Hi everyone,
I’m losing my mind dealing with a massive and consistent layer shift issue on my Creality K1C, and I’m hoping someone here has experienced this and can point me in the right direction while I fight with Creality Support.
The Problem:
My K1C prints perfectly fine for quick things (a Benchy comes out flawless). However, on larger/longer prints, after hours of seemingly normal operation, the printer completely loses its XY position reference. It suddenly shifts diagonally — always about 5 cm to the left and up. It happens regardless of the sliced file, and always follows the same shifting pattern.
I’ve already wasted almost 1kg of filament just trying to diagnose this.
What I have already tried (and ruled out):
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Belt Tension: I used the frequency measurement method (measuring Hz) to perfectly tension and balance both A and B belts on the CoreXY system.
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Lubrication & Cleaning: Cleaned and re-lubricated the linear rods/axes exactly as the manual states.
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Cable Chain: Checked the X gantry cable chain and toolhead harness. Everything moves freely with absolutely no snagging, binding, or tight spots during long X-travels.
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Motor Voltages & Hardware: Checked the stepper motor voltages, checked pulleys, grub screws, and connectors. Everything is tight and secure.
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Speed/Acceleration Test: I even ran a large print completely slowed down to 50 mm/s (with low acceleration) to rule out the motors skipping steps due to high speeds. The exact same diagonal shift still happened.
Current Situation:
I opened a ticket with Creality Support. They actually agreed with me that this is NOT a slicer, profile, or simple “belt slip” issue. Their official response was: “This is almost certainly a hardware or mechanical fault triggering a kind of ‘step-loss’ plus a homing/location error.” They escalated it to their technical ops team for a warranty replacement (likely the motherboard or stepper motors), but we all know how long that can take.
My Questions:
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Has anyone had this exact 5cm diagonal shift on the K1 series?
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Does this sound like the stepper drivers on the motherboard are overheating (thermal runaway) after a few hours and dropping steps?
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Is there any DIY fix or further testing I can do to pinpoint if it’s the mainboard vs. a specific motor while I wait for the warranty parts?
Any help is highly appreciated! I’ll attach a timelapse and photos of the failed prints.
