Creality, in their 7th anniversary Livestream, announced the latest addition to one of their longest-running and popular CR-10 lineup with the launch of the CR-10 Smart. Packed to the brim with user-friendly features, all in a stylish-looking package. Does it print as good as it looks?
Design of the CR-10 Smart
One of CR-10 Smart’s prime features will be evident with just a glance. Besides the standard CR-10 shape, its design is unlike any other CR-10s that came before. Sporting a sleek, premium-looking build, the CR-10 Smart is a gorgeous machine. According to Creality, their design language was inspired by Supercars. This is evident in several places like the fancy-looking hot end cover and the edgy, geometrical-shaped toolbox.
Along with the better aesthetical designs, there are many mechanical upgrades in its overall design.
Mechanical Upgrades
The modular structure of the CR-10 Smart allows for efficient packaging and quick assembly out of the box in just six steps. You can finish assembling within 8 minutes. Everything from the power supply unit (PSU), screen, and toolbox is neatly integrated into the base. This makes the machine very compact with a low footprint. In previous versions of the CR-10, the screen and the PSU came combined in a single brick, externally connected to the leading printer. This made wire management a very messy and time-consuming affair and that design compromised safety.
Creality took design inputs from many of its previous printers and used what worked best. The integrated toolbox is also seen on the CR-6 SE and Ender-3 V2. The side-mounted filament scroll holder is also seen on the CR-6 SE and Ender-3 MAX. Creality also introduced new mechanical elements which were missed on the other 3D printers. The CR-10 Smart comes with dual Z-axis lead screws and two support strut bars, to keep the platform super stable, stiffen the Z-axis motion and eliminate much of the errors due to vibrations. Unlike the CR-10 V2, the support strut bars are located at the rear. This makes the print bed more open and easier to access.
Features of the CR-10 Smart
On the front side of the CR-10 Smart is a 4.3 inch LCD color touchscreen with a broad viewing range. This comes with a little upgraded version of the same user-friendly UI as seen on the CR-6 SE.
For the I/O ports, the CR-10 Smart comes with an ethernet port, a USB port, and a Normal SD card reader. These big cards are better than the microSD cards, which were very finicky to handle. The CR-10 Smart comes with new power-saving features. The auto-dimming function is now available on the screen, left inactive for over 30 minutes, and auto-shutdown after the print is finished. This will save power and increases safety.
One of the most innovative and advanced features is the cloud-based connectivity capabilities in this 3D printer. With a built-in Wifi function and RJ45 wired networking, you can connect your printer to Creality’s app-based cloud remote control. You can control and monitor your 3D printer with your phone itself.
But Creality has gone above and beyond just controlling and, monitoring. With this app, you can even slice your files on the go, upload those to your printer and directly start printing without the need for an SD card. This has streamlined the printing process like never before. Additional features include built-in dual LED lights, to help you record your printing progress even inside a dark room. And an auto-bed leveling module.
Prints From the CR-10 Smart
The CR-10 Smart, like most of its predecessors, comes with a Bowden-style extrusion system. It finally gets an all-metal extruder, a filament runout sensor, and automatic feeding and retracting of filament is one of the key features of this machine.
It uses a Carborundum glass bed, which is Creality’s version of Anycubic Ultrabase. The heated bed can reach temperatures up to 100°C and the nozzle temperature will go till 200°C. At these temperatures, you can print most of the filaments available in the market like PLA, ABS, TPU, and PETG. It has a printing volume of 300 x 300 x 400mm, making it fairly big in size and allowing you to print larger and taller prints with ease.
The Motherboard on CR-10 Smart
Creality has given the CR-10 Smart a 32bit quiet motherboard, with Trinamic stepper drivers, Creality has even good quality silent fans from the factory, along with a low noise PSU. According to Creality, the noise reduction is lower than 25% when compared to other 3D printers in the industry. This translates into noise levels lower than 45dbs, equivalent to a suburban area during nighttime.
Summing up
The CR-10 Smart is the most ultimate version of the CR-10. It’s everything the base model wishes to be, yet at $499 it follows the CR-10’s philosophy of giving amazing value at low costs. But even with all its bells and whistles, the CR-10 Smart comes as just another printer with a Bowden set up, which is the single weak point of this amazing machine.
Having Wifi and cloud connectivity or good design are nice features to have, but don’t always help in giving consistent good quality results. A Direct drive extrusion setup and a PEI sheet bed cover from the factory would have been a welcome change. You can also check out another 3D printer of Creality, the Creality Ender 3.
However that said, these things could be very easily swapped. Tweaking, tinkering, doing little DIY upgrades, and interacting with the vast community around these printers is what makes these affordable printers so special. Not only they’re easily accessible by many, but they also leave you with useful skills that you’ll pick up while working, upgrading, and owning these printers. The CR-10 Smart is now available for sale on Creality’s official page at $499 and will start shipping from May 10th.
All technical information is taken from Creality’s official page.
Harsh Pawar is a student of Mechanical Engineering. Specializes in the Mechatronics domain. Alongside this, He’s an avid runner and an auto enthusiast
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