I live in a place where even a small amount of snow can make the internet unreliable. Not long ago, a dump truck hit a utility pole and I was without wired internet for almost two days. That’s when I realized I couldn’t print with my Bambu P1S at all—and it was extremely annoying.
When my H2C arrived, I decided to make the printer fully offline. Here’s exactly how I did it:
1. I assembled the H2C but did not turn it on yet.
2. On my Wi-Fi router, I created a new SSID with a different password than my main household network.
3. I turned on the H2C and switched the printer to LAN mode and Developer mode.
4. I connected the printer to the new SSID, ignoring all warnings about missing internet access.
5. Once connected, I noted the printer’s MAC and IP address and blocked it on the router from accessing the internet entirely (both TCP and UDP).
6. On my computer, I opened Bambu Studio, did not log in to the cloud, and blocked all outbound connections using Little Snitch except multicast: 239.255.255.255.
7. I switched Bambu Studio to Developer mode in the settings.
8. I added the H2C to Bambu Studio and started a print job—while everyone in the house was already yelling about the internet being down.
9. Boom. A completely offline, internet-independent setup—and everything works perfectly.
The printer does show warnings about being unable to check firmware updates, but I verified that it’s already running the latest firmware. At this point, I don’t care whether I have internet or not.
Large models upload instantly. Downloading timelapses is immediate. Accessing AMS options is real-time—before, even changing fan speed could take 30 seconds or more. Live view is fully real-time as well.
Everything works exactly as expected, with no cloud login required.
I have no idea why you can’t print with the P1S. It also comes with LAN mode. There’s no limit on this. And it seems quite unnecessary for what you described here, to make the printer completely offline and then tell the world about it… I mean you can do it, but the post itself looks really… ugh
Also, the live view is streamed locally as well if it’s in the same lan.
If you already have your printer set up, I would do the following:
1. On your Wi-Fi access point/router, reserve an IP address for the printer based on its MAC address.
2. Log out of the cloud on the printer, then log out of Bambu Studio.
3. Switch the printer to LAN Mode and Developer Mode.
4. On your firewall, block the printer’s reserved IP address from accessing the WAN (internet).
5. Completely uninstall Bambu Studio, reboot your computer, then install a clean copy. Block Bambu Studio on the computer from accessing the internet, except multicast traffic (required for printer discovery).
6. Add the printer manually in Bambu Studio. The printer will still be discovered because multicast is enabled.
When you do this:
1. You will not be able to rate printed models or leave comments.
2. You will not receive boosts, because Bambu does not know you printed anything.
3. Process, filament, and printer presets will be saved locally, not in the cloud.
4. Helioadditive will not work.
5. The mobile app and all related features will not work.
If you primarily work from a computer, you likely won’t notice much difference. If you rely on the mobile app, don’t do this.
I didn’t take it offline to go into witness protection I just didn’t want my prints to depend on the internet. A lot of people have spotty connections, and when the internet hiccups, printing doesn’t work well.
Sometimes I couldn’t reliably print with the P1S using thefault setup, so I decided to run the H2C fully offline instead. Not to “tell the world about it”… just to show another option that actually works.
I operate my H2C in “LAN only” mode also and everything works fine (not using the Handy app). Except firmware updates.
Bambu hasn’t published the H2C firmware as a standalone download yet (I opened a ticket with them about it, they said “we will in the future”).
When I first got the printer, it definitely needed an update, so I had to get it connected online anyway. After the update I put it back to LAN only mode and was happy again. However a couple weeks later I “installed” some new induction hotends (0.6 regular & 0.8 HF), and the printer prompted me that “some accessories are not compatible with current firmware” (or something similar). I didn’t see any news about new firmware, so after saying “huh” and searching for some clues here, I put the printer back online… and it offered me a firmware update again. I’m not really sure what it was updating actually… definitely much quicker than the first, actual, update after getting the printer. I suspect the firmware on the hotend itself perhaps. And if that’s the case, said firmware would also need to be available offline of course, before true “LAN only” mode can be achieved.
So, don’t isolate it too “permanently” quite yet perhaps.
(And yes, the absurdity of sending a video stream to the Internet just so you can download it again while in the other room is pretty funny to me, perhaps especially so since I still vividly remember 300 baud modems… )
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