So much can change in two years within the tech world, and the 3D printer house is especially unstable, with enhancements being made on a near-constant foundation.
Manner again in 2022, we had been in love with the Creality Ender-3, however within the final yr or so, a few GRM workers members have made the swap to the brand new hotness within the type of machines from Bambu Labs.
[3D printing: What you need to know to get started]
The Bambu Labs X1 and P1 sequence sit on the high of their consumer-focused vary of printers and are a part of a whole ecosystem of parts and filaments from Bambu. They make producing extraordinarily high-quality 3D prints no tougher than printing a recipe out of your inkjet printer.
The $699 P1S and the $1600 X1C share primarily the identical guts and performance, however the X1 provides hardened-steel drive gears and extruder nozzle, a touchscreen management panel, and lidar sensors that may shut down printing robotically when issues go awry.
Upgrading a P1S to the hardened bits is simply round a $50 proposition, nevertheless, and the truth is you’re most likely by no means going to really use the management panel on the printer itself because you’ll primarily be interfacing via your pc. In case you can dwell with out lidar (and belief me, you may), the P1S plus some upgrades is a screaming whole lot for a wonderful printer.
{Photograph} by J.G. Pasterjak
The massive breakthrough that Bambu Labs appears to have managed with this lineup is the streamlining of the workflow. After getting your artwork designed and an .stl file produced, you’ll be printing completely inside the Bambu Labs ecosystem.
The Bambu Studio app handles printer settings, slicing and print mattress format. RFID tags on the Bambu-branded filament even robotically populate and set their very own specs within the app when used with the non-obligatory Computerized Materials System, which holds and feeds as much as 4 rolls of filament into your printer.
There’s a little bit of a worth premium for the Bambu filament, however catch it on sale and it’s comparable with different high quality choices on the market. Plus, the added comfort of the RFID connection is form of value it. After all, you should utilize any filament in your Bambu printer, however you’ll should set specs manually, and who’s received time for that?
In case you’re already an skilled 3D printer fanatic, there’s most likely not a ton of worth in coming into the Bambu ecosystem over what you’re used to, however for a novice seeking to enter the world, and even an skilled person seeking to streamline their workflow, these machines have labored very effectively for us–a minimum of till the subsequent smartest thing comes round.
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The P1S is superb. I say this as a component cools in a single possibly 5 toes away from me, and I’ve 2 extra components I simply printed by way of P1S on the desk in entrance of me.
Nevertheless, Bambu’s “walled garden” method to software program has turned me off considerably. From what I perceive they’ve walked again their place a good bit, however injury has nonetheless been performed. This places me at some extent of battle: I might like to purchase a fully-kitted-out H2D, however I am simply undecided that I can belief Bambu as of late.
That is a disgrace as a result of the P1S does nice prints and customarily does so very simply (AMS bugs however), which has made 3D printing MUCH extra accessible.
I swapped out my Ender 3 for a P1P a few years in the past, and the distinction is evening and day. The Ender required fixed consideration and fiddling, the Bambu printer Simply Works(tm). I’ve since upgraded it to a P1S utilizing the equipment from Bambu, and I can print ASA with no downside. The “walled backyard” factor is not nice, however I’ve come to the conclusion that I do not wish to mess with this factor, I simply wish to print stuff, and the P1S is nice for that, plus their default slicer has all the time labored nice for me.
“Fully inside the Bambu Laps ecosystem” additionally means you are uncovered to the corporate deciding to alter their minds about how you should utilize your {hardware} and what consumables you should utilize. You understand, like the way in which HP behaves with their paper printers. If I had been shopping for one other 3D printer, it will probably be a Prusa.
Personally, I believe the Ender 3 is the GRM printer. Perhaps not one of the best out of the field, however low-cost and open to an entire bunch of DIY enhancements. Mine was fairly dependable apart from the auto-leveling add-on failing often. I had a distant interface on it utilizing a Pi that permit me begin and monitor prints from my laptop computer and it wanted no cloud providers to work.
