It will take some time until the review is complete, so I made this thread for quick questions and to share things about the printer, before the review.
In the mean time, please keep this in mind:
The Bambu Lab X1 is currently being launched as a Kickstarter. If you didn't know already, when you back a Kickstarted, you get no guarantee that the product will actually be delivered and the money you spend can be considered a donation before you actually get anything in return.
Please do your own diligence when deciding if you want to back a product or not. Even though I trust Bambu Lab to deliver on their promises, I can't recommend spending your money on a Kickstarter, and I don't endorse this.
I was unfortunate and the touchscreen connector had part of the plastic smashed.
Itâs an easy fix though, and Bambu Lab is sending me a replacement for the plastic connector which goes around the ribbon cable.
I was able to fix it for now and make it work. The touchscreen connector is fragile, so if anyone gets the printer, I recommend being careful when connecting it.
OTA Version 00.01.02.20ďź
ăCaution! ă Before upgrading to this version, it is recommended to lower the hot bed and keep a distance of more than 10cm from the nozzle. This version will reset calibration for the initial system setup.
ăNew Featuresă
[Algorithm] The printing process will be paused and the printer will wait for confirmation if the first layer scanning or spaghetti detection failed to pass the standard.
[Printing] Support the selection of preparation actions when printing the built-in 3mf file on the screen and the 3mf file in the SD card
[Printing] Support 4 level of printing speeds.
[AMS] Support AMS serial number and firmware version display.
[AMS] Added temperature display when AMS is loading or unloading filament.
[AMS] Added automatic recovery from abnormal filament changing with AMS.
[AMS] Added material line conflict handling mechanism during changing filament with AMS.
[HMS] Added HMS notification.
[Upgrade] Added Push Upgrading and Consistent Upgrading functions (for firmware repair). The system will detect whether there is a new version after restarting the device. Users will need to confirm the upgrade through the pop-up window or find it in âSettings->General->Versionâ on screen.
[Upgrade] The printing process and the upgrade (not the consistent upgrade) process are mutually exclusive.
[System] Added SN number and timestamp to the filename of log exports.
ăImprovementă
[Algorithm] Optimized the first-layer scanning and spaghetti detection algorithm of the lidar to reduce the false detection probability.
[Printing] Optimized the calibration progress display.
[AMS] Optimized the actions when changing filaments through AMS to prevent the devices from clogging issues that may be caused by mixing multiple materials, add timeout and retry mechanism for the filament buffer, and prevent model from filament leakage.
[AMS] Optimized and adjusted the logic and action of AMS when reading RFID.
[Upgrade] Optimized the upgrade pop-up window and progress display.
6.[Printing] Reduced the speed moving to excess chute to lower the noise.
[Printing] Reduced the acceleration of the Z-axis during the calibration process of the initial setup to reduce the hitting force of the hot bed lifting during the calibration process. Therefore, to minimize the impact between the hot bed and the nozzle during calibration process. See the Caution for detail.
[System] Optimized system memory allocation and increase system stability.
[Screen] Adjusted the default sleep time from 5 minutes to 15 minutes
10.[Screen] Optimized WiFi scan result.
11.[Screen] Optimized the display of some icons.
ăBug Fixedă
1.[AMS] Fixed the steps prompts display errors in AMS loading and unloading steps
2.[AMS] Fixed the RFID display errors when installing filaments after the AMS was turned on without filaments
3. [AMS] Fixed the bug that the AMS light is off and no response occasionally (resume after restarting the AMS)
4. [AMS] Fixed recovery failure of the AMS unload roller.
5. [Printing] Fixed the occasional print stop when SD card printing.
6. [Monitor] Fixed the camera issues when the SD card is full.
7. [Monitor] Solved the bug that when Studio and APP are monitoring at the same time, closing one side may cause the other sideâs data stop updating.
8. [System] Fixed the bug that RFID tag information is not updated sometimes.
9. [Connection] Solved the bug that the previous WiFi connection lost after inputting wrong WiFi password.
10. [Connection] Solved the state inconsistency problem which caused by login failure because of bad network.
11. [HMS] Fixed HMS prompt priority.
ăRemaining issuesă
[Algorithm] There are certain misjudgments and missed detections in the first-layer scanning and spaghetti detection. After the printing process is suspended, manual confirmation is required to resume printing.
[System] Occasional video recording stops.
