Creality Is Set to Release K2 Plus Multi-Colour FDM Printer in Early April

What We Know

Multiple leaked renders of the printer, screenshots of Creality’s latest version of its slicer (Creality Print) alongside teaser images from Creality’s X’s (formally known as Twitter) account show a large format enclosed FDM 3D printer with a multi-color/multi-material system mounted on top very similar to Bambu Lab’s AMS. 

Currently known as the K2 Plus and based on these leaked renders, screenshots and images, we can see that:

• It has a very large build volume of 350mm x 350mm x 350mm that is indicated on the leaked render. This would put it as one of the largest consumer enclosed Core XY FDM 3D printers on the market. Many enthusiasts are incredibly happy about this, including ourselves as this affords the ability to print large props, engineering prototypes or other large items that do not fit on the typical 250mm build plate found on most consumer FDM 3D printers. However, one of the leaked screenshots of Creality’s Creality Print slicer shows that the build volume is 300mm x 300mm x 300mm which is the same as its current K1 Max printer. 
• The multi-colour/multi-material system can hold 4 spools of filament indicated by the leaked screenshot of Creality’s Creality Print slicer. On the surface, this looks like a direct copy of Bambu Lab’s AMS down to the UI. This is further corroborated on their X (formally known as Twitter) post with the caption “Do You Dream in Color?”
• Redesigned toolhead. The toolhead looks longer than the older K1 printer and may include new hardware such as a redesigned extruder or hotend. What we found interesting is that there is no sign of a part cooling fan. It may have been relocated to the rear of the toolhead, opposed to the front on the K1 series of 3D printers.
• Inclusion of a purge chute. Popularized by the Bambu Labs P1 and X1 series of 3D printers, when the printer switches filament, it needs to extrude a certain amount of filament to flush out the old filament and prime the nozzle with the new filament. The wasted filament is ejected into the purge chute which is dropped outside the printer.
• Redesigned z leadscrew placements. On the older K1 FDM 3D printers, Creality has mounted 3 z lead screws on the front left, front right, and back center of the build plate all coupled on a single z stepper motor. The updated K2 Plus shows 1 lead screw on the left (and implied one 1 lead screw on the right) and no lead screw on the rear center. This heavily implies that there are 2 z lead screws instead of 3 z lead screws.
• LCD screen relocated to the top of the printer instead of the button in the outgoing K1 3D printer.
• Potential release date is April 9th, 2024 based on their X (formally known as Twitter) post.