Ender-5 VS Ender-6: What Are the Differences Between the Two Creality Cubic 3D Printers?



As a leading brand of desktop FDM 3D printers, Creality established itself as a player in the world of 3D printing with CR-10 series and Ender series. By far, the most popular model is the Ender 3, following by Ender-5. In April, Creality extended the Ender product line with its latest Ender-6, which is a semi-enclosed printer designed with core-XY structure, which is confirmed to be capable of achieving 3 times faster print speed.

As the new Ender-6 is sharing a similar outlook design with its predecessor Ender-5, people are somehow curious about what exact differences exist between the two. Let’s probe into some details.

Design
Creality’s Ender 5 is a box-like printer that has outer dimensions of 440 x 410 x 465 mm and a build volume of 220 x 220 x 300 mm – so better make some room on your workbench. As a member of the Ender series, the X and Y-axis measurements of Ender-5 are the same as the Ender-3, but Ender-5 provides more room for the Z-axis. Each of the axes has a dedicated stepper motor. In a quite unusual way, the Y-axis motor drives both sides of the gantry at the same time so you get an overall smoother movement. The Z-axis is mounted in the middle of the bed with a big 8-mm-rod. Overall, the printer makes a sturdy impression.

Ender-6, the Core-XY machine borrows technical aspects from the popular Ender-5 family, adds extra build volume, an enclosure, and several improved components. In terms of size, the Ender 6’s build volume of 250 x 250 x 400 mm puts it right between an Ender 5 Pro (220 x 220 x 300 mm) and the CR-10 series, which starts at 300 x 300 x 400 mm. This should suffice for the majority of your daily print jobs.

Moreover, the surprising improvement that Ender-6 brings to the Ender series is acrylic plates on the four sides of the machine, which makes Ender-6 a semi-enclosed machine capable of extending the filament options. A simple mechanical bracket system holds the acrylic walls in place. The top of the machine isn’t covered as the print head is mounted here. Two front doors give you room to pluck your parts off the print bed once they’re finished. In addition, Ender-6 revamps its print bed with a Carborumdom glass platform, which is supposed to give users smoother first layers.

The major difference between Ender-5 and Ender-6 is a mechanical arrangement. Ender-6 is utilizing a Core-XY structure, which means the machine is having a bottom-to-top moveable print bed, and utilizing two stepper motors to drive the motion in X-axis and Y-axis. The special mechanical structure makes it possible for Ender-6 to improve print speed without sacrificing print quality, and supply the exact same build volume while having smaller overall measurements.

Test Print: Benchy

In order to compare the print performance, we got the same test print, the Benchy, on the two printers. The filament that we used to print is Creality 1.75mm white PLA.

Overall, the Benchy on Ender-5 turned out to be okay as there are no stringing and no overhangs. At the bottom, the text at the base was readable, but no that clear. At the top, there shows some small gaps and the inside of the roof had “spaghetti” hanging down because of the concentric infill. Despite those minor flaws, the model is acceptable.

On Ender-6 delivered 2 Benchy models at two different print speeds. At first, we printed a Benchy at 100mm/s which is a normal standard print speed for most FDM 3D printers. Then we printed another Benchy at 300mm/s which is the 3 times faster speed. Basically, the two Benches came out in good shape and quality. There are neither undesirable stringings nor overhangs. What’s more surprising is that the 3 times faster print speed at 300mm/s also delivers quite amazing results. At the bottom, the first layer is really smooth and the letters are easily readable and clear. At the top, there are no gaps, either. In a word, Ender-6 is capable of achieving 0.1mm precision at 300mm/s without sacrificing print quality.

Autodesk Kickstarter Test

The Autodesk Kickstarter test looks at an FDM printer’s precision – read more about it here.
Ender 5 achieved the following results:
Dimensional Accuracy: 5 of 5 points (24.92 / 20.05 / 15.03 / 10.05 / 4.93)
Fine Flow Control: 2.5 of 5 points (the pylons were printed to their full height, but we encountered some stringing)
Fine Negative Features: 4 of 5 points (the 0.2mm gap pin wasn’t removable)
Overhangs: 2 of 5 points (30° and 15° overhangs showed some irregularities)
Bridging: 5 of 5 points (no bridge contacted the surface beneath it)
XY Resonance: 2.5 of 2.5 points (no ringing detectable)
Z-Axis Alignment: 2.5 of 2.5 points (no layer registration effect visible)
Overall, the Ender 5 scored with 23.5 out of 30 points.

Ender-6 achieved the following results:

Dimensional Accuracy: 5 of 5 points (24.92 / 20.05 / 15.03 / 10.05 / 4.93)
Fine Flow Control: 2.5 of 5 points (the pylons were printed to their full height, but we encountered some stringing)
Fine Negative Features: 4 of 5 points (the 0.2mm gap pin wasn’t removable)
Overhangs: 4 of 5 points (30° and 15° overhangs showed some irregularities)
Bridging: 5 of 5 points (no bridge contacted the surface beneath it)
XY Resonance: 2.5 of 2.5 points (no ringing detectable)
Z-Axis Alignment: 2.5 of 2.5 points (no layer registration effect visible)
Overall, the Ender 5 scored with 25.5 out of 30 points.

Tech Specs

Ender-5
Assembly: pre-assembled
Build volume: 220 x 220 x 300 mm
Min. Layer Height: 0.05 mm
Frame: Aluminum
Nozzle Quantity: One
Nozzle diameter: 0.4 mm
Max. print temperature: 260℃
Filament diameter: 1.75 mm
Connectivity: SD Card, USB
Voltage: 100-240V
Product weight: 11 kg
Product size: 400 x 380 x 400 mm

Ender-6
Mechanical arrangement: CoreXY
Assembly: pre-assembled
Accuracy: 0.1 mm
Layer height: 0.1 mm
Feeder system: Bowden extrusion
Extruder type: Single nozzle
Nozzle size: 0.4mm
Max. build volume: 250 x 250 x 400 mm
Max. extruder temperature: 260C
Max. heated bed temperature: 100C
Max. print speed: 300 mm/s
Closed print chamber: Yes (semi-enclosed, optional)
Bed leveling: Manual/BL-Touch upgradable
Print bed: Heated
Display: LCD color screen
Connectivity: SD card
Built-in camera: No
Resume Print: Yes
Product weight: 30 kg
Product size: 495 x 495 x 650 mm

Ender-5 VS Ender-6: What Are the Differences Between the Two Creality Cubic 3D Printers?

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