[Upgrade] Consistency upgrade still responds after printing starts
[Screen] Some HMS message scripts are not finished which are displayed as error codes
[Screen] AMS temperature and humidity display is incorrect
[Screen] High probability about HMS message display that the nozzle is too low. Please ignore it.
[System] Low probability that the screen has backlight but no image on display, restart the device to resume.
[System] Third-party filament settings and applications have not yet taken effect.
[System] Some corner cases about RFID recognition are not fixed.
Android App is functional, but not very responsive
iOS app works, but it needed a refresh to show the device
The firmware update needed a few tries until I managed to download it on the machine. Probably because of slow network speed from the servers.
I wouldnât say the printer is reviewable right now, considering that thereâs still much to be done on the software side. But I hope Bambu Lab will manage to build the software too and make it work as well as the hardware.
More pictures.
Considering that it was printed in just over 2 hours, with some Devil Design Grey PLA which is quite unforgiving when it comes to showing print imperfections, I think the results are good. Can be great with some tweaks.
Stock 0.2mm profile at more than 200mm/s
From all the info we can access we can already see that this printer does nice prints. Nice and quick.
We also can see that the colour change is basically non functional (please play with that, I want you to use it and comment).
The printer does a lot of techno stuff like the bed levelling and the vibration checks that take a long time. First layer check⌠seems to take forever. Do we need this? Want this? On all my printers (and I have big ones) I level the bed once and then I print for weeks on end without bed mesh or bed level stuff and I get beautiful first layers. Technology for the sake of technology, not for me. How come the Bambu needs the vibration test for every print while my mates with their
Klipper machines set that up once and then forget about it?
I hate that nozzle. Every print I watch smears filament and carries blobs. And no way to change it. I change nozzle type and size quite often so a proprietary nozzle for the sake of the company is not for me. For the sake of improved print quality, yes.
The same is valid for the slicer. I would hate to be stuck with a proprietary slicer, made that mistake once.
Show me prints in ABS, ASA, PC, PETG and CF. Please. I know you can print like no one else and I know I can trust your judgement.
At the end of the day, I need to decide on the Bambu, the Prusa XL or the building of a Voron or similar.
I do have printers you reviewed so I know I can trust your judgement. Show us the limits of the Bambu.
If you didnât know already, I am not doing this 3D printing thing full time. So I had limited time to play with it. Maybe Iâll have more time this weekend for it.
You can choose to do those calibration tests every time, or you can choose not to. Easy as that.
But thatâs super helpful when considering automation because you can start the print and walk away which is important, especially for less technical people. And it saves A LOT of time. Thatâs coming from a guy who is calibrating printers and knows whatâs up.
Then why are you even considering this printer if you are complaining about an unreleased printer?
The nozzle is proprietary, sure. But the same is true for other printers. The main difference is the price - 15$ for a nozzle, heatbreak and heatsink is cheap if you ask me. It will probably be a bit harder to buy them in the beginning, but there shouldnât be a reason to replace them too often anyway.
The machine works with other slicers too. But the machine is super early in development, and their slicer is still worked upon. Just have some patience.
Iâve been printing only for 24 hours. How can I show you more pictures with such little time?
Two of those machines arenât even launched. So thereâs enough time for you to wait a few days/weeks and make a purchase decision
4:20 is usually related to getting high. In this case, itâs getting high-speed printing on the X1-Carbon.
Hands down the fastest Torture Toaster from Clockspring3D printed in Devil Design Brown PLA using the default 0.2 settings. This thing is a game-changer!
I printed directly on the print surface without adding glue, at only 35C. This might be the reason why one of the slices got loos when reaching the end of the print.
Other than that, you can also observe the excellent first layer on the side of the print. Just great.
My favorite PETG test print is usually the Flexi Fox from Cults because it has multiple pieces which can easily detach from the build plate if the leveling is not right. As you can see, the X1-Carbon can print it easily, scaled up to 150%.
Took 4:15 minutes for this print. Impressive if you ask me.
But I had an issue where the first print failed. The printerâs âspaghetti monitoringâ detected an issue, even though there wasnât anything wrong, and I was unable to resume the print. Soon to be solved hopefully.
I also did a quick 2 hour print for the Voron Trident exhaust in Red ASA. Unfortunately, it paused again because the printer thought there was an issue with the print based on the spaghetti detection. Overall, the print looks good.
