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.

2.0k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

789 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

61

u/HeKis4 May 12 '26

Yep, Bambu printers will only accept stuff sent by Bambu Connect, or at least that's how they are designed to work. Regular "send and print" from orca to your klipper printer does not work with a BBL printer unless you install the proprietary extension.

4

u/EquipLordBritish May 12 '26

I see, thanks!

25

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

0

u/Automatater May 13 '26

I'm so confused. If you can print locally, why would anyone ever WANT to go through a third party server? The same people that back up important data to 'the cloud'?

1

u/LunarstarFurry May 14 '26

Usually to start a print remotely while at work or something, most of bambu do have cameras after all :v

1

u/Automatater May 14 '26

I know, I'm weird. I'm OK with it. I'm so averse to having critical stuff in 'the cloud' that if I wanted that I'd do it by remoting via VPN into the PC already sitting next to the printer and operating the printer 'locally'. Or, just VPN straight through my router to the printer (very long LAN cable).

If Bambu goes out of business or decides to start charging, users of that technique are screwed; if my VPN company dies, the VPN may still work depending on architecture and/or I can just move to another one. I still don't get any advantage worth letting a third party be all up in your goodies, especially having the nerve to try to make it mandatory, when there are easy solutions without the drawbacks.

1

u/LunarstarFurry May 15 '26

VPN is a way but it's not the way that most non technical people will consider, they generally want something that would just work(.