Read our Creality CR-200B review to find out the features, specs, quality of print and price of the 3D printer.
The Creality CR-200B FDM 3D printer is a fully assembled unit that comes ready to unpack, connect, and start printing. You won’t need to do any tinkering to get started with this unit. As one of the 3D printers under $500, you get a unit with an enclosure, small print volume and a great design.
Will this be the new 3D printer for the masses?
Let’s get started with our Creality CR-200B review.
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Creality CR-200B Review
The Creality CR-200B is from Creality, the manufacturer of the popular Ender 3. This printer is available for less than $500, a price range where we mostly find printer kits, such as Sapphire Plus , Tronxy X5SA-Pro , the Anet ET5 Pro , among others.
From the lineup, you already know that printers under $500 are mostly suitable for beginners.
Overview of the Printer
The Creality CR-200B is a stylish, fully assembled, closed-case FDM printer. The external dimensions of 411 x 435 x 503 mm seem relatively large considering its 200 x 200 x 200 mm installation space. Nevertheless, the printer is still sufficiently compact to find space on a 3D printer table or workbench.
The 3D printer’s case is made of black and white plastic, and is illuminated with an LED strip. The two side walls and the magnetically held door are transparent.
The Creality CR-200B features a heated print bed with a glass surface. Moreover, it has a filament sensor, a 4.3-inch color touch display for operation and a silent mainboard with quiet motor drivers.
Unlike most FDM printers, the glass plate is attached to the heating bed with a practical quick-release fastener. The plate reaches a maximum temperature of 100°C. As a result, together with the closed installation space, the printer can work with ABS materials.
The printer can also handle other types of filaments, including PLA, Wood, PETG, and others. However, it cannot process flexible TPU. This is because of the Bowden extruder used, which is located above the filament roll holder on the back.
The hotend reaches temperatures of up to 260°C and is equipped with a 0.4 mm nozzle. The device prints 1.75 mm filament in layer thicknesses between 0.1 and 0.4 mm. The print data is sent to the printer via a micro SD memory card or a USB connection. In the future, operation via WiFi and an app should also be possible.
With the CR-200B, the manufacturer relies on the core XY design. Here, the print bed moves along the Z-axis. The print head is responsible for the movements on the X and Y axes. Unlike the Tronxy X5SA, for example, the print bed is, only attached to the Z-axis on one side, making the whole structure vulnerable to shaking. If the printer is standing on a table, it is better not to work on it during the printing process, as the heating bed will vibrate with every small movement. In our opinion, a double axle guide on the sides would have made more sense here.
The manufacturer does not specify a recommended or maximum printing speed in the technical data. In our testing, we got very decent results at 65mm/s, which is average. For comparison, the recently tested Sapphire Pro in XY core design works at over 100 mm/s.
The CR-200B does not have an auto-leveling function. This is bearable for experienced users. However, since a fully assembled printer is particularly interesting for beginners, we really would have liked this upgrade.
During the test, we used the open source software Cura. What the slicing software does and what you need it for can be found in our guide: 3D Printing for Beginners .
Technical Specifications
General Specs
| Technology | FDM |
| Year | 2020 |
| Assembly | Fully Assembled |
| Mechanical arrangement | Cartesian-XY-Head |
| Manufacturer | Creality |
Materials
| Filament diameter | 1.75 mm |
| 3rd party filaments | Yes |
| Compatible materials | PLA, ABS |
3D Printing Properties
| Layer height | 0.1-0.4 mm |
| Feeder system | Bowden |
| Extruder type | Single nozzle |
| Nozzle size | 0.4 mm |
| Max. build volume | 200 x 200 x 200 mm |
| Max. extruder temperature | 260 ℃ |
| Max. heated bed temperature | 100 ℃ |
| Max. print speed | N/A |
| Closed print chamber | Yes |
| Bed leveling | Manual |
| Print bed | Carborundum glass |
| UI | 4.3-inch color touchscreen |
| Connectivity | USB, SD card |
| Built-in camera | No |
| Resume print | Yes |
| Filament sensor | Yes |
Software
| Recommended slicer | Cura, Repetier-Host, Simplify3D |
| Operating system | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| File types | STL, OBJ, AMF |
Dimensions & Weight
| Frame dimensions | 411 x 435 x 503 mm |
| Weight | 16kg |
Installation
The anticipation when unpacking the printer is great. Finally, we have a fully assembled FDM printer that doesn’t require any screws or handicrafts. In fact, unpacking and removing the shipping locks only takes 2 minutes. After that, the CR-200B is ready for use on the table in front of us.
When examining the interior, we quickly noticed a problem. Something is wrong with the suspension of the print bed. The reason for this is quickly found: the two screws with which the Z motor is attached to the housing must have come loose during transport. The motor and the drive spindle had slipped down into the housing.
Our attempts to lift the engine from the pressure room and reassemble it fail. And even worse, when trying to bolt the engine, a colleague got a serious electric shock. Admittedly, it’s not wise to leave the printer plugged in while you’re tinkering with it, but it shouldn’t be.
