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FLASHFORGE

FLASHFORGE Creator 5 Pro Multi-Color 3D Printer,4-Toolheads,Fully Enclosed

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At a glance

Condition
New
Set
Creator 5 Pro
Model
FL-C5PRO-1
Dimensions
20.35"D x 21.06"W x 19.5"H
Weight
18 kg
Color
Creator 5 Pro 3D Printer
Works with
Orca Slicer and Flash Studio

Features 5

  • True Multi-Color & Multi-Material Printing Equipped with independent 4 toolheads, the Flashforge Creator 5 Pro enables simultaneous multi-color and multi-material printing in a single pass. Switch colors in just 7s without the long wait times of traditional single-extruder systems
  • Zero Purge Waste:Say goodbye to filament "poop." Each material has its own dedicated nozzle, the Creator 5 Pro eliminates the need to flush and purge filament during color changes. Every gram of filament goes into your print, not into wastereducing material costs and making multi-color printing more economical than ever
  • Blazing-Fast Printing: Experience professional-grade speed with a maximum travel speed of 600 mm/s and acceleration up to 30,000mm/s2. The CoreXY system delivers results up to 5X faster than conventional 3D printers without sacrificing print quality.Get your prototypes and final parts in hours,not days
  • Fully Automatic Calibration & Smart Compensation:Never wrestle with manual bed leveling again. The Creator 5 Pro features fully automatic calibration and dynamic flow compensation that automatically adjusts for differences in flow rate. Each toolhead's offset is calibrated automatically, ensuring flawless first layers and consistently high-quality prints across all four nozzles

Specs 6

Brand FLASHFORGE
Color Creator 5 Pro 3D Printer
Product Dimensions 20.35"D x 21.06"W x 19.5"H
Item Weight 18 kg
Item model number FL-C5PRO-1
Manufacturer Zhejiang Flashforge 3D Technology Co., Ltd.

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Top Amazon Reviews

A great printer in its price range
Set name: Creator Pro
After beginning with 3D printing using Makerbot Replicator 5th generation and finding them essentially useless for large prints, I purchased the Flashforge Creator Pro. My decision was based on fairly extensive internet research on printers in this price range, and on the experience of the San Diego Public Library 3D printer lab which has had two of these for a couple of years and has had other printers (their comments were very positive). Immediately after purchase I was pleased and surprised to get an email from Tang, the Flashforge Amazon manager, telling me that he would be my support contact. I had subsequent occasion to get help from Tang and that help has been quick and effective. I probably should have given this four stars, because there are a couple of issues I'll list below, but the positives, especially in this price bracket, far outweigh the issues. Positives: Print quality: so far I've printed only in ABS. It's outstanding, especially when I compare it with the results I got on the Makerbot machines with PLA. Hole size and post accuracy seems to be around 0.01" or better. Separation needed for print-in-place moving things is about 0.3mm. For both, these results are without doing filament diameter and filament density calibrations so I'm expecting I can improve these. The 20mm calibration cube came out at better than 0.15mm accuracy. This is SO much better than I was getting previously. Vertical wall surface finish is nearly flawless; horizontal walls are as good as can be with a 3D printer and require sanding/filling to make perfectly smooth. This is my first experience with a heated print bed, and what a joy compared with the Makerbot glass print bed. I've used no tape or glue or hairspray. Once or twice it was particularly hard to get a print off the bed, or the material didn't stick initially. The fix for either was to clean the bed surface with denatured alcohol and level it. For leveling, make sure there is no plastic below the bottom of the nozzle, because any plastic there will screw up your leveling results. Before leveling I wipe the extruder tip with a small piece of cloth dampened in acetone, being careful that the acetone doesn't get on anything else. I found it much easier to get a good result using the leveling sheet supplied with the printer than with a piece of paper. I still find that some prints need a raft to prevent any edge curling, but most do not. For other positive comments, I would just echo the positives in other Amazon reviews. I do want to give six stars to the customer support. Tang has been mentioned in other reviews. I don’t know what Flashforge factory support is like, but Tang (who is with Flashforge Amazon) may be the reason to buy from Amazon. He has been super responsive and while I was working on the nozzle scraping we were exchanging emails almost in real time. I’ve never purchased anything else with such excellent support. It's probably too early to comment on operational reliability as I've only had this for a few weeks, but I've experienced no jams or other issues. Once carefully leveled, the build plate seems to be staying level. Now I’ll turn to the issues I’ve encountered so far: Out of box: There was one loose cable clamp floating around inside the cabinet. I haven’t found where it might belong, so I’ve concluded it is just a random part that got into the cabinet at the factory. Also, in one place the packing foam was hard stuck to the extruder carriage and it was very difficult to remove. Assembly: some assembly was required. Most was quite easy and obvious, but I stumbled a bit on getting the side fan into place. The supplied documentation wasn't great, but after a couple of tries and looking at internet pictures, I got it in. Filament guides: should be replaced with a guide from Thingiverse that moves the filament centerline more towards the reel centerline.The factory design has the filament centerline up against the case. Initial print quality: Initially I went through boo rah cycles. On some parts I got great results, on others there was nozzle scraping that messed up both vertical and horizontal wall quality. It was frustrating because the supplied x3g test files always printed great. I had to conclude the problem was in the settings, not in the printer, I tried ReplicatorG, Slic3r and Makerbot Desktop, without any improvement. Tang offered to slice one of my problem designs with Simplify3d and the results were perfect, so I purchased that and have been using it exclusively with reliable and repeatable great results. I still haven't sorted out the issues I encountered with the other slicers, but I've found Simplify3D a great tool and will just stay with it. So I can't say this was a FFCP problem. Nozzle scraping: the main issue with nozzle scraping was solved in comments above. One remains: I get a 'ghost' of the unused nozzle in the print. For instance, if I have a post rising out of a flat surface, I'll see a minor surface defect that has the shape of that post outline spaced away from the post by the nozzle separation. I get the same thing no matter which nozzle is doing the printing. For now, my fix was to remove one of the nozzles for single extruder prints, and I still need to work on this one to see if I can make it go away. Overall, I’m very satisfied with this purchase. 3D printing requires a significant investment in time to understand the best settings for a machine and for a design, and I still have a ways to go. But, so far so good. After my initial few weeks of nearly constant use, my conclusion is that the Flashforge Creator Pro is a great machine for the price. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2016 by Jim B.
