INTRODUCTION

   Ever since people started using the very first personal computers for things like image editing and audio creation back in the late 80's their future potential became all but clear. Fast forward to today and PCs are used for more things than people could ever dream or even hope for and with more getting added every single day it's really hard to imagine where we'd be right now without them. 3D printers have come a very long way since their initial introduction in the market almost 15 years ago, not just in terms of printing quality and speed but also compatibility with materials and of course features. Creality is one of the leading manufacturers in the field of 3D printing and today with me i have one of their most popular 3D printers to date, the Ender-5 S1 complete with their innovative Sonic Pad.

   Shenzhen Creality 3D Technology Co., Ltd., known as Creality, is a world-leading brand of consumer 3D printers. Since our establishment in 2014, we have embraced our role as an "3D Printing Evangelist" committed to the innovation, application, and popularization of 3D printing technology worldwide. Our forward-looking business strategy, termed "One Core with Two Wings," has propelled our rapid growth. Specifically, 3D printer products are at the “Core” of our business, which is assisted by the first “Wing” of ecosystem products like 3D scanners, laser engravers, filaments, and accessories. A second “Wing” of our business is Creality Cloud, an all-in-one 3D printing platform that gathers 3D models and enables a cloud printing experience.

   Just like with most 3D printers today the Ender-5 S1 is an AIO (all-in-one) model featuring an 8-piece durable metal cube frame, 4.3inch color touchscreen, dual-gear direct drive metal extruder with titanium alloy heatbreak and urus air ducts (filament diameter 1.75mm / 0.4mm brass nozzle / 0.05mm - 0.35mm layer resolution / up to 300 degrees Celsius / 1:3.5 gear ratio), X/Y/Z axis high-precision stepper motor, sticky and bendable heated platform with auto-leveling and auxiliary leveling (spring steel sheet - up to 110 degrees Celsius), filament runout sensor, SD card slot, USB port (PC printing) and an 100-240V 350W switching power supply. In terms of printing area, the Ender-5 S1 is a mid-sized model (220x220x280mm) and as for compatible printing materials it fully supports PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU, PC, ASA and HIPS. For more demanding users Creality also offers their Sonic Pad which is basically a 7-inch IPS touchscreen tablet (1024x600p resolution - Creality T800 64-bit SoC with 2GB DDR3 RAM, 8GB flash ROM, 4xUSB 2.0 ports, 100Mbps RJ45 LAN port, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, speaker and vibration/G sensor) running an open source code that not only makes it easier and even faster (up to 5 times faster with some 3D printers, always according to Creality) to print (both locally and remotely) but also allows you to control multiple 3D printers at once, attach a DSLR camera for timelapse and printing functions and even a keyboard and mouse (for those who prefer these over a touch screen). The Creality Ender-5 S1 with the Sonic Pad addon seems to be the perfect mid-end 3D printer so let's see if that's really the case.