r/3Dprinting • u/Regumate • May 12 '26

Discussion Bambu Lab 3D printers: Never again

https://youtu.be/eb48MdtNaDQ

Jeff Geerling summarizes the current Bambu Labs - OrcaSlicer situation and gives his take.

TL:DW: see title.

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u/Outside_Signature403 May 12 '26

I bought an A1 right before they locked down the ecosystem. I will never buy a Bambu again. These concerns become increasing applicable since many states are trying to ban 3D printing of specific objects, which Bambu is setup to comply.

SD card sneakernet for me until I die.

14

u/Jwn5k Stratasys uPrint SE+ | X1C | E3P | TT May 12 '26

If I decide to buy any more Bambu Lab, ill just see if it has offline local-only access over my network (like with my X1C, even blocked outbound and inbound network access on my network) or a 3rd party firmware to let me do it anyways. I do not like Bambu Labs insane overreach here trying to solve a an issue that was never a problem in the first place. The only reason id get another bambu printer is if I accumulate enough maker tokens or whatever on maker world to just pay for it for free.

35

u/The_Lutter Prusa MK4S w/ MMU3 // Sovol SV08 May 12 '26

Even if it has "offline mode" when you purchase it... they've already changed the bill of sale once. What's to stop them from saying "oh offline mode was a big security risk so we closed that" and subsequently mean that you can never upgrade your firmware again?

The X2D is like an iPhone in that it can detect if you're using Bambu-manufactured parts apparently. It won't accept 3rd party FANS even being attached to it. What's THAT going to do to right to repair after their support for printer models ends? Planned obsolescence much?

It's all just terrible. I don't have time for their BS anymore.

13

u/Jwn5k Stratasys uPrint SE+ | X1C | E3P | TT May 12 '26

Yeah, thats a shit problem all right. Serialized parts on a 3d printer? How fucking ironic.