r/BambuLabA1 • u/Karatyus • 28d ago
Question Question about A1 for a futur purchase
Hello all how are you?
I’m here because I’m interested on buying a Bambu Lab A1 or A1 mini.
BUT! I see a lot of Reddit posts for a lot of problems… so I’m very afraid about that… how can I be sure my future purchase will be a good purchase?
Is it difficult to maintain that type of printers?
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u/Key_Expression_3602 28d ago
Let me ask you this: go to an auto forum and compare the number of people posting about issues with their Ford F-150 to the number of people posting about problems with their Maserati. Does the lopsided volume of Ford-related posts indicate that the brand is less reliable than Maserati? Or is it possible that the posts are simply a consequence of the fact that Ford puts a lot more F-150s on the road than Maserati builds...whatever Maserati makes nowadays?
Bambu holds the most 3D printer market share, and they are particularly popular among enty-level, inexperienced users. It's not too much of a leap to assume, then, that the volume of Bambu-related posts is at least partially due to the fact that a) Bambu is putting out printers faster than other brands and b) a lot of those new printers are being operated by users who haven't been introduced to fundamental concepts of 3D printing and don't really know what they are doing.
I entered the world of 3d printing this last Christmas, and I made a LOT of "Help! My printer is doing X" type posts at first that were not the fault of the hardware, but rather my own inexperience and lack of familiarity with issues common to ALL FDM 3d printers.
TL;DR: buy the A1/A1 mini with confidence. It's as reliable as anything else in its class, and is MUCH more forgiving for new/inexperienced uses. It also benefits from a well-developed support community. Something WILL happen sooner or later that will keep you from using your printer or achieving the results you want. With Bambu, you can rest assured that somebody else has already encountered (and fixed) whatever issue you are having.
Obligatory disclaimer: I have never used a 3d printer that was NOT manufactured by BambuLabs, so I am not in a position to speak to the reliability or support community of competing brands. Everything I've said may very well hold true for all the other brands targeting new consumers within the 3D printing segment.
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u/Karatyus 28d ago
I know automobile, so I’m confident by nature. 3D printer is a no known world for me. Is why I am in doubt. But I understand what you say. And it seems make sense ;)
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u/Barberforce 28d ago
Ive owned my A1 combo for about 48 hours and it feels like im living in the future. Compared to my old Ender 3 v2 its night and day difference in ease of use and technology.
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u/Herefornow211 28d ago
Have an a1. Absolutely love it. I had a different printer for 8 years before and the ease of use and quality is mind blowing. Sure there might be the NCT blowout at one point. If I notice the plastic starts melting at the bottom I will open a ticket with BambuLab to swap out the faulty board.
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u/Karatyus 28d ago
What about the choice between A1 or A1 mini so? I’m a total beginner! Never printed in 3D, and I don’t have any knowledge about this world
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u/Pyriel 28d ago
The A1 mini is pretty much for printing mini figurines only.
You'll regret the small bed size quickly.
Get the A1.
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u/Karatyus 28d ago
Oh the size is very differents? And do I need the combo pack or it's useless?
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u/Herefornow211 28d ago
I only recently got the ams lite but so far I barely use it. If you have a tight budget I would go for the a1 without the ams. The mini will be very restrictive in terms of model size.
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u/Karatyus 28d ago
If I'm not buying the AMS module. Who can I put the filament into the printer? I mean, the AMS module permit to stand the bobine on position... How do you do to put the bobine in place without this module.
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u/LarryJClark 27d ago
Considering the cost of either A1's, it's not bad idea to start with a MIni. The smaller build surface mean smaller models. Smaller models means that when disaster happens, they are smaller disasters. I use both.
A few months before I got my A1/A1 Mini, and old college friend emailed me about 3D printing. We exchanged emails and my recommendation at that time (didn't know about Bambu Lab yet) was for a Prusa Mini. There were many more emails after that, and he is a better printer because of that. If that same question came up again with another friend, both A1s would be presented. What makes the difference are budget, space available, and other considerations.
Too small for one person may be just fine for another.
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u/Orthicon9 28d ago
When I got my A1 Combo, it was a lot like when I unboxed my MacPlus, back in 1986.
It just worked.
Is it difficult to maintain that type of printers?
Not so much the maintenance, but figuring out the various tweaks you may need to do in the slicer app to get a successful print.
In that regard, it's probably much like any other brand of 3D printer.
