There is no better reviewer on RU-vid when it comes to 3d printers . I value and appreciate your candor and detail . Ty for your work . ❤️🙏🏻 we are all one
Yeah, we really need an open source AMS alternative for Klipper this year. I got a few old extruder in storage that would be perfect to drive a filament changer.
With so many reviews of the A1 all being released around 9AM this morning, yours is the first I am going to watch....and then will probably skim through all the others because most of them are no where near as compressive as your review.
Interesting. I know that Bambu was using their own proprietary firmware and all. But, it is pretty surprising to know to know how low spec their MCUs are given how capable the machine is.
To be fair I can do a 21minutes benchy on an Ender3 with Marlin, Klipper is better but if you go through the hassle of updating, re calibrate and upgrade cooling and extrusion then Marlin is pretty much capable to drive a bedslinger at 250mm/s with a standard board.
@@omegadeepblue1407 But be aware: it takes me 3 times to tune Marlin than Klipper and results are inferior. Eeeh but good enough and worth the trouble if it's an old printer.
@@eaman11 i know but people loves optimizing things, just look at apple that bases all what they do by optimization (not saying what they are doing is good, but is usable)
I can use the screen to set it to 100°C, but the actual measured temperature of the heated bed only reaches up to 81-82°C. Therefore, I would say the maximum temperature is still 80°C.
Aurora you should test those larger and fast bedslingers with a tall print, like a vase with constant gemoetric details from bottom to top and see how the quality deteriorates as the height increases due to wobbling of both bed and Z axis. It's too convenient to test those printers with just short benchies, people may buy those for the build volume and speed yet those printers won't deliver as things get tall. Same for testing the AMS on top: bigger print to see how it impacts quality with speed to make it wobble and taller to see how that increase with height. It's a terrible idea to put 6kg of stuff on top of a badslinger yet without it both the A1s take an awful amount of space for poo + printer + AMS.
While I agree that bedslingers aren’t the best for tall prints, especially skinny ones, Bambu is t the only one making a fast bedslinger. And let’s face it unless your making a lot of cosplay armor and weapons your probably only using about half of the build volume about half or more of the time. I don’t think this printer is focused on experienced seasoned printers, I think they are focusing on entry customers or relatively new to 3D printing. And the fact that you get multicolor printing for around 550 bucks is pretty darn cheap. A p1s with AMS is almost double the price of the A1 with AMS lite. And it appears like there are multiple ports on the back so in theory future firmware updates could unlock multiple AMS lite units. At the end of the day it’s a bed slinger, but it is direct competition to the other manufacturers.
Your assessment is sound. The motion compensation needs to be based on bed heights given the z axis compliance - stiffness issues. If I were Bambu Labs, I would certainly add your suggestions to the calibration routine to show their total understanding of this issue which you address well.
@@AuroraTech Exactly, If I recall that was quite a slow print at 50mm/s with hi flow and yet it showed artifacts. That's why it would be interesting to see fast printers like this A1 to print something tall with the bed moving so fast, maybe a geometrical vase mode with standard line width at hi speeds. It would be also good to test consistency of flow and vertical lines on the whole Z axis extension. I'm afraid that people see these cheap hi speed bedslingers and may come to belive that they are as good as the more expensive coreXY: they are not when you print tall, but usually they show you just short benchies.
the more you do the review, the more I don't know which one to buy... but after saw your review with this bambu lab A1, you just make my choice easier... thank you for your good review and presentation. I don't find any reviewer better than you and your brother...
I wonder if their software is going to support using purge material as infill. Also thank you for this no shenanigans content, yours is the one I always watch and don't have to suffer from extra drama, clickbait titles, waiting times.. (I hate waiting)
It always amuses me reading the comments in all these new gen 3D printers picking nits. We are living in the golden age of personal 3D printing and so many don't realize it. Imagine getting an auto filament changer printer capable of printing a ~20m benchy for about $550 a mere 5 years ago 🤣
Another great review. Straight to the point. 🤩 I can see hobbyists getting this printer. Great addition for a line, if you print masks and armour pieces, for example. The main downsides for me are the max bed temp, the fact that I can't manually adjust what I need in the printer itself and having to keep this printer online (this last one goes for all BL printers)
As they released the full sized A1, A1 mini dropped in price in europe, to 319 euro without the AMS. A1 standard is kinda meh. Somewhat questionable degradation in mechanisms quality, higher price, bed still doesn't heat up to 100c ( and as I recall, they said it would, maybe it will be fixed, maybe not ). You only get a little more printing volume. If someone doesn't print anything that HAS to be one piece and larger than 18cm2, or happen to want to print many multi colored objects that will fit and would otherwise not fit on mini, I don't see why anyone would prefer it over the smaller version.