Excellent Printer - Here are a few tips...
Set name: Creator Pro
After quite a bit of comparison shopping and research I purchased one of these for work. It was my first experience with a 3D printer, so I was starting from an absolute newbie perspective. The printer arrives in a very plain brown box, and other than the size and weight (and the fact that you're expecting it), you'd never know what was inside until you open the box. Setup is a breeze, but be sure to look at the owners manual before you begin trying to get the packing foam out of the interior. It will make things much easier. Setup, leveling the print bed, loading of the filament (comes with two spools of ABS), and test print (the little traffic cone) is very easy. You'll be surprised at how well it prints and the quality of the finished product. I've seen 3D printed models (both online and in person) in the past, and they were not very good. I have to say that after using this printer and seeing the quality of the output, I have been very impressed. After a few weeks of using this at work I liked it so much that I purchased one for my home. Since then we have printed everything from bird houses to doorstops and many other things. I'm now printing a drone. Besides ABS (which I use most of the time), I've also purchased and printed with PLA and PETG. PETG would be what you'd want to use if you intend to make and use something that comes in contact with food or liquids (I used it for a bird feeder). Since I had to learn all of this the hard way, I'll give you a few pointers that hopefully will save you some time. For what I was doing at work I needed to create my own 3D models. After looking at all the options I went with Blender. It's open source, free, and has a huge support community so you can find answers quickly. Blender is not intuitive, but it is very much worth learning. Search YouTube for Blender and you'll find plenty of tutorials. The first few days are frustrating, but after you begin to figure out how to use Blender, you'll be hooked. I've made some amazing things after learning Blender. The next software I would recommend is Simplify3D. It works great and is very easy to learn and use. Why do you need this? Whether you download a model (.stl file) from Thingiverse or create a model in something like Blender (which you would then export as an STL file), you need a way to get that STL file converted to gcode for the printer. The printer comes with some software for this, but in my opinion the included software is nowhere near as powerful or complete as Simplify3D. Simplify3D does all the work and makes it super easy to go from STL to printer. You basically open an STL file, view it in Preview Mode, and then export it (save it) to the SD card that goes in the Flashforge Creator Pro. That's it. Simplify3D has a lot of options you can play with if needed (most of the time you don't). This software costs $149, but I would recommend purchasing it. It will save you tons of headaches and you'll be printing very quickly and easily. Before I forget, this is the 2016 model of Flashforge Creator Pro. I didn't know they had a different model before 2016, so if you download and print an add-on (see below) for the printer, be sure you're downloading something for the 2016 model, otherwise it may not fit after you print it (I found that out the hard way) Once you are printing, I would suggest downloading and printing two "add-on" parts for the Flashforge printer (neither of these are my designs, I just found them on Thingiverse): 1. Filament Feeder (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1582238). This makes it much easier to load/unload the filament, and keeps it better aligned with the center of the filament reel. 2. Universal Filament Holder (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1641112). You'll need one of these because not all filament spools are the same width, and many will not fit on the hubs supplied with the printer. These are simple to use and can be swapped for the ones that come with the printer in about 10 seconds. They mount exactly like the ones supplied (requiring no tools... simply hangs on the back like the factory ones). There are many variants of both of these add-ons on Thingiverse. I personally have printed and use these, so I can vouch for them. They work just fine, but I'm sure others would work equally well. The last thing that I would highly recommend is replacing the blue print bed platform sticker that comes with the printer with a glass plate. After having used the blue sticker for about a month, and then switching to glass, I still can't figure out why they wouldn't ship the printer from the factory without a glass print bed. In my opinion glass is far superior. I don't need a scraper of any kind to remove a print. It simply cools and pops right off. I use a light coating of Aqua Net hairspray on the glass (wiped off with a paper towel after spraying) before printing. This makes the glass sticky so the plastic will stick while it is printing. As soon as it prints and cools, however, the part will pop right off without even prying. The glass bed kit that I purchased (from Amazon) is borosilicate glass that is cut to the right size for this printer (220mm x 150mm x 5mm high). The kit I purchased was from Makersome. There are two corner brackets (part of the kit) that mount on opposite corners of the print bed and the glass plate simply sits on there. The beauty of this design is that as soon as I print something I can lift the glass plate out (usually with a pot holder because it is hot), and set the glass on the granite counter top. It cools very quickly (1-2 min) and the part literally unsticks itself. Instead of hairspray I have also used an ABS slurry by mixing ABS scraps with some acetone (must use a polypropylene spray bottle for that) and spraying and wiping it off the glass. I've done both, but I get the same results with hairspray with the bonus that it is much more convenient and it is clear so it works with any color ABS I'm printing. I clean the glass between printings with just dish soap and warm water. When I'm ready to print something else, I simply spray on (and wipe off) the hairspray and print again. Hope this helps, and enjoy printing. The Flashforge Creator Pro is a great printer. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2017 by Gicho
First foray into 3d printing
Set name: Creator Pro
Review Image by NJB
Review Image by NJB
Review Image by NJB
Review Image by NJB
