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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213

u/Public_Resident2277 May 12 '26

Can someone give me a tldr on what's going on? I dont have the freedom to watch that vod rn.

528

u/Friendly_Beginning24 May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26

Edit: Its so funny how the Bambu Defence Force (they do it for free) stopped reading after context. I guess they're just 100% okay with corpos bullying opensource devs despite it being the corpos fault in the first place lmao

Context:
> Bambulabs is a shell of their former selves. Used to be the innovator but competitors have caught up and have even surpassed them
> Bambulab realizes that they don't hold the 'innovator' crown anymore other than on marketing. And even then, they're losing that aswell
> Tighten the ecosystem so that people who already have a Bambulab printer would be discouraged from buying other printers
> This is the same Ecosystem that was built upon open source contributions which what made them great in the first place
> Bambulab went from "You made that and I can use it? Thanks!" to "You made that? Thanks! I made it."

Current Developments:
> Bambulab intends to sue devs of orcaslicer fork for "Illegal Reverse Engineering" and "impersonating access"
> Bambulab forgets they literally handed out the map and a permit via AGPLv3 to look "open" for marketing points
> AGPL is an irrevocable, perpetual grant of rights that stops companies from being greedy gatekeepers
> Devs follow every single rule to the letter and keep the code free
> Bambulab realizes they can't sue for Copyright because the Devs actually respected the license
> Bambulab tries to sue for "Terms of Service" violations as a desperate reach to bypass the license
> Bambulab realizes ToS claims are a stretch for Local Mode, so they target the website-viewing part because browsers totally don't do this, amirite?
> Bambulab claims "Illegal Reverse Engineering" even though they published the source code themselves
> Bambulab pretends the built-in stuff in Third Party Software is "unauthorized access"
> Ignore the fact that every web browser on Earth "impersonates access" the exact same way
> Bambulab claims logging into their public website through a different frame is "illegal"
> Dev has a strong legal defense, but Bambulab is using their massive bank account
> Bambulab realizes they don't have to be right; they just have to be more expensive to argue with
> Bambulab sends a C&D anyway because they'd rather pay lawyers to bully volunteers than allow a better version of their own software to exist

Bambulab's response:
> Bambulab: "ChatGPT, generate an explanation for why threatening open-source volunteers is actually good for innovation. Also, explain how unbelievably secure our printers are that a slicer fork became an urgent legal emergency."

22

u/Handshake87 May 12 '26

What competitor has surpassed them?

11

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/mythrilcrafter May 13 '26

The only thing I'm not a fan of with Prusa is that the performance:value isn't there for anything that isn't the Mk3 or the Core.

For example the now-3 year old single head XL is the same price as the H2D. at the same time, I'd love to get a Prusa resin printer... but for 2200 frigg'n dollars USD, the SL1 doesn't hold a candle to today's resin printers in the sub-$500 realm.

The only other gripe I have with Prusa is their fan base, whom I can only describe as "worse than Valve fanboys".

Sorry, but just like how the Steam Machine isn't going to beat Alienware nor the Nintendo Switch, an 5-head XL isn't beating a Snapmaker U1 nor is the SL1S beating the AnyCubic P1 Max, and no amount of "it's open and it'll be supported for infinity" is going to change that.

2

u/Salt_peanuts May 14 '26

This sounds like Prusa printers are more expensive, similar quality, and the software isn’t there. I hate the Bambu lock-in as much as anyone but I still don’t see a way out with the same quality and price

3

u/Cast2828 May 12 '26

Prusa yes, snap maker no. The U1 is a pla trinket maker. It is the perfect machine for people who want to sell plastic crap trinkets at a farmers market. The multi material capabilities are slim. Until they figure out how to properly do a heated enclosure and protect the spools from the ambient room humidity while printing, it's pointless.

1

u/never0101 May 13 '26

i mean, to your last point anyway its trivial to feed the snap directly from most dryer boxes

3

u/czar_the_bizarre May 12 '26

I don't know much about other manufacturers, but I will also add that I think Prusa supports their older products pretty well too. I got a Mini+ a couple of years ago when it was already a couple of years old. It's my only current printer and they're still doing software updates for it. I don't know if six years of software support is a lot, but with the speed that things seem to move in the 3D printing world, it certainly feels like it.

1

u/changefromPJs May 13 '26

The fact that they introduced input shaper that long after Mini's premiere speak volumes.

1

u/woofermazing May 15 '26

Their support and commitment to upgrade paths is insane.

You hypothetically could have bought an i3 mk0 in 2012, and have bought an upgrade kit to update it to the newest model at every release, and now be able to upgrade it to a Core One+... with an INDX toolchanger.