Bondtech XY-axis motion & LGX Lite Pro extruder upgrade kit for Creality K1 and K1C

We took our time to study these K1 type of units.
We understood they are 3D printers with high potential but showcasing some critical and addressable flaws.
Not only the extruders under-performs, the XY-axis motion was also under-performing or compromised in all the units we examined. Another weak point detected was the z-belt tensioner that will break eventually.
For those reasons we didn’t limit ourselves to just find a way to install a Bondtech eXtruder on them.
We decided to turn these into competitive systems. To make them Bondtech upgraded Creality 3D printers that can outperform even their biggest Chinese competitor.
We truly believe we did it.
They become precious machines after the upgrade.

Upgrade based on Large Gears eXtruder LGX Lite Pro to use on the Creality K1 and K1C.

The LGX Lite Pro Upgrade Kit for Creality K1 and K1C plastic parts are made of grey Polyamide (PA12) filled with Glass beads and dyed in Black.

Product includes:

• 1x LGX (Large Gears eXtruder) Lite Pro
• 1x LGX Lite PRO Accessories for Creality K1 K1C
  • 1x LGX Lite PRO X-Carriage for Creality K1/Max
  • 1x LGX Lite XHP-4 to Micro 4-PIN Adapter Cable
  • 1x Creality K1/Max X-Carriage Belt Retainer Right
  • 1x Creality K1/Max X-Carriage Belt Retainer Left
  • 1x Hardware Accessories for Creality K1/Max
  • 2x X-Rod for Creality K1 302.5mm
  • 1x X-Rods Holder for Creality K1/Max Left
  • 1x X-Rods Holder for Creality K1/Max Right

Print quality change to expect:

This upgrade kit is focused primarily on reliable extrusion, but what is reliable extrusion if the print quality isn’t there? We didn’t want to sacrifice speed, so we made sure to optimize what we could during the time spent under the hood.

In these comparisons below, you will see the difference on a stock kit as compared to after applying our upgrade using the same gcode and printer settings, with only new input shaper values calibrated and applied.

Before

Here a lot of noise is visible with no clear peaks to identify, but with massive movement all the way from a few Hz all the way to 130 Hz where the measurement effectively ends. This makes the input shaper to identify acceleration curves with low vibrations.

This leads to a pretty aggressive shaper with the lowest vibration at 7% and a low maximum acceleration of only 1800 mm²/s and a huge smoothing of 0.31mm radius.

After

After applying our upgrade kit the difference is night and day. Very clear peaks which means that the input shaper can work well.

With the way less aggressive shaper mzv we get a maximum acceleration recommendation of a fast 11300mm²/s and only 0.05mm smoothing radius. That’s a MASSIVE increase of 527% on the X-axis for accelerations and a huge 84% decrease in smoothing radius.

What this looks like in a print

Below you can see how this all translates to change in print quality. The first two side-by-side images clearly displays the smoothing radius effect, where a small gap that should be almost closed is left wide open before the upgrade, while after the upgrade it’s in effect closed.

Further down the images focus more on vibration reduction and sharp corner performance where you in the before-image can see how sharp corners are slightly rounded over, with lots of ringing coming out of the last corner. While in the after-image the ringing is almost entirely gone and the sharp corners retained as intended.

Product Alerts

Note that this upgrade kit is intended for a stock K1 or K1C and will not work with some custom mods, such as:

• Other belt widths
• Custom gantries
• Altered belt paths

We also urge you to take extra care to use the setup guide, only use supplied fasteners where intended and very gently tighten screws. Do NOT use power tools when installing these parts.

Compatibility

This upgrade kit is compatible with the following 3D printers:

• Creality K1
• Creality K1C

Technical Data Sheet

Click the icon to download this Technical Data Sheet

Quick Start and Setup Guide

Quick Start Guide

How to install the LGX Lite on the K1, K1 Max and K1C

Watch a video instead

Dimensions and weight