After spending untold thousands on developing prototypes, my wife coming close to divorcing me, and a lineup of ideas and projects, I was looking for a more cost effective way to bring my ideas to life. I did a significant amount of research on 3d printing, but not an exhaustive search, as my main goal was finding something I could afford, but that had the ability to actually bring my crazy ideas to life. As I type this, one of those ideas is being built. I've posted some quick photos and a video to show the progress. So far it has been printing for about 3 hours and is coming along quite nicely. There is one minor issue that is a result of a learning curve in terms of settings, as I've learned that addressing things like plastic curling from the bed, stringy prints, etc., have more to do with material and environment, than anything related to the machine itself. I have to say that it took me a few tries to get to the point of printing the concept in the photos and video, and there are still some more settings I need to work out, but the product has been superb thus far. But let me start with my general experience with FlashForge, Tang and his team. First of all, I originally order the first version of this Creator. http://www.amazon.com/FlashForge-Printer-Extruder-Compatible-Volume/dp/B008CM2TCU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394165975&sr=8-1&keywords=flashforge Luckily, I ordered it late on a Friday night, and the very next day FlashForge released the Creator X. I canceled my original order with Amazon, thought about it for a day, then ordered the Creator X as a "Pre-Order" item, because the printer was just posted and was stated to be shipping in March, this was February 11th, 2014. I was ok with the dates, because I was still designing some of my ideas and knew it would take a few weeks to get things right. Well, on February 13th, I got a notification that the Creator X had shipped. I was shocked (and worried my wife would find out before I had the chance to explain what I had purchased...a whole other story.) The printer arrived by Thursday of that week. It came directly from China, had all the "Paperwork" attached and it was quite impressive. It took me a couple of days to explain to my wife what I had done and get clearance to unpack it in my basement. (Just an aside, guys that are married, make sure the first thing you print is for her.) I finally got it unboxed and started to put it together. At this point, I started to get worried, because I ran into a few issues that seemed perplexing. Before I get into these, I have to say, the other product reviews talked in detail about Tang, his responsiveness, how helpful he is, etc. and I 100% concur with that feedback. Though there were issues, a couple of them immediate show stoppers, Tang responded almost immediately, mostly within 20 minutes, but no more than a couple of hours (time difference being an obvious factor.) The five star rating has more to do with Tang's customer service, and less to do with the quality of the device, not because it is low quality, but because it is my first 3d printer and I have nothing to compare it with. But, I will post some additional pictures once I have some of my ideas printed out. Regarding the packaging, it was very well packed, no damage, and the unpacking instructions were spot on. Once I got it unpacked, I started to run into some issues. So here are the problems I initially ran into: 1. As I was following the instructions, there were some inconsistencies with the parts and the explanation of the parts. For example, in one section, it states to use the two shortest silver screws, well, there were only two silver screws and they were different lengths. In addition, when I went to use the included Allen Wrenches, the size I needed for these silver screws was not included. It appeared there were two of the same size accidentally included. I brought this two Tang's attention and he assured me that he would address it with his quality control team (I 100% guarantee he did.) This wasn't a huge deal as I have plenty of Allen wrench tools. The size of the screws was not significantly different and they worked for attaching the print head to the trays, so no big deal. 2. The second, more significant issue I ran into was when I turned the machine on and it started to go through its startup routine and seemed to want to go through the top of the machine. I immediately turned the machine off, then back on, same thing. Not being familiar with 3d printers, I emailed Tang with some photos of everything I could think of and within 20 minutes he emailed me back with a video of what was most likely happening and how to resolve the issue. And he was exactly right, easy fix, no damage to the device. The issue, as I came to realize, was due to the unpacking process. When I was unpacking the Creator and the various boxes, I accidentally, though understandably (due to the way it is packed) pulled a sensor out of place, and pushing it back in place resolved the problem. Ok, on to printing. 3. I printed some samples out and they came out surprisingly well. I initially used the left extruder and it worked great. I tried to use the right extruder and it was not extruding at all. I pushed, pulled, jimmy'd the filament...no go. I switched plastic types, changed temps, zero. Finally sent Tang an email and again, almost immediate response with a video on what to look for and how to fix it. Problem was some left over filament in the filament gear feed (not sure the correct term). The video was detailed, took a few things apart, cleaned out the blockage, put things back together and it worked fantastically. The rest of the things I've been wrestling with are software and settings related. You do any search for 3d printer troubleshooting and you will very quickly learn that tinkering is the name of the game with this toy. And it is exactly spot on. I've come across a great thread from a guy who has spent many hours of his time and provided valuable insight to save you many hours of your time. Definitely worth a read if you are deciding to get a Flashforge. Though it is for the older model, it was 100% relevant to the Creator X: [...] Ok, so I am still learning, experimenting, testing, etc and it has been a blast to learn about the machine, understand how it works, take it apart, and put it back together. It is honestly the best way to become familiar and really understand how the world of 3d printing currently works. So the machine is great, once you get any initial troubleshooting things out of the way and begin how to use it. But I really want to emphasize the company on this one. And this is where I get a bit philosophical. If Tang's dedication to his product, his company, his pride in what he has brought to the market place was absent when I received this product, at the first sign of trouble I would have packed it back up and told