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I'm potentially in the market for a 3d printer for our office. Mostly for one offs and some prototyping, and we don't necessarily need one but more a wouldn't-i

by mstade 2y ago

I'm potentially in the market for a 3d printer for our office. Mostly for one offs and some prototyping, and we don't necessarily need one but more a wouldn't-it-be-nice kinda thing. The Bambu Lab printers look like they could fit our needs/wants really well, but I'd love to do a bit of compare and contrast before placing an order. Are there any buyer's guides out there you would recommend for hobbyists such as us?

szundi 2y ago
Just buy an A1 with the AMS, cheap as hell, other people’s blabla is hardly applicable to you. It is like just more than 400 usd.
double0jimb0 2y ago
Forum comments have been the best resource for me. (Followed by joining the printer’s users’ Facebook group to see what sort of issues are most common). The top SEO’d buyers guide websites are pretty useless in my experience. That said, having owned a dozen different printers for my own business’s prototyping work, the Bambu labs are truly fantastic. I retired 3 ultimaker S7s for 2 X1 Carbons and haven’t looked back. The Bambu labs legitimately print 3-4x faster and have as good if not better surface finish. AMS system is ingenious. Only thing I did was x-y squareness/skew compensation so both printers make the same sized parts (the printers aren’t perfectly square from the factory). There are guides on how to use M1005 gcode command.
stavros 2y ago
Just buy a Bambu. You won't regret it. I bought one after ten years of printing on more OSS designs, and I wish I'd gotten one sooner. If your hobby is 3D printing, get a Bambu. If it's 3D printers, get anything else.
- fennecfoxy 2y ago
  Totally agree, I used to muck about with a couple Creality ones and was totally spending much more time tinkering with the printer than actually printing. Got an A1 mini in the recent sale and it's been so refreshing being able to just focus on what I actually want to do, which is printing stuff.
- btbuildem 2y ago
  How does it compare with the recent Prusas?
  - valianteffort 2y ago
    I think prusa have been resting on their laurels and fallen very far behind. Bambu sort of raised the bar with their printers and the price points they are offered at. They took much of the tinkering out of the equation that filtered most people from producing quality prints. If you're working with more exotic or engineering materials, it can still require a bit of work to dial in. But the most common like PLA, ABS, PETG will print without issue.
    - 2muchcoffeeman 2y ago
      I bought a Prusa MK3 as a kit years ago and it worked flawlessly. Several of the higher end printers pretty much work right out of the box. Bambu does all that and more for less money. Hard to beat.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 2y ago
    There is no reason to get a Prusa as a hobbyist unfortunately, unless you value open source hardware. The Prusa XL may still be worth it if you need that sort of thing.
    - stavros 2y ago
      That's very unfortunate, as I do value open source hardware. However, I value my time more, and Pruša have become complacent and released incremental updates (most of their printers aren't even CoreXY), so Bambu turned up and are eating Pruša's lunch.
      - dgroshev 2y ago
        I don't think there's much inherent value in the CoreXY geometry. MK4S seems to outperform everything Bambu has both on speed and on quality (especially on overhangs and dimensional precision) despite being a bed slinger. On the other hand, continuing the bed slinger line let Prusa provide an upgrade path for existing printers.
gaudystead 2y ago
+1 for BambuLab printers. I have an X1C and finally I can work with the printer, not work on the printer. Get an X1E if you have special materials you want to print and/or want an entirely hardwired connection to the printer from the network.
- fragmede 2y ago
  > I can work with the printer, not work on the printer. That's what sold me on getting my Bambu, and it's totally true. No need to spend hours carefully aligning and calibrating things.

by mstade 2y ago

szundi 2y ago

Just buy an A1 with the AMS, cheap as hell, other people’s blabla is hardly applicable to you. It is like just more than 400 usd.

double0jimb0 2y ago

Forum comments have been the best resource for me. (Followed by joining the printer’s users’ Facebook group to see what sort of issues are most common). The top SEO’d buyers guide websites are pretty useless in my experience. That said, having owned a dozen different printers for my own business’s prototyping work, the Bambu labs are truly fantastic. I retired 3 ultimaker S7s for 2 X1 Carbons and haven’t looked back. The Bambu labs legitimately print 3-4x faster and have as good if not better surface finish. AMS system is ingenious. Only thing I did was x-y squareness/skew compensation so both printers make the same sized parts (the printers aren’t perfectly square from the factory). There are guides on how to use M1005 gcode command.

stavros 2y ago

Just buy a Bambu. You won't regret it. I bought one after ten years of printing on more OSS designs, and I wish I'd gotten one sooner. If your hobby is 3D printing, get a Bambu. If it's 3D printers, get anything else.

fennecfoxy 2y ago
Totally agree, I used to muck about with a couple Creality ones and was totally spending much more time tinkering with the printer than actually printing. Got an A1 mini in the recent sale and it's been so refreshing being able to just focus on what I actually want to do, which is printing stuff.
btbuildem 2y ago
How does it compare with the recent Prusas?
- valianteffort 2y ago
  I think prusa have been resting on their laurels and fallen very far behind. Bambu sort of raised the bar with their printers and the price points they are offered at. They took much of the tinkering out of the equation that filtered most people from producing quality prints. If you're working with more exotic or engineering materials, it can still require a bit of work to dial in. But the most common like PLA, ABS, PETG will print without issue.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 2y ago
    I bought a Prusa MK3 as a kit years ago and it worked flawlessly. Several of the higher end printers pretty much work right out of the box. Bambu does all that and more for less money. Hard to beat.
- 2muchcoffeeman 2y ago
  There is no reason to get a Prusa as a hobbyist unfortunately, unless you value open source hardware. The Prusa XL may still be worth it if you need that sort of thing.
  - stavros 2y ago
    That's very unfortunate, as I do value open source hardware. However, I value my time more, and Pruša have become complacent and released incremental updates (most of their printers aren't even CoreXY), so Bambu turned up and are eating Pruša's lunch.
    - dgroshev 2y ago
      I don't think there's much inherent value in the CoreXY geometry. MK4S seems to outperform everything Bambu has both on speed and on quality (especially on overhangs and dimensional precision) despite being a bed slinger. On the other hand, continuing the bed slinger line let Prusa provide an upgrade path for existing printers.

gaudystead 2y ago

+1 for BambuLab printers. I have an X1C and finally I can work with the printer, not work on the printer. Get an X1E if you have special materials you want to print and/or want an entirely hardwired connection to the printer from the network.

fragmede 2y ago
> I can work with the printer, not work on the printer. That's what sold me on getting my Bambu, and it's totally true. No need to spend hours carefully aligning and calibrating things.