I've been struggling with my K1 since Christmas. I bought it on sale for Black Friday and no matter who I contact at Creality, no one can tell me what replacement parts to order. K1 parts don't fit my printer. They want pictures to see what 'buckle' I have, because my serial number isn't enough information, but who wants to tear down a printer just to take pictures? Now my thermistor is broken (a leg weld just fell right off while I was fixing a clog), and I can't order a new one because what do I order? This printer doesn't take K1 parts. Every time I order something, it has to get shipped back. I'm annoyed and venting, but also trying to help anyone else considering a Creality printer. Don't do it. Their support is a joke and they take zero accountability.

I've added an image for help explaining the problem. These two JST connections are completely different, but both are supposed to be for the K1. And both of these listings are Creality Official:

Here's one and here's the other.

Creality made good printers in the beginning, i.e. original Ender and Ender Pro. They used high quality components and offered good value for money compared to what else what available at that time. However, when they had cornered a large part of the market and got known as the brand that made the best beginner printers, things started going downhill. They switched from Meanwell power supplies etc. to cheap noname components, quality control seemingly became non-existent, and they released several poorly designed overpriced printers (E.g. the E3v2 - my first printer - and everything with "max" in the name).

I think there's a combination of different reasons for why there always have been so many people who believe that Creality make good printers:

1. People who have bought their Ender 3/Pro before 2020 actually have good printers, and give them honest praise on forums.
2. Fake reviews on the internet, which hype up the product since their only goal is for you to click their amazon affiliate link and buy it.
3. Creality paying content creators for positive reviews, including several well known and otherwise respected within the community.
4. Buyers who got lucky with the QC and don't own any other printers to compare with, might think their printers are the best.
5. Buyers who are now happy with their Ender after having spent €100+ on "upgrades" and/or days of troubleshooting the printer. I've even seen a guy insist that an Ender is a better first printer than a cheaper more reliable alternative, because the 20 hours he spent on his Ender to get a decent print out of it gave him "an invaluable learning experience".
6. And I've also seen people who haven't yet bought any printer claim that Enders are the best beginner printers, just because they've read that statement so many times they've come to accept it as a fact, and now they're "helping" others looking for a first printer by answering their questions.

I think my E3v2 is good now, but I've replaced the hotend, extruder and part cooling fans. I've added a second Z lead screw to fix gantry sag, and I found a manufacturing error where the X belt tensioner wasn't straight because tightening the screw into the aluminium extrusion bent the plastic (difficult to find, but luckily easy to fix with a metal shim). I've replaced the firmware with Klipper, controlled by a Raspberry Pi. And I've probably spent at least 50 hours just trying to fix and improve the printer, which I didn't mind btw, but I think most would prefer a printer which just works out of the box.

In retrospect, I wish I had joined some 3d printing discords and talked to experienced users before deciding on which printer to buy, and not relied so much on google, websites and random comments.

Unfortunately, creality has always been known for this sort of stuff and the sad part is they have not improved at all. Just last week, I had a friend buy a used ender 3 neo. Mainboard has 4.2.2 version, you'd think that would be a u useful information. But turns out - there is a silent and a non-silent version of 4.2.2. So firmwares are not compatible. But I found out not all 4.2.2 are even with the same mcu - some have stm32 and some gd32 (a clone). So my friend - being inexperienced, upon finding that EEPROM setting saving was not enabled by default, promptly flashed the wrong firmware and bricked the printer. I helped him flash klipper, he's printing again. But creality has been mixing and matching parts with no tracking or any logic or reason since forever. I thought they will up their game after bambu pressure, but apparently not.

Oh damn. I'm discovering they're so much worse than I thought.

Yeah, I'm not even sure what to get now. But they're taking this Frankenstein monstrosity back or I'm going to burn them to the ground. I'm loud, angry, and litigious.

Anyone have problems with elegoo carbon?

My only advice is - don't give up. A good thing is there is a cheap and usually reliable way to fix this. Some combination of parts will work, but you will have to do a lot of research and/or trial and error. You will then be a lot more knowledgeable to fix your printer in the future. This is in contrast to buying a printer like bambulab, where everything works out of the box, but it will cost more upfront. I've already worked with a bunch of creality printers and know how to solve most of the problems, so I will choose the more open source and cheaper route every time, but it's not for everyone, or even most people. You already have a creality printer, so it may make sense to try to fix it. But also, at one point, you may value reliability more than cost.