The A1 Mini cost 319€ from the beginning, or am I missing something? Why would you want the A1: Well, because you can print something larger if it's needed, or you can print more small parts at the same time. Also, it's not that much more expensive than the Mini, so I will guess that the A1 will sell way better than the Mini.
@@Glasrandkante Thats why I said that if you need it to print parts larger then 18cm, and it HAS to be one part. Prob 90%+ of prints will fit inside 18cm2. If the application is mech engineering. And a print can be split into two pieces, and joined in worst case scenario. If there are many small parts, they can be printed, taken off the bed, and new batch can be printed. Unless someone wants to print multi colour prints in bulk, larger bed, for more money, and questionable mechanism quality choices compared to mini. Its meh.
So it's not a miracle machine, but it produces good quality with lots of features at an overall reasonable price. Thanks for your thorough and honest reviews, as always!
For those of us in the hobby for 10+ years, this might as well be a miracle machine. I know many people have only begun their journey 2-3 years ago so this machine doesn't seem impressive, but in mid 2010s you'd be lucky to get a machine 90% slower than this for 10X the price.
@@actualreplyguy Oh heck yeah. It's amazing how far it has come. I didn't get into it for a long time because of the expense and time consumption, but a $99 Ender 3 Pro finally tempted me. I only meant compared to the current market. It's overall quite impressive.
You & your brother are the best reviewers for 3d printers I've watched you from the start. Your tests are spot on & your opinions are genuine thank you 👌
Those multilateral prints really stand out vs the single color prints in other reviews... as do the ones other makers are posting. I think Bambu is really clever to push their AMS so aggressively, it's really enticing.
this is a purge tower, it is mandatory and added automatically by the slicer to do the transitions from 1 filament to the other during multicolor prints. It has to do a tower so that the print-purge tower keeps it's height at print head level for the layer where it is needed :)
I continue to be fascinated by how a girl with a monotone voice can destroy your product in a couple of comments, she hits them where it hurts, in mathematics. the printer is a great product, if it comes to my country I might buy one.
Good review, as usual. The bed temp is a non-issue: you'd never print high temp plastics on a open air printer anyway. On a personal note, I don't need a better open air bed slinger, I need a XL version of the X1C.
As much as I agree with you Bambu is being smart here and after scooping up market share and causing a ruckus with the legacy manufacturers on speed, print quality, ease of use, and cost with the x and p series they are now focusing on entry level customers. I have to imagine the other manufacturers are again scrambling to meet the Bambu entry level printers. Hopefully this time next year they will offer the next gen flagship core xy printer with larger build volume.
@@shawnhicks619The only printers I haven't replaced with BL are my CR10Pros and CR6Maxs because of the volume, but it's itching me and the more I use my BLs the more I hate my high maintenance CRs. I was even contemplating buying a few $5K machines from other brands to replace them until BL came along (thank god they did!).
It is simply satisfying to rely on you and Helios to explain and review new printers w/r others out there. That said, Bambu Labs is such a force in this 3D printer space that wonder how the other makers are feeling. Given your reviews, these others makers can't rely on marketing specs to gain sales because of your reviews exist. Your work: Aurora Tech - "out of this world".
My order arrived - non ams. I was surprised how light the base was compared to the cr10se. So far it prints well. I feel my x1c is more consistent. I am not fond of the spool holder. I feel it’s a bit flimsy- it’s attaches solidly, but the “branch” the spool fits on seems flimsy. I wish Bambu did something different for their hotend cable and ptfe tube management. Not terrible, but feel something else could have been done. X rail is a little crunchy, and the hotend cable management box on the base cracked some where the z cable passed through as well as the clip that attaches to the base. I was gentle and careful. Not a big deal, however be careful. Also watch out when you put the base cover back one as the rear clip flexed outward and could have been snapped off if I hadn’t noticed. 3D printers are getting even closer to an appliance compared to my ender 3 days.
