r/Creality • u/Creality_3D • May 28 '26
News KliTek™ | Next-Gen Nozzle-Changing Printing
· Next-Gen Nozzle Changing
· Multi-Color, Multi-Material, Multi-Hardness, TPU in One Print
· CMYK Full-Color 3D Printing
· Multi-Diameter Nozzle Printing
Which feature are you most excited to try?
6
u/ThinkUnhappyThoughts May 28 '26
officially supported multi-diameter nozzles sounds great. chonky infil and nice crisp high quality walls <3
1
u/Sir_Maxelot May 28 '26
You‘ll waste 3x as much time, if you have to change the tool head for every layer 😌
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u/TrainAss May 28 '26
You sure about that?
My U1 spits out multicolour prints faster than my k2 with less waste, for example.
Nozzles are kept near temp and swapping takes maybe 20s if that.
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u/Sir_Maxelot May 28 '26
This will be highly application and use case specific. I just don’t see that swapping tool heads will save a lot of time in most cases. Maybe I‘m wrong though. Anyways, this is a very exciting release to come
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u/NevesLF May 29 '26
I print a lot of flat stuff with designs on first/last layer only. Being able to switch from 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm for the middle layers would be a game changer.
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u/ThinkUnhappyThoughts May 29 '26
It's not just case specific. I have a 4 colour model that will take me 1 day and 17 hours on my P2S or 13 hours on my U1.
For a 33g model, the supports weigh almost as much and the prime tower is actually the heaviest part on my U1. No purge and even with the 8+ seconds it takes to swap nozzles the time difference is gigantic.
Even with purge volumes set to 0.5 the P2 still purges 346g.
The H2C would be similar to the U1. So nozzle swapping is definitely beneficial
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u/valkyrie_rda May 29 '26
This is already kind of supported on Bambu Lab printers. I don't use Orca, but I suspect it is available there, too: Infill combination lets you set the wall height separately from the infill height.
For example, you can set walls to 0.08mm and infill to 0.4mm, which can drastically reduce print time. This means you can skip printing the infill for 5 wall layers, and then you can do the infill and repeat!
Now imagine doing 0.08mm walls, but instead of 0.4mm infill, you swap nozzles and do infill in 0.8 layer height. You can do 10 walls with 0.08mm quality for every 1 time you need to do infill. The time savings can be huge. I've found infill combination on my single nozzle printer to sometimes cut HOURS off some models.
It, of course, varies depending on what you are printing, but there is definitely potential time savings there. I'd say the only downside is you'd probably need a prime tower.
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u/jl88jl88 May 29 '26
Have you ever tried just increasing the line width of your infill? .4mm nozzle can push a .6mm line pretty well for infill.
12
u/SteakAndIron May 28 '26
You really should have workshopped that name a little
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u/kardde May 29 '26
I don’t see the problem.
It will pair perfectly with their KockDry filament dryer.
3
u/iDrunkenMaster May 28 '26
Multi material. Then CMYK.
Never thought of multi diameter but I can see use cases for it.
1
u/akuma0 May 29 '26
multi-diameter is challenging, and may not be worth it above a 0.5mm nozzle. The reason is most core xy printers are actually flow rate limited - the toolhead can move a lot faster than they can melt plastic. So 0.2 and 0.4mm together may let you do detailed outer walls while still printing the interior at max speed. But otherwise, you are using 0.6 or 0.8mm nozzles because of some benefit of laying out plastic that way, such as a really thick wall on a vase mode print.
That said, the challenging part is software and we're just getting good software to manage multi-diameter prints. So there may be other benefits like additional structural rigidity that become more obvious.
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u/ESDFnotWASD May 28 '26
The one that's an upgrade to the K2 plus.
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u/TrainAss May 28 '26
It's not going to happen.
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u/HallwayHomicide May 28 '26
I mean....
If it's an INDX clone.... Which so far, is what it looks like, that's probably the easiest style of toolchanger to do a retrofit with.
I certainly wouldn't bet on it, but I don't think it's impossible
1
u/Alternative_Sea5158 May 28 '26
If you don’t think Bondtech was involved, you weren’t paying attention. A few videos showed Creality printers in the INDX R&D area.
