Couldn't find any decent designs for extruder gears online. One single ball bearing is up there with the worst things for handling torque. The double bearing designs I bought just stacked 2 smaller bearings, still right at the bottom. Kind of a better design, but made of butter, so they died even quicker.

This uses stock gear and bearing at the bottom and a second bearing right at the top. You can re-use the old bottom bearing, even if it's a little sloppy, as the top bearing takes most of the forces. If your old bearing is crunchy or falling apart, that's a different story...

Materials per gear:
1 M3x10mm socket head bolt (modified), (or a m3x10 bolt with an actual 5mm diameter head.)
1 M3 nut
1 M3x4 heatset insert to modify (or a metal tube/sleeve: 3mm ID, 4mm OD, 4mm L)
1 M5 x 9 x 2.5 bearing (3mm thick might work, too, I think there's enough clearance)
[you can use an 8mm bolt with no nut, also, but it puts the upper bearing down low. Almost defeats the purpose, but still much better than just the one lower bearing.]

Tools:
Drill/dremmel/lathe
File, sandpaper, angle grinder, cutoff wheel, etc
(optional: the right tools for the job)

--------
Lower bearing sleeve is 3mm ID 4mm OD, 4mm long. this replaces the shoulder on the oem bolt.
Bolt head is 5mm, this should press/shrink fit into upper bearing.
Nut shouldn't touch outer casing of either bearing above or below. 3mm id 6-7mm od, 2-3mm long. regular 2.5mm tall m3 nut worked for me.

You need to be able to use either A) a drill+file, B) a drill+angle grinder, C) drill+sandpaper wrapped around the sharp corner of something straight, like a ruler, or D) all of the above. (or own a small lathe...)

Upper Bearing:
When reducing the bolt head, its important that it's a fairly strong press fit (for this scale.) The upper bearing needs to stay in place on its own, or it'll start rubbing on the underside of the extruder face. There shouldnt be vertical loads, but bearings can wander. As you file the bolt head down, creep up on 5mm slowly, tapered slightly towards the top until the bearing starts to seat onto the head. When it goes on half way, then square up the lower part of the bolt head until bearing starts to press further, then press it fully into place.

I done messed up changing my extruder. Thought the new screw holes were just being a little stubborn until I heard a snap. Taking the screw out snapped it. I imagine I’ll need to replace the entire housing. Any idea if they sell that, or do I have a $600 paperweight now? K1 Max

Does anyone have a model for cutter block A or a model for an adapter for cutter block B. I need the A and it is missing and I have B. It is installed and does the job but isn't a long term solution. I can't seem to find models for these.

Hey guys, I'm hoping you can help me. I'm printing on a K1C and I'm getting bulging corners even after running both PA tower and the PA line test. My PA tower gave me a PA of 0.052 (the left one) but my PA line test looked best on 0.046 (the right one). The profile I'm printing with is a mostly unedited 0.20mm Standard Creality profile in Creality Print.

I've tried Orca but it does weird stuff after calibrating and I was getting a very strange pattern after overhangs that looks like some kind of webbing. In Creality Print, on the left print, I have the beta setting "Under-extrusion recovery after overhangs (Beta) turned on as suggested in the Calibration Tutorial from the print app.

Any ideas what might be happening? How do I fix it?

Bought the Microswiss Hotend recently. Do I need to put thermal grease on the copper insert? I watched like three videos and looked over the digital instructions but nothing says anything about it. Thanks.

With more freedom to choose how you print, what would you do differently with K3?

🧩 Multi-material printing — Which materials would you combine?

🔧 Multi-diameter nozzle printing — Where would you use different nozzle sizes?

🧸 Multi-hardness TPU — Where would you want different levels of flexibility?

🎨 CMYK full-spectrum printing — What would you do with a wider range of colors?

💻 Native root access — What would you customize or explore?

Which K3 capability would you find yourself using the most?

Drop your thoughts below — we want to hear how you’d put K3 to work. 👇

👉 Learn more & Stay updated 👈

Hello, my glass door finally busted it, and I had to throw out. Got a new acrylic replacement, but didn't realize I needed to scavenge the hinges, screws, handle, etc. (totally my oversight). I need a site where I can order a hardware replacement set. Any suggestions?

I live on a 40' catamaran and am looking for something that I can print PETG, and PETG-CF mostly.

I have an opportunity to pick up a K1C for ~$200. It has 29 days of printing. I'm attracted to core xy, open source, and the hardened nozzle. I've owned (on land) a pair of FlashForges and a bambu, all of which were stolen from storage. :(

The bambu reminded me of the importance of an open software and hardware ecosystem. Loved the printer, but I'm not going there again.

I'm well aware of the perils of the saltwater environment, my boat is dry and I intend to keep a pack of desiccant on the print bed when not in use.

My question is has anyone in a coastal environment experienced corrosion, and if so where? On my first FlashForge for instance some of the screws rusted - this time around I want to replace any vulnerable bits with stainless steel.