him to send me a return label. But there was a valuable lesson I learned, that I think more American's could take note of. That is, a realization that when you work hard, are honest (oh this reminds me of something else with my experience), stand by your product, don't expect people to just accept what you put out, and have no sense of entitlement to someone's business, you develop a true sense of what it takes to make people satisfied with your product or service. Tang has this down to a T, a big FAT T. I am inspired by his entrepreneurial spirit, it just makes me want to design and print, and work, and tweak, and develop and never give up on my own dreams. So thank you Tang, not for the product you've given this market place, but for the example you've shown me, and clearly, countless others based on reviews. I will continue to post my experience as print more and more with the Creator X. Thank you again. Oh, and I mentioned earlier about honesty...this blew my mind. So when the Creator X was first posted, the cost was 1399.00. I purchased it at that price. The day the product shipped, February 13th, I guess Tang decided to lower the price to 1299. I got an email stating that I was getting a refund of 100. I wasn't expecting it, I had already mutually agreed to the 1399 price, and it was such a pleasant surprise to experience this type of honesty. Hard to come by these days. Thanks again Tang, I wish you great success in your business and look forward to continuing to work with you. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2014 by NJB
Seems like a good choice for our first 3D printer
Set name: Creator Pro
This is the first 3D printer our family has purchased. Since it had a decent build volume, great reviews, and was considerably less expensive than most of the other printers I'd investigated, I was able to convince the Mrs. to OK the purchase. We ordered the printer last Thursday with Saturday delivery. Unfortunately, UPS wasn't able to deliver it until Monday; so, I didn't get to try it out over the weekend. It arrived early Monday morning, though; so, I unboxed it before I went to work. I was a little concerned because it looked like one of the motors had broken off and was floating loose in the printer, but I had to get to work. I asked the Mrs. to make sure that the kids stayed out of the basement until I was able to assemble everything. After work and an evening meeting, I was able to head back down into the basement and start work. The assembly instructions were emailed separately as a PDF and were pretty straightforward until the acrylic top shield. The manual refers the user to a video that illustrates the assembly of the front door and top shield. Though the video was in Chinese, it was pretty easy to follow. The way that the top shield goes together (with machine screws and nuts) is pretty elegant although the nuts are small and easily dropped. Even so, the hardest part was pulling the paper off the acrylic. Not bad. The next step was to tighten several screws, and it was during this inspection step that I confirmed that one of the motors had indeed broken off. Fortunately, they had included a new bracket; so, it was a pretty quick fix to remove the old bracket from the motor and the parts from the printer then replace it with the new bracket and reconnect the belt. I tightened the remaining screws and followed the directions to set up ReplicatorG on the computer nearby. After getting the computer set up, I started playing with the software and got antsy to try to print something. I ran into a couple of snags and a warning message that basically recommended against printing over USB. From what I've read, that seemed like a common recommendation (avoiding buffering issues, hardware problems, etc.); so, I decided to try one of the existing test builds on the SD card. I did have a little trouble getting the card into the slot (the alignment isn't that great), and I heard a snap followed by the card offering no more resistance. So, I pulled off the front panel and started trying to figure out what went wrong with the memory card reader, and I found a piece of white plastic and a small spring--the two parts that normally allow the memory card to be inserted then "stick" at the detente. I wasn't able to get the card reader back together the way it should have been, but I figured I've had readers without the detente that work. While I hadn't planned on digging that far into the printer, I am kind of glad I did. The interface board, LCD panel, and input module are pretty simple and seem to be pretty solid (aside from the memory reader and it's slot alignment). So, I re-assembled the front panel, inserted the card, and powered it up. The printer went to home state; so, I could tell that all of the motors were working. I tried accessing the memory card again, and it worked. I chose to print the left test pattern (sort of like a small vase with a wide flat square base and a cylindrical tube), and it started running. It was pretty exciting to see everything working. I watched the print for a while, and the print was looking pretty good for a bit, but after about half an inch, the walls of the cylinder started looking a bit ratty and didn't hold together very well. I let the print finish, and pulled off the loose part. The bottom looked pretty good, but I was a little disappointed by the top. I read a little further in the manual, and finally came to the part where it mentions leveling the build plate because it may have shifted in transport. So, I used the utility on the front to level the build plate--the utility just moves the head and build plate so that the head is centered just above the build plate. I adjusted the wing nuts until it looked like the two extruders were just touching the build plate. I then exited the utility and set up to print the right test pattern. Because it was pretty late, I watched it for a little bit then went to bed. When I got up this morning, the print was done, and it looked much better than the first attempt. The boys were all pretty excited to see the test print when they got up, and even the Mrs. was a little impressed. It's possible that the poor build could be from the extruder, but I'm going to chalk it up to the build plate leveling for now. So, that has been my experience over the first day of having the printer. My general impression is that the hardware seems to be generally pretty solid, but some tinkering may be required. I enjoy a little tinkering, and it prodded me to look a little deeper at how the machine was put together, and I liked what I saw. The assembly was relatively smooth, and, fortunately, FlashForge sends spare parts with the printer. My first build attempt wasn't quite as good as I hoped, but once I had the build plate properly leveled, the next print came out pretty good. I think it will be able to do the projects we had in mind for it and a lot more. Because of the kinks (the broken motor bracket and the memory card), I can't give it five stars, but I am glad that we made the purchase. Solid 4 stars. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2014 by R. Greene
