Creality Carborundum Glass Bed - 245x255mm

As 3D Printing has come a long way from printing directly on Aluminium with glue stick or hairspray to keep a firm mechanical grip, we’ve gotten a chance to test out and experiment with a lot of different heatbed types and print surface styles. However, while a large majority of different options are relatively equal, there are a few that stick out as prime choice, with Carborundum Glass Beds coming out right near the top alongside PEI Sheets, as well as BuildTak Beds, and of course the new Wham Bam PEX Beds – of which all of these compete for first place depending on the criteria you’re comparing.

These Creality Carborundum Glass Bed are 245x255mm in size, so as to accommodate the rather unique 235x235mm build volume featured on the Creality CR-6 SE 3D Printer. These beds are made from tempered glass, but have been coated with a specialised material that not only increase durability and resistance to warping, but also offers some cool print benefits too. Firstly, these beds are based on the Anycubic UltraBase design, with a crossed pattern that traps bubbles of air and helps to form a vacuum at high temperatures, before expanding to pop prints off once the bed cools down. This is fantastic for 3D Printing, as it means high grip during the printing process, but also easy removal once the print is done. Secondly, these types of beds also offer a very cool bottom-layer surface finish, being extremely smooth with tiny ridges criss-crossing throughout. And while it can’t quite compete with the extreme smooth surface finish of PEI, it very much has its own unique appeal, especially when printing large flat objects like enclosure panels.

In terms of what the surface treatment is (and we think that it’s similar for the Anycubic UltraBase too), it is made from a specialised Silicone Carbide semiconductor material, often referred to as Carborundum, and this offers a similar processing style to glass, but once processed offers a hardness of 8 Mohs. This is the same hardness rating of Topaz, and actually makes it quite difficult to damage the bed, which of course is the third key feature of these beds, greatly resisting any forms of scratches and other surface damage. Conversely, on previous non-coated tempered glass beds, one small mistake like a harsh nozzle scrape could easily gouge the surface, leaving a permanent mark and in turn transferring that mark to every model printed on that part of the bed. This means that this bed not only offers better Adhesion Assistance, but also a vastly greater lifespan with impressive durability even against strong mechanical stepper motor forces, making it one of the best beds you can buy in terms of both effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.

Although Creality 3D have been working within the industry since 2014, their addition of the Creality CR-10 series is what really catapulted them to the front line of competition, as it offered substantially better quality compared to other 3D printers – while simultaneously reducing the cost and complexities of the machines.

The quality of Creality’s 3D Printers and accessories shows through in their market history, with the brand selling around 3000 printers in their first year on the market, followed by about 10,000 sales over the next year. Now, Creality easily sells around 30,000 or more 3D printers each year, with sales continuously rising as they bring out more models. These are impressive numbers when considering the fact that they entered the industry as unknown competitors, quickly rising through the ranks and now even competing with Wanhao and similar top brands.

If you are looking for excellent 3D Printers that offer affordability without compromising on quality, Creality 3D is certainly a brand that you should take note of. From the basic Creality Ender 2 all the way up to the large build volume Creality CR-10 S5, there are few other brands who are capable of offering such a refined package while still maintaining some of the most enticing prices in the industry.