Creality K8 - FDM 3D printer

Creality, founded in 2014, is a professional 3D printer manufacturer offering a broad range of certified, affordable and high quality 3D printers, as well as filaments, 3D scanners and even drones and robots. The company specializes in combining 3D printer software research with printer design and distribution.

The Creality K8 3D printer is a device designed for printing industrial grade LED letter signage, also known as channel letters. Channel letters are letters used in logos and advertising signs, normally found on storefronts and usually spelling out the name of the brand.

Image 1: Examples of channel letters 3D printed with the Creality K8 3D printer. Source: Creality.

Compared to manufacturing LED channel lettering in the traditional way, doing it with the K8 3D printer only takes 6 steps (compared to 9) and 2 hours instead of 25 hours. It saves the process of making a model file, cutting the letters out from a panel, forming the shape, polishing, welding, circling and painting the letters. Working with the Creality K8 3D printer also eliminates the need for a slotting, welding or laser cutting machine or skilled personnel.

The design of the Creality K8 printer, inspired by professional industrial equipment, ensures high precision of actuator movement, even up to 0.02 mm, which guarantees high quality prints. The Creality K8’ large workspace (800 x 800 x 85 mm) allows for the production of big pieces as well as batches.

Some other advantages that the Creality K8 printer offers are:

• No 3D modeling required
• Quick heating and quiet operation
• Filament sensor
• Fast automatic color change
• Double leveling of the working platform

Apart from being precise, the K8 3D printer also operates in a quiet fashion. The guide rail moves smoothly without generating noise. The motors, despite their high speed of operation, do not heat up and provide stable operation at all times.

The K8 3D printer has an all metal dual extruder and a PTFE tube to ensure that the material is passed efficiently, smoothly and without resistance to the nozzle. The K8 printer can use nozzles of 0.6 mm, 0.8 mm, 1.0 mm and, optionally, 1.2 mm in diameter.

Image 2: The extruders of the Crealit K8 printer. Source: Creality.

Thanks to the way the extrusion system is built (“two-in-one-out”), the K8 3D printer allows for fast automatic color change without the user’s intervention.

Image 3: The automatic fast color change in the Creality K8 printer. Source: Creality.

The Creality K8 supports dynamic leveling compensation and allows for mechanical and automatic leveling (with the help of a sensor). The following picture shows how mechanical (left) and automatic (right) leveling take place in the Creality K8 printer.

Image 4: The mechanical and automatic leveling of the Creality K8 printer. Source: Creality.

Another advantage offered by the Creality K8 printer is the filament sensor whose task is to monitor the feeding of the filament in real time. In case the filament runs out or any other interruption occurs, an audible alarm will alert the user.

Image 5: The filament sensor on the Creality K8 printer. Source: Creality.

The Creality K8 printer is a perfect solution for those who would like to start their own channel letter business as well as for professional workshops that would like to move on to a more efficient way of manufacturing LED letter signage. This 3D printer gives the user freedom in terms of design, and allows saving on time and resources while still providing high quality of services.