time-lapse footage.

Taking a look at the tool head this has a direct drive extruder with metal gears that feeds filament through the hot end which comes with a hardened steel 0.4mm nozzle installed. This can reach temperatures of upto 300c which is good for printing basic materials PLA, PETG and TPU.   

This tool head also has built in filament run-out sensor. This will pause the print and notify if the filament has run out, and will resuming printing after is filament replaced.  

What we also find on this printer is a filament cutter and purge wiper, these are part of the automatic system used to load and unload filament.

The heat bed has a magnetic sheet and this holds the dual sided flexible epoxy build plate firmly in place and it can reach a maximum temperature of 100C.  The build plate holds the model well during printing and it gives a nice finish that matches the print surface.

Now for print size the Creality Hi has a build volume of 260mm x260mm x 300mm which is a good size for most for models and projects.

There’s also a small camera located on the printer, and while it produces a low quality image it does have a good frame rate making it easy to monitor the prints or record time lapses footage. And if you need there’s a cover that can be moved over the cameras lens for privacy.

Next to the camera is a small LED light to light up the print area, although this led isn’t very bright. So you will still need some extra lighting near the printer in dark environments.

RFID Spools

Creality also has new RFID filament spools, and these have a tag on the spool that can be scanned at the side of the printer, once scanned you’ll hear a beep, then it will read the information and apply the material settings and color automatically. You can also use any other spool but you’ll need to add the material information manually.  

CFS

So the CFS is mainly used for multi-color, multi-material printing, it holds 4 rolls of filament and is able to automatically change and select filament as needed. This allows you to have multiple colors or different material loaded and ready to go.

Not only that, the CFS is able to be used as a Filament backup system which will automatically switch from a finished roll to the next roll of filament of the same type if one runs out. Which is good to have for larger models or when spools are running low.

Another thing is if you ever have filament break off inside or get stuck, it’s very easy to preform maintenance with the tubes easily accessible from the underside.

The CFS is also expandable, so you can connect upto 4 CFS units to the buffer allowing you a total of 16 colors, which will be plenty of colors for almost any model!

Test Prints

To start with the first print we’re test out the CFS and the multi color printing capability with a colored benchy boat. This is setup to change between 4 different colors, at set levels where the CFS will automatically unload and reload filament as need. During the process it will purge out the old color before starting to print with the new color. The finished model looks good and all the color changes worked really well.

For this next print, we printing a Hue Forge design of R2-D2. The CFS will automatically change colours at set layer heights to give a detail painted look.  And while we could do manual filament swaps with a layer pause, using the CFS makes the whole process easier to print

Next up we have this Hulk model and this is printed using the CFS that automatically changes between the purple, green, black and white colors. One thing I was interested to see was the filament color changes and how long it takes to complete the process. Changes ended up taking around 1:30min for each color, which is pretty good to see, as it’s the same time as the higher end K2 model. The finished model looks good and using different colors gives a good effect

Final Thoughts

During the tests all other prints turned out well, they have good surface finishes, good tolerances and the multicolor print look really nice. Keep in mind there is some filament waste with multicolor prints, so printing by object or printing multiple models at a time will help with this.

Overall the Creality Hi is a well-built 3D printer that produces good quality prints, it’s easy to use and with minimal assembly required its quick to get going out of the box. Adding the CFS will give you multicolor printing options and its sure to be a popular 3D printer package.

Product Links

Hyper PLA filament

Filament Dryer

Watch the full detailed video review here :

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