I just bought myself a Bambu P1S, after building and modifying ender3s since 2019. I love tinkering and customizing things but it's nice to have a printer that just works. Its so reliable that my wife can now print her own stuff using the app instead of giving me a list. The only thing I really have to do is change the filaments loaded in the AMS for her. If you have no experience printing I would just get a A1 mini and use it until you run into the limitations.
this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2024
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Bambu printers are amazing
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Look around you. Do you see dust ? If yes, buy an enclosure for your printer and thank me later
Probably a long shot, but if you live in Australia (or maybe also New Zealand), Jaycar often sells the Ender 3 V3 SE for AU$250, which seemed like a really good price compared to other places I found.
I've worked with 3D printers for the last 8 years. The bambus are the most reliable, easiest to use, fastest, and have some of the best print quality I've seen.
I wish they were more open but their replacement parts are cheap and the value of everything just working is terrific.
Bambu is in the initial phase of enshittification.
I wish they were more open
This is how you can tell.
Also every time someone links to a print on their website it begs me to download their app.
Cannot recommend.
Yep just got an A1. It just works and I love it. I might get an ender at some point to fafph about with eventually. But to start with I wanted something that would just work. And it's been that.
+1 for the A1 with AMS lite
i’ve had 4 other filament printers (and a MSLA) and the A1 is the first one that i actually use regularly because it’s just so easy
If it's your first printer, the Bambu a1 will give you a ridiculous amount of bang for your buck. I'd highly recommend it
I've been eying 3d printers for years before I finally bought one. My main argument for not buying one was always the same: I am not prepared to start tinkering with a utility device. It needs to be on a similar level of a laser printer. I send a job to print to that device and it prints, that's it. Not a 100% comparison of course but it does tell you what my mind set was.
Cue 1 year ago when I noticed the Bambu P1S. Looked at the specs, saw some youtube videos and decided that this might be the time, it is possibly close enough to being a simple usable device.
I bought one and boy, did that device deliver. Load the right filament you want to use, send job to printer and it just prints. The quality is (for me at least) quite bizarre. Some parts I have printed look like it was formed by molding, it is that good.
Nothing but praise and a firm recommendation from me on a Bambu printer.
Note: I have no experience with any other brand (as I avoided all because of stated reasons and not wanting to tinker) and I currently have zero interest in any other brand due to being so happy with my P1S
Look you're going to get a bunch of people coming in here saying Bambu this and Bambu that. And yeah get a Bambu. I love my A1 Mini. And will probably get an A1 next year.
I'm a fan of the Bambu printers because they just simply work.
You want to print something, they print something, done.
If you want to fiddle, then they're the wrong printers, but if you want to model shit and make things then they're really hard to beat right now.
And, yes, I have reservations about the closed sourced nature, but honestly ask yourself: are you going to contribute to the code? Are you going to build your own firmware to run on your printer? If the answer is no, then that's probably not really a concern that should be driving your decisions.
I agree with most of your points, but I do wanna say that in regards to the last mark, there are reasons besides contributing to the code and building your own firmware to want to use something like Klipper. I'm not a programmer at all but the amount of customization and QOL tools I can achieve compared to what you're able to do with Bambu's software is insane. I can never go back to a printer without custom macros
What is a macro in this context that requires custom firmware?
My googling makes it just look like gcode stuff to work around hardware issues, but I'm confused how that requires Klipper, since you can drop any gcode block you want into any slicer I've ever seen?
You can drop any block of g-code into your slicer, but that would require running the file to get the commands to run. In Klipper, you can just run the macro.
For example I've got a "enclosure heat" macro that
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Sets bed temp to 100 and extruder to 280
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Turns all fans to max
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Moves my print head in front of my webcam (there is an ambient temp display on the print head)
I can do all of these manually, of course, but with a macro I can just push a button and it does all of it.
It also makes it so you don't have to paste those entire g-code command blocks into whatever file you're slicing, and so that you can retroactively change commands. (Instead of having the entire startup sequence at the beginning of every g-code, I have a "START_PRINT" macro at the beginning; if I change the macro, all of the files I already sliced will have the updated behavior).
You can run and save custom gCode on Bambu printers. I've got a cold pull script that lives happily on my x1c, and can be triggered any time
I don't use Bambu printers, but don't they use a modified version of gcode and still refuse to let anyone see the documentation?
