The release of the H2C and also the P2S shows Bambu is still fighting for there crown as king of 3d printing, but who else would like to see a smaller version of the H2C ? i.e. a P2C or whatever you want to call it, I would love a H2C but I just don’t have the room for it as a hobbyist.
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Here, here!!!
Single nozzle, 4-slot Vortek, Size of X1C / P1/2 would be the perfect machine for me. Paying up to 1500 would be acceptable.
When they bring that, I won’t be able to hold myself back even though I expected to stick to the X1C for much longer.
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I’d much rather see a machine built for real engineering-grade materials — PEEK, PEKK, PEI/ULTEM, PPSU, POM, and the higher-temperature nylons — instead of another printer aimed at decorative or hobby-level filaments.
Maybe one day they’ll acknowledge the rest of us as well. 
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Unlikely. Those materials can’t really fit into the scope of delivery or market that Bambu pursues. Anything over 70C chamber-wise, electronics wise, is not “consumer” grade any more, you can’t sell it to the general public, can’t install it in homes without trades involvement, and so on.
What you can expect to see instead: new filaments which continue to push the performance characteristics, while being compatible with ~65-70C heated chambers, and 350+ nozzle temps. Tullomer could become generic, which surpasses PEEK. Maybe even PEEK-CF surpassing materials are possible.
Per main topic: perhaps Vortek ends up in some smaller machines, wouldn’t surprise me. It seems like a great system, and simplifying it further is possible.
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But they still sell a lower, non-consumer-grade unit every time, so why not push that one further? The FibreSeeker 3 I backed is priced at $2,300, and it can print continuous carbon fiber — not the chopped kind. So it clearly doesn’t have to cost them a fortune to include users like us who expect more than basic, industrial-grade prints.
Right, I mean my desktop Mark Two printed continuous CF like a decade ago, but it wasn’t using high temperature and heated enclosures like PEEK or PEEK-CF needs. Pretty sure that machine you’re referring to only has the one ace up its sleeve at that price…
I think what you’re asking for, isn’t really Bambu Labs, brand-wise.
Absolutely, but they are a company that have been concentrating at high volume production from the very beginning.
I would be surprised if they started to serve niche markets and the materials you mentioned probably deserve that tag. Maybe if they can achieve true high temperature printing in an existing design without a stretch, they would make it happen. But I doubt that they will design a dedicated machine for it.
So should Bambu Lab never step up?
I believe they should at some point. In about ten years, PLA will be even more of a toy material than it is today, and we’ll be using our printers for far more household and functional applications than we do now. I only said what I would prefer to see, rather than yet another variation of something that already exists. 
And if you’re referring to the FibreSeeker, it runs standard filaments, uses CFC as a coating for the continuous carbon fiber, and with Smooth PA it can reach a level of strength far beyond what regular 3D printers can achieve. With properly aligned reinforcement, it can deliver tensile strength up to 900 MPa — at a remarkably low cost for a machine in this class. In other words, it’s the perfect companion to my H2D.
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I thought the same thing. I ordered the H2C but I am short space on my desk (and I have no idea where I’m going to put my P1S). I would love an “H2C mini”. However, I don’t think it would make sense from Bambu’s perspective. Most of the cost of the H2C is in the mechanical parts and electronics, and if they were to shrink the build plate size and reduce the overall size of the machine, maybe it would save $50-$75 in raw materials. Would anyone choose the smaller version to save $75?
So yes, I am getting this giant machine that I have no room for. But I’ll figure it out. And maybe I’ll try to find some prints that take advantage of the large size.
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First off, PLA isn’t a toy material, it’s a popular material because it’s produced from non-petroleum sources which makes it both cost-effective, and not quite so bad from a waste perspective. Gets used in a ton of food packaging today and sure is easy to print with.
I’m actually surprised FDM has made it so far already in “household/functional” applications… But I don’t entirely agree with your claim that we’ll somehow be using printers even more for this stuff (at least in a domestic setting.)
Re Bambu stepping up: The brand firstly is a consumer product brand for household use. They are already in first place, and have so many materials, almost too many to choose from. The average consumer and bambu customer is not an industrial, engineering or manufacturing user. True, they have some “enterprise” offerings but I don’t see a lot of growth there, why buy an ethernet-ready BL printer from a reseller when you can just buy their regular machines?
Their hardware development is and likely will continue to be consumer-first driven, products they can actually ship to your door in global market, that don’t require a special distribution/logistics path. They have “stepped up” in so many ways and the fact that business users like us are discussing this and using their machines over the previous alternatives, says it all.
Side note, did take a peek at the FiberSeeker, it is indeed doing the exact same stuff we were doing with Markforged printers back in 2017, that’s cool they’ve rolled it up with newer automatic features and a low price tag. I always felt the Mark Two was overpriced by like a factor of 10 for what it was doing, made a ton of industrial components with it so either way it was a good investment.
And it is sooooooo close. A 50°C extra on the hot end would do it…
I stuck some PEKK-CF that I managed to pick-up cheaply (i.e. €100/kg…) into my Plus 4 (nozzle temp up to 370°) and got a really good benchy out of it.
