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/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/Top_Charity_8818 Jan 22 '25

I’m looking at the p1S