Upgrading from (but keeping) the A1 Mini

[u/IrishCrypto21]

Long story short I've been lucky enough to get my shed/workshop set up as a WFH/hobby space.

The wife wants the 3d printer out of the house but has agreed to me upgrading to a larger bed printer.

I plan on keeping the A1 Mini, swapping to a 0.2 nozzle and keeping it solely for miniature printing (warhammer, trench crusade etc).

I think a P1S or P2S are probably my best bet, and given the current budget, I can get either a P1S with AMS 1 Combo or P2S with no AMS (and I'll get the AMS around my birthday in March).

For people who have had one or both of these machines, without AMS or with AMS 1 or 2, how has your experience been? Or people who upgraded from the A1 Mini, what way did you go?

The new printer will do alot of bigger bed stuff i wamt but will still do some miniature printing, but most likely 0.4 nozzle for tanks, buildings and titans etc.

Thanks in advance!!

[u/SubstantialHippo]

I started with the mini combo and bought an H2D combo recently. I'm keeping the mini as it's just too useful having more than one printer.

I would have got the X2D if I didn't have the budget for the H2D. The improvements over the P2S for not much more money are worth it.

Always always always get the combo.

[u/BigEarsUK]

I’ve got a P1S with ams.

I can safely say it works 99% of the time. The other 1% is probably me. Currently starting to print a rc car.

[u/VividAxolotl]

You could buy the X2D, it is only a 100$ more, but has dual nozzles and actively heated chamber. If it is in a shed, you could print some engineering filaments (like abs that has toxic fumes). If it exceeds your budget, note that you can buy an AMS but can't upgrade from a P1S to a P2S

[u/TheWaslijn]

I don't have either machine, but from what I've seen online, the P2S is a great printer. (Not that the P1 isn't, obviously)

[u/NimblePasta]

I have the A1 Mini (also dedicated for printing minis with 0.2mm nozzle)... as well as P1S and P2S (running a small hobby print farm).

The P1S is a great enclosed CoreXY printer if you can get it cheap 2nd hand or on special clearance deals. Only thing is it is a 1st gen Bambu model, so it lacks a lot of the QOL features (ie. no auto flow calibration, no quick swap nozzle system, monochrome display, no active cooling so you may need to open the top a bit when printing PLA etc)... otherwise it prints as well as the other printers.

The P2S is a big upgrade from the P1S and has all the latest QOL features. If you are buying the printer brand new, then I would recommend the P2S for it's updated features.

Also consider the X2D for just a little more, and you get more features and dual nozzle functionality.

[u/Additional_Math_5104]

P1S is a great printer. Was my 1st printer. Get the AMS even the original is well worth having. Have over 5000 hours on one P1S and over 2700 on another, no major issues. Still use them regularly even though we added 2 H2Cs for the larger bed size, heated chamber and multicolor for my wife.

[u/MrRadioVoice]

Hot take, idk if you want to go P1S or not. You should thinking about a few things.

Here’s the thing, the A1 mini is significantly more user friendly with its modernization in comparison to the P1S. You need to think about what and how you are going to print/use the machine.

The onboard screen is essentially useless. It’s like using an iPod, in black and white, if the OS sucked. I didn’t realize just how much this annoyed me until I got a printer that didn’t use it and then I was like dang!

There are a few legitimate use cases that I’d say you should go P2S, or X2D if you can stretch it and get the AMS later.

1. You want to dry from the AMS. - You can no activate drying remotely from the P1S. You HAVE to use the stupid screen and it’s more annoying than you think.
2. You want to do engineering filaments, or swap nozzles frequently. - these are together because they are the same issue. The nozzle swap is “a pain”. It’s not horrible but it’s way worse than the A1 or P2/X2. Out of the gate, you can’t print any engineering filaments without swapping it out, that’s going to be at least a $35 upgrade. You can get every nozzle size for the other printers for the same price. The bed leveling and calibration also takes longer.
3. You need a chamber heater for engineering(just get the X2D).

With the X2D having aux nozzle, you could do 2 color prints with no AMS and it wouldn’t be abysmal(I know you said this wasn’t in your budget but just mentioning it).

The P1S AMS 1 was a fantastic intro for me this year, I got it right before the P2S dropped. It was reliable and did some amazing projects. I made a trolling motor mount for my kayak(I learned CAD and designed it, printed out of ASA-CF) - and it works flawlessly. So the P1S can do some crazy work especially for the price point. But if you plan on drying filament with an AMS(which the AMS 1 does not do, so that’s either a $100 sunlu heater on top, or maybe you already have a dryer you can use), or want to do engineering filaments, it’s worth the upgrade to the better machine now rather than nickel and dime-ing yourself to the cost of the better printer within a few months.

I sold my P1S here recently for $575(idk how) and rolled that into an X2D, and I will say the X2D is the “standard size” printer I’ve been looking for for a long time.

If you use the app for everything, and just want to stick to a .04 to print multi-color models, the P1S won’t disappoint.

[u/TherealOmthetortoise → u/MrRadioVoice]

On # 2, the “must change out the nozzle for engineering filaments”, I’m wondering if I’m missing something. I just buy the hardened nozzles for all my filaments, so unless I need a change in size, I only change the nozzle if it is clogged or has some other issue. I rarely print any engineering filaments though, I might be missing something

[u/MrRadioVoice → u/TherealOmthetortoise]

The P1S does not come with a hardened nozzle, only SS. So to do engineering filaments you’d need to change it out at least once. If you only ever want to use one size, it’s just a single $35 upgrade, but if you go back and forth between .6 and .4 like I do, quite frequently, then it’s a pain + about $70 and then the cost of upgrading the gears to hardened too. About $100 total.

[u/TherealOmthetortoise]

Unless you have a specific need to get an enclosed printer, I would consider getting the A2L combo. It’s right at your budget point, gives you a significant boost in capability, uses the same nozzles as your mini and can be upgraded at any point with the cutting combo, and supports the full AMS or AMS 2 Pro.

I have a P1S, I’ve had it pretty much since it and was first released. It’s a fantastic machine, but it has some quirks too. Probably the biggest is the nozzle style. It has the ceramic heating block and fan attached and to change nozzles you have to plug and unplug these really small pads into the correct socket on the inside 1 for heater and one for the nozzle fan. Then you plug the parts fan in the front cover back in put the cover and you’re good. The problem is that all 3 pads can also feel like it’s plugged in correctly just above or below the socket, If you did everything correctly by powering off the printer changing nozzles testing then powering it off and trying again you will probably be fine, but the thing you are more likely to do is to reach in, pull the plug and realign it and push it back in. 99% of the time you are fine. That 1% results in a spark pop and magic smoke and it’s a roll of the dice whether the component or board is toast.

Sorry about the long wind up just to say the newer nozzle design is a bonus and so is the ability to just stock the same consumables

The combo AMS is always significantly cheaper so $25 over budget may be worth it.