Looks nice, but print jobs fail
Set name: Creator Pro
Update 7-31-16: Received replacement printer on 7/28. Nothing has been fixed. Still uses all the cheapest chinese components. The left extruder clogged on the first use. 3 trashed jobs and counting. Obviously there was some printing done, according to the meter, but was it successful? Print jobs may get part way through, then just may a big blob. The top of print jobs looks like it came from an ice cream dispenser. I've tried a different heated print bed. I've removed the left noizzle. I've tried different filaments, different temps, different speeds, lots of included test prints. I hope the 2 provided spools of filament are enough to get this thing dialed in. Update 8-3-16: It isn't looking good. The heated bed never gets more than warm to the touch, although the display shows 100C, which should be the boiling point of water. No screech, yet, but the pulleys are clearly slipping. The left extruder is jammed, AGAIN! Rrgh! I may try some different parts on it. Sometimes, the display shows gibberish in the middle of a job, and the job ends. After this, the printer must be power cycled to be usable again. Other times, the print job just stops. Twice I've had the feed stop. I say it stopped, because the filament wasn't broken, or jammed. If I went to load filament, it would load, or I could cancel the job and start another job. Prints are coming out very rough. The jobs print a few lines, then there is a gap, then a few more lines. Little pieces of filament stick up all over. Update 8-6-16: Well, I have a few successes. The white filament supplied seems to be the only one that works. The red has lots of issues, given the same job and parameters. I tried changine the temp, changing the speed. Still bad. I've used up both included spools printing the same job over and over. In the process, I've found that choosing to print another copy doesn't print the exact same thing; one could be warped badly, another could have gaps, another could get knocked off the plate, etc. I found that, although this printer has a flat build plate, the gantry is crooked. It's racked, and as it prints it raises up in one corner. The feed mechanism has lots of issues. The buttons are often unresponsive. Acceleration shows as an option, but does nothing. The annoying interior strobe lighting is unhelpful. I've been unable to get the left extruder to work for more than a few meters of filament. The auto-level for the build plate is humorous. Since this isn't possible on this printer, why is is mentioned? I don't know which is more frustrating: the 3D printers that are total junk, the 3D printers with terrible support, the 3D printers that are close, but need better support, or the 3D printers that are great, but could be awesome. If you're wondering about support for this printer, see their (lack of) response. I compared this printer side by side with my aging 3D printer. My old printer wins on successes (fewer failures that this printer's successes), quality (the jobs are almost perfect on the other printer), speed (I can print the same job at 1.00 on the other printer, vs 0.20 on the flashforge), runtime (I have thousands of hours on the other printer, vs the flashforge that dies after a few hundred hours' use), parts availability (all local on the other printer), support (the flashforge support is people who don't know and couldn't care less), and usability (the constant crashing of the flashforge is irritating, as is the interior strobe lighting). Bottom line, if you never use this printer, it's great. If you do use it, use only the white filament provided. Once you've printed a few spools, this printer is done. Update 8-11-16: No reponse whatsoever from support. The printer died. Print kept stopping, and the display would go blank. I could power cycle and feed filament, but the feed would stop when the job started. This last time, power cycling did not restore functionality. Nothing comes up on the display. When powering on, the backlighting comes on, then dims, and a few seconds later everything goes dark. Returning this piece of junk. It didn't even last for 400 hours. Original 6-20-16: First impressions are good. This is my 7th 3D printer. Although the enclosure is plastic, it is a quality enclosure, with more design and fewer screws. The sides are solid, but the acryllic for the door and hood feels good. The hood is one piece, and fits securely. The side handles are built into the enclosure. Nothing flimsy. The door handle is similarly built into the door, where it vents out waves of heat. Throughout, the design was preferred to excess screws. This means easier maintenance. The unit feels solid, and does not rack. There are metal grates over the extruder fans. The wiring coming up the back has a nice channel built into the enclosure. The guide tubes are too long for the hood, which does have a big hole that lets the heat out. The guide tubes fit into a thick plate above the extruders, and extend well below the plate. This design prevents the tubes from popping out while printing. On the spool end, space is at a premium, but the guide tubes snap firmly into place, and there is a stop to prevent unwanted winding up on the spools. Unfortunately, the spool holder design fails here, in that the spools are too far from the enclosure where the tubes pull the filament, which causes the filament to get between the spool and the enclosure. No matter how tight the belts are, they slip terribly, because the pulleys are all plastic. In addition, warping seems to be an issue. The tilted display is nice, but the location of the SD card slot is such that lose filament can get into the slot. Also, the buttons aren't very responsive. The lighting is annoying, in that it is never really the right color or brightness. Printing must be done VERY slowly to prevent the belts from slipping (40 at 50%) At the start of every print job, there is a loud screeching noise. Nothing sticks to the blue pad on the build plate. The extruders are, thankfully, both at the same height, but they don't seem to be calibrated correctly, because the left side never matches up, when changing colors. The OS seems stable, thus far, and the info available (such as build statistics) is nice, as is the