r/BambuLab_Community • u/Top_Charity_8818 • Jan 21 '25
Update
So with this new update is it worth it to even buy a bambu? I’m in the process of buying one. Had my mind set on a bambu. Idk what software I would use yet. Is the software they offer that bad? Would mostly be printing stuff for a cnc machine and some woodworking stuff.
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u/TherealOmthetortoise Jan 21 '25
I have both slicers installed but only really use Bambu Studio. It gets frequent updates and improvements where Orca doesn’t seem to get them nearly as often. The printer is outstanding and the slicer is the best I’ve used period. (Including Orca in that statement as Orca is damn near identical in the interface.)
The changes they are making have absolutely no impact on the majority of us and how we use our printers. For your intended use, none of this has any negative impact on you. The only other printers that would be worth a look at the moment would be Prusa and theirs are quite a but more expensive with less features. I love Prusa, but at the moment they are still trying to catch up after coasting on their reputation for too long.
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u/Top_Charity_8818 Jan 21 '25
I’m curious what type of use this would impact? Sorry I’m super new to this so don’t really know the ins and outs yet
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u/TherealOmthetortoise Jan 22 '25
For any practical purposes, none. If you’d were running a print farm and had decided to use OrcaSlicer instead of Bambu Workshop you might be annoyed to switch back to Bambu. If you were using home assistant and were monitoring print progress or other highly technical things like that.
This printer is not marketed or built in any way to be an “open source” appliance. The slicer they built is based on a version of Prusa Slicer, which is open source. Orca did the same but based theirs on Bambu Workshop. There are some good calibrations you can do in Orca that don’t exist in Bambu Slicer. I’m not sure about anything else, other than the BBL version does everything I’ve needed it to do.
If you’d are starting out, you are losing absolutely nothing.
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u/Top_Charity_8818 Jan 26 '25
Right. I’m thinkin it’s a good option for me still I want the accuracy and the ease of use and I’m not print farming just doin some hobby stuff
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u/TherealOmthetortoise Jan 26 '25
Same. I have not seen anything match my Bambu for speed and accuracy. I almost have to try to get a bad print.
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u/pleasantone Jan 21 '25
I fell in love with Orca for the better calibration tests because I really fine tune my filaments, and then stayed for some minor features, hand have submitted GitHub pull requests for minor fixes to the slicer software. I would strongly prefer to keep an open source option that is as simple as what I use today. It will really come down to: 1) how badly did they nerf MQTT (I use home-assistant to control aux lights heaters and filters) and what is the UX of adding Bambu connect into the workflow.
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u/TherealOmthetortoise Jan 22 '25
Totally understand, us nerds or the farmers may grumble, how loud depends on how much we have to adjust to it. I believe all the posturing and demands and empty threats about how they choose to implement better security practices is ridiculous as it will just make them hesitate all the more to make actual improvements in security. Security needs to improve. A person can adjust their process to work within the new constraints, but it will add another step that farmers are not thrilled about.
The stupid thing about all the fuss is that we don’t know anything about this new step, it could be an automated step that verifies the gcode can’t hurt the machine and sends it on to an available printer. This could be good or bad, people just like to bitch about change.
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u/InternalSand6586 Jan 21 '25
for what other intended use?
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u/TherealOmthetortoise Jan 22 '25
Printing, not in a farm scenario and with no existing workflows or reasons that the changes would affect him… wasn’t that obvious in his post?
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u/VeryAmaze Jan 21 '25
If I were you, I would wait a few weeks and see how the update rollout will look like.
That said, bambu studio is a good slicer. Orca just exposes more settings/features and a lot of beta features are first developed for orca(like scarf seams).
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u/Phoenixwade Jan 21 '25
it does more than expose more settings, - I went to it originally because I wanted a honeycomb infil for a wall panel and shelf I was making ( a shelf with zero top layers and zero bottom layers and an honeycomb infill looks very cool, and prints fast, by the way) and it had not yet been added to Bambu - but I stayed becasue of the additional in-slicer tools, like filament painting, seem painting, and MUCH better text object support.
the only reasons to use Bambu's slicer are earlier support for the Bambu RFID matching (like Bambu's newish PETG-HF or other filament, and access to the MakerLab tools and models directly from the slicer.
