The forum doesnt seam to have a “general questions” section so hopefully I am asking this in the right spot.
I am looking at buying a new printer and I have short listed it to a Voron or one of the two Bambu Lab printers. I am leaning towards the Bambu though because the AMS id considered one of the more reliabale solutions and multi color is one thing I want to be able to do. I don’t have a youtube channel so I don’t get free printers sent to me haha, so it is a big desision due to the cost involved either way I go, and I have a few questions.
at first I was concerned the bed size was only 255 x 255 but I realized that I have a ender 3 max that’s been fixed up on klipper for printing bigger stuff, so thats not a concern anymore, but the ability to print multi color ABS or ASA out of the box is. so for the Bambu side I am wondering if there is a big advantage in getting the X1C combo over the P1P with a AMS (I can build an enclosure for it)
I kinda like the X1C look and the fact thats its all done, but a lot of the reviewers say they would get the P1P if they had to buy them… so that leaves me wondering is it just a cost thing or is there somthing else influencing there desision.
another thing I am wondering about is the camera, how hard is it to get it to stream, I don’t have a big Youtub channel but I do whisky reviews and would like to do a bit of streaming with the printer and talk about some of the things I am doing. or can you even export the stream to different software?
I have seen a few issues but it seams Bambu Labs has been realy good at fixing issues and making improvments to customer feed back which is one of the reasons two of the three printers I am looking at are from Bambu Labs
Of course I am going to have to work a bunch of OT shifts at work to afford any of the three printers I am looking at, so it won’t happen for a couple months at least, Just trying to nail down which printer I am going for in the mean time. Any other things you can think of that I should know to help make my desision please let me know.
The biggest advantage I’ve seen is the X1C (or X1) is nearly ready to use right out of the box. If you get the P1P, you’ll have to do things like install a fan, camera, light, enclosure, or whatever else you might need for your particular setup. But, there is a significant cost savings if you don’t mind putting in that extra work.
I built a 350mm Voron 2.4 starting Fall 2021 and started printing with it Spring 2022. I got my Bambu X1C Combo for Christmas. I started to build the Enraged Rabbit Carrot Feeder last Summer but got distracted with other projects and now have dual AMS attached to my X1C. While I agree that having the 350mm^3 build area on the Voron really comes in handy sometimes the 256mm of the X1C covers most use cases. I have been printing mostly ABS on both printers because they are my first enclosed printers that can do a good job with ABS, haven’t printed much PLA in either one.
I was very impressed with the speed of the Voron, once that was working I didn’t have patience to run my two older printers. Now the Bambu is significantly faster than the Voron and I’m taking that as a challenge and started upgrading the Voron to a lightweight X extrusion and migrating the CANbus. I have found the Voron to be pretty finicky, I have to heat soak it for a while before I get an accurate Z offset measurement for the first layer when printing ABS, PLA and PETG don’t have that issue.
I also sourced the parts for my Voron when the Mosquito Magnum was supported but later the Voron community got butt hurt and stopped supporting it leaving all of us who originally followed their recommendations out in the cold from official support for future upgrades. That hasn’t been a great experience but I do love the Mosquito and have used nozzles all the way up to 1.8mm (yes really) and the Bambu can’t match just how easy it is to switch nozzles on my Voron.
The Enraged Rabbit Carrot Feeder and the AMS are conceptually very similar but the AMS is far more “figured out”. Bambu Studo makes using it super easy compared to Prusa or Super Slicer. The Bambu also has the purge chute and the “King’s Seat” which is the equivalent ERCF sub-project is vaporware so far. The AMS is not just for multi-colored prints it is also a drybox. I plugged my Bambu into a smart outlet so I can remotely power on the printer and then from upstairs load a model, select which of the colors/materials I have loaded into the AMS and kick off a print without going near the printer unless I want to swap the flex sheet type - this is super nice. The Bambu has the filament cutter built into the tool head and the ERCF does not so they rely on ramming the filament back to form a blunt tip and clear up filament stringing which would cause a jam. There’s no way the ERCF wouldn’t be far more fussy.