I've had a K1 for a couple of years now, and I've never had issues getting parts for it. I recently replaced the hot end and hot end breakout board because of my own personal stupidity, and I was able to just buy the parts. And they fit.

Is something different about your or my K1?

Something that I’ve learned over the years is that a lot of times what separates cheaper or more expensive brands or higher prestige brands from lower prestige brands is quality control.

In the world of guitars, for example, you can get some amazing deals if you’re willing to deal with buying a guitar that might need a lot of work to be set up properly after you bring it home. Or maybe you’ll be lucky and the one you get will be totally fine and require zero setup.

Nowadays for most products I just assume if I’m spending half the money I’m probably not getting half the value. Instead the lower price means I’m accepting the risk of a 70% chance of proper QC’d unit rather than 95% for the more expensive one.

The problem is it’s basically impossible to know the real rates for these things unless you’re a dealer who sees a high volume and can analyze return rates and stuff so it’s kind of a crapshoot. If I’m buying something I feel confident I can fix or upgrade myself (guitar) I’ll happily save a bunch of money and deal with the risk. A lot of people have that level of experience with 3d printers, and it sounds like you do.

A lot of other people in this thread are clearly expecting an out of the box experience that is perfect. Which is totally fine, not everyone who prints needs to be an expert. But buying a creality machine as someone who isn’t prepared to do some of their own work fixing issues out of the box is probably a bad idea

Evidently? Everything I order for it is for the original K1, and Creality quietly made changes midway through production so nothing labeled K1 will fit. The connections for a new hotend, for example, would not fit my board. The nozzles labeled K1 are short, like nozzles my Ender took, but then I found out my K1 takes unicorns. I literally can't buy parts.

No, I don't mind replacing things. But how? Do I just buy a slew of different parts from random sellers? Creality parts don't fit. I've tried.

My printer before this was an Ender 3 v2, I'm not useless. But when I can't even find parts that fit, that's a problem.

Yeah honestly I went back and read your OP and it sounds like maybe you straight up got a counterfeit unit or something? That’s wild. If genuine replacement parts don’t fit that’s super whack

Yea, none of what he says makes sense.

Well, tbh, I'm not familiar enough about K1, is the hardware open source? If so, can you compare the parts? If you have some vastly different model to the current one, perhaps you have a preproduction or an early rev? It may be that you need to convert a lot of it to the new style. I don't know where you could ask for help, but some bigger community may help you better. Reluctantly, I suggest trying reddit, perhaps there, someone has gone into similar issues. At the very least, it may attract creality's attention, and they may help you to avoid bad press.

It's not counterfeit. Creality literally admitted the problem. It's super whack, I agree.

Oh, my model is the current one. It's the older ones that everything is tailored to. That's the whole problem 🤣

I have a K1 that doesn't take early K1 parts. I think they changed things mid-production to use the unicorn nozzles that they evidently designed for another printer. During that time, the hotend was changed twice as well. This means if I order a hotend kit, I have a very low chance of actually getting the part I need. I'm not sure how to shop, because everything just says K1.

Wow, that is somehow even worse. 😯

Yeah, I'm really annoyed. I had bought a bunch of nozzles in advance, so when I needed the replacement, I'd have it. Imagine my shock when my printer spit out a unicorn nozzle on the day before Christmas Eve, after everything had closed. I was in the middle of printing Christmas stuff. I was LIVID.

We all graduated from Creality years ago. They were famous for creating sales flyers before they finished the printers, and ending parts support before the new batch even hit US shores. Just cheap drop shipping.
Tell them to send the right part or exchange for a new printer.

Prusas are expensive but they fucking work.

It's between that and an Elegoo.

I reported them for being shady af and told them they'll take the printer back or face legal repercussions. I'm beyond being patient.

Usually that means a v1, v2, etc. there are k1v1, k1v2, k1c, k1 max, k1 plus,  k1se, etc. so you need to verify exactly which version you have and order the parts specific to your system.

I have no hands on experience with Elegoo's printers, I have a pair of Arduino Uno clones with their brand on it though, and they aren't bad.

Creality wouldn't explain that to me, and I've never seen a listing with versions for the K1. Can you find one so I can see what you mean?

I just googled it. You should be able to tell based on the hot end and serial number

But Creality can't even tell. They asked for pictures.

Yeah you're probably talking to some idiot that doesn't actually work for creality their third party low level tech and either the Philippines or India so they have no clue what they're talking about. Just Google it I I found descriptions on one site that said you can tell the difference between the V1 and the V2 based off of like the hot end or the fan or something like that that they're only slight modifications. You may be able to go on crealities website itself and there may be a section to be able to put in for like your warranty and when you click into it it should give you additional details something like that is usually where I would start at.

