Creality CR-10 S4

The Creality CR-10 S4 has one job in the CR-10 family: to be the big one that is not the biggest. And first, the number this page exists to correct — its build volume is 400 × 400 × 400 mm, not the “10 × 10 × 10 inches” the old version of this article claimed (that would be a printer barely bigger than a standard CR-10). The S4 sits in the middle of the S-series ladder: the CR-10S at 300 mm cubed below it, the CR-10 S5 at 500 mm cubed above it, all three sharing the same formula — dual Z screws, a filament runout sensor, a glass bed and a separate control box. This guide covers the S4’s real specifications and the ownership realities that come with a bed this size on this hardware.

Creality CR-10 S4 specifications

Specification	Creality CR-10 S4
Build volume	400 × 400 × 400 mm
Series position	CR-10S (300³) → S4 (400³) → CR-10 S5 (500³)
Frame	Aluminium extrusion gantry, separate control box
Z drive	Dual leadscrews, dual motors
Extruder	Single Bowden extruder, 0.4 mm nozzle
Bed	Heated glass bed, 400 × 400 mm, manual levelling
Filament sensor	Yes — runout detection
Mainboard	Creality V2.x 8-bit (ATmega2560), 12 V system
Display	12864 LCD on the control box

What 400 mm cubed actually buys you

Volume is the S4’s argument, and it is a strong one. At 400 mm in every direction it swallows the projects that define the big-Creality niche: full-size helmets and cosplay armour sections in one piece, large enclosures and jigs, architectural models, and production-style batches of smaller parts nested across that wide bed. Compared with the standard CR-10S it offers roughly two and a third times the printable volume — the difference between “print it in pieces and glue” and “print it whole”. Against the S5 above it, the S4 is the slightly more manageable machine: a smaller footprint, a bed that is marginally less of a commitment to heat and level, and (usually) a lower used price, in exchange for giving up the 500 mm bragging rights few owners genuinely use in Z.

The honest costs of a big bed on 12 V hardware

• Heat-up time. A 400 × 400 mm bed on the CR-10S family’s 12 V system takes its time getting to temperature, and high bed temperatures for ABS-class materials are a patience test. This is the S4’s best-known trait, and it is physics, not a fault — the heating guidance in our companion piece on the CR-10 S4 heated bed goes into it directly.
• Levelling is a bigger job. Four knobs and a large glass plate mean more distance for error to hide in. Get it right and big first layers are glorious; get it wrong and you discover it forty minutes in. The method is the same ladder as the standard CR-10 — level, temperature, surface — scaled up; our CR-10 bed adhesion guide covers it.
• Mass moves slowly. A heavy bed and a tall gantry reward moderate speeds and accelerations. The S4 is a machine for large, patient prints, not a speed printer — trying to run it like one shows up as ringing and layer shift.
• Dual Z needs occasional squaring. Two screws and two motors can drift a step apart over time, tilting the gantry almost invisibly. A periodic check and re-sync is part of S-series ownership, exactly as on the CR-10S.

Ownership today

The S4 is discontinued and lives in the same healthy ecosystem as the rest of the CR-10S family: V2.x boards (the V2.1 mainboard guide covers identification and replacement), standard nozzles, belts, wheels and PTFE are all generic and available. What to inspect on a used S4 matters more than the badge: check the big glass bed for chips and warp, run the bed heater and watch it actually climb, confirm both Z motors turn together, and budget bench space honestly — with its control box, this is not a small machine. Bought for its size, in good order, it remains one of the cheapest routes into genuinely large-format FDM printing.

Frequently asked questions

What is the CR-10 S4’s build volume?

400 × 400 × 400 mm. The “10 × 10 × 10 inches” figure in older articles is wrong — that describes a printer closer to the standard CR-10 class. The S4 is the middle of the S ladder: CR-10S 300³, S4 400³, S5 500³.

What is the difference between the CR-10S, S4 and S5?

Size, essentially. All three share the S formula — dual Z, filament sensor, glass bed, separate control box, V2.x 8-bit electronics. The CR-10S prints 300 mm cubed, the S4 400 mm, and the S5 500 mm, with heat-up time, footprint and price climbing alongside.

Does the CR-10 S4 have a heated bed?

Yes — a heated glass bed across the full 400 × 400 mm. On its 12 V system it is slow to reach high temperatures, which is the machine’s best-known compromise and the reason planning heat-up time into big prints is normal S4 ownership.

Does the CR-10 S4 have dual Z and a filament sensor?

Yes to both — they are what the “S” in the name stands for in this family: twin leadscrews with twin motors, and a runout sensor that pauses the print when the spool empties.

Is the CR-10 S4 worth buying used?

If you need the volume, yes — it is one of the most affordable ways into 400 mm-class printing. Inspect the bed, heaters and both Z motors, expect slow heat-ups and patient print speeds, and it will do the job it was designed for.