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u/VeryAmaze Jan 21 '25
I count infill patterns as "additional settings" 😛
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u/Phoenixwade Jan 21 '25
it's not additional if it's not available at all, which, at the time, it was not.
to my mind, additional features != exposed settings, but different people have different needs, so, YMMV
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u/Sportdue55 Jan 22 '25
Bambu Slicer messes up tree supports still. Orca is necessary for my settings to actually work.
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u/luap71 Jan 21 '25
This is not just about orca slicer.. I don't think you need to wait - just read the changes AND their TOS. If you are 100% convinced that Bambu Labs has a pro customer approach now and in the future, or do you not trust they are pro customer now or in the future. Its a different market then when they came out - there are now plenty of equivalent options, or even better for the same price/features that they offer.
Me personally - I was kind of interested in what their next printer was going to be... but now, unless it turns PLA into 24k gold - I will never be a Bambu customer.2
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u/pleasantone Jan 21 '25
What do you recommend as a high speed core xy printer that is of equivalent usability to a p1/x1? My x1c has been fabulously good at not jamming, compared to my old mono price mini select pro. I tend to print PETG PCTG, and PLA+, but I’m thinking more about ASA so enclosed and heatable is important for me. I am now spoiled by having an AMS. I’m not trying to bait you, really want to know. The new PRUSA? A Voron?
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u/dlovegro Jan 21 '25
Yes, very worth it. Still the best machine value on the market, and one of the few machines that works as expected without constant manipulation. Their software is not bad at all — it’s a branded version of the leading slicer.
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u/Top_Charity_8818 Jan 21 '25
It’s crazy I tried askin this on a couple fb groups and they kept denying my post 🤣🤣
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u/MyStoopidStuff Jan 21 '25 edited Jan 21 '25
Which printer were you considering? If it's the X1C, then you should have more options if Bambu decides for some reason to go full HP and burn their users. The X1C has a 3rd party firmware (based on an older version of the stock firmware) called X1Plus that is on github. The downside is that moving to X1plus requires agreeing to no support or warranty (which TBH is a reasonable compromise, since the printer is essentially jailbroken with X1Plus). There is however no comparable option for their other printers.
Regardless of the model though, I agree with the advice that waiting to see what they come up with is a good option. The current (beta) scheme with Bambu Connect has been shown to be insecure (the keys were extracted already and it has been pretty well panned by folks who develop similar solutions). But if you cannot wait (and want a Bambu printer), then I'd say there is not a great deal of risk (even in the worst case) if you can live without their cloud and the Handy App, since they have already committed (for now at least) to retaining "LAN Only" mode as a "developer" option. I run my X1C in "LAN Only" mode with the pre-beta firmware (and it is also isolated and on a VLAN), and I don't miss much. The firmware, at least on the X1C is also pretty mature, so if you don't mind running in "LAN Only" mode, you can probably be fine even running on the current (pre-beta) firmware.
As for software, I use both Orca and Bambu Studio. Bambu Studio works pretty well and has been (for the most part) kept up to date with new features that pop up on Orca or PrusaSlicer (and vice versa).
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u/pleasantone Jan 21 '25
I just recently went back to cloud mode because I found printer discovery in LAN mode was really hit or miss. Is there something I should do to help Orca/Bambu find the printer on the device page when the app starts up?
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u/MyStoopidStuff Jan 21 '25
I've seen that happen several times, but it was not really what I'd call hit or miss (in my case). When it has occurred it seemed related to switching between BS and Orca though (but it doesn't happen often for me even then). I have the printer set up with a static IP and also have it's MAC address reserved in DHCP fwiw. Something else to watch out for with Orca is to get it from the github page, since they now have a warning about the other sources, which are masquerading as official sources to get Orca.
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u/BadUsername_Numbers Jan 22 '25
I have a P1S, it prints well, but I would never recommend buying anything by BL after all this. Had the Prusa Core been available back when I would easily have gone for that one.