I emailed Creality directly, I didn't go through their ticket system. Could you not link me to that site you mentioned? Because I've Googled the hell out of this and found a few complaints on Amazon, and that's it.

You do realize emailing a company like that directly still goes to a call center and customer service area where they answer it right? I can Google it later on I'm in the middle of working right now but all I did was Google reality k1 V2 and it brought up several answers

https://youtu.be/ILXu12KHa4s

The Creality K1 "v2" (roughly June/July 2023 and later, often called the "updated version" or v2/v3) is a hardware revision of the original K1 (v1) designed to fix initial reliability issues, most notably extruder and hotend failures. The updated version is generally considered the minimum standard for a reliable K1 experience.

Key Differences: Creality K1 V1 vs. V2/Updated

Extruder: The V1 extruder had a chrome-finished, often problematic latch. The Updated/V2 extruder has a matte or sandblasted finish on the lever, providing better filament grip, fewer jams, and less slippage.

Hotend: The original hotend was prone to clogging and issues with the ceramic heating element. The updated version (sometimes with a red silicone sock, though this is not definitive) has improved thermal performance and reliability.

PTFE Tube Setup: Some updated units feature an improved toolhead clip that removes the need for the small, breakable blue plastic clip used on the V1 to secure the PTFE tube.

Overall Reliability: The V2 (updated) K1 is far less likely to suffer from the "extruder click" or clogs that plagued early adopters.

How to Identify the Differences

Batch Number: Check the white sticker on the box. Batch numbers starting with 2305 are generally V1 (older). Batch numbers starting with 2307 or later are the updated version.

Extruder Lever: The original extruder has a shiny/chrome lever. The updated extruder has a dull, matte, or sandblasted grey lever.

Manufacturing Date: Units manufactured around or after July 2023 are generally the updated versions.

Summary Table

Feature K1 V1 (Original) K1 V2 (Updated/Mid-2023+)

Extruder Lever Shiny/Chrome finish Matte/Sandblasted finish

Extruder Performance Prone to slipping/jamming Improved grip & reliability

Hotend Original (higher clog rate) Upgraded (better reliability)

PTFE Clip Small blue clip (easily lost) Improved, more secure clip

Common Issues Clogs, extruder clicks, uneven mesh Far fewer, more stable

Note: The "K1C" is a separate, newer model that comes with all these, plus a hardened steel nozzle and improved toolhead.

If you have a K1 V1, Creality previously offered "upgrade kits" to bring them to V2 specifications, but they are now widely replaced by third-party, more advanced extruders.

+1

Holy shit. Why didn't they just tell me this???

Thank you!

Again the people you were talking to are probably just typically first level employees at a company and they're usually overseas India, the Philippines, Vietnam etc. They're not really paid to think and they're not really paid to provide this information they have a script in front of them that they follow and that's about it. Learning how to Google things is one of the biggest things with any sort of technology that you can do. Straight up all I googled was creality k1 V1 versus V2.

When buying your first car, would you pay extra to get a worse car so you have to learn mechanics in addition to learning how to drive? :)

It's definitely about finding the least bad printer if shopping the budget stuff, they all have issues as you say. Personally I think it's best to buy the printer which is the least likely to have severe design and/or manufacturing flaws and focus on learning how to get good prints out of it. When you're a complete beginner it's difficult to know if your print turns out bad because you're doing something wrong or if it's caused by a hardware issue.

Tear it apart and klipperize it

Pardon?

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=creality+k1+klipper

I am watching some videos but.. maybe I'm not getting it - how does this fix my hardware problem?

Hi, I know you left this comment months ago, but I wanted you to know that I've replaced my K1 (the topic of the thread) with a Carbon, and I cannot possibly exaggerate just how amazing this printer is. Highly recommended. 10 out of 10, no notes.

Thank you for your update! I actually pulled the trigger days after that post and I 100% do not regret it. Thanks for taking the time to follow up; It just reinforces my decision that i made a good purchase.

One thing i will note is if you do connect it wifi, and dont use the online features, block it's internet access. I found that it had made 22k requests in a months time and I had barely printed anything on it due to old filament breaking.

Glad you got it! I remembered no one ever responded so I figured I should lol I'm sorry it phones home so much though - that's bananas. What is it doing??

Not sure, havent cared to inspect traffic packets.