I love my P1S but I am thinking maybe I should have purchased the A1 and saved some money. I have no interest in printing in ABS. For strength, PETG is actually stronger than ABS and easier to print. Is there any kind of material that the P1S can print that the A1 can’t that’s actually worth using?
Any material that requires a higher than ambient chamber temp.
Personally I print everything in ABS/ASA. I really don’t have much love for PETG.
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For me, the P1 and X1 series prints ABS even better than PETG. I’m just blown away. I don’t print ABS that often, but the first printer I got, I got a roll of ABS with it, and since then I’ve had this tradition of getting a roll of ABS with certain printers, and running a big print. This was the first time I got 0 warping. It was enough to make me consider using ABS more regularly, and not just for one offs.
I print PC on mine a bit too, and even just leaving the door accidently open for a short time caused warping of the part. So, it definitely benefits from that enclosure. Do those CF blends need an enclosure? I imagine the PLA/PETG ones would be fine on an open bed, but maybe not PAHT/PA6/PET-CF would be more troublesome?
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The ability to print flawless ABS prints has opened so many options for me that for many years open frame bed slingers had never allowed. It was a real game changer.
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Thanks for the reply, I’m new here. But why print everything in ABS? To my knowledge, ABS can absorb UV light better than other filaments but unless you are printing something that will be outdoors, why the love for ABS? I hear it’s more difficult to print and emits odors while printing. I’m willing to order a roll of ABS from the Bambu store and give it a shot, but is an ABS print really a better product?
ABS is best suited for applications where you need strength, ductility, machinability and thermal stability. Being more durable than PLA makes ABS a viable option for prototyping, low-stress end-use components and other practical applications. Parts are easy to glue together and can be acetone vapour smoothed. Yes there is a smell to it but this can be dealt will by having proper ventilation.
ASA will give you similar qualities but with added UV resistance and lower smell while printing.
ABS isn’t for everyone but don’t write it off if you haven’t tried using it.
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The flexibility of PETG can cause problems that you would not get with PLA or ABS. For example in thin load-bearing components. Even though PETG is stronger, this means it takes more force to break it, but it will bend/deform much earlier.
The A1 is a bed-flinger and prints funny if you print tall thin shapes, there will be vibration near the top that the input shaping cannot counter, as it’s the model itself wobbling.
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I like ABS for its finish, which is very smooth. A little pedantic, but I find the black colour better to look at than the shiny PETG or the dark grey of ASA.
I also like it’s ability to be smoothed with acetone and parts virtually welded together with an acetone/ABS mix.
The ABS/acetone mix is also a great bed adhesive for ABS (look up ABS juice).
I’ve been using a bit of PC/ABS and it seems like it produces a good combination of the flexibility, toughness and durability of PC with the lightness and smooth look of ABS. And it prints very well on the P1P/S
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Same on the PC-ABS! I just started printing that filament from Polymaker. So far good.
BUT i am printing it on my Qidi X Max3. Because of the heated chamber and they recommend a two hour annealing for layer strength. I print it pretty slow at eight max volumetric speed.
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The one I’m using is from a local to Australia company. They recommend a heated chamber 50-90 degrees. I can only just reach 48-50 in my enclosed P1P but so far I have been able to print some smaller parts without any problems. The active heater in the Qidi printers would surely be better in this regard and for all high temp filaments actually. How do you find the max3? I was considering the x-plus 3
I need to check this out. Thanks for the tip.
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Oh, wow, so it may already be the superior machine! No need to wait at all then. 
Its stock heated chamber can even go 5 degrees C higher than the X1E’s heated chamber.
@NeverDie @JonRaymond
The Qidi is nice that it is big and has a heated chamber. Some adventurous users are running the chamber at 80c. I will stick with 65c, it works if you anneal your prints.
The Qidi does have it’s quirks tho. You have to set the z offset and you have to check tram when you prints look wonky.
It runs klipper and is open source, fully configurable but not 100% The screen isnt fully klipper compatible. So you have to update thru Qidi firmware ONLY.
The last thing that is different is the new printers come with inductive probes. That means no glass or thick g10,11 plates. It reads off the metal backing for the magnectic heatbed. There is a bltouch you can buy to fix that problem.
Do your homework if you’re looking to buy.
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I’ve heard the Qidi is VERY noisy?
Yes it is kind of noisy. I did changed the rear fan from 40x10 to a Noctua 80x10. That made a big difference at idle. This is a 24v system.
But when you start to print, the two power supply fans make a good bit of noise. Heating up right now and that’s its worst noise maker because both bed and chamber is heating up at the same time and the level is 55db with the doors closed.
That doesn’t make much difference because the PSs are at the bottom of the printer not inside of the print chamber. If the PS fans are not running its just a loud as the Bambu with its noise reduction program. But that doesn’t happen to often while printing.
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Just to follow up on my original post, to be part of the “in crowd”, I ordered a spool of ABS and I’m willing to give it a shot. I’m still not sure why this will be any better than the PLA I’ve been using for my purposes (just printing toys for my kids and some light invention prototyping), but I’ll follow up when I receive it and printed a few prints. I’m actually not regretful now that I didn’t get the A1 (and save $) because of the recall.
I still use PLA quite often for prototyping or even for functional parts that will live indoors. Having the ability to print ABS/ASA doesn’t mean you NEED to print with it. I will use PLA as my first option since it’s cheap and easy to print with. And move on to ABS/ASA when I need to go beyond the material limits of PLA. The only thing I use PETG for is to provide a support interface when printing PLA.
Where ABS/ASA will shine is when you are making toys that the kids want to play with outside or maybe you want to make some kind of accessory or part for your car. You can even use it for its ability to be vapor smoothed, which might be aesthetically pleasing to look at.
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I ran across what claims to be a new kind of ABS filament:
It claims low odor and zero warping.
If it turns out to be true, then it sure sounds like a big improvement for the ABS category.
Tout à fait d’accord. (Sauf pour le PETG qui, pour moi, est bien plus solide que l’ ABS et qui ne craint pas les rayons UV). En 3 ans, j’ai imprimé près de 40 kilogrammes de filament. Les séries P1S et X sont absolument fabuleuses. J’ imprime l’ ABS et l’ ASA sans aucun problème.
I really like printing with ABS, except for the fumes. It’s a lot easier and cleaner then PETG. No stringing and it doesn’t flex the way PETG parts do. Maybe a plus or minus depending on your use case. Please don’t buy Bambu Labs ABS as your first roll. The majority of the time that I’m reaching for ABS is for vapor smoothing. You can smooth out your layer lines and turn you print into a glossy painted like finish with vapor smoothing. Just be sure not to overdo it. Unfortunately there is something in Bambu Labs ABS that prevents its reaction to acetone. I just can’t get it to vapor smooth.
I don’t know if you have an AMS but PETG doesn’t like ABS. You can use ABS as the connecting layer in your supports when printing with PETG without using a gap. Then your supports will snap off without scarring the surface of your print. You can obviously do it the other way around as well.