fact that many of the visible options work. One option I miss is the option to control the lighting. The first print job, the bed and extruders heated simultaneously, but they've never done that since, and it takes forever, either way. It is nice that the OS can read folders on the SD card. Acceleration does not appear to work, nor ditto. The unit does not waste filament with building those waste fences, but instead drops excess filament by wiping it on your print job. The extruder nozzles leak terribly. The tools come in a flimsy ziploc bag. Basically, you get 4 allen wrenches in a bag. As far as assembly, attatch the exteuders with 2 screws, attatch the inlet duct for the filament fan, remove the plastic wrap from the front door, put the hood in place, snap in the guide tubes and spool holders, and you're ready to go. Other than unpacking, removing the plastic wrap is the longest thing. Mine came with 2 spools of ABS filament. Be aware that the filament is on proprietary spools, and that their spool holders are not designed to be compatible with other spools. I'm at 16 failed jobs, zero successes, so far. I've contacted support concerning these issues. Update 6-25-16: Nothing but failures, so far. No response from support. Lots more issues have arisen. Dual extrusion is a no-go. Both extruders extrude simultaneously--even if your jobs only uses 1 extruder. Update 6-27-16: Still no response from support. I have 1 success to show for a whole spool of filament. The biggest problem that has arisen is that the profiles are uneditable. No matter what I choose during the make process, the printer applies its own settings. This wouldn't so bad if the settings were correct. Unfortunately, the offsets and temps are wrong. There are lots of excess noises when trying to print. The annoying lighting is terrible. Update 6-29-16: Still only 1 success, but many failures. 1800 meters of filament used, so far. Support replied. I've provided pics & videos of the problems. We're starting with the belt slippage, but in the meantime, the left extruder quit working. Update 7-11-16: There are some good features; unfortunately, none of them are related to the purpose of the printer. ”Cheap junk” is the best way to describe this unit. There are many issues, which haven't been resolved. I've sent the requested videos and pictures to support. I've spent numerous hours trying to fix the issues, and wasted spools of filament with test prints. 1. The belts slip terribly 2. There is a horrible screeching noise at the start of every print job. 3. There is a sound like shaken marbles while printing 4. I'm unable to turn of the multi-colored strobe light. That purple, pink, and blue light is obnoxious 5. No manual provided, electronic or otherwise. 6. The heads are out of alignment 7. Both heads just constantly extrude 8. The spool holders are the wrong size 9. The filament slips between the spool and the back of the device 10. The filament guide tubes are too long 11. The blue bed pad doesn't sit flat, and doesn't make a good print surface 12. The profiles have the wrong temp settings, but won't let me change them 13. It won't let me edit the print settings 14. Support doesn't seem to understand English 15. Print jobs warp terribly 16. The duct for the filament fan broke off when a job got messed up 17. The print bed doesn't heat properly (display shows 100C, but the bed is only warm to the touch) 18. The instructions on the display don't match the buttons 19. The buttons barely work at all. Even after multiple attempts of press and hold, no response from the buttons. 20. 2300 meters of filament, and only 1 successful print job 21. Even the samples on the SD card failed to print properly 22. The screws that mount the extruders to the gantry, and the screws for the motors come loose every few hours 23. Parts come from China, in 7-10 days 24. The filament guide tubes break after a few hundred hours of use. 25. The pulleys are made of cheap plastic 26. After 400 hours' use, the belts wore through or broke, and the unit basically fell apart. 27. The unit started shorting out 28. Power supply problems developed 29. I have probably 2 spools' worth of 3-inch pieces of filament in the trash can from just filament load failures. 30. I have more than 100 hours into trying to make this printer print. Perhaps that's too much to ask. I considered replacing all the cheap/bad parts, until I realized that the parts would cost almost as much as the printer itself, and I had already paid for those parts as part of the printer purchase. For this much money, I expected something that worked. Print jobs that print great on a makerbot are just trash on this printer. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2016 by end user
Very happy with this printer
Set name: Creator Pro
I did a lot of research before buying this printer, I went with FlashForge because it seemed to be the best overall choice. I like having 2 extruders, the customer service has been reviewed very well, the price for the Creator Pro was excellent compared to the MakerBot and it seemed to be a good alternative. I have absolutely no regrets with this choice. I ordered the printer from Amazon on a Monday. The estimated delivery was Tuesday to Friday of the following week. The status said 'Preparing for Shipment' for several days, but it shipped on Friday and I received it on Monday, a day early. For that I have to compliment Amazon. The packaging was excellent. It was shipped in a FlashForge box very tightly but very sturdy. PLEASE read the manual you will get in an email prior to shipment to see how to unpack it. It was a little tricky, The filament spools are packed under the print bed and it's not obvious how to get them out, and the extruder head is in a smaller box inside (with the spare parts and tools) but it is still wired to the printer. Be careful with this. After doing the simple assembly, which is basically the assembly of the top cover, attaching the front door, loading the filament spools and mounting the extruder. All went well with this (after figuring out how to get the spools out from under the bed). The trick to that is to turn the threaded rod that raises the bed until it's high enough to get the reels out. I am using the latest Maker Desktop software for the printing ( I did not have to upgrade any firmware for this). I have printed test objects from the SD card and also from the ReplicatorG software and both worked fine. I find the Maker Desktop software easier to use and you have more control over more basic options.If you use Maker Desktop, just be sure to to go under the Services Menu and RESTART THE BACKGROUND SERVICE to connect to the printer. That was the only problem