Keith Tanner stated:
“Fully inside the Bambu Laps ecosystem” additionally means you are uncovered to the corporate deciding to alter their minds about how you should utilize your {hardware} and what consumables you should utilize. You understand, like the way in which HP behaves with their paper printers. If I had been shopping for one other 3D printer, it will probably be a Prusa.
Personally, I believe the Ender 3 is the GRM printer. Perhaps not one of the best out of the field, however low-cost and open to an entire bunch of DIY enhancements. Mine was fairly dependable apart from the auto-leveling add-on failing often. I had a distant interface on it utilizing a Pi that permit me begin and monitor prints from my laptop computer and it wanted no cloud providers to work.
Agree with Keith, should you’re keen to be beholden to the companys whims later down the highway.. Bambu is ok.
however I’ll proceed to be a fierce advocate for PRUSA and the open supply ecosystem they’ve constructed for shoppers… in a world the place increasingly corporations inform customers how they’ll use the merchandise they purchase.. after they’ve bought them.
Keith Tanner stated:
Is that this a sponsored article?
No, however JG and Tom have each bought Bambu printers. Chris now has Tom’s previous Ender 3.
In reply to spacecadet (Discussion board Supporter) :
Having used dozens of various printers from DIY wooden kits as much as HP Jet Fusion and presently studying a Caracol Heron, I might should say that the present best choice for most shoppers goes to be the Bambu. PRUSA is extremely versatile and customizable, but it surely does take fairly a little bit of fiddling to get settings and surroundings dialed in your private wants. We’re in settlement on the advantages of the PRUSA ecosystem, and I want I had the free time as of late to dive again in and see what sort of new issues are taking place!
Keith Tanner stated:
“Fully inside the Bambu Laps ecosystem” additionally means you are uncovered to the corporate deciding to alter their minds about how you should utilize your {hardware} and what consumables you should utilize.
See additionally: Apple, Microsoft, Adobe.
Do I really like that increasingly tech corporations are creating their very own vertically built-in ecosystems that you may’t escape from? Not likely. Do I settle for it as a actuality of the tech local weather we exist in and acknowledge that it generally permits me to do stuff with out turning into an skilled in yet one more factor simply so I can do it? Yeah, positive. I simply haven’t got the emotional vitality to battle all of the battles towards corporations who will finally win anyway.
And, no, not a sponsored article. I did get a bunch of Delta miles once I put the printer on my Amex card, although, so there was some type of kickback I suppose.
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
You do not have to battle battles, however you’ll be able to select between {hardware} that’s depending on the corporate that offered it to you and {hardware} that is not – a minimum of, you may within the 3D printer house from each Creality and Prusa. Heck, you may with Microsoft as effectively – I exploit a bought model of Excel that is not a subscription and works offline and would not use the cloud for something. My previous MacBook continues to work with out counting on Apple servers. Heck, I purchase my music on CD and do not subscribe to Spotify.
Adobe…effectively, you will get alternate options for nearly each considered one of their merchandise however I will admit to having a Inventive Cloud subscription that simply noticed a big worth enhance resulting from new options I do not need or want.
On the very least, it is best to acknowledge to your self that you simply’re shopping for {hardware} that will or not nonetheless perform in a couple of years or that will require month-to-month injections of money for a subscription. If that is what you need, cool. However make it a deliberate choice.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I imply, I am a man who constructed a pair Hackintoshes again within the day, so I fel like I’ve some avenue cred right here and fully perceive the will to function autonomously and truly personal your personal expertise and the hazards of actually all the things we depend on turning into mainly a subscription mannequin.
However I used to be additionally educated within the Florida public college system and have restricted psychological capability, so I like to order what a part of it I can for vital stuff like obscure movie details and parrot care. I have been down the open-source 3D printer route as effectively. I’ve a cupboard filled with stuff that hardly works for my troubles. Generally I simply gotta eat that Matrix steak and save my vitality for different stuff.
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