3D Printing Blog

While Creality does not yet offer a 3D printer with a built-in support for the Klipper 3D printing firmware it does however has a solution that kind of make it easier to get access to the Klipper firmware on your existing Creality 3D printer and on some others as well. The device comes in the form of a 7-inch touch-screen display (1024×600 resolution) with a built-in 64-bit computing platform, 2GB of RAM and 8GB of ROM memory and WiFi and Ethernet network connectivity, though you connect it to your 3D printer through a USB cable (it can drive multiple 3D printers at the same time – 4 USB ports). The device not only provides you with Klipper support, but all the features it offers as well as upgrades the default display of the printer with a much more friendly and functional touch-screen interface, read on to find out more about what you get and how you can upgrade your 3D printer using the Creality Sonic Pad device.

The most essential upgrade that the Sonic Pad and the Klipper support is brings is the ability to print with higher speed while maintaining high-quality of your prints – resulting in faster print times without sacrifice of the quality of the 3D printed parts. Creality says 2 to 5 times faster printing speed with the same quality, though that greatly depends on the printer you are using and the model you are printing on it. This improvement of printing speed while maintaining good quality comes from the input shaper function of the Klipper firmware that do requires some extra work, doing some measurements of your printer with the included G-sensor (accelerometer) and you need to print a mount for the sensor too.

The Klipper firmware offers much more than just speed increase, it has lot more to offer in terms of features and improvements of functionality. Another very useful function is to be able to monitor and control your printer with Sonic Pad over the local network wirelessly through WiFi or with a cable Ethernet connection, especially useful if your 3D printer is only capable of printing from SD card, USB drive or through USB connection by default. There is also the ability to connect a webcam to monitor the printing process. And there is the CrealityCloud for remote monitoring and control, though that functionality is new and more limited to the number of supported devices for now apparently.

Creality’s Sonic Pad supports more than 20 of the company’s 3D printers including: Ender-5 S1, Ender-5 Pro, Ender-6, Ender-7, Ender-3 Max Neo, CR-10, CR-10 S4, CR-10 S5, CR-10 Smart Pro, CR-6 MAX, CR-6 SE, Ender-3 Pro, Ender-5 Plus, Ender-3 Max, Ender-3 S1 Plus, CR-10 Smart, CR-10S Pro V2, CR-10 V3, Ender-3 V2, Ender-3 V2 Neo, Ender-3 S1 and Ender-3 S1 Pro. These do come with pre-configured settings, so you can quickly and easily generate a firmware update for your 3D printer from the Sonic Pad, update it and then start using the new Klipper functionality. This is probably one of the easiest and not to mention the most affordable option for adding Klipper support to any of the Creality 3D printers as the Sonic Pad is priced at $159 USD and it combines the needed extra processing power and a touch-screen display in one relatively easy to use device.

There is also support for some other non-Creality 3D printers and you can customize it for others as well based on the control board your device may be using, though if you are upgrading a non-Ceality 3D printer with Klipper using the Sonic Pad you should check if other users were successful doing so before actually getting the device. Configuring manually a not officially supported 3D printer might be harder for non-experienced users, though using the external Sonic Pad might still be much easier than upgrading the internal hardware of your 3D printer with Klipper-capable one and probably more affordable.

– To order the Creality Sonic Pad from the official Creality website ($159 USD)…
– To order the Creality Sonic Pad from Amazon with faster shipping time ($169 USD)…