In order to somehow get to the motor, we first have to open the lower part. Our hope of reaching the necessary spot via a small maintenance hatch on the underside was not successful. The flap only leads to the mainboard. We couldn’t get to the engines that way.
Only after we had removed dozens of screws on the bottom and back and dismantled the entire extruder were we able to get to the motor.
Although we could now get a good grip on it, assembly was still very fiddly. The reason for this: The length of the screw is so tight that only a few turns provide support. According to Creality, this bug is only a problem with the pre-model. The screws are said to be longer for the series printers.
The fallen motor also pulled the grounding cable from the socket of the power connection during transport. The end of our pre-series model dangled loosely in the non-visible part of the printer. The short cable length didn’t make it any easier.
After we pressed the connector together with pliers, the cable held again. However, this is an emergency solution. According to the manufacturer, this should also be fixed.
It took about an hour and a half before we solved the two problems and screwed the CR-200B back together. For comparison, the pre-assembled kit of the Anet ET5 Plus was ready for use after a good 20 minutes. So, the big advantage of the ready-made printer is quickly gone. Also, we experienced an electric shock because two screws were a few millimeters too short.
If you already have experience with FDM printers, you can get by without the manual. The printer has an intuitive touchscreen with a clean menu navigation. After switching on, the printer takes 5 seconds to boot up.
The next step was to do the leveling process. This was done without the glass print bed. And that’s a good thing, because the Z-axis limit switch would have triggered too late. The nozzle, i.e. the pressure tip, would have hit the print bed directly.
To solve the problem, we unscrewed a set screw a few millimeters. After this, the end stop triggered in time and we could level the platform together with the glass overlay. If we hadn’t already assembled dozens of 3D printers, this would have been a tough procedure.
Next, we load the extruder with filament and started to print a pattern file on the included memory card. After a warm-up phase of almost five minutes, the CR-200B started to work. The print head began moving.
The result of the first attempt, a small rabbit, looked good right away. Adhesion to the print bed is excellent. When the bed cooled down, we got object loosened without much effort.
What is noticeable during the printing process is the pleasantly low volume. There is practically nothing to be heard from the movements of the engines. Only the permanent noise of the print head fan can be heard, and it’s quite loud. Too bad, because with a high-quality silent fan, the device would be suitable for the living room in terms of volume.
Next, we printed the well-known Benchy. Creality includes a modified version of Cura as the slicing software. Unfortunately, this is not up-to-date and only available as a Windows version.
We also searched in vain for a finished profile for the CR-200B – both on the stick and on the manufacturer’s website. This is not a big deal, since you can also put together the profile yourself. For a finished printer, however, this is disappointing. We can only hope that Creality will add a suitable profile or make it available for download in the future.
The handbook shows a few screenshots with the correct settings. However, Cura looks different now. Also, the screenshots overlap so that not everything is visible.
We have attached the Cura settings we used in the test. We have also added the G-code in Cura so that the print head wipes off excess filament before the actual printing process. You can find out how to do this here , for example.
The prints we prepared in this way in Cura were all successful and look very neat despite the lack of fine tuning. The object surfaces are nice and there are no bloobs, layer shifts or stringing.
However, there is still room for improvement in quality, as we can see from the Benchy door openings. Still, we are very satisfied with the overall quality.
Price
The Creality CR-200B is one of the 3D printers under $500 (check current price). The price is acceptable given the average installation space, a closed housing and great printing results. However, this is only applicable if the problems with the motor screws and the ground wire are solved in the final sales version of the printer.
Conclusion
The test of the Creality CR-200B pre-model leaves mixed feelings. On the one hand there is the chic, closed case, the low volume and the above-average print quality. The glass print bed and the menu navigation also convinced us. Apart from the loud fan, the printer would have deserved a purchase recommendation. Together with a reasonable manual, the device would also be suitable for beginners.
On the other hand, we were disappointed with the problems with the Z motor and the loose ground cable. The lack of a leveling sensor, a pre-configured printer profile and a reasonable manual are also disappointing for a 3D printer kit.
According to Creality, the problems with the hardware can only be traced back to our pre-series model. These should therefore no longer occur in the end product. A slicing profile will also be available for download in the future. In its current state, our CR-200B is definitely only recommended for experienced users.
Since we are currently unable to check whether the manufacturer has actually fixed the problems in the end customer version, we cannot objectively rate this print. From our current point of view, the most important thing to check before operating the CR-200B is to check that the ground wire is properly seated and that the Z-axis mount is tight, despite the time it takes.
If you want a printer that has been demonstrably built properly, check the Qidi X-Plus. If you are willing to invest 15 to 20 minutes in the assembly, you should take a look at the Anet ET 5 Pro . If it is the XY core design, we recommend taking a look at the Sapphire Plus or Tronxy X5SA Pro models .
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