So if you want to fiddle and upgrade and need to extra build area get a Voron. If you just want to print stuff (really fast), get a Bambu.
@Stircrazy My recommendation would be for the X1-C…my reasoning behind this is right out of the box, it covers all of the items that I was trying to cobble together with my old printers 2 crealitys, 2 flsuns.
Heated chamber internal lighting, camera (with time-lapse), seamless material change with AMS, magnetic bed, spaghetti detection, and best of all…a printer that I can start and walk away!
I have had this unit since mid-January and have printed PLA, PETG, ABS, CF all without incident and beautiful prints.
I know that the technology did not exist…however, I wish I could have started with the X1-C…it has gotten me to love printing again!
Yes I like my P1P, better than the two slingers I had before. But you need to take a look at the closed software. In addition Bambu Labs could publish a road map for their firmware feature development plans, that would be nice… In short you need to purchase on what is there now, then later you could be presently surprised.
If you asked me what I am missing out with the PIP verse the X1 it would be the display (which has its own AP board and likely motherboard) no going back on that one. My printer sit in a large 3d printer third party cover, it gives me the space on the inside so that there is a lot of room on which to work on the machine, you won’t get that space with the X1, There is enough room for the AMS on the inside too. That is not a very big list, but the P1P display is an User Interface issue.
Other factors is the slicer is OK and you can choose different ones too. I am glad to see contributors who are putting out new slicer forks that contain features users want. On the negative side the data transfer solutions are by design restrictive and poorly implemented. Fixing these is going to be challenging and frankly I am not sure Bambu Labs is focused on their customers. I would love to eat those words. One way would be 1) better communications, 2) shared upgrade plans, and 3) delivering results. You should take this critique with the realization that Bambu Labs is startup company and they do actively fix firmware bugs found by their customers, this is a step above the typical 3d solutions.
I can’t speak for Voron, so all i can do for now is help you with which Bambu you want to buy.
From what i have understood the X1C housing holds up heat to about max 60c. If you want more heat, you need to add more yourself, and i think the mainboard at the back of the printer will not like that at all.
The P1P needs to get an enclosure which is costly and subpar at best, but you can make it any way you want.
For the camera it is currently simple, P1P has none, only the early bird units came with a camera. At this time you can not obtain a camera, nor, if you had one, can set up a stream due to the low FPS.
for the P1P you need an external option. I bought a camera at the local discounter for €20 and it works like a charm.
Spagetti detection? not on the P1P for as far as i know (low FPS and low resolution camera), perhaps through an external option?
The display i (personally) do not care about, all settings are set in Bambu Studio anyways and with cloud printing and (now) a good camera, i start print jobs when i’m at work and come home to a nice full buildplate of new goodies
thanks for all the replys, its not a easy disision as the X1C combo is over 2000 bucks in Canada, where I can get the Voron 2.4 350 kit anywhere from 1400.00 to 1900.00. a P1P with ams would come in about 1500 after tax and i could print the enclosures and add a fan and so one, but they don’t show a camera option. Im leaning towards the P1P because its the most afordable, is there anything I truely would be missing out on if I want with that over the X1C, or is it just “nice to have” features.
@Stircrazy I would be concerned with the heated chamber, I am in the upper mid-west US and it stabilizes the temp swings well so far (just had it for the winter so summer is coming-I hope…)
With the ABS and CF, the chamber is a need, not a want in my opinion, I have it exhausted outside so I have no issues with fumes etc.
If you want to print ABS havbe noted that the printbead of the P1P only manages 100°C, the X1C 110°C. The X1C is a bit faster printing many materials as it has a better cooling solution, but you can upgrade the P1P to have the same cooling.
I am very happy with the X1C currently, works mostly like a charm. If you upgrade all the stuff for the P1P that is nice about the X1C, its not thaaat much cheaper anymore, but both printers have a great value/cost ratio.