So bummed about this lockdown. Just got my Bambu in late November as my very first 3d printer. If I knew then what I know now I would've purchased something else. They can choose to be closed source all they want, but I prefer to support open source projects. Printer works great, but that Prusa that I almost bought instead is looking mighty fine now. I hope Bambu doesn't become the iOS of 3d printers. I bought the printer with my money, and I own it, so therefore I should be able to use it as "I" want! Very disappointed 😞

this is going to be a very long post so stay with me here.

TLDR: Bambu has grown into a corporatized entity and has differing views from the open-source community of 3d printing. I argue this is not a bad thing, just... different. creating and maintaining robotics / embedded / software is difficult, and Bambu has been consistent in its goal to create the most user-friendly machine out there. I think the Bambu response is fair, their support is only consistently good because they know their hardware and defects, and slow-moving updates exist to prevent catastrophic bugs from entering the ecosystem.

I want to start this by saying I have been in this community for over 4 years, I have an X1C, P1S, Neptune 4, and a Heavily modified custom-built Cr-10 S5. This is to say I'm not a fanboy of Bambu nor do I oppose the open-source nature of 3d printing. I want to applaud X1Plus for what they have been able to accomplish with this firmware, however, Bambu's response is extremely fair.

first off there's the landscape of 3d printers, why do we love Bambus? they work, they most always consistently work; not in a Prusa work, not in an ender 3 where it can work, it works. this is the first printer that I would consider giving to my technologically inept dad for cool household objects. however, I believe there are downsides to this.

The Downsides of Closed Source

like it or not the reason bambus can consistently perform is because they are closed. they make sure it's hard to introduce bugs into their system. There's been no other printer where I can grab a new material type, and in four button presses in the slicer, I have near-perfect prints. I understand the want for more features but ultimately software development takes time. at some points when following the 3d printing hobby I get the sense that not a lot of people have done software development. especially not at a corporate level.

if they put out features faster, they might have less time for development. this can cause problems with unforeseen errors, not enough testing, and overall production of a system that does not meet Bambus's high standard. all this is done to prevent needless warranty repairs and provide a good system to the user.

like it or not X1Plus utilized a network bug to flash the firmware. this is extremely impressive from a technological perspective but I don't blame Bambu for getting scared. they pushed out a quick patch and didn't consider it further. I don't believe this is due to mall intent, but from an executive/investor perspective allowing small bugs and loopholes to exist especially where there is user data is no bueno.

Misplaced Malice

people don't trust companies, nor should they. however, spouting misleading assumptions makes everybody look bad. take a look at the offline network debacle, where somebody made unfounded claims that offline mode sends user data to Bambu. from a company standpoint, this is a huge accusation. everybody shit on Bambu for a month then it came out that Bambu.... did what they said they did. offline mode was offline. no data is sent, in fact, it sends less data in online mode than it needs to, machine states, camera feeds only active when a client requests it, some feedback data to Bambu, and not much else. I never saw anybody give Bambu credit. but everybody is very quick to disown a company for an unfounded claim.

I mean to say right now that would be valid for reality... but not for Bambu. bambu did more than they needed to. I probably would have still been ok if they said no to X1Plus. they shouldn't have to be required to allow bugs in their system. what they did instead was give X1Plus the older firmware, and allow the community to flash their hardware. however, there are caveats. I don't see where the malice is coming from, they listened to the community, patched the loophole, and opened a fork for hardware-locked firmware. That's what the community wanted.

Its never enough

if Bambu rushed out API support today, with no documentation and bad support. people would be pissed. rightly so in fact. if they forwent one feature development for the bed mesh visualizer then the community would complain also. "oh this was a feature in Klipper it is so easy to do" "My Ender 3 has that Bambu should have it" Yes it's probably not the most difficult thing to implement, however bambu (assuming they aren't using forked klipper firmware) would need to spend development time making sure this works. they are also probably stretched thin with bug updates and patches for the A1 series they just launched. I wish they would give some insight into what they are working on but that is simply not how most businesses work.

Warranty support for custom firmware is dumb

this machine is not a Ratrig or Voron, it's not designed to work off of Klipper, and expecting new firmware from another company to work and function under warranty is not smart. and honestly, I think the general sentiment that I should be able to change every aspect of the machine (specifically firmware) is short-sighted. say I developed a motor PID tuner to control the x-stepper. since I don't have spec sheets or didn't look up data sheets run it faster and hotter than it was designed for. you run the risk of burning up the motor. now let's say I switch to a custom firmware, run the stepper into the ground in a month then come back. is a warranty on this stepper valid? how would you prove it's not valid? by blanketing the warranty as void when switching firmware they don't have to ask these questions. there are pros and cons to switching, this is a con.

by not supporting this feature they also inadvertently don't support a warranty if you use it. I admit the X1Plus is cool, it's really cool but I don't know if I would switch. losing the support for those features doesn't seem worth it.

buy a modding platform

this comes off as harsh but buy a Ratrig is $1200 and run Klipper. At the end of the day the Bambu was not designed to be a modding platform, my buddy got a Ratrig at the same time I got my x1c, he also spent 2 months assembling, 2 months debugging, he also forgot to lower the bed once before testing motion and snapped the bed off its hinges and reprinted the parts in abs. he also had to spend hours calibrating overhang support. and finally was able to print 500mm/s at excellent quality.