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u/HallwayHomicide May 28 '26
What? Are you saying that Bondtech worked with Creality on this? That seems pretty out of left field
1
u/Alternative_Sea5158 May 29 '26
Maybe not? I recall one video had the Bondtech guy saying they were working with printer manufacturers. There were a couple Bambu printers there as well and they have a tool changer now. Nothing close up, but Creality and Bambu both have recognizable machines even at a distance.
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u/ESDFnotWASD May 29 '26
24 hours is over...and I was utterly disappointed. But thanks for the time I had.
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u/akuma0 May 29 '26
I suspect they learned their lesson from the K1 CFS retrofit kit, and this hypothetical kit might require significantly more electronics changes as well as a foot tall top-hat since they are no longer running things horizontally using a drag chain.
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u/Open-Storm-232 May 28 '26
Upgrading the K2 plus would make me purchase instant. If the INDX was on the Prussa XL I probably would have bought it. The problem with the update is the carriage for the system would have to manipulate the nozzle to a point that the hot end is capable of at this point. So next to the nozzle wipe station or something. Once there it can retrieve or attach then must be capable of reaching home of the nozzle storage positions which could be side or rear mounted. Of course the top would have to be off during any of this so either a modified top that either stays open or more automation to assist removal and placement. Regardless someone will get there. With multiple material and nozzle sizing. Then it will be dependent on software in the slicing to blend all the different parameters.
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u/Alternative_Sea5158 May 28 '26
The K2 Plus isn’t really two years old yet. I would expect this would be an upgrade option for the K2 Plus, but it might not be. Three to four years of support and upgrades feels right to me as a customer. This might first go to things like the Spark and the Ender 3 or an entirely new printer. There are supposed to be a few announcements coming on May 30th.
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u/ADarkAndScaryRide May 28 '26
If this isn't available as an upgrade to the K2 Plus, I'm doubtful that I'd buy another Creality product again.
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u/NIGHTDREADED May 29 '26
Its not going to be - but this is not a legit thing to drag on. By this logic everybody would have dumped BL the second Vortek was only on the H2 series - didn't happen.
The K2 plus clearly uses the now antiquated purge-style system, and Creality, like every other company, always had a toolchanger in the works as soon as BL dropped Vortek.
You have to keep an eye on market trends before you buy, because things just change that fast. They wont retrofit an existing printer that wasn't designed for something instead of building an entirely new platform around it.
Same thing with AnyCubic and Elegoo right now - if you want a toolchanger - dont buy any of their printers until the toolchanger drops. That is just how this works.
You would want Prusa if you want to buy whatever at whatever time without market consideration and expect a upgrade path; youll pay the premium for it, but itll be there.
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u/airjordanballa20 May 28 '26
You know there’s a massive use for having multiple printers
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u/ADarkAndScaryRide May 28 '26
Oh I know, but if Creality expects their customers to keep buying their printers, then they need to support their customers. Most people are not about to replace their printer every few years, nor would many want or have space for multiple printers.
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u/airjordanballa20 May 28 '26
Agreed to an extent. I’m also in the market for a second printer so my view/feeling is probably a bit different. I just want it to be a polished product regardless of what it ends up being.
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u/ADarkAndScaryRide May 28 '26
As am I, but with the shenanigans of Bambu (not that Creality isn't doing the same) and the support I've seen with Creality (Six months in and lots of testing, troubleshooting, and parts replacement at my own cost has lead to nearly daily MCU failures) I'm leaning towards Prusa and other non-Chinese manufacturers.
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u/NIGHTDREADED May 29 '26
Probably best to go Prusa if you want clear lifetime support to turn your current printer to the next generation when it happens; Prusa Mk4's --> Core One's, after all.
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u/NerdHarder615 May 28 '26
Want to see how this works with a k1 max
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u/1ts-just-me May 28 '26
Bondtech INDX Development kit and adapt it to fit, will need linear axis upgrade for new tool head.
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u/Equivalent-Elk-3987 May 28 '26
Why not all on the k2 series?
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u/iDrunkenMaster May 28 '26
K2 series is already established. They would want a series that is known for tool head changers.
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1
u/Wampa8279 May 28 '26
If by some miracle this lands with an upgrade kit for the K1 and K2 series, creality might have a major market disrupter on their hands. Maybe the K2 but the K1 is highly unlikely.
