Review: Creality Ender-5 S1 3D Printer

The Creality Ender-3 is likely the most popular entry-level 3D printer on the market today, but it isn’t Creality’s only offering. The company manufacturers a range of 3D printers to fit different requirements and price points. The Ender-5 series is a step up from the Ender-3 and Creality just released the new Ender-5 S1. In this review, I’ll try to help you determine if the Ender-5 S1 is a good choice for you.

Specifications

Let’s first get the basic specifications of the Creality Ender-5 S1 out of the way:

• Build volume: 220x220x280mm (8.66x8.66x7.09 inches)
• Acceleration: 2,000mm/s/s max
• Default print speed: 50mm/s
• Max print speed: 250mm/s
• Extruder: dual-gear direct drive
• Leveling: four-corner knobs and mesh bed leveling
• Interface: 4.3” full-color touchscreen
• Filament diameter: 1.75mm
• Max hot end temperature: 300°C
• Max bed temperature: 110°C
• Bed: coated spring steel sheet

Kinematics

Some may assume that the Ender-5 S1 features CoreXY kinematics, because the frame looks similar to many CoreXY designs. But that is not the case and the Ender-5 S1 has standard Cartesian kinematics, meaning that the X and Y axes work independently with their own dedicated stepper motors.

But that doesn’t mean the Ender-5 S1 has poor kinematics. The frame is very rigid and the bed only moves in the Z axis. Compared to “bed slingers” like the Ender-3, this allows for much quicker acceleration. CoreXY kinematics are complicated and this is much simpler, while still retaining many of the speed benefits.

Creality says that the Ender-5 S1 has 2,000mm/s/s acceleration, which is respectable—though hardly record-setting. With printers that have beds of this size, acceleration is a much greater factor than max speed when it comes to cutting down print time. As long as the extruder and hot end can keep up, any printer can print at fast speeds if they have enough room to accelerate. But the fast acceleration lets the printer get to those speeds in a shorter distance.

Features

The Creality Ender-5 S1 is what I would classify as a midrange FFF (Fused-Filament Fabrication) 3D printer. It’s a substantial step up from the Ender-3, but doesn’t approach prosumer 3D printer territory. In addition to the sturdier frame, Ender-5 S1 buyers get a number of nice features compared to an Ender-3.

Those features include a big touchscreen LCD interface, a filament runout sensor, a dual-gear direct drive extruder, and a physical probe for mesh bed leveling and accurate Z-axis offset adjustments.

As I’ve noted in several other reviews, I do not like Bowden extruders. So I was happy to see that the Ender-5 S1 has a direct drive extruder. While the max hot end temperature is a tad too low to handle every filament material, compatibility is very good thanks to the direct drive extruder and heated bed. With an enclosure and a hardened nozzle, the Ender-5 S1 should be able to handle a wide range of materials.

The physical probe is another nice touch. Compared to inductive probes, it is more reliable and will work with any print surface. The probe pops down when needed, the snaps up out of the way when it isn’t in use.

The included build plate is decent. It is a spring steel sheet coated in some PEI-like material to aid in adhesion. If anything, the adhesion was too good. Flexing the spring steel popped off most prints, but thin parts (and brims/purge lines) were very difficult to get off. Luckily, users have many other options if they don’t like the included build plate and they’ll be easy to swap out thanks to the physical probe.

Test Prints

The below video shows several of my test prints, including the Benchy and bunny that Creality shipped on the SD card.

With the exception of the Zelda Guardian and the PMAG stand, I printed all of these at the default speed in the Creality Slicer (50mm/s). Those two exceptions were printed at 100mm/s. All were printed with Creality HP Ultra PLA.

I mentioned before that Creality says that the Ender-5 S1 has 2000mm/s/s acceleration. That is true, but the default slicer settings only use that acceleration for travel moves. All of the actual print moves have acceleration set to 500mm/s/s.

The stated max speed of 250mm/s is only attainable with around 120mm of “runway” for takeoff and landing. Meaning if you printed a straight line that extended the full 220mm with of the bed, you’d only hit the max speed for around 100mm. In reality, very few models have straight lines longer than the 120mm needed to reach max speed at all.

For those reasons, I chose to cap my tests at a max speed of 100mm/s. Even that speed was likely only attained on the PMAG stand, which has long straight lines on the base.

Overall, I was satisfied with the performance of the new Creality Ender-5 S1. The only failure I had was with my first attempt at printing the deer, because its hooves were too small to stay adhered. That was easy to fix with a brim.

The quality at 50mm/s was very good, as expected. You can see that in the Benchy and Buggy prints, which both looked great. The print cooling fan ducts really helped with almost flawless bridging.

At 100mm/s, the print quality was still acceptable. The Zelda Guardian looks very nice, but it probably didn’t reach 100mm/s at any point. The PMAG stand has nice surfaces, but you can see where there is some ghosting and where the overhangs weren’t quite perfect.

Conclusions

The Creality Ender-5 S1 has an MSRP of $559.00 and that seems a little high to me. I expect most will sell at a discounted price that is closer to the competition.

This model would benefit from true bed leveling and CoreXY kinematics, but those wouldn’t be practical at this price point. As it stands, this is a solid printer—but not one that I anticipate generating a big following. There is just too much competition, with many alternatives performing as well at lower prices. I also believe that buyers want a larger build volume at this price, but the Ender-5 S1 is almost identical to the Ender-3 (just 30mm taller).

The Creality Ender-5 S1 is a good printer and most buyers will be very happy with it. However, there may be better options at similar prices.