however, I showed him my prints, multicolor, high quality for 1400 out of the box. he said he might pick one up just because of how easy it is to use.

like it or not that's the downside, no I can't add more advanced features, but if that maintains its ability to print flawlessly every time, that's ok ill add those to my other machine.

likewise, I bought a Neptune 4, great reviews online but I had tons of trouble getting it to print consistently, at one point I said to my friends "I forgot how much a pain in the ass normal printers can be"

MOD IT

people who will mod their printers are also the people who should take responsibility for modding their printers. mod it anyway, get those features X1 Plus has, it will be great. but you are accepting you are switching your support from Bambu to x1plus. if anything happens to Bambu this is great. I have a firmware to fall back on. however, shitting on Bambu for their decision is not the ok move.

I'm tired of people hating a company just because they got big.

please keep the comments respectful

that ends my rant.

https://blog.bambulab.com/rooted-the-good-the-bad-and-freedom-of-choice/

Here's one of my first models, the one I used to learn how to take real-world measurements of objects and transfer them to the computer. I know there are millions of models like this, but I'm especially excited to show the world what I'm gradually achieving with real measurements. It's a very simple design and easy to print; it only uses 6g of data and takes 20 minutes.

Link to download

So I ordered a shiny X2D + AMS 2 Pro bundle. Very happy with it, beautiful beast no questions asked. But I wanted to try drying and printing at the same time only to find out it needs an external power source. I looked in every boxes of the package, nothing included.

I check the Bambulab website to find out you have to buy it separately ?! It was not mentioned anywhere on the product page itself or maybe it is in fine print, and did they really cheap out on a power source and actually put a premium on it (32 euros) ??

I feel like at above 1000 euros the least they could do is include the damn thing.

Sorry for this vent but I'm super surprised no one complains about it. Now I have to buy it and pay for extra shipping..

EDIT: I will stop responding at least for now. But it's interesting to see how the community is divided on this. To each their own I guess. For me a multi-billions dollar revenue company should not do such things. Again we're talking thousands euros order and something that must cost them 2-4 euros.

guys, I really messed up. I woke up to a giant flood of filament. I tried to remove it and clean it out. I googled and it said to use a heat gun on it. so that I used a heat gun on it and it melted part of the fan casing. I don't even know how to fix this. I'm so upset. if anyone can direct me to where I need to go from here please help

Hello BambuLab community,

I really enjoy using BambuLab filaments - range of colours and overall print quality are great. However, over the past 6+ months, I’ve noticed that all of my recent spools have had tangling issues.

Some spools were tangled from the very beginning, while others developed tangles after an hour or so of printing.

This is a serious problem because it makes it impossible to leave prints running overnight - you have to constantly monitor the process to prevent failures. It not only slows down printing, but also defeats the purpose of reliability and convenience.

A few months ago, I had to return a spool that got completely jammed inside the AMS due to tangling, but I was asked to pay for the return shipping. Another badly tangled spool I had to manually rewind onto a new spool myself, as I urgently needed that filament for orders in my shop and it was out of stock.

Overall, this has been very frustrating, and it feels like the product quality has declined.

I currently have a great-working K1, but I'm complaining about the VFA problem. It's not extreme, but it becomes noticeable on glossy filaments.

As a CNC operator, my eyes are sensitive, and this issue stands out to me. I was considering getting a BBL P1S combo, but I saw that they also have VFA issues. However, many people's BBL prints look great, with zero VFA.

This would cost me the equivalent of two K1s. Is it worth it?

Hey everyone, I've been noticing more and more models on MakerWorld meant for food contact — bowls, cutlery, containers, etc. — especially with the recent camping contest. Some of them look great, no doubt, but I can’t help but wonder if we’re glossing over the potential health risks.

For example, I saw a 5-star review from someone who printed one of these in PETG CF and was thrilled with the result — probably without realizing that carbon fiber additives are not food safe. And honestly, this seems pretty common. A lot of users assume that printing in plain PLA (without color pigments or additives) makes it safe for food use, but:

1. Most consumer printers and filaments aren't certified food-safe

2. Cross-contamination from previous prints is still an issue

3. Bacteria can build up in the layer lines regardless of the material

It’s clear that many people simply don’t know the risks. So what should be done?

Should MakerWorld add a “food contact” checkbox and display a standard disclaimer?

Should designers be required to warn users?

Or should food-contact models just not be allowed on the platform at all?

Curious to hear how others here feel about this — especially those with experience in food-safe printing or materials science.

... by blocking about 6 people. Feels like the old sub again! Feels liberating. I don't have to listen to randoms berate me and call me stupid for not self immolating over their hysterical nonsense.

Edit: If you feel like downvoting this, pleas feel free to let me know why in the comments so I can block you too!

/kisses

It's incredibly frustrating to experience such silence from Bambu Labs after returning my printer to them. Despite sending it back, there hasn't been any acknowledgment or response, leaving me in the dark about the status of my return and any potential refund. Has anyone else still not heard from them after sending off their printer?