i personally like the printable vertical AMS lite stand, reduces the footprint, makes the hygrometer mount sit nicely on it and then you can also add tower caps to each number so you can see exactly what color syncs to each number
This begs the question of how Bambu Lab is positioning this machine vis-a-vis Prusa, Creality and whichever other market share leader it is aiming at. As a mono filament printer, I guess the P1P is already positioned to knock out Prusa’s MK4, assuming support, reliability and slicer performance continue to be maintained/improved (and I don’t see Bambu Lab not being in it for the long haul). The lure of this machine is the ability to bundle multi color printing at a reasonable price point along with speed. However, I’m not sure that as a standalone printer it leapfrogs the other players, such Elegoo, that play in the $300-$400 space. Should be an interesting 2024 as everyone continues to respond to BL’s ever changing of the playing field.
Exceptional review and testing mythology. Great internal electronic and firmware details are not a typical review topic, but were very educational. It would be a useful feature if could have a multi-color printer like the BambuLab (with AMS) dedicate the purged filament to another printed object where the color banding would not matter. Having this choice would seem much less wasteful. There are many "utility" type prints where what color, or having color-banding would not matter.
It is really a shocking amount of waste when the poop blobs add up to more weight than the actual printed object. Can anyone tell me why they don't just purge the waste as infill and maybe some inner walls? Might not work on every print but certainly on a lot of them.
I just checked Bambus website. The machine is rated for 1300 W in Europe, and only 350 W in the US. This probably explains the difference in heat bed temperature.
@@AuroraTech Maybe you could do a quick test? The community is pretty confused about this! You could buy a 110-240v voltage converter and try to see how the same machine performs on 230v. (Go with a 1500 W unit) I believe the machine is compatible with all voltage, just check what it says on the backside where you connect the power plug.
I got the AMS unit thinking I'd be using it for the color prints but the filament change over on run out has been the true MVP. I also found a video on the trick of using PETG as a support interface for PLA (and vice versa) and it's made removing supports without marring the surface so much easier (although I am experiencing a slight increase in spaghetti failures, probably because I haven't dialed in my support settings in correctly yet and the PLA is slipping on the PETG)
As a person who's never used a 3D printer but is considering buying one, this is one of the best reviews I have seen of the A1. I am really trying to figure out what I need to get started and this goes a long way to showing me what I need to consider. Bambu has a lot of accessories on their website for this printer and I am trying to learn more before making a purchase so that I get what I need to get started. Thank you.
Hi Aurora, pls try to measure bed temperature rather with contact thermometer and not only with infrared thermometer, which has problems to measure acurate temperature on shiny objects, metals transparent thing like glass or water and liquids. 🌡️🤓
I love this. Instead of just talking about the printer with some random images, you are showing how the printer is doing and put them through the stress test. Your review style should be the standard. I even learned about the temps and settings and see it in time lapse how it was doing. Also the noise sample you got, it's like no other youtubers dare to record it and play it back at the real level.
Just Another amazing job. You are my hero. I'd still like to see some extended use and maintenance videos in the future. They're almost all great out of the box... But what happens a year after daily use? How to fix the slop after they get worn in a little. And what models are the Easiest, cheapest and best to maintain...
Bambu Lab A1 3D Printer Great Review as always! But.....€436,21 EUR plus transport(15Euros)...........................................seriously ???Thats the same amount you can buy a creality K1 or Flashforge 5M😂😂😂
The most detailed A1 review ever. Other A1 reviews are just mention about "Colour printing wastes too much filament. period" but Aurora Tech shows that more objects on the bed, waste less filament than a single object. Great job!
i just purchase a A1 from bambu, and if i print any of the preloaded files on sd card they print great, but if i download or use my own designs the A1 makes spaghetti's, it seems that the z starts high , after the XYZ wiggle, and the bed leveling, am i doing something wrong, or do i have a bad machine...i have 25 day to return, please help
How are you measuring speed tho? Because you can slice up to 500mms for the A1. You will get crap quality no matter which printer you have but still. Speed comparisons have no backing.
Hi, thoughts on this vs the Flashforge Adventurer Pro 5M? I know bambulab "just works" but adventurer pro is $350 on amazon and corexy. Alternative recommendations also appreciated!