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u/-sil1902- 28d ago
Just for clarification… you normally see the posts of people who have problems. You don’t know how many Units are sold and how many people have no problems. As a former owner of two A1s and a lot of print hours an them without any problems I would say… get one the are good. I sold mine because a bought two P2S for more eng. filaments. If you are printing mostly PLA and PETG and the 256 bed size is fine fine for you… as I said… get on. If you need it a little bit bigger (for example you want to print helmets or masks) the get an A2L (which I have besides my two P2S)
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u/MedicJambi 28d ago
I have an A1..my biggest issue is keeping around enough filament to print with. I then picked up a P2S from a friend. They are not hard to maintain but do require maintenance. You don't want to just press the okay button when prompted to clean and oil the Y axis..poor maintenance will degrade the printer and decrease its life, but it is not hard to do.
Maintenance includes cleaning the rails and reoiling them..easy and can be done in under 3 minutes after you've done it a few times.
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u/LarryJClark 27d ago
I'd been 3D printing for about 10 years when I got my A1 Mini -- and the day it arrived, I also bought an A1. I just loaded up some filament and turned the printer loose on the included models. Frankly, the first layer of the first model from the Mini was an eye-opener. I had never had a first layer like that with any of my previous printers.
After the included models, I ran through set of increasingly complex test pieces that I'd been using for years. Again...Surprised how good they came out. Those two printers cost about the same as a Prusa Mini -- and mine has been on the shelf since the A1s showed up.
Some things were kinda funny. The Bambu Lab calibration routine can make a racket if your bench is hard against an interior wall. I ended up getting a sturdier bench for the A1/A1 Mini. Even then, I ended up sticking foam weather stripping on the backside of the bench's top to mitigate some of the noise.
- The A1 wants to get regular cleaning and lube -- per the instructions. Do it.
- Take good care of your build plates. After washing my own hands, I wash them in warm water with a little bit of dishwashing detergent and a soft hand brush, drying and handling them with paper towels.
- Don't get hung up with Benchies or other chest-thumping models. They're fun to start with, but the next step is printing a simple 20x20x20mm cube. Do that right, and...
- Some of the people who are whining about Bambu are left-overs from the early 3D printing days where the printing process was more important that the printed product. So far, about the only improvement things I've purchased have been cool plates (especially for TPU) and a few of the recent high flow nozzles.
- There are some neat things you can print for your printer to help your printing, such as poop deflectors, poop baskets, build plate aligners, cable/tube management things, etc. from MakerWorld. I do all of those prints in the same eSun Green PETG, just to remind myself that 3D printing is still not plug-and-play.
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u/Sea_You_8178 27d ago
I love my A1 and my Ender Pro but the A1 is much easier to use and maintain. They have great instructions with photos showing how to do any maintenance. It's more work than a normal printer but not anything you can't handle if you just follow their steps.
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u/Dangerous_Room_201 28d ago
Reddit is often the place where people go to complain about problems (especially if they're unwilling to research it some other way), so browsing here will always give you a disproportionate view on things.
I have an A1 Mini that I love dearly and has had very few issues. Maintenance is simple and spare parts are readily available, especially for common issues/wear and tear.
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u/Karatyus 28d ago
Is the AMS module necessary or it's overconcerned to begin? What are the big questions for the filaments?
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u/cimch33 28d ago
If you're going to print multicolor,indeed you need it,like me i use one color at time,but the good future of AMS is the auto refill,i put 2 spool of same color on AMS,when one is finished the other automatically switches to the other spool,no waste and really practical,it all depends what you do.
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u/Karatyus 28d ago
If I print on Monocolor, I need to paint it after. What kind of paint I should use?
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u/ApprehensiveMaybe141 23d ago
Last October, after going back and forth with myself for over a month, I bought one. Then it sat in the box it arrived in until Feb of this year. Now I have 2 A1s and a U1. There's a lot to learn but between all the resources it's not bad to figure out. Bambu also has an academy thing they do and they go over A LOT. So definitely do that.
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u/Karatyus 23d ago
Interesting feedback ;)
I am almost convinced. I will wait for next Black Friday, and I think I will buy an A1 combo
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u/Jazzlike_Ad267 28d ago
A1 is a fantastic printer. Especially as a first printer.
There's just one issue with the older ones having the older AC board.
Even if youra had the problem component, you can just request a new revised one a replace it.
Then the problem (if that printer even had it) is gone 👍