This kickstarter by former DJI engineers is creating some buzz on the Voron and XL boards. IF Bambu can pull this off, it will be an amazing machine at an amazing price.
Some highlights:
– Fast CoreXY (14 minute Benchy)
– Automated leveling and z-offset
– Multicolor (4, expandable to 16<–I haven’t seen a video demonstrating more than 4)
– Automated resonance tuning (a la Klipper)
– Low price point
Website:
Here are a couple of videos (promotions) on prototypes:
– It is a Kickstarter (even Creality failed recently with one of their campaigns).
– It is a start up company (as Elon Musk learned, there is a big difference from making a few prototypes and mass production).
– It employs a proprietary ecosystem. Proprietary firmware and their slicer is a fork of Superslicer (good) that uploads to their cloud and back to your printer (bad)).
– No USB port, so if one uses a different slicer, one must use the SD card (no USB port).
I agree with you @Alan. Not having a USB port is inexcusable IMHO. Startups are always a risk. Your comment about the difference between prototyping and produciton is right on. Too few people know that there is a profession called Production Engineering, Production Engineers whole job is to analyze prototype products and make recommendations about whether, and how, a prototype might make it to production. As the old saying goes, “Any engineer can make a product work on a bench. Taking it to mass production is a whole other story.”
I have been wanting to get some form of a multi-color/multi-material 3D printer and the specs on the Bambu X1-Carbon look interesting. For me, the no USB port issue would not be a problem as I would prefer to use the micro SD option. What would be a deal breaker for me is the lack of a Linux version for their proprietary software.
What is interesting about Bambu Lab is their using Kickstarter more as a marketing tool rather than getting funding to start manufacturing. Their running their Kickstarter campaign for only one month and promising to start shipping product immediately following the campaign is highly unusual. While the discounts offered during the Kickstarter campaign are enticing, I doubt I want to risk losing $999USD on what could turn out to be another failed 3D printer concept.
One of Bambu Lab’s videos appears to answer @Ender5r issue with mass production: Mini Farm | Bambu Lab - YouTube It appears they have already made and tested at least 200 of their production version of the X1.
200 isn’t a bad start, but I would be more confident in their ability to scale if they had 2,000, or even 20,000 production units. And it matters what their failure rate is, as well as their rework rate.
I remember consulting with a company getting ready to produce a new communications product. They had an issue with rework. Almost every unit they produced needed rework. It was expensive and time consuming.
Long story short, it turned out their supplier of resistors would not guarantee better than a 1% failure rate. So, on average, 1 resistor in 100 would fail. The problem was that the main circuit board for the new product had roughly 130 resistors. Oops.
In the end, they implemented a process of testing the resistors on mass before putting them onto the production line. It reduced the rework rate below 5%.
The point is that it’s easy for an engineer to throw out a faulty resistor on a workbench. No prescreening is really required. The picture changes when the requirement is to produce thousands of copies of a product that uses hundreds of resistors in each copy. In this case, the Production Engineer’s job was to figure out how to prescreen the resistors quickly enough and cheaply enough to make it feasible.
While I do NOT disagree with @Ender5r, my point is that Bambu Lab APPEARS to have made and tested considerably more units than the average 3D printer startup. Having said that, I agree that it is entirely possible the company will fail to satisfy their Kickstarter orders.
Bambu Lab posted a video about hotend service. Heatblock is tiny, has a rectangular ceramic heater, that clips on side, along with thermal paste. I was expecting something more robust.
AMS not handling TPU, might also be a show stopper. Boden tubing galore.
I really like advanced vibration reduction and stabilization enhancements.
Bambu states that TPU can be used via the spool holder on the back of the unit bypassing the AMS. I doubt many people would need to do multi-color TPU prints.
I agree the X1 has a massive amount of bowden tube, but as the extruder is direct drive I do not see that as an issue. I am more concerned with the amount of filament wasted during purging for filament changes on multi-color or multi-filament prints.