Nope, they still use bog standard gCode, but they do have some custom commands for things that are unique to the printer
Oh, that's neat and I can certainly see why that's useful.
I have to do a little gcode header swapping by hand because I'm cheap and bought a p1p and am certainly making it do things it's not really designed to do, and that kind of functionality could save a bit of time.
And even the closed source nature is only partially so. The x1c already has x1+ firmware, and they just made their own custom expansion board to go with the custom firmware.
I’ve got a bambu and I’ve also got an ender 3v3. The 3v3 in my opinion is more or less a slam dunk. Creality really nailed it on that one. I’ve been printing with it pretty much nonstop since I got it at the end of April and it’s never failed me - it’s much more user friendly than all of the other creality machines I’ve used. That said, bambu is also awesome. My bambu (P1S) never fails prints and is also very, very user friendly - even more so than the creality - but comes at a much higher price point for a large build area. IMHO you really can’t go wrong with the creality - the price for size/convenience is really, really nice. And the open source FW is a plus - you can edit many things (I’ve done so)! But of course YMMV.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I think I'm gonna get the a1 mini, they do have a ice deal on and I don't think I'll be printing large items and it'll be nice if I want to print multicolour items in the future with the AMS lite.
Thanks!
Let us know how you like it when you're done. I want to stay on top of things for when I upgrade.
Got one of those (with the AMS) a couple of days ago. Surprisingly simple to use and good results for my first ever prints. I'd recommend it.
Problem is, I'm already like 200€ deep into fillaments. Eeh.
Honestly, bambu. I was real high and mighty about how much shilling/marketing of bambus there was when they were coming out and hated the non open source but I caved and bought one after a handful of my friends got theirs. In 4 years of owning an ender 3 I went through 6 spools of pla and a half spool of abs. After getting my p1s 3 months ago I’ve already gone through 13 spools of pla. Tinkering with the ender was fun but I’d only print things I absolutely needed like replacement parts I modeled, and while I still print those on the bambu, I find myself printing trinkets very often since I don’t have to spend ages maintaining and tinkering with it to get it to print well. I might sound like an ad but honestly I’d say stay away from ender, my personal experience was 3d printers became my hobby, rather than using 3d printing to assist in my other hobbies. I can’t speak to the sv06 and if it’s as hands off as Bambu, though, so that could be an option. But as a former ender lover ($100 printer was great) it’s just so nice to not have to worry about tinkering.
The one thing enders are good for is teaching you how to troubleshoot printer issues. My only printer right now is the ender 3 v2. Next one I get is likely going to be a voron derivative so I don't have to source parts/build it from scratch.
That’s for sure, I converted my ender into a belt driven z axis. Lots of tinkering lol.
I have an Ender 3, Ender 3 v2, CR10s Pro v2, and a Bambu P1S.
I would recommend going with the Bambu a1 without hesitation. My Bambu is far and away the best printer I own and it's not close. They just work, and though I'm a techy guy and enjoy tinkering, I got really tired of needing to fix things on my non-Bambu printers.
I know this isn't on your list, but someone recommended the Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro here and I love it. Apparently the 4 Pro is faster, which would be a bonus. Here is why I love it, but might take it off your list.
- I was a total noob and I had no issues except that I had to buy a longer cord to connect it to my computer.
- It's really sturdy
- The software was easy to pick up. The software does seem to be open source that they've modified. Super powerful though and fixes so many issues that others have said they've had. I've imported all kinds of problematic blender models and they printed fine.
I don't know anything about what you're looking at, but good luck with whatever you choose.
Edit: I forgot to add, make sure you get filament ahead of time. It didn't ship with my order and they give you very little to start with.
If you get the 4 pro, keep in mind it has auto bed leveling but if its uneven beyond the ability of the software it doesn't have bed screws. I've had to shim mine with foil to make it level Edit: I'm dumb i have the 3 pro sorry ;-;
The Neptune 4 and 4 Pro and 4 Max etc all have bed screws.
Weird, my neptune 4 pro just has metal spacers and no bed screws. Maybe they fixed it in a later release.
Edit: its the 3 pro my bad I'm dumb ;-;
Ahhhh, that makes more sense!
