Buying P1S to only use PLA/TPU?

Bambu Lab A1 Series
1

Hey,
I’ve been through many troublesome and after 3 years of crappy printers, I’m here.

I was looking at all printers, excluding the X1C, as I’m already very informed about it and it is outside my budget.

Is it still reasonable to buy a P1S, for just PLA/TPU/PETG? To me, the P1S seems to have better print quality with those materials - from the enclosure. But is it needed?

I really wanted to try multicolor, and the P1S Combo for me is 1,065$ (taxes and shipping)
Then the P1P is 1,075$ for the AMS included separately as they don’t offer a combo.

So in that case %1000 P1S, but still a bit pricey for me right now. It would be easier to buy the printer, wait and then get the AMS. How much money am I loosing out by waiting, then purchasing the AMS unit separate?

2

The combo is a hefty discount, especially when you factor in paying for shipping twice if you buy P1S one day, then AMS another.

For my region it’s $100 cheaper to buy the combo then both separate, tax/shipping not included.

I’m a big advocate for the AMS, even if you won’t do multi color prints. Quickly having 4 filaments ‘on deck’ is super useful.

3

So it’s worth the money, if I’m going to get it I should get it know.

1 Like
4

Can’t use TPU in the AMS, it needs to be fed from the external spool holder. And in general, the P1/X1 don’t print TPU as well as others. For TPU it needs certain specs to print well:

  • Slow speeds.
  • An extruder with a very small gap between the gear knurling and the heatbreak.
  • An extruder with a light spring tension.
  • Small path between the spool and extruder with as little restriction as possible.

Yes, you can slow down the print speed.
Yes, you can modify (drill) the toolhead to get to the extruder idler tension screw.
Yes, you can modify the spool arrangement so the TPU can go straight into the extruder rather than through 3ft of PTFE.
The extruder gear to heatbreak gap is ok. The biggest issue is feeding into the hotend with the previous cut filament stuck in there. The soft TPU can’t push it through and then it gets squashed in the extruder gears.

All of these factors is why a Prusa (and many other beds slingers) with good direct drive extruders will print TPU better than a P1/X1.

For PLA and PETG they print excellent and don’t need the enclosure, in fact it’s encouraged to open the door or take the top off while printing those filaments.
And if you want to try multi colour, there’s really no good alternative until the phrozen arco is released, which has by all accounts a copy of the Bambu AMS.

5

So moral of the story: wait for the A1

1 Like
6

If you are absolutely sure that PLA and TPU are the only filaments that you will use for this printer, then yes, get the A1.