Hmm...many people over the last few years have discussed the merits of not having spools living on the top crossbar of bedslinger 3D printers, and that printed AMS Lite adapter goes in the complete opposite direction and quadruples the amount of filament stored on the crossbar. 4 kilos of filament sitting on a 8.3 kilo printer seems like a pretty terrible idea, but buying a Bambu printer is a terrible idea to begin with unless you enjoy sharing your home network login credentials with the entire world and making mountains of poop to throw away rather than turn into something useful. Speaking of bad ideas, why only have an 80˚C maximum bed temp? I get not printing with ABS/ASA/PC/nylon on an open-frame printer, but good PETG usually takes 80-85˚C for the bed and this machine is going to struggle with that. Other than embracing a design philosophy that locks buyers into PLA (and TPU), likely specifically Bambu's in-house PLA brand, I can't think of a good reason to limit the bed temp this much. I'll also throw out an observation: with the exception of the P1S, it seems like every printer Bambu has released has been just a little lower in quality than the last. The A1 Mini had some nice features, sure, but that was the first printer where Bambu completely gave up on what to do with the poop - unlike the X1/P1 series where the implication is that users would put a bucket in the back, the A1 series just dumps it all on the table. Bambu Lab seems to be trying to expand across the pricing spectrum rather than offering different options at the higher end...interesting.
Just got this printer and so far impressed. I have a LulzBot Mini 2 that’s likely to become my secondary printer. Question for those who have this or the Mini. Do you enable bed levelling with each print? What about IS calibration?
I am looking to upgrade from my Creality CR 200B. The Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro, Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro, Anycubic Kobra 2 Pro, and Bambi Lab A1 are the printers I am looking at. Which one of these printers offer both the best print quality and reliability?
Bambu Lab could have created good IDEX printer, but they opted to stick with single-nozzle AMS and sometimes massive filament waste. Pre-Dec-2023: Filament spool on top of the printer increases vibration and decreases print quality. Post-Dec-2023: Let's mount whole AMS Lite on top of the printer 😅
I admit I prefer old British dudes when it comes to tech ;D but as soon as you discussed the microchips I knew I would have been a fool to miss this review. Some high quality product study!
Hey Aurora you just got a new subscriber! I have an MK3S+ right now but I'm eyeing all these faster printers lately and Bambu. I can sell it now and buy an A1 - any reason why I shouldn't? I mostly print PETG and a bit of PLA.
Love your reviews as always! I feel the same way about the wheels but recently heard the Construct 3D guys say that in all their testing linear rods actually wear out faster. Found that interesting. Personally I haven't put enough time onto any 1 printer to wear out a rail.
Merry Christmas to cuteness guide on RU-vid I don't mind if the hotbed heats up only to 80 however advertised 100 I believe whatever she says however I went to bambau lab website and the A1 is priced at $600 not $399
Assuming the A1 (less backside wire situation) was actually a "good" machine, as you have posted, should this not be a good time to order a NEW (fresh batch) A1, for the time production ultimately resumes? I have confidence in your opinion. More so than in the opinion of most exhibitionists posting videos devoid of substance.
All the stringing is from the VoxelPLA - we've seen that in multiple Videos, it's the material, not the printer. Shame that you have to use it. Those little crates should all be printed in the exact same material, otherwise print quality is not comparable. I would buy a 5 or 10kg roll PLA for that.
Ya know just after watching your Voxel filament ad I just realized that the 3D printing filament industry need to use standardized color grading and labeling like PANTONE colors. buying filament of a specific color only to find the vendor that sells them is out of stock or out of business can get really really frustrating.
Again, a wonderful review, but I just hate that we can’t get honest opinions about anything from any RU-vidr. Bamboo notoriously will cut any RU-vidr off if they say anything scathing. And who wants to be the one RU-vidr that doesn’t get any of the hot new products from bambu? so the RU-vidr is forced to play nice. You can see how carefully these poor RU-vidrs have to phrase everything not to make bamboo sad For instance, when she prints the mountain device and we can all clearly see, it looks like crap. She just merely says “it doesn’t look as good as other prints”. This company will be their own undoing
My first printer was the ender 3 v2. I hated the experience. I want prints to be my hobby, not printers. I have all of elegoos resin printers and love them. I'd like to get an FDM printer, but fear my first experience with the ender. Should i buy the p1p for $599 or the A1 for $399. I have no interest in multiple color filament changing for the forseeable future. Im worried a bed slinger will have issues like i had with the ender. At the same time, i dont want to spend more than i need too if im just bad at FDM printing. I trust your judgment and thorough reviews over everyone.
