Hello All,
So, I have the Creality SpacePi X4; what do I think about it ?
To simply say,”Excellent”, would be far too basic an explanation.
I would guess that all of the other designers/makers of filament driers, are going to look realy hard at this unit Creality has made. It walks all over them bigly.
What impresses me is that the readout of Temperature and Humidity is fairly accurate… (See…Note below about accuracy tests)
I have a Sunlu S1 drier and it is out temperature wise by 6 to 8 degrees.
Another impressive point is HOW the humidity is handled.
It constantly measures the humidity and vents it via a fan as a calculated event.
The fan then closes itself off to prevent humid air enterering (clever !).
Unlike other driers, the top is sealed.
So if sealed and the fan seals itself, how does it get air and not create a vacuum when the fan is exhausting humid air ??
It intakes air underneath the drier that passes through the desiccant bag at the center bottom of the filament bays, which has hot air blowing through.
In use, the SpacePi is quite simple to operate. There are options that can be set independantly for each bay (each bay can hold 2x1Kg rolls of filament or 1x2Kg roll.
By simply touching on either the L or R at the top of the display, you can access and change the temperature and dry time for that bay.
Also, while there, if you touch on the icon of a spool (top right of that screen), you can select what type of filament you have in that bay and the correct temperature is selected to suit. Once selected, that spool icon now shows the type name in it.
Touch the back arrow to now display the main screen.
If you touch the “V” in the middle/top of the display it asks if you would like to dry both chambers (neat !).
At the bottom of the screen you will notice 3 icons…
The center (Auto) takes you to the screen where you can set Temperature and Humidity auto settings that will occur when left powered on.
From back on the main screen
The Icon on bottom right takes you to the Settings Menu
From back on the main screen
The Android looking icon on the Bottom Right is for (My Drying) settings
You have 3 seperate selections you can set different Temp and Humid for.
Touch one and it will go to a screen for you to select which chamber.
From back on the main screen
I have touched the right side and it gives me info for that chamber.
Bottom Right icon pauses or stops the heating, then above it is to change drying time and above it you can change the temperature of the chamber.
The icon on the right (like a spool tilted) allows you to name the type of filament in each slot for that chamber.
I think the SpacePi X4 is certainly accurate enough !
To give you an idea of the climate where the drying and printing is done,
This is a reading taken at 10AM (this has been typical for aprox 1 month)…
Appologies if I have repeated anything above.
The Note below…
My testing of Temperature and Humidity are performed using 2 seperate AHT30 sensors.
I have a Sensirion SHT85 (Temperature and Humidity) that I had a friend in University run tests on in a lab to check it against manufactures claims and it is within .5% of Temp and Humidity over a 10 hour sweep.
That SHT85 I have logged over 24 hours in a vented chamber with my 2 AHT30’s and found them accurate to aprox .5deg C and 1.5%RH which is plenty good enough for this test.
I have the 2 sensors send the readings via Wifi and also display on a screen in front of the driers.
Well, would I recommend the new Creality SpacePi X4 ?
DEFINATELY !!!
Nothing else on the market comes even close.
Cheers.