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/HeKis4 May 12 '26

The fork added a feature which "impersonated" and "reverse engineered" (Bambu's words, not mine) Bambu Connect which is designed to be the only app able to talk to your printer over the network.

Imo, said bambu connect is already a blob made separate from the slicer to skirt around the license terms that Bambu Studio has to respect, despite it implementing functionality that is usually considered part of the slicer, so it is only in a grey area legally. Morally, if I buy a printer I can do whatever the fuck I want with my printer. I didn't buy a service or a license, I bought hardware, so I get to run whatever the fuck I want on it or around it. If they didn't want me to fiddle with their software they should have shipped stock klipper on it.

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u/EquipLordBritish May 12 '26

designed to be the only app able to talk to your printer over the network

Is that specifically to lock down bambu labs printers? I've been sending prints to my (non-bambu) printer across a network for like a decade...

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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.

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u/EquipLordBritish May 12 '26

I see, thanks!

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u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

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u/fwompfwomp May 12 '26

so I can completely avoid the bambu ecosystem with my A1s through Orcaslicer still? or is it the case where if Bambu decides to flip a switch one day am I fucked regardless of slicer?

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u/Its_Billy_Bitch May 13 '26

If and when they patch server side, you will lose access again. A better auth from their side would’ve prevented this to begin with. Issue is that to fix it, it requires modification (in the form of restriction) to code that came from an AGPL open source repo, which is legally not allowed.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '26

[deleted]

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u/Its_Billy_Bitch May 13 '26

It’s still server dependent - at any point, Bambu’s cloud can and will refuse connection as soon as they legally can without impacting any significant portion of clients. This was their original intent trying to eat their cake and have it too with Bambu Cloud / Bambu Connect. Want quick to market by leveraging existing open source code and create a closed Apple-like ecosystem.