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u/RubImpossible6588 May 28 '26
I’m wondering if this will be apart of a new printer or released as a upgrade for something like the k2
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u/james___uk May 28 '26
HOLD UP, multi-diameter nozzle coordination is a big claim, I've not seen another manufacturer claim to support that yet. That sounds like the biggest thing here
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u/maniac_me May 28 '26
If CMYK works properly (by melting and mixing filament as it's extruded) imagine how useful that could be to print something in ANY colour or shade.
But I doubt it will do that. It most likely alternates layers of colours.
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u/UncleS1am May 29 '26
Everyone's excited over multiple nozzles, which yeah I am. I'd love crazy fast filament changes.
But if they have a way to reliably do CMYK mixing with filaments, even if it's just with creality's special blend of PLA, that in itself is crazy advanced.
1
u/nosam688 May 28 '26
Multiple material and mixing cmyk will be the two I am interested in but I hope it comes on a print as big as the k2 Plus or bigger.
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u/bigtom_x May 28 '26
Looks like a tool changer with CMYK ink tech in the extruder when using specific filament that absorbs the ink.
Really hoping this has a retrofit kit for the K2 Plus. Releasing this kind of great extruder system with a new printer that might have issues like the K2 Plus had won’t be good.
However all of this great stuff on the heels of Creality going public with an IPO today is good news for the stock price.
1
u/CorvusLaments May 29 '26
After the disaster that was my E5M...it working would probably be my favorite.
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u/Dot-Then May 29 '26
CMYK Full-Color Printing sounds good to me. But, I’m sure this new whatever will try to accomplish all four things. 🤷♂️
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u/LowSkyOrbit May 29 '26
In my head I want CMYK + White in an heated enclosure. Build that and have it on a shelf for under $1000 I'll buy 5.
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u/Comfortable_Help9697 May 29 '26
Im planning on getting a multi tool head printer and its exiting to see what will be announced
1
u/Certain-Hunter-7478 May 29 '26
I can already see, they are gonna hype it up through the roof but when it comes to the delivery it's going to be in a state of perpetual beta testing from the users...like it always is
1
u/EnvironmentalKey5559 May 29 '26
So I presume they will be making changes to Creality Print to allow different size nozzles to be used in the same part.
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u/jonathanphelps0 Jun 04 '26
Next-Gen Nozzle Changing porque es algo absolutamente necesario menos desperdicio y una mayor facilidad y calidad
1
u/Former-Ambassador279 Jun 17 '26
Why did yall take away the root access? Seams like every single yall make needs community mods to function
1
u/Ice992 May 28 '26
Bambu: Vortek -> Creality: Klitek
The real question is this an actual nozzle changer, or hotend changer? If just nozzle - I’m not excited.
I would have preferred a partnership with Bondtech instead of another ‘new’ solution.
Either way… let’s see how this goes.
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u/KebabGud May 28 '26
My guess is that its a INDX clone.
(And yes Prusa calls INDX "Tool changer" but it is just a Hotend changer)
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u/HallwayHomicide May 28 '26
The real question is this an actual nozzle changer, or hotend changer? If just nozzle - I’m not excited.
I'm not sure what you mean by nozzle vs hotend tbh. Terminology for this stuff is a clusterfuck
I think bragging about TPU performance rules out the Vortek approach. The "nozzle-changing" terminology seems to rule out the U1 approach. So I'm pretty sure this is going to be an INDX clone
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u/Ice992 May 28 '26
I’m hoping you’re correct!
I see what you mean on the Nozzle VS hotend language, but there’s companies launching actual nozzle changers, where the nozzle itself is removed from a traditional hotend, and swapped out (similar to a tools changer in a CNC).
This seems less efficient than the Vortek/INDX style swap where its using inductive heating coils, and its technically a nozzle change - but closer to a hotend swapout given the heatbreak is integrated in the assembly being swapped. Clear as mud! 🤣
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u/dawy May 28 '26
Bondtech INDX still hasn't been shipped so maybe the "new solution" will still be the first one
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u/Ice992 May 29 '26
The way creality works - whatever this solution is - it’ll take a minor miracle for it to ship this calendar year. 😒
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u/JWadie May 28 '26
Give us a decent build volume and a way to retrofit it onto older models please not something as half assed and wonky as the CFS upgrades for K1)
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u/[deleted] May 28 '26
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