I encountered when I started my first print, Now I do it each time I start the program. You do need to make a change in the startup menu to allow Makerware to run properly if you are using Windows 8. I think it was documented in the manual. I would recommend downloading the 'Unofficial' FlashForge Manual. It's the same with a lot of hints in it that make things go much better. It can be found by searching on Google. With all set up and after LEVELING THE PRINT BED, I first printed a couple test objects from the included SD card, and they printed perfectly. ALWAYS level the bed before you start printing and it works very well. I had one small problem with one of the leveling screws. It was bent (probably from when I tried to take out the spool from under without raising the bed high enough on unpacking). This was easily fixed . With all of that said, I have been printing for about a week now, about 20 objects for either my own design, the samples or off of Thingiverse. The ONLY problem I have had is scratches in the Kapton tape from the bed getting a little unlevel, or not being cleaned before a print.This causes the first layer to not stick well. It's obvious when the prints starts, so cancel the print from the control panel, clean and/or level and print again, I used all of the default setting in Maker Desktop, except I increased the bed temp from 110 to 115 because it seems to stick better on the edges of the first layer. All of the objects I printed (except the ones started with the bed not level) have printed perfectly. I have used the Raft on a few and the supports on a few (and both were easily removed after), but most of my objects didn't need them. In summary, I have been extremely pleased with this printer, It has performed much better than my expectations to be honest, I was expecting to print a few duds first and a high learning curve. I had none of that, It's pretty much been plug-and-play so far. I plan to get a few glass sheets for the bed, because the tape on the bed does get scratched or dirty pretty easily, and having a few class covers for the bed with allow me to have a clean one ready to go. Trying to clean a hot bed between prints is tricky. I have only used this printer, but I can't imagine a more pleasant experience. It was not nearly as experimental as I was expecting. And getting 2 emails from Tang at FlashForge asking how things were going and if I had an questions was very reassuring. A side note: I am using an older version of Lightwave 3D to create objects and then exporting in .OBJ format. there is a problem with the sizing and the orientation when the file gets opened in Makerware, This is a common Lightwave problem I have encountered before when doing .OBJ files. It's simple enough to resize and reorient it in Makerware. It was a little harder to solve this in ReplicatorG, ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2014 by Oak Lea
The best "gadget" I've ever owned
Set name: Creator Pro
I have been looking at 3d printers for a while but have always talked myself out of taking the leap and spending the money. But, I've been working with my daughter on our "Halloween project" which is us playing around with lights and sounds and making our own Halloween decorations. Part of this project involves making enclosures for things. With that in mind, I cleared it with the financial department that I could go out and spend a $1000 on a new toy (after a month of spending on electronics equipment) There are a ton of options out there for printers, so what made me pick this printer? I looked at a few factors; - Out of the box / assembly required - Cost - Reviews involving customer support - Bed size I had recently seen a lower cost printer that required a lot of assembly. I assisted with the build and let me tell you, it was satisfying. But, it took 6 hours and at the end there were a few problems that had to be ironed out. I never saw a print. If I had the patience and the will power to want to understand every single detail right off, this would have been a route I considered (still might be when I get better at this whole thing). But, the fact that the Flashforge comes pretty much assembled helped me a lot. You do have to assemble the "roof" (the hardest part is peeling the paper off the plastic sheets), attach the extruder assembly and put the door on, that's it. 40 minutes if you're taking your time and being thorough. Cost. I managed to snag this printer when it was on sale for $959 last week. What a bargain! But, having used the printer. The $1200 it's normally at would be well worth the cost. I always start with looking at the negative reviews first, and when buying something that I know I might require support on I read all those reviews very carefully (paying attention to the dates of the review, customer service can improve as easily as it can degrade). The reviews were generally complementary. The printer comes with a badge attached to it with the name an email of the person you contact, Tang. The bed size is not the biggest in class, there are bigger. But at 9"x6"x6" (roughly) the bed size is pretty decent for most of the prints I'm going to want to do. There are printers that cost a lot more and have a smaller bed, there are printers that cost a little less but have a tiny bed in comparison so I wanted to give myself enough space. On the support front, I did need to contact Tang as I didn't have a few of the parts. He was very polite and responded extremely quickly (over the weekend). We went back and forth to be sure I was following the correct guides and looking in the correct places, I can totally understand not wanting to ship me new parts if I've been an idiot and misplaced them or thrown them out. I was missing the screws that hold the extruder down (there were extras of a slightly larger size that I used and are holding just fine for now, prints are working) I've had the printer for 3 days now, and I just love sitting watching the thing make things. I have designed a few of my cases for the project so far and printed a few designs off for my wife (had to prove the printer was worth the money) and my daughter. I can honestly say I do not regret this purchase in any single way. The printer is built extremely well, everything fits fine and everything is printing just great. Now I just have to get a little more imaginative. After looking at other printers like the Printrbot, Makerbot and the whole raft of DIY printers, no other option would give me a heated bed with a reasonable build platform and dual extruders for the money. Going down the line, I know there will be maintenance costs, I know I'll have to replace parts or I'll screw something up and spend time learning