How does a print get from my PC to my 3D printer?

Bambu Lab Software
1

I purchased an X2D. I’m using the latest version of Bambu Studio, and everything is bound as it should be and is connected to my home network’s Wi-Fi. Everything is working swimmingly.

I noticed that when I send a print to the printer, a status message says that the print is moving to my X2D via the Cloud. Is that really the case? Why is the print job not simply sent across my home network’s Wi-Fi?

Thank you.

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No 3D printer yet, but I need advice, Linux
2

Hi Isaac,

Cheeky answer: Because it’s 202whatever and “everyone” wants (you) to live in the clouds.

There are some caveats (no access via Handy app), but you can opt-out by going into your printer settings and enabling “LAN Only” mode. (https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/x2d/manual/screen-operation#h-7-settings section 12 … man, they really buried it on the X2D wiki). After switching the setting, you’ll need to create a new connection in Studio (“Bind with access code”), using the printer’s IP address (should be found automatically) and the password it shows on the printer screen.

It also won’t offer you firmware updates when in LAN mode. But you can keep an eye on releases and update manually (by putting the printer back online or downloading offline firmware update if BL publishes it).

You can also look for “developer mode” setting in the printer menus which would let you access the printer even more directly with external tools over standard protocols (MQTT and FTP). Not sure if the X2D has that option. Anyway, it’s an extra, not required just to bypass the fluffy clouds.

Also note that Studio itself has some “cloud” features, like keeping your custom profiles in sync between Studio copies/versions… This can be disabled separately in Studio preferences. And if disabled, and in LAN mode, you don’t need to log in to your BL account at all (in Studio).

HTH,
-Max

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3

It’s a long spicy meatball of corporate history, of which many fiery opinions have been born lol.

Very TL;DR: LAN only mode [the word “only” is not quite accurate here, slicer and PC are phoning home with cloud enabled features, but it does transmit gcode to printer directly over your own networking, and it interferes with their phone apps]

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There is also a specific page for this. While it still hasn’t been updated to include the X2D, the menus are the same.

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