CreatBot F160 In-Depth Review: A High-Precision Fast FDM 3D Printer

CreatBot F160 In-Depth Review: A High-Precision Fast FDM 3D Printer

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Hi everyone! This is Top 3D Shop, and in this video, we will tell you about the CreatBot F160 PEEK 3D printer.

Apart from examining the printer’s package, its design and kinematics, we will also print a sample part using one of the most difficult materials for 3D printing — polyetheretherketone, or PEEK for short.

The CreatBot F160 PEEK Version features a pretty simple, conservative design. In other words, its construction is rather practical.

While our printer is being preheated, let’s have a look at its structure and hardware, as well as what’s in the box. By the way, the machine comes with a special glue stick — since PEEK is considered a very tricky polymer as it is prone to warping and deformation, we are going to apply a layer of adhesive to the build surface before printing.

The machine’s housing has carrying handles at the top on both sides for easy relocation. At the bottom of the back panel there is a USB Type B port for cable data transfer. Next to the USB port, you will find the power socket. The power supply unit is placed inside the body, and the filament spool holder can be mounted onto the back panel.

Now let's see what the printer has inside. The CreatBot F160 is equipped with a Direct Drive extruder. To the right, there is a radial fan that blows over a part if necessary.

The printer features the H-Bot kinematic scheme — the one that is used in the more advanced PEEK-300 model. Two long belts are moved with two synchronized motors in a parallel circuit. The device is equipped with NEMA17 stepper motors. Here you can also see a 1-centimeter-wide MXL toothed belt. The construction uses cylindrical guide rods.

Let's open the door and examine the arrangement and features of the heated build chamber and print bed.

At the back of the chamber you can see thick cylindrical Z-axis guides, a trapezoidal lead screw, and a heating element. The latter is able to quickly heat such a sizable space and maintain the temperature in spite of high heat loss occurring due to the absence of thermal insulation, which is normal for a 3D printer of this price category.

As you can see, the axes feature mechanical endstops. The maximum temperature of the hotend is 420 degrees, it is equipped with a steel nozzle with a diameter of 0.4 millimeters.

The printer’s display interface should be familiar to CreatBot users. Let’s set the preheat parameter for the filament feeding and subsequent printing with PEEK material. Note the quick response of the touch screen.

Meanwhile, we will check the supply package. Here we see a heating unit with a 0.4 millimeter brass nozzle and a teflon tube in the low temperature printing channel. There are also spare screws and springs for the extruder, a glue stick, 0.1 millimeter probe for the build platform leveling, a set of allen keys, phillips screwdriver, palette knife. Next comes an ordinary pin for unclogging the nozzles, USB cable, tweezers, a set of wrenches, filament spool holder, handles and door hinges, a spare endstop, thermistor, and a thermoelectric heater. Finally, there is a 16 gigabyte USB flash drive and a spare heatsink driver in a plastic box.

The printer is supplied with a one-kilo spool of PLA filament with a diameter of 1.75 millimeters.

We turn the chamber heating on and set the temperature of 70 degrees. The heat is felt instantly.

The bottom of the front panel houses a USB Type A socket for a flash drive. There is also a power button and LEDs indicating the heating mode and the presence of a USB drive in the slot.

Now we move the build platform to the Home position. The CreatBot F160 print bed is calibrated manually. Due to its compact size, which is 160 x 160 millimeters, bed leveling doesn’t cause any difficulties.