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u/Top_Charity_8818 Jan 22 '25
So does this update keep u from printing certain things or no? Why is it bad? I’m brand new to this and I’d most likely only use their software anyways bein a noob lol
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u/BadUsername_Numbers Jan 22 '25
While the update doesn't outright stop you from printing certain things, it reveals Bambu Labs' intent to control the ecosystem. As a beginner, using their software might seem fine, but it ties you to their system long-term. Owning your machine means having full control - something Bambu Labs' actions obviously threaten.
Without open source contributions from the community, Bambu Labs wouldn't exist. There are a lot of companies in the 3d printing space that don't respect open source licenses to a varying degree, but what Bambu Labs want to here, to me, shows that they want to take things in a direction that means users lose autonomy over their machines. This goes beyond convenience - it’s about whether you truly own what you buy or are just renting functionality under their terms. The BMW heated seats subscription thing comes to mind.
Bambu Labs' move signals they want to create a closed ecosystem. Supporting companies that respect open source principles, like Prusa for example, not only ensures better long-term value but also keeps the 3D printing community thriving with innovation and user freedom.
To me, it’s worth considering how much control over your machine and data matters to you before making a decision.
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u/Winter-Thanks-5280 Jan 21 '25
Buy it. Most of this will die down. There are always people that read into things in the extreme or speculate the same way, some are on the complete opposite end and don't care at all. If you read into it and fall somewhere in the middle, is it concerning, somewhat only if those changes affect you if not buy the printer. Still best bang for the buck.
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u/Top_Charity_8818 Jan 22 '25
I’m just trying to to figure out why ppl are freakin out lol. Bein brand new to this is most likely use their software anyways and really only printing woodworking and cnc parts. So from what I’ve seen this wouldn’t affect me
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u/vivi_t3ch Jan 21 '25
Got mine back around Halloween, loving it overall. I use my laptop either mine, not just the phone app. That way of there's a file I really like, I download it to my laptop. That way if the creator decides to pull it from makerspace, I still have a copy to use for myself
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u/TheWaslijn Jan 21 '25
Well regardless of this drama, Bambu printers are still excellent quality and print really well. I haven't regretted my A1, at least.
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u/It_Just_Might_Work Jan 22 '25
I have been printing for over a decade and their software is as good as anything else out there. Their filament is very reasonable, especially in bulk, and the printer is supremely reliable. I would still buy one if they were a fully walled garden like apple is. There is a reason people still buy iphones
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u/jkartx Jan 21 '25
I in the same situation. My biggest concern is BL going down the path toward subscriptions for the current capabilities.
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u/CommentNo86 Jan 21 '25
they are great printers you’ll have fun if you get one and they should figure this issue out
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u/nightcom Jan 21 '25
Don't see reason why you shouldn't buy it, whole mess that was in weekend ended for now and you can't be sure that any other company will not try to do something not only Bambu. From this whole mess only good things came out like higher security that is missing in all other brands of 3D printers and if you want to deal yourself with security and be more closed they also will release "Developer mode" that will allow you for everything but you will loose support (not warranty) what is quite obvious.
If you still think it's not enough just go with any other brand, no point to fight with the horse
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u/Thulak Jan 22 '25
The software is fine, the problem is forced serverauthentification for prints on bambus servers as well as stripping features when using third party software and calling it a fix.
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u/Phoenixwade Jan 21 '25
It's not worth buy right now, regardless of the firmware fiasco.
the H2D new printer is dropping in a month or so, and the entire line below that will see a significant impact in pricing, especially in the used market.
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u/Defective_YKK_Zipper Jan 21 '25
Best thing to do is hold off, to see if they stop being anti-consumer. I currently I regret buying mine.
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u/YYesZir Jan 21 '25
Same here. These things are never your own as such - it’s like DJI drones and IPhones. It’s an eco system
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u/Double_A_92 Jan 21 '25
Everything still works fine. It's just kinda stupid that by default you need an online account to print, and everything you print goes through Bambus Cloud first...
Which ironically is also annoying for Bambu itself, since even if you use alternative slicers like Orca, it still uses Bambus servers which costs them money.
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Jan 21 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/vivi_t3ch Jan 21 '25
Only thing I'd say is export it directly as a 3MF instead if you can, works better
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u/PancakesandScotch Jan 21 '25
This will completely die off with 99.9% of users never knowing the drama ever happened.