New 3D Printer coming in today
Back in October I ordered the new Bambu Labs X1 Carbon. After some mix ups with delivery, I am scheduled to get it later today.
The X1 Carbon has flipped the 3D printing industry upside down with a printer that is faster than most every printer out of the box even a custom built Voron. Not only is it fast, it has a few advanced features like Lidar to monitor the first layer and AI failure detection built-in.
I picked up the combo unit that includes a four color automatic material system (AMS) that allows you to print up to 16 colors.
Each AMS unit supports four colors, with the ability to connect up to four units to one printer. Each additional color increases the amount of material wasted as the system purges the old color each time it has to change colors. Multi-color 3D printing is still in it's infancy and is not an efficient process. Some printers use multiple toolheads to prevent having to purge filament but this has it's own drawbacks as well.
I've had a few 3D printers, but they all kind of sucked as they had poor quality control. I got some great prints off them but I had to constantly fight with them to get good quality and bed adhesion. One of the biggest selling points of the Bambu X1 Carbon is it's ability to reliably print out of the box without tinkering.
I don't run a print farm or 3D printing business, I just print for fun, but it is exhausting when you have to constantly deal with bed level and adhesion issues that seem to defy physics due to poor tolerances.
The X1 Carbon launch made the entire 3D printer industry re-think their product lines. While $1,100 isn't the cheapest printer on the market, what you get blows the doors off the other options. Prior to the announcement of the X1 Carbon, I planned on building a Voron 2.4. This is a roughly $2,000 project that is very labor intensive taking around 30 hours to build it. You also have to order a lot of parts from China waiting months for full delivery or buy a kit with limited ability to customize your printer.
The big selling point of the Voron is speed and the ability to make it "your voron" by customizing many aspects to build the type of printer you want. These customizations are build-size, rail quality, motors, hot end, cooling system and other aspects. I didn't want to have to spend 30 hours building a printer and buying hundreds of parts. The Bambu Labs Carbon X1 couldn't come at a better time. I was just fed up with what I had and I really didn't want to order overseas to get a Prusa which is just a better built version of the same thing everyone else was selling for 4x more. I also wanted a Core XY printer which there were not many options available pre-built. Core XY printers don't sling the heavy bed around while printing allowing you to have less artifacts in your final print.
The X1 Carbon combines the best of all the printers on the market in a ready to print package. The combo is a few hundred dollars more and includes the ability to print in multiple colors or use support material to make cleaning up your complex prints easier.
To put the speed in perspective, most printers can print a "benchy" in about 1 hours and 30 minutes. This is a small boat model that is popular for testing and calibrating 3D printers. The X1 Carbon can print it in under 17 minutes out of the box with no tinkering. While you want get this type of speed improvements out of all your prints, you can expect 200-300% faster prints allowing one X1 to do the work of 2 or 3 printers.
I recently bought a new printer before I ordered the X1 Carbon and it was nothing but problems. I could print good quality if I used the center of the bed, but as I got further out I started to have problems. Even with automatic bed leveling, I couldn't get a consistent print on the sides of the bed. One side the nozzle would scrap the bed, the other side the nozzle was too far away from the bed to have layer adhesion. I exchanged the printer and had the exact same problem. After a lot of adjustments I had better results, but the next print would be way off again. I gave up and just ordered the X1 even though I knew it would take a few months to get it.
All images are from the Bambu Labs website.
Looks like a great piece of kit and hope this solves the problems you were having. This actually looks like good fun and curious to see what you ae going to make out of this.
Looks like a great 3D printer. For some weeks I think about installing a multi material unit to my Ender 3 but it would be very difficult. Maybe the better option is to buy the X1 Carbon. Thanks for sharing.
Uh! It sounds like so much fun to have a WORKING 3D printer! :D
I would also hate it if I had to fiddle with it all the time :/
What do you print generelly?
I prefer functional prints, things that solve some problem, but I do print toys and other things for friends.
Cool Cool! I would properly use it for the same purpose :D
It looks like a really beautiful product. Enjoy it. 👏🤗
When I see these, I realize how simple 3d printer I have. It looks really nice. Obviously, it is a separate beauty that it prints itself with different colors. I don't know how much effect it would have because I like mini painting. I also ran out of filament and I need to buy a new one. 😅😁
A - Flippin- Men! Man I hate the amount of fiddling required to get a half-ass decent print on an FDM printer.
I’m currently using a 3D printer my 23yo son built as part of his freshman engineering class at LeTourneau University. It’s been fairly reliable until recently. Even so, my son says these printers require large amounts of fuel to keep them running, and that fuel is the user’s soul. Hopefully your new printer operates flawlessly without sucking your soul into its inner workings. If it operates as advertised, then $1,100 is quite a deal.
Keep us updated!
I got the combo with the ams so it is more like $1500. But still a Prusa is $1150 with single color and 1/3rd the speed so it is a deal.
Sounds cool. I hope it works out for you. Give us a progress update later if you can.
I have been reading about 3d printers here and there over the years, but I haven't really dived in. I love the idea of them, however. Some of the makers I follow in the fountain pen world use them to print pens. They charge an arm and a leg for those pens. Those example toys in that photo you post are amazing!
There are some interesting use cases for 3D printing. If you get into Resin, minatures for board gaming is a huge market. Details with resin printing is amazing but you are limited to a much smaller build surface.
oooh have you printed a Hive Punk with that?
I get it in a few hours, so no. Most Hive Punks have more than just four colors and the best I could probably do is a flat print like a coaster.
oh sad, would be nice to have a funco like Hive Punk.
Oh nice: seeing that I think I will do an upgrade on mine 😂
Pretty impressive 3D printer.
I have a old makerbot one, maybe you know it :D Was one of the earliest ones. Since then never update it.
Wow, this is really good news for you. Printing in 3D is awesome and makes work much easier. Happy new year.
I read this post to my hubby as I thought he'd find the progression in at home 3d printing interesting. He has a couple of 3d printers himself for occasional hobby use that he bought in 2016. He likes the sound of the X1 although he says he probably wouldn't buy another 3d printer just now because he doesn't have the need for one at the moment... he printed a case for his phone when he travelled around Scotland on his motorbike and has printed a positive displacement lobe type water pump, and some figurines etc. His 3d printer models (Velleman K8200) don't create very strong supporting strands the further away from the centre they go, so he said he would like to see stronger supports but soluble ones to make cleanup easier. He was saying he likes the look of the resin 3d printers too! They print full layers at a time... eg: Anycubic 🙂Have fun with your new toy. Come back and show us what you make with it! !PIZZA !ALIVE
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Update: yep, he says that is pretty damn quick!!! Maybe.... one day if he can find a more immediate personal use for one again. Thanks for sharing 🙂!PIZZA
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How exciting! Cannot wait to see the results.
Annabelle 😊
Outstanding! From the proofs you posted, it looks very efficient.
Although you only use the printer for personal use, I wanted to ask you what you think about resin printers-I've seen that they have a higher resolution, but do the objects you get also have some strength, or is ABS or PLA still better?
Resin printers can only print small objects like figurines. Not something I’m really into.
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This is so awesome! I just started 3d printing last year and got a basic Creality Ender 3v2 as a beginner printer. I have yet to find my niche, though. 😭😭😭
I love the ability for it to change between colors mid print. The only downside I see with this is the amount of waste it produces.
But I do like the fact that 3D printers are starting to become more mainstream. Especially with these new features.