Has the problem with the overshot corners on the square object been solved. I am seriously considering buying one of these machines Also, if I slow this machine down to a hundred millimeters a second, will the print quality of the surface improve with any degree of significance. Am I able to use cura slicer with this and use a SD card instead of a WiFi signal Thank you.
Hey Aurora! Just found you guys afyer having to change printers. Just have to say that you have such an amazing speaking voice, perfect for presentation of anything...you should look into reading audiobooks.. seriously. I could listen to you all day! Thanks for this look at the A1...i just bought my first printer, the Elegoo Neptune 4 plus thinking as a first time user amd complete noob to it all, that was a good choice... unfortunately after printing the benchy, and a test flower pot, the third amd fourth trial prints were complete disasters with the last one totally wrecking the hot end and extruder, as i left it overnight and it jammed itself up so bad it's unrepairable. Luckily Amazon takes returns so easily! So i ordered the A1 instead as i dont want to be a 3D printer engineer just to use it...i want ease of use, and quality and this looked to fit that. Your video here helped assure me of it and i hope you do more on the A1....like upgrades , settings etc! Thanks so much, you guys are fantastic
Hello and thank you for this superb video, I also own an A1, can you tell me 2 things? 1) why does the print head remove after the 2nd layer at the rear left of the plate to then resume printing? 2) How can we modify the fan speeds in bambu studio because even in filament + edit the speed it doesn't change anything, I run at 80% all the time, thank you very much...
Hey Aurora, since you seem to know a lot about 3d printers, I was wondering if you have any print recommendations/favorite topics, I think that would be enjoyed by many new tinkerers and veterans a like. Much thanks.
Based on the multiple videos I've watched I decided to go ahead and order some of Voxel PLA filament. I ordered it about a month ago and I still haven't received it. Maybe a little encouragement from you might help move it along #5712
Aurora, with the greatest respect, I really think you should do a “review” with one of your friends that knows nothing about 3D printing. Box it all up, give them the box and see how easy it is for someone who doesn’t have your knowledge to set it up and start printing. Even with the A1 mini which is even more of an entry printer, no one has done a video like this and it would be good to know. It’s like professional race car drivers reviewing and explaining a power wheels kids toy to other race car drivers, when they should be gearing it towards children. I want my friend (who has never 3D printed before) to buy an A1 or A1 mini and I want to send him a video about the printer but I feel the videos out already have too much “knowledge” in them for a beginner. For example, you open up the video with looking at and describing the mother board chips and talking about Klipper, when they would have zero idea what that is. Food for thought!
I will going to buy it to replace my two Ender 3 first generation because I need a multicolor printer and it's a good price despite that I can't use it for printing with more technical filaments that I can use it on my (always broken) K1. I was thinking to spend more money on the X1C with AMS but I will wait for this after Xmas because I will like to have more real opinions from normal people who reached to get one before taking the decision to buy it.
Great video. Any idea of how much depth the printer needs in order to move properly? Concern about the real estate needed since I am very much limited in its location. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your reply. That might be a deal killer for me. Thinking it might make more sense to go for the A1 mini. It's my first 3D printer so, just for convenience it might be a better option. @@AuroraTech
Just discovered this channel. Man, my kids are sooo uderdeveloped for their age... A few more yound folks like Aurora and our future will be in good hands.
Good day and first of all thank you for the good work that you are doing with your channel I like the way you test all the machines I do have a question about a 3Dvprinter and maybe you can direct me in the right direction My one Artillery Sidewinder x1 just started to do random things stop moving but continued to extrude filament at first I thought it was a faulty stepper motor but then I updated my firmware on the mother board now there is no screen display I am at the point to purchase a new motherboard and TFT screen and was wondering if you could please direct me to the best option to install Your input will be highly appreciated Thank you in advance
I'm trying to decide on my first 3d printer. I'm fluctuating between the A1-MINI and this larger A1. I like them both but the mini seems to have consistently slightly better quality prints than the larger A1 according to reviews I'm wondering if the difference in quality is because the A1-mini uses linear Y rails and the larger A1 does not. Or, perhaps the larger A1 will require a better firmware update? Hmmm, decisions. I'm unsure yet if I'll really need the larger print volume or if I'll be disappointed being constrained to 180mm cubed. However, if the larger A1 will improve it's print quality over time from a firmware update then I should get the larger A1, but of course that is an unknown. I don't plan to purchase until mid to late January, so I'll be watching for updates from bambu until then. 😊 Thoughts?