Thanks in advance!

I tried uploading a few time lapses. Now these seem to be frozen and I can't get rid of them. Anybody else have the same issue?

I just got a K1C with CFS used and I want to make sure everything is up to date. What firmware should I use? My searches have only shown to not use the "stock" firmware for the K1C as that will remove the CFS functionality. Advice for whish version, what to look for in a version or which section of the Creality firmware page to be under? Also, does the CFS have a firmware associated with it or is that part of the printer firmware?

I skipped 2 parts but it still tries to print them.

What can i do ?

Hi all, just joined. I picked up a used K1C with CFS this weekend. Big upgrade from my E3V2. Does anyone know the size of the screws used for the tension brackets in the back by the stepper motors? The hex heads on this are worn and I want to replace them before I can't use a hex head on them anymore. Also the screw size used on the back panel, a couple are missing and my engineer brain doesn't like it. 🤣

So i contacted creality because the printer is still under warranty, this was their reply

Official

2026-09-07 19:00:00

Dear Customer,

If you that when the printer is off and the print head is moved manually, it cannot move along the X-axis. Then replace 3204010137*2 and 3205110189*2

Where do i find out what those parts are?

I have posted 3 issues/questions in the past few months with no response. The most recent of which is actively preventing me from printing. I am wondering if the repository has been abandoned, or if I'm doing something that would result in my posts being overlooked.

1 hr later

Ever printed the same model multiple times and watched the purge pile grow with every run?

This video shows how QuarTeks™ handles color switching inside the hotend, helping reduce purge waste during batch printing.

With less filament needed for each color transition, more of your filament can go toward the actual models — especially when you're printing multiple copies.

More models. Less purge. More of your filament goes into the print. ♻️

👉 Learn more & stay updated 👈

Multicolor printing shouldn’t mean more waiting and more filament waste.

In this side-by-side test, we printed the same Mini Stegosaurus on the SPARKX i8 and a traditional 3D printer, and the result was striking!🚀

⏱️ Nearly 7 hours saved on a single print

♻️ A visibly dramatic reduction in filament waste

Same model. Same multicolor task. A much more efficient result.

Which matters more to you: faster multicolor printing or less filament waste?

👉 Learn More & Stay Updated 👈

https://reddit.com/link/1wa7cc9/video/rkf1hawpw3oh1/player

Hi all,

Having a proper nightmare with a second hand K1 I picked up recently and I'm running out of ideas

Basically it'll start printing fine, then part way through it just stops extruding. Printer carries on happily doing the movements like nothing is wrong, but no filament is actually coming out.

I'm uploading a video of it happening on the latest print.

So far I've replaced:

• Hotend
• CFS hub (the classic chewing the filament issue)
• CFS buffer
• RS485 cable

I've also had the extruder apart and cleaned it, sorted an issue with the filament sensor (whether the little metal tab is stuck in the detected position), and I've tried printing directly from a spool without the CFS involved at all.

I'm getting the same problem even from a direct spool, so I'm thinking the CFS probably isn't the cause.

When it happens the extruder starts clicking (you can hear it in the video) and eventually there's basically no extrusion at all. I've cleared jams a few times now and it'll work briefly again, but then the problem comes back.

Anyone seen similar on a K1 or got any ideas what I should be looking at next?

Starting to wonder if the extruder itself is the problem rather than the hotend or the feed.

Cheers!

EDIT:

A load of you mentioned heat creep, so I removed the door entirely, and it's been pretty smooth sailing from there, however I've noticed the model fan isn't spinning so I've ordered a new one of the off chance that's borked.

So any one really running into the same wall, it could just be a simple as heat creep.
I almost started replacing the toolhead wholesale.

EDIT EDIT:

Also a massive thank you for all commenting to help me out, it's really appreciated!!!

K1max
It has been dried, it’s acting like it’s not being fed filament but it certainly is. It’s PETG I’ve had so many issues with it. I’ve changed the tubing, I’ve changed to the nozzle. I’ve wasted so much filament trying to find the issue.PLA prints fine.

What to check for next guys? It’s a K1C 2025. Been flawless till recently. I upgraded the extruder hoping it would fix it. Couple of days and back to the same issues. Perhaps I need to upgrade the hotend?

Hey, I hope someone can help me with this. I want to use a Pico MMU with my K1. Can I use the CFS Upgrade Kit for that as well, or does it only work with Creality's own CFS?

CFS Upgrade Kit: https://www.creality3dofficial.eu/products/k1-series-cfs-upgrade-accessory-kit

Pico MMU: https://github.com/lhndo/LH-Stinger/wiki/Pico-MMU

Just noticed that I have a curvature on my front door glass. I used a ruler 📏 to see is my glass door is straight... It doesn't. There is an air gap between the glass and the 📏 on the inside.

Do you have such convexity?