That's good to know. I was thinking of upgrading to the 4 (or maybe next) if it was that much faster. Have you had experience to compare the 3 and 4?
I've only had the 4, but it serves me pretty well. I do have some issues with calibration sometimes but it's pretty fixable with some tinkering. I think theferalengineer on youtube also has some videos about the neptune 3 and 4, he's where I figured out how to put klipper on my 4 pro. Edit: I'm dumb I have the 3 pro sorry!
The Neptune 4 series models come with (Elegoo customized) Klipper pre-installed. Are you talking about installing the Open Neptune firmware? (de-elegoo'd Klipper firmware)
I got mine a while ago, so they must have changed the firmware they have by default since then. Mine had some flavor of marlin with a super simple touchpad. Or maybe I have the 3 pro... Honestly, it's been like 3 years and I still have to unpack the thing since moving, so I could be wrong on the exact model >.<
Edit: I looked up the old receipt its the 3 pro sorry ;-;
All good! But yeah, a few big differences between the 3 series and 4 series 😅
The software was easy to pick up.
Are they shipping something other than Cura?
You can use any of the common slicers. Avoid the Elegoo customized Cura. Orca slicer has profiles for the Neptune 4 series built in
Why should you avoid the Elegoo customized Cura?
It's out of date and out of sync with current versions of Cura last time I checked
Again, I'm a noobie, it's Cura with Elegoo making changes to it. Does that help? I just do my own thing, but I've printed around 50 models with it. I don't really know what other companies ship with software.
Edit: Also, I build my own models in Blender, so it was easy for a 3d modeler? Maybe it's not for someone who has someone do their models. I'm not sure.
I was just curious if they had done their own thing. Some companies just ship Cura, some have done their own thing, and I wasn't aware of which way they went.
I'm not a giant Cura fan* so was just curious.
(* Cura has the problem of trying to be everything for everyone and to do everything anyone ever might want to do, and ends up just being.... a bit much.)
I have only great things to say about it. Maybe Elegoo modified it enough? I don't know.
Are you planning to regularly print large items? Around that price range could get you a formbot v0.2 kit with printed parts. It's core xy and open source if that matters to you. Print size is 120x120x120 which is small for sure, but in my experience, most of the stuff I print falls in that range (I have a 350mm v2.4 and a mk3s I've rarely filled the build plate on either, I'd love a few small printers for quick test prints). It's also enclosed, can put a Nevermore Micro in it for fumes, and it's designed to be able to print abs. Supposed to be able to print all the parts for larger vorons on it too if you ever do wish to go larger.
My first printer was a MendelMax 2 kit that I had to sell unfortunately due to a move and not wanting to ship a glass bed cross country. I personally like a kit for a first build, while I get that people don't vibe with tinkering or maintenance, you'll learn a lot and you can tweak it to your liking.
You could source from a Canadian vendor (assuming you're Canadian based on your instance), I've sourced a lot from Spool3D in Calgary but will cost you more than the formbot kit. Definitely recommend them for future needs. 3D labtech carries a lot of mods, had great experiences with both of them.
Having owned a couple low end printers, the ender 3 is my favorite budget option.
I've installed a couple upgrades, some of which I 3d printed on the printer itself, but my favorite ones are the borosilicate glass bed with a thermal pad to help spread out the heat quickly, and a dual z axis stepper motor.
If you're not into tinkering, I've heard good things about Bambu, although I do not know much about them myself. Apparently they're more user-friendly.
I enjoy working on my devices, but I would like something with more reliability than "recalibrate everything for every single print" sometimes.
It really is a hobby where spending just a little bit more will get you a ton of extra features and user experience.
Definitely reccomend the a1, full build plate size so larger prints can be done, plates are interchangeable with the p1 and x1c (the more expensive enclosed printers). If it's possible, HIGHLY recommend picking up the "AMS bundle" just to make printing easier - allows for up to 4 different colors for prints, and automatically retracts/inserts whatever filament is needed. Cons as mentioned from others: parts and software is non open source, rectifying that replacements/assembly was super easy. Had mine up and printing in <2 hours after following videos online reassuring I was doing everything properly. Started showing some coworkers who 3d printed and they said for someone who had no experience I was printing like I knew what I was doing XD