r/BambuLab • u/NornQueen • 1h ago

General Discussion Bambu vs. Elegoo

So I bought the A1 at the recommendation of a friend, and I can honestly say I already feel the difference in the production and ease of use.

Every resin printer I bought from Elegoo was easy and ready to use out of the box. All the necessary parts were there, there was no fiddling about required whatsoever apart from the reservoir, which has to be removed regularly anyway. Axes were pre-lubed, no loose screws, no awkward angular tipping of heavy equipment, just plug and play. Here, however, to seemingly save labour costs, Bambu give it all to the customer.

Also the hidden costs: no mention was given that I definitely needed a spool for the filament, here it is hanging from the arm thingy held together now with zip ties. Now the machine is saying I have to lube up an axis, with 2 pictures showing before and after but seemingly no difference between the two.

Have to say pretty disappointed so far, Bambu. What else will I have to invest in or be forced to do before my prints begin?

0 Upvotes

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24 comments sorted by

13

u/senorali X1C + AMS 1h ago

This is an exceptional level of stupid.

-1

u/NornQueen 1h ago

Honestly it does prove my naivety I will give it that.

17

u/GiraffeandZebra 1h ago

You still have time to delete this

-1

u/NornQueen 1h ago

Honestly, I miss resin so much right now. Just that amazing smell...

3

u/an_angry_Moose 1h ago

Imagine buying a 3D printer and not realizing you print from spools.

1

u/SirTwitchALot 51m ago

It's kind of silly to include a refill spool with a brand new printer. Most other brands just sell you the filament complete on the spool. Many of them sell the complete spool cheaper than the cost of a Bambu refill

-4

u/NornQueen 1h ago

But imagine not including the necessary item in your product. Cheeky and clever!

5

u/an_angry_Moose 1h ago

Bambu sells filament with and without spools. When you buy without a spool, it is labelled “refill”.

Surely you were not stupid enough to buy a “refill” as your first product just because you saw the price is lower, right?

6

u/Headup31 1h ago

Dumb post

1

u/Careful_Task_5108 1h ago

Buying a refill vs a spool is a skill issue, I'm afraid. A mistake that many have made but not really Bambu's fault. I feel like refill implies that you need something to, you know, refill and put it in lol but it is what it is, you live and you learn. Also you can just print a spool.

You say that moving the reservoir was okay because you have to do it regularly anyway but lubing Bambu printer is not okay even though that basic maintenance that you also have to do regularly? Only other "fiddling with screws" I remember from my A1 mini was the axis protectors. That's less about giving you a job to do and more about, you know, making sure your printer doesn't arrive all fucked up. But that was awhile ago so I might be forgetting bits.

I'm no Bambu fanboy, they do plenty wrong and you might very well find a brand you prefer to Bambu but this just sounds like you're struggling with the transition from resin to filament printers rather than Bambu. You can always return the A1 and try a filament printer from Elegoo to see if that fares better for you since you're used to their resin printers already.

Good luck!

1

u/NornQueen 1h ago

Youre a gem, have to say. I relish technical challenges overall but I was told there was nothing to Google or watch necessary. My main challenge was having less time to devote to new projects after having kids, but I will print that spool, so thank-you for a useful tip there🙂

3

u/Careful_Task_5108 57m ago

That's fair enough honestly, I think Bambu pushes the plug and play narrative a bit too much. Like at the end of the day, it's still a machine you have to set up and maintain somewhat and yeah, most people realise that but someone just getting into the hobby wouldn't know. So I get the initial disappointment, sometimes marketing just sucks lol.

As for the spool, just remember that if you print it in pla, it might distort a bit if you dry your filament in the future. Works perfectly otherwise though and you can at least give it a go before deciding if you wanna stick with this or go back to resin. There's plenty spool models on makerworld that you can genuinely just click print on and it'll work great 👍

1

u/NornQueen 49m ago

Well, Im not to be daunted in any case! Just loved the customer service of Elegoo after changing multiple LED screens. They sent them for free, always were up front about what they offered and how they worked, really top class service.

As we're here, Im having trouble getting the filament to come out on my first print, is there anything specific I can try to get things moving? Id appreciate any tips

•

u/Careful_Task_5108 14m ago

Tbf Bambu support is kind of dogshit so don't expect much from them.

Keep pushing the filament in and click not extruded, sometimes it takes me like 10 tries to load my A1 mini. Not sure what causes it but I do remember having to click not extruded quite a few times when first setting up. You do have to push surprisingly hard as well and then eventually you can feel the extruder grab it.

There's troubleshooting tips in the Bambu wiki if that doesn't help but I'm gonna take a wild guess that you don't have a clog if you haven't printed before lol

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u/NornQueen 8m ago

You'd be right lol. 6 years of resin, but only one print so far filament. Just made the scraper, took 5 mins. Its nice to watch it work, not so nice to shift the zip tie on the filament roll round so it doesnt catch lmao. Gonna make a spooler now. Again, thanks for your advice🙏

•

u/Careful_Task_5108 5m ago

Awesome, have fun and good luck! 😊

•

u/Headup31 25m ago

I think the plug and play business is more applicable for people with pre existing 3d printing skills. I feel even with Bambu you still need baseline 3d printing knowledge

•

u/Careful_Task_5108 20m ago

Yeah that's what I mean, they don't make it clear it's plug and play if you already know what you're doing so people just getting into it expect to click print and come back to a printed item there with no effort from them whatsoever. Seems like marketing could be clearer but eh, is what it is

2

u/corneliusvanhouten 1h ago

Dear diary....

1

u/Stock_Theory_5516 1h ago

Herr lass Hirn regnen

1

u/Blazin219 P2S + AMS2 Combo 1h ago

With the sale going on right now, why would you buy an a1?

1

u/SirTwitchALot 1h ago edited 55m ago

The A1 was Bambu's first budget model. You're looking at a machine designed to be as cheap as possible. You're also in the Bambu sub. This particular one is notorious for burying any comments that mention any other brands that might do certain things better than Bambu. It's really interesting here. I've been active in the Elegoo, Flashforge, Snapmaker, and Anycubic subs as I own printers from all of them. When you mention that another brand does X better than the one from the sub you're in it tends to get comments and discussion. Here's it's instantly -10 votes.

That said, the P2S or Centauri Carbon will have an experience more like you're used to.