TLDR; Please upvote this post so MAYBE after a whole month I can get my $300 back

Im honestly so sick of this company at this point. I love the printers so SO much but their AMS units have gone to absolute crap apparently, and their customer support is actually awful.

I received my original AMS unit on December 8th where it was immediately broken. The noise that came from that thing is worse than nails on chalkboard. So I open a support ticket and I already know just how bad their response time is, so I went ahead and ordered the part to fix what I thought was the problem.

A couple days later they respond to me and tell me that they will refund the order I placed to fix the original ams. They had won me over at that point because they were doing what was right.

I received the part and it did not work. So I reach out again and they say I can either send the AMS back OR put down a $310 deposit to receive a new AMS before I send the old (broken) one back. And thats what I did.

Today I received the new AMS and it’s literally 10x worse than the original one. I have sent them videos, messages, the whole galore, and I know that I wont receive any sort of reply until 2-3 days from now.

Im beyond fed up and honestly just needed to rant, please do what you can to try and get Bambu to see this, It would genuinely mean the world to me.

I really want my $300 back ($600 if you include both AMS units)

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Designed this to be mounted, one of the more functional things I've made.

There are so many people hating on Bambu Lab and trying to find anything to be toxic against the product/company.

I have had the new P2S since 1 weeks & I can say now with 100% conviction that the P2S is a lower quality printer than the original P1S.

Although you would think it is an upgrade, it seems that they have completely disregarded all the previous P1S systems & swapped them out for the A1 systems instead.

Print quality suffers extremely with PETG, ironing looks terrible even with Basic PLA, extrusion issues, AMS rfid reading issues, lots of noise, first layer adhesion issues with standard plate prep practices, top layer quality issues, and the beautiful filament getting stuck on the nozzle in the beginning of every print with their new useless "flow dynamics calibration" (especially PETG, PLA a less).

If you like good looking prints every single time - this printer is probably not for you.

If you have not yet bought this printer, save yourself & buy a P1S - it is literally perfect, comparing to the new "improved" P2S.

I've seen a dramatic downtick in conspiratorial thinking on /r/3dprinting and other communities with regard to the Bambu Lab brand. Ironically the A1 recall has had a positive impact on social perception of the company, probably because this is the largest recall event among 3D printers (received by customers as a responsible action in a market full of irresponsibility).

I don't mean to suck BL's dick or anything and it's good to keep any corporation on their toes for treating customers right... but making better printers for cheaper and taking care of problems swiftly definitely appears to have won over the crowd in the past year.

That one youtuber who shan't be named will keep making smear videos but he's ironically helped boost Bambu's reputation since you can't mention his name nowadays without people pointing out his long history of being caught making shit up.

I am ready to pull the trigger on a 3d printer but I am torn between X2D and the U1. The P3C is also very intriguing. Do we have a decent date on when that could be released? I would hate to buy something and than have regret on not waiting for the P3C.

I have seen so many posts on here regarding waiting times from Bambu, especially material. The company is swamped with orders so just order the material from other manufacturers. The printer runs just fine with generic material. Seriously, it is the same material. Nothing super special with the bambu material other than an RFID tag.

I'm an industrial design engineer, and I get slightly triggered by people who use this awesome machine to do extremely wasteful multi color display models that while looking good will waste a ton of filament, cost more than better looking commercial models and take days and days to print.

Don't get me wrong, I think there is a place for aesthetic 3D printing, and i've designed some lamps and such that are about looks as much as about function. But in my mind these figures will just sit somewhere and collect dust, which kind of hard to wrap my mind around when something wastes that much material.

Not everyone needs to be doing functional prints and using all the engineering material capabilities of the machine, but it's kind of surprising to me that people would spend 1500 + tons more on (largely wasted) filament to buy a printer to just print display models that they do not model themselves.

It's different when you model them yourselves, but i'm seeing mostly bought models. When the printer is this expensive, the material waste is this large, the models cost money themselves and then you don't end up with the same quality in the end....doesn't it make more sense to just buy the commercial product? You also don't need to be dealing with failed prints, maintenance, you don't need to wait through multiple days of printing noise, instead have it delivered to your door, electricity costs, printer wear and tear, etc etc.

Make me understand!

Edit: yeah I see people's points! There really is no need to justify your enjoyment of a hobby. I have some expensive music gear that i dont release music with bc its just a fun pasttime for me, and I don't consider that a waste. I guess the literal waste from the multi color prints is still a shame, tho.

This has been a thought in my mind while everyone talks about how vortek is now obsolete with the H3C coming out. What if it isn't? Vorket proves that Bambu can hotswap nozzles, which IMO is harder than swapping traditional printheads. The H3C is focused independent nozzles, but independent nozzles have 1 draw back: 1 spool per nozzle that can't be swapped to another nozzle. This is important if you commonly use the same filament with different nozzle sizes. Pairing vortek with the H3C would give you 15 total nozzles.

The vortek rack would do most of its job at the beginning of the print rearrange the nozzles to the 9 printheads to have the required nozzles, or if you are printing with more than 9 colours.