3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Creality K1 SE vs QIDI X-Max 3
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Creality K1 SE comparisonsMore QIDI X-Max 3 comparisons
| Property | Creality K1 SECOREXY | QIDI X-Max 3COREXY |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Creality | QIDI |
| Class | COREXY | COREXY |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Creality K1 SE[1] | QIDI X-Max 3, listed by QIDI as "Qidi Tech X-Max 3 3D Printer" and in navigation as X-Max3[2][3] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Not documented | Not published by QIDI; the product page carries a discontinuation notice rather than a launch date (checked Aug 2026)[2] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | Creality's K1-series comparison page lists $359 for the K1 SE (Aug 2026); it does not appear as its own product on the Creality US store printer sitemap, so no separate live store price could be recorded[1] | $899.00 (from a $999.00 sale reference) on us.qidi3d.com but marked Sold Out and discontinued, checked Aug 2026. 3D Printers Online Store lists $1,099 USD, also out of stock[2][4] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | The cheapest K1. It keeps the 220 mm cube volume, CoreXY frame and 600 mm/s claim but drops a lot: hotend body is PA+30%GF rather than all-metal, the build plate is epoxy rather than PEI, there is no air filter, no chamber heating entry at all in Creality's table, no foreign-object or failure detection, and the AI camera, remote monitoring and time-lapse are optional. Its filament list stops at Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG and TPU. It does get the steel-tipped nozzle integrated with the heatbreak and dynamically balanced fans, which the base K1 does not[1] | Same-generation siblings X-Plus 3 (280x280x270, 500 mm/s, 800 W) and X-Smart 3 (175x180x170, no chamber heating, 300 °C, 350 W). All three share the Cortex-A53 1.5 GHz / 1 GB DDR3 / 8 GB eMMC control board, so shared-board specs are not evidence of shared print specs. Replaced by the Max4[3][5][6][7] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Not documented | Discontinued and out of production; QIDI directs buyers to the Max4[2] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 220 x 220 x 250 mm[1] | 325 x 325 x 315 mm advertised[2][3][4] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 355 x 355 x 482 mm[1] | 553 x 553 x 601 mm[3][4] |
| Net weight (kg) | Not documented | 30.2 kg net[3][4] |
| Frame construction & material | Not documented | Enclosed CoreXY chassis, fully assembled from the factory. QIDI does not publish a frame-material breakdown[3] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Enclosed body, but Creality's comparison table leaves chamber heating blank for the K1 SE where the K1, K1C and K1 Max are listed as passive heating[1] | Fully enclosed, with a chamber circulation blower and activated-carbon air filter[3] |
| Passive chamber temperature reached (if enclosed; measured values preferred) | Not documented | 65 °C maximum, independent chamber heating (manufacturer claim)[2][3] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | CoreXY (Creality's own K1-series comparison table)[1] | CoreXY[3] |
| X-axis guide type (rods / linear rails / V-wheels; size) | Not documented | Linear optical axis (polished steel rod) of high-strength steel[3] |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Not documented | Double Z axis[3] |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 600 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim). Creality's own footnote says the 600 mm/s figure was achieved in Creality Lab and that the typical speed is 300 mm/s[1][8] | <=600 mm/s (manufacturer claim)[2][3][4] |
| Recommended/typical print speed | 300 mm/s typical printing speed with 12000 mm/s2 typical acceleration, stated by Creality alongside the 600 mm/s headline[1] | Not documented |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | 20000 mm/s2 max acceleration (manufacturer claim)[1] | 20,000 mm/s2 (manufacturer claim)[2] |
| Max volumetric flow claimed (mm³/s) | Not documented | 35 mm3/s extruder flow (manufacturer claim)[3] |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Dual-gear direct-drive extruder[1] | High-flow direct-drive extruder; QIDI states a 9.5:1 gear ratio for this model[2][3] |
| Gear ratio & drive gear material | Not documented | 9.5:1[2] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Hotend body in PA+30% glass fibre with a steel-tipped nozzle integrated with the heatbreak - not the all-metal assembly of the K1C[1] | Ceramic heating core. Two interchangeable nozzle-head sets shipped: copper alloy for standard materials, hardened steel for abrasives. 0.4 mm stock, 0.2/0.6/0.8 mm optional[2][3] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[1] | <=350 °C claimed[2][3][4] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 100 C max heatbed temperature[1] | <=120 °C claimed[3][4] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Epoxy flexible build plate - different from the PEI plate on the K1C[1] | Double-sided flexible magnetic plate (QIDI's "HF" plate)[2][3] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Not documented | Automatic levelling via Klipper adaptive meshing; probe technology not named by QIDI[2] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Not documented | Filament detection fitted; type and location not published[3] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Dynamically balanced closed-loop part-cooling fan and dynamically balanced PWM hotend fan; no air filter[1] | Not documented |
| Auxiliary part-cooling fan? | Not documented | Additional (auxiliary) cooling fan fitted[3] |
| Chamber/exhaust fan & filtration (activated carbon / HEPA) | Not documented | Chamber circulation blower with activated-carbon air filter[3] |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Host computer (SoC, RAM, storage) if firmware runs on embedded Linux | Not documented | Cortex-A53 64-bit at 1.5 GHz, 1 GB DDR3, 8 GB eMMC[2][3] |
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | Not documented | 100-240 VAC, 50/60 Hz[3] |
| Total rated power draw | 350 W rated power[1] | 900 W rated[3][4] |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Open-source Creality OS, a Klipper derivative (CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper on GitHub, GPL-3.0)[9][10][1] | Klipper with the Fluidd web console. Fork and version not published[2] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | Not documented | 5-inch touchscreen, 800 x 480[3] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Colour touch UI; remote monitoring and time-lapse are optional because they require the optional AI camera[1] | Not documented |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Wi-Fi[1] | Wi-Fi (QIDI states 150M 2.4G), Ethernet, USB flash drive[3] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG, TPU only[1] | ABS, PLA, PETG, TPU, nylon, carbon fibre, PC[4] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | Not verified directly. Creality's published firmware for the K1 series (CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper, GPL-3.0) is described by Creality itself as a clone of upstream Klipper, and upstream Klipper ships the verify_heater thermal-runaway check; whether Creality's stock printer.cfg enables it, and with what thresholds, was not checked here[9][10] | Not documented |
| Reliability, Support & Ecosystem | ||
| Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes) | Creality's US store states "Up to 12-Month Warranty", a 14-day return and refund window and "Lifetime Customer Support" on its printer product pages. The "up to" wording means the term is not uniform across parts[11] | 1-year coverage[2] |
Manufacturer claims, independent measurements, packages and test conditions retain their source wording. FDM linear speed and resin vertical speed use different units and are not directly comparable. Unknown values are marked “Not documented”. Prices and source dates remain historical snapshots; check the linked guide for product details. Differences highlight text, not a universal winner.
Sources for this comparison
- Creality - Compare K1 Flagship Series (K1 / K1C / K1 Max / K1 SE side-by-side spec table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI X-Max 3 product page (US store) us.qidi3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI Tech X-Max 3 technical data table 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Qidi Tech X-Max 3 FDM 3D Printer listing 3dprintersonlinestore.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI Tech X-Plus 3 technical data table 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI Tech X-Smart 3 technical data table 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI Max4 product page (US store) us.qidi3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality K1C product page (full specification table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- GitHub API - CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper repository metadata ("clone from https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/", GPL-3.0, last push Dec 2025) api.github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor