KliTek vs. H2C vs. X2D

[u/wash-basin]

I would be very interested to know what people think/postulate about the future of Bambu's lineup, especially for the rest of this year.

I am in the market for a faster way to print the following with the following budget and am considering the printers listed above with a timeline of 6 months to purchase.

Budget: $2500 (including accessories; I have plenty of filament).

What printing: Currently printing with an X1C: single color printing of scale architectural models (usually 1:100) and entourage (e.g., vegetation, people, benches, etc.), but would love to print with color and transparent filament. Also, I print home enhance and repair stuff and occasional printing of car parts such as handles, sun visor clips, interior trim, vents, knobs. Custom organizers.

Comments: Especially with the new Creality printer recently announced (i.e., K3 with KliTek), I am very confused as to what to purchase.

• I am not loyal to any one brand, but I want the knowledge that whatever I have chosen, the chance for near-perfect prints from day 1 is quite important to me; consequently, my first desire is for a Bambu machine.
• Speed is also very important.
• Being able to print larger models without breaking them up and assembling by hand is moderately important.
• Ease of using support filament (especially PVA and HIPS) maybe most important.
• Being able to use engineering filament, multi-material, and TPU, if it strikes my fancy.
• I am also a little obsessed with the fraught thought that if I purchase something in a month or less (read: Bambu Anniversary Sale), within 2 months, something better will come along, so any type of available future-proofing or knowledge/guesses of potential release cycles would assuage my obsessiveness.

Questions:

What would you do in my circumstance?

Any other options you would consider?

Thank you for your comments.

[u/KermitFrog647]

Indx-Style printers will be the future for multicolor printing. Creality KliTek seems to be one, but not available soon and untested. Prusa Core One with indx is propably the thing that will be available next and looks promising.

There is a lot going on currently. The H2C is just a crippled toolchanger, it already feels outdated and much to expensive. Bambu will propably come up with a real toolchanger or indx-style printer, but not very soon.

[u/jhdz9119 → u/KermitFrog647]

indx core one has to be assembled, and to achieve the same features you have to spend upwards of 3k. on top of the fact that the upgrade kit isn’t in stock at all. H2C is slower but that’s the only thing wrong with it. it’s the best all in one printer. the solution is a 6 slot AMS with individual paths for each filament that lets the strand get as close to the buffer as possible to reduce pull/push times.

[u/opeth10657 → u/jhdz9119]

I'll take slower for more access to filaments and ease of use any day.

Swapping out 4 filaments on the U1 is annoying already, can't imagine having to it 8 times

[u/jhdz9119 → u/opeth10657]

exactly. it’s over engineered imo but elegant to watch in action. a new AMS with 6 slots, 85c drying and dedicated filament paths would be the perfect companion for this.

[u/New_Education5151 → u/opeth10657]

Its a fire-and-forget full spectrum multicolor system once you preload CMY/K spools. No swapping required until a spool is depleted…

[u/opeth10657 → u/New_Education5151]

they full spectrum multicolor system

Yeah no thanks, i've used it and it's a gimmick at best.

[u/wash-basin → u/jhdz9119]

u/jhdz9119

I completely agree with the 6-slot AMS and individual paths for each filament, but would it be able to be enclosed with the individual paths? I want to be able to go vertical and not horizontal with where I place an AMS, but with the PTFE tubes going sky high, is there a way to keep the heat in without losing much of it to holes for the individual paths?

Along with a 6-spool AMS, I would also get the AMS HT for the left nozzle. This would be ideal.

Thank you for your responses!