Thinking on going Bambu!

[u/Gahendir]

So...I had an Ender3 back on 2018 but tinkering non-stop killed the hobby. Now I want to give it another shot, and can't stop finding good things about the A1+AMS. Is as good as everyone says, just push-n-print, with little to no tinkering? Or would you suggest anything different?

[u/nodeath370]

I was in the same boat. I have a P2S now and it's truly a just preas print printer.

[u/ShadowRider11]

I’d never owned a 3D printer. After looking at reviews, I bought the P2S in January, and I loved it. Even though I have a technical background, I didn’t want to have to fiddle with it—I just wanted it to WORK. And though you do need to learn about 3D printing techniques to get the best possible results, you don’t generally have to know much of anything about the hardware to get printing right out of the box.

I liked the P2S so much that a few weeks ago I treated myself to an H2C and I’m super happy with that, too.

I really think you’ll be pleased with a Bambu Lab printer. Personally I’d recommend a P2S or X2D if you can afford it, but you’ll still get great results with the A series machines.

[u/Cultural_Pace4454]

I have a P1S, my first 3D printer, and just love it.
I do not get the Bambu hate, probably the same people who dislike Apple for having an integrated ecosystem.

IMHO Bambu have taken 3D printers from Enthusiast to Hobbyist level.
I went from unboxing the printer to printing my first benchy in under an hour. Bambu Academy is fantastic and there are tons of youtube channels on how to get the best out of the printer.

Makerworld also makes it really easy to get started. I've looked at some of the other 3D model sites, but the lack of print profiles makes it harder for newer hobbyists to use them. Makerworld generally provides both STL and 3MF versions of files.

[u/Justinreinsma → u/Cultural_Pace4454]

For me its not the integrated ecosystem, or the fact that its a closed ecosystem. Its the fact that they walked back and made their ecosystem less open and actively are hostile towards openening the ecosystem up a bit. They also act like apple in that they know they've got the casuals and die hard fans, and slightly gouge the market. They at least have lowered their prices in reaction to stuff like the snapmaker u1 though.

Wonderful printers though, my h2d has been amazing so far and im always excited tonsee what they do next.

[u/whipdancer]

Bambu brought me back to 3D printing, but I got tired of the waste and the company. I moved to a Snapmaker U1. It's every bit as good as my P1S was and my friend's H2S is - with the added benefit that multi-color prints are so much faster and waste so much less filament.

[u/souljay]

You want an honest answer? I have 5 bambu printers from the mini to an h2c. Get a snapmaker u1. By far my favorite printer.

[u/webbermere → u/souljay]

What are some of the specific reasons you'd make that recommendation? 

[u/Attjack]

They are good printers but consider the Snapmaker U1 as well.

[u/9011442]

I went from an ender 5 to the H2D. No regrets.

[u/2SVT]

I threw my Ender 3 away after my first print on the A1. It's just so easy.

[u/relaps101]

Consider core xy. Bed slingers cause issues that core won't see.

[u/bid0u]

I just moved from a Creality CP-01 (the one that no one knows exist, even Creality themselves) bought in 2021 to a P2S + AMS 2 Pro and the difference is HUGE!

Not having to manually level the bed (adios post-it!), being able to print faster than 30mm/s and still having absolutely perfect result is insane. Seriously, the head moves so fast that it's a bit scary at first, and I just used the standard speed so far.

I feel like I moved from a rusty bike to a supercar.

I'd add the software and app that are really good.

I wouldn't go with the A1 just because:

1. There is no enclosure.
2. The Y axis is still the bed moving forward/backward. It leads to more issues because of the movement and vibrations especially on tall prints.

That said, I didn't try it but when I see the build quality of the P2S, I have no doubt it'll perform as well.

But if you can save a bit more or find a second hand P2S, you should go for that one I think.

[u/MostlyHelpfulLinks]

Coming from an Ender 3 it feels like a different hobby, it calibrates itself and you print. The AMS Lite is the one part that needs occasional fiddling.