Although having been forewarned, I allowed remains to crystallize in the nozzle so the melting temp went up. From its initial 305° to probably 390°C…
Didn’t try a flush using PAHT using the Qidi Box yet but that would be the alternative to factoring in a new nozzle per print 
On topic, a P2C (with the option of a plotter and a laser) would be perfect for me. Just not sure if I can wait any longer…
I’m not calling PLA a “toy material” because people only print toys with it. What I mean is that PLA behaves like a low-demand, entry-level plastic — easy to use, cheap, and intended for parts that don’t carry real loads or see any meaningful temperature. That’s exactly why it’s perfect for hobby use and visual models, and why the majority of mass-printed PLA items do end up being toys, organizers, decorations, and other low-stress objects.
And the environmental angle doesn’t change that. Modern PLA doesn’t simply decompose in nature the way many people think. It’s marketed as “biodegradable,” but in reality it needs industrial composting conditions — controlled heat, humidity, and specific microbes — to actually break down. In everyday environments, whether it’s a drawer, a bin, or even a landfill, it behaves much closer to a conventional plastic than something that naturally rots away.
So when I say “toy material,” I’m not dismissing it. I’m describing its performance level. It simply can’t compare to engineering-grade polymers, glass-filled blends, or continuous-fiber parts. That’s why I personally put PLA in that category — not because of what people print with it, but because of what the material itself can realistically handle.
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Eno, it’s not just nozzle temp, and it’s just not “so close”. You really need a hot chamber for some of these materials, often well over 100C. Like, 130C, up to 180C (350F !). Pretty massive difference, completely different machine construction. Without the high chamber temp, the part quality and accuracy suffers greatly to the point it’s generally infeasible.
Lord, right on yea, I think we both print more stuff in eng filaments and probably very little PLA. Weirdly enough, I actually use PLA way more often now than I used to, also PETG-CF, it rocks. Used to be, 95 percent of my printing was PA blends, then ABS/ASA heavy.
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Not neccessarily. It depends very strongly on what you print. Something small like a benchy really does works like a charm in a 65°C chamber. With warp being driven by shrinkage, it is important to remember that say 2% of 25mm is much less than 2% of 250mm. Especially if considering the resulting lever arm
Also, as you have seen with PETG-CF, that CF makes a hughe (!) difference in the warp inducing cool down behavior. That is frequently overlooked when heated chambers are recommended.
I would not want to try a larger print as I’d fully expect that to lift the build plate during warping.
Correction: That is precisely what I would want to try. 
Specifically to see how far printing this stuff in a “cool” chamber can be taken. First, I gotta get Christmas printing done though, think more about the filament change gcode to keep the nozzle above the initial melting temp during the flush, allocate some time (probably the biggest challenge atm, complicated by the H2C just being out ) and then my Plus 4 can try that again.
What I do not have an answer for other than “because” is the “why”. From what I have seen, normal prices for PAEK start well above the price I got (€200/kg, sorry for the wrong quote above: I only got 500g for €100,-).
When printing this kind of material a (currently) €649,- (which comes to €24/kg ) gives a bit of a skewed relationship between material and machine
And of course, to truly make the use of these materials sensible, annealing or even post-print consolidation would be needed.
So, no there isn’t really a robust business case other than “because I (want to see what I) can (do)”.
On my side, I just enjoy these physics challenges. So I went through the motions from PLA, PETG, TPU, PA6, PPS … But to be honest, life and work demands mean that 75% of my prints are PLA, another 15% PETG, and the remainder is TPU and PA6.
Still got to re-try PC though. I struggled with that in the past.
Best wishes,
Eno
PS: Pic of the PEKK benchy. The printer is already on the next print though.
Well Pla is more of an entry level filament for people who just started printing and are still learning. I don’t think you’d buy Bambu printers to use professional grade filament for parts. (Maybe you want the X1E?)
I fully understand and support your desire. But I don’t think that BambuLab has a high interest in that kind of printers. From a business point of view, it would not be a step up, but a very low volume product that does not fit very well in their business model.
And In the typical household, even for technical applications, most of the time, PLA and PETG are sufficient and up to the task. For higher temperatures, ABS/ASA and PC fill the remaining gaps fully. Why should the average customer ever want to print PEEK or similar? That makes such a printer very unattractive for BambuLab in my opinion.
Id rather have an indx then a p2c if we are talking smaller build volume machines without a heated chamber.
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First of all, it will be called X2C, not P2C. It is also possible there can be two X printers, one with a 4-nozzled Vortek, the other without.
The term mini is misleading. The X2C with Vortek will have only one nozzle. It also won’t have the option to add the laser module. The price should be about the same as the H2S, not H2C minus $75.
Enjoy the H2C, but I hope you don’t complain that you are blindsided by BL when X2C comes out 
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It’s nearly impossible for home. Printers like VisionMiner IDEX requires dedicated 20A circuits. Making such a machine makes no sense for home appliances and you have to pay a huge ton to cover that market size shrink.
…How about A1C? An open printer version of the vortex system at a much lower price? (Don’t take this too seriously ^^)
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