It will be interesting to see some in-depth reviews exploring all features of the X1 once units get into the hands of normal users. Currently there is too little info available to make an informed decision on the feasibility of owning an X1 unit.
I agree, the Bowden tube is of no concern. Some people call that arrangement a “Reverse Bowden”, since the tubing is on the other side of the extruder, compared to the normal arrangement.
I’m noticing a trend. 10 years ago 3D printers were more expensive. For example, Lulzbot was a popular brand, but they cost around $2,000. For the past decade consumer printers have gotten cheaper and cheaper. Now, more printers in the $1,000 to $2,000 range are appearing on the market. The difference is these new printers have way more features, speed, size, and other capabilities than the printers of a decade ago.
Two items not discussed about the X1-Carbon are speed and noise. According to some who have reviewed the printer the higher speeds of the printer are quite loud. While increased print speed when achieved with good or better quality of the print is a desirable item, would excessive printer noise be a major problem for many users? Personally, I think it could be as I believe many users do not have space for a 3D printer sufficiently away from their main living area.
@Ender5r mentions price trends relative to the feature set of 3D printers. I am wondering if the proposed $1449.00USD price of the X1-Carbon might be a little high for many hobbyist 3D users. In my opinion, the announced price could be reasonable for the serious hobbyist or one wanting to do manufacturing of 3D items for sale, but possibly not for the hobbyist wanting to do limited 3D printing.
About TPU and AMS. I visualize possibility of TPU “insertion”, in prints for seals, feet pads, elasticity and other features. Seems use of spool on back, would involve significant manual procedures.
This is 1 of the things I think IDEX, TRIDEX, etc. printers would be so useful for (besides supports). Being able to mix PLA or PETG or ABS with TPU in the same print, without a lot of purging, by using dual or more extruders opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
@KitCarlson@Ender5r I think your comments point out that currently there is no one perfect 3d printer for all uses - there are always limits and tradeoffs.
I think a reasonable comparison is 3D printers and vehicles. You’re not going to use an 18 wheeler to run an F1 race (although it would most likely be hilarious), and you’re not going to use an F1 car to do long haul freight transport. Each type of vehicle has its uses, and so do different 3D printers.
As Kickstarter reward X1 printers are now shipping, it will be very interesting to learn what average users think of the printer. Does it provide reasonable quality at higher speeds (sport & ludicrous settings)? Is the 256mm cubed build volume enough for most users?
By the way, anybody here other than myself pledge on Kickstarter for one (or more) of the X1 printer(s)?
While NOT a perfect 3D printer, in my opinion it is an order of magnitude better than many of the available competing printers.
The main benefits of the X1 are automatic calibration including ABL and speed. In short – it basically just works WITHOUT the need for massive calibration. For me the print quality of the few items I have printed is extremely good with only a very few minor flaws – much better than anything printed on my Snapmaker A350 especially when using PETG. I think most of the the existing flaws will be addressed in future firmware and slicer upgrades.
The main limitations of the X1 series are print volume and the amount of purged filament if doing multi-color or multi-material prints. While the physical print volume is 256mm cubed, the practical usable print volume in most cases is closer to 250mm cubed. So far my main complaint is Bambu Lab’s extreme sloth like approach toward providing a Linux version of their slicer Bambu Studio. As the source for Bambu Studio is on Github, a gracious community member has provided an AppImage that works for me on Mageia 8, but was not compiled from the now current source code.
As a fully enclosed printer with a hardened steel nozzle and extruder gear, it does allow use of abrasive and higher temp (max 300c) materials than some printers. One issue with the steel nozzle is the need to use higher than normal nozzle temps to avoid under extrusion when printing at higher speeds. Maintenance and repair can be a potential issue, but Bambu Lab already has on their wiki complete procedures for almost any maintenance or repair that might be needed along with a troubleshooting guide. Most parts one might need are already in their regional stores including build plates with various surfaces.
it looks like x1c and x1 has decent reviews. Im excited for Bambu. it looks like they have a presell on a new printer now. the P1P. looks like a good core xy printer for the price.