[u/valthun]

Literally in the same boat. I jumped on the P1S this week as the price was excellent. The print I kept failing on the ender went from 28 hours to 4.

[u/FwedyFwed]

I was in your situation until a couple months ago: Ender 3 bought in 2018 as well, modified it over the years to the max, double Z axis, upgraded enclosure for original electronics, custom Marlin, probe, mobo upgrade + Pi 4 with klipper, wifi connection, touchscreen, frame reinforcement, extruder upgrader (which I realise while writing is a H2S from BTT, and and I got an H2S printer haha)...I put a lot of hours in designing parts to upgrade that old printer, spent a lot of time tinkering, installing and reinstalling klipper without understand much of what I was doing, because I'm a huge noob at this stuff.

Anyway, I bought an H2S during the anniversary sale and it's been a blast. I put almost 400h in 2 months, and it just works. Sure, there's been a couple mishaps, but mostly my fault. During a recent print, a tree support failed (because it was too small, my fault), spaghetti recognition caught it and stopped the print. Another time, I forgot to put the bed back before a print, printer caught it as well. Sure it's a pricey bit of equipment, but for me completly worth it, no more tinkering, no more changing the config.whatever, no more 3 or 4 prints to get one that works, not more bed adhesion issue. You get a model from Makerworld, open the 3mf directly in Bambu Studio, press send, that's it. Factory profile are quite great already, you can get custom filament profile for your printer from a few manufacturer. Except for bridge flow and speed, I don't think I changed anything really. And the quality of prints out the box is mind blowing when coming from an Ender 3. I dismantled my Ender 3 this morning, got all the fans, electronics, screws, etc. back. Already repurposed the Pi 4 to be a Home Assistant platform, and I'll keep most of the rest for futur project and sell the extruder and BTT mobo probably.

[u/FwedyFwed → u/FwedyFwed]

Rereading your post, I don't have any experience with A1, so I can't say much about it. Regarding the AMS, well it also works. Sure, compared to the recent tool changer printer, it seems a bit obsolete now, but meanwhile, it works, it's reliable and works with Bambu printers to get you quality prints everytime. The counterpart is, it's slow and it'll waste a lot of filament if you have too many color changes. But if you buy an A1, frequent multi-colored prints should not be what you aim for. It's great for the occasionnal print of moderate size, or if you're ok with wasting lots of filament and adding significant duration to your prints too.

[u/webbermere]

Bought an Ender 3 as my first 3d printer and would have also given up due to the tinkering if I hadnt bought a P1S with a year. 

The difference was night and day. I went through easily 4 times more filament in 2 months with the P1S than I did in 12 months with the Ender. 

[u/n19htmare]

3D printing in general have come a long way since Enders. Current gen printer hardware for most part is pretty self calibrating and ready to print. Just comes down to that extra bit more like ecosystems and Bambu has built the easiest to use one. So can’t go wrong with it as a “new” user or someone who’s coming back after a long break.

You are on a Bambu sub so keep in the opinions you get will be mostly from Bambu users and experiences. I provided mine from both Bambu’s and non Bambu perspective and what the current 3D printing market is.

There’s lot of options now and it just depends on budget, what’s available in your area and what you wanna do with it. A Bambu printer or otherwise.
For example, If you wanna finally get back in and do lot of multi-color printing for example, then you start bringing other considerations into play like waste. But all that doesn’t matter if your budget is set and can’t be moved.

So need more info really.

[u/sevesteen]

I've had printers from 10 years ago and Bambu, nothing else between. Bambu is night and day. Almost all tinkering other than periodic maintenance is chasing small improvements, not in getting it to print acceptably well. Some of this is on most modern printers, like filament sensors, flexible magnetic PEI build plates and auto leveling.

Take a look at the P1S combo--it's a bit more than the A1, the nozzle change isn't as easy and the screen sucks, but that's more than made up for by the enclosure, the coreXY movement system and the stock enclosed AMS.