how to fix it. But, quite simply, the out of the box experience for me could not have been better. Things I would recommend to new owners; - Buy the 3d print removal tool, it's basically a thin piece of metal but will make your life much easier for $5! - Makerbot's software works just fine, sometimes I have to restart the service on my mac for it to recognize the FlashForge but it works and is the quickest and simplest to print from so far although Simplify3d is definitely worth the money. Nothing in the Makerbot tool asks me about what type of plastic I'm using, so be careful as the default temperatures would be kind of high for PLA - If you buy Hatchbox spools, they will not fit on the spool holder on the back of this printer. There is however a great design on thingiverse that you can have printed in 3 hours that gives you a spool holder that will hold them so you don't have to worry about that. - Register on 3d forums and read up on some of the tips and tricks people have. In summary, this is without a doubt the best gadgety thing I have ever owned, it's sturdy and I love how easy it is to get things printing. Now my imagination is running on what I can print next and my credit card loves me because I'm treating filament like it's a collectable! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2015 by T. Burns-Dyson
My first 3D printer - Better than I expected
Set name: Creator Pro
I bought this for my son who is in high school doing a lot of engineering work using AutoCAD. My goal was to inspire his work by letting him produce prototypes of his designs. This machine so far is accomplishing my goal. Creator X performs as advertised and so far has been very reliable - I am a happy customer. Let me first mention what I consider prerequisites. First you need a realistic expectation of the product produced out of this machine. Yes it works in PLA (I have not used yet) and ABS (I have used half a large spool so far). It will produce a part that is accurate to the design but has it's limits. Limits like little lines around the part where the plastic has been printed in layers. Limits like an occasional gap where maybe the ABS has shrunk and you need to work on speeds/temperatures/etc to get the 'perfect' print. Which brings me to the next realistic expectation which is you should view every new print as an experiment. The orientation, support, and parameters used when printing are just as important as the original design. You may have to tweak settings differently from one project to the next. This again leads me to the next realistic expectation which is larger, or higher quality, prints can take time to produce. How long? I'd say 3-4 hours for a smaller higher quality part to over a day for a higher quality mid size part. Guess what? If you run out of material or your computer hangs mid print you get to start all over (so far I've only been caught by the computer going to sleep once - which I turned off). So is this technology perfect? Absolutely not. But it sure is a hoot to use and in my opinion the Generation X makes it fairly simply. Next you will need some technical ability. The Generation X comes mostly pre-assembled and the parts you need to install are easy so that's not the technical ability you will need. In order to leverage this printer you need some experience producing parts on a 3D modeling/CAD package - like I mentioned my son uses AutoCAD. In addition you'll need to install some third party software to actually control the printing process - we've stuck with the ReplicatorG recommended by FlashForge. The packaging. Mine was shipped by Amazon using Prime. Amazon actually boxed the printer upside down (printer box was upside down in a larger box). When unpacking I thought the printer would be toast. But thankfully FlashForge packages their printer very well and nothing was damaged. In fact there isn't room for anything to be shifting around inside the box. Disaster averted. So kudos to FlashForge for a great packaging job. The process. What we've been doing is the following. 1) Produce a design in AutoCAD. 2) When design ready to print 'Save Copy As' and use STL file as extension 3) Start ReplicatorG software 4) Open STL file in ReplicatorG 5) Center, position on platform, and orientate drawing to prepare for printing 6) GCode/Generate to create GCODE which will be sent to printer 7) Options presented for generate, select as desired 8) Once GCODE has been created click on the GCODE tab 9) Manual update any GCODE parameters like M109 (table temp) as desired 10) Save GCode 11) Send file to printer 12) Monitor the first 3-5 rows closely to ensure print sticking to tape on print platform You can look on the internet for various settings to use for various plastics so I won't recommend anything here. It's pretty obvious when something isn't right - again view every new print as an experiment. One thing I will mention is it can be difficult to get the first rows to stick to the Kapton tape on the printing platform. And if that doesn't happen you are doomed to failure. I've found the following to work: 1) Clean the bed with denatured alcohol and spray with hair spray before heating up the platform 2) Wipe bed clean with Acetone before heating up the platform I've used both of the above and they seem to help the print stick. You can research the web for other ideas. But be careful because you don't want to be spraying volatile materials on a hot print platform so use these ideas at your own risk and if your house burns down it's your fault and not mine. The result. So far we've been able to print all the designs my son has come up with and they've turned out great. Granted some things have taken a little experimentation but at this point everything has been able to be printed within acceptable limits. Most of what we've done is single extruder at this point. The only dual extruder project we've attempted is 'the world' example included in the ReplicatorG software. It turned out OK but since most of what we're doing requires only a single extruder I haven't played with any settings to perfect the print. The verdict. I think this is a great 3D starter printer. It appears to be well designed, has good firmware, and has been able to reliably produce the prints we've submitted to it. FlashForge sent me the user manual via email before I received the printer and their representative (Tang) has been very gracious in offering to help with any difficulties (which so far I haven't had a need to contact him - but appreciate it anyway). For the right person I think this would be a great investment. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2014 by CCUSA
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