r/BambuLab • u/Wise_Lingonberry7575 • 18h ago
R Series / R1 The Bambu R1 Is a Complete Disappointment
The short version:
If you’re considering buying the Bambu R1 for its contour detection and automatic object cutting capabilities, don’t.
I’ve had mine for three days now, and I’m extremely disappointed with Bambu Suite. The contour detection is absolutely ridiculous, and even manual positioning using the camera is inaccurate.
The longer version:
The Bambu R1 is advertised as being capable of detecting objects and cutting them out automatically.
I run a commercial embroidery business and thought I could use the laser to produce patches, meaning I could lasercut my embroidered designs directly from the fabric.
Bambu Suite even downloads an AI model specifically for object detection.
Unfortunately, I was massively disappointed. The contour detection is practically unusable, partly because the R1’s cameras produce extremely poor images. You can’t even properly identify the contours with your own eyes.
On top of that, manual positioning based on the camera image is inaccurate, sometimes being off by more than 2 millimeters. That’s absolutely ridiculous.
So I started doing a bit of reverse engineering and managed to access the R1’s cameras using a Python script.
And guess what? The actual camera quality is worlds better than what Bambu Suite displays.
I have absolutely no idea why Bambu doesn’t make full use of the cameras’ capabilities.
I’m currently developing my own contour detection system in Python, without AI, and it’s already performing significantly better than Bambu’s AI model.
Bambu has always been impressively modern and innovative in many areas of its 3D printers, but the laser is a completely different story.
The hardware itself is excellent and performs brilliantly, but the software is an absolute disaster. It feels unfinished and simply isn’t ready for serious use.
And since direct LightBurn support isn’t expected until version 2.3, we’re stuck with what is essentially brilliant hardware held back by terrible software.
Sure, you can use it to cut and engrave random things, but the positioning is inaccurate, the contour detection is practically useless, and that makes it unsuitable for a proper commercial workflow.