They do.
In a recent AMA (ask me anything) they said they have no plans to open up the RFID filament system.
It makes sense for them but they have abused it. I used to buy all my filament from them but got burned on that cruddy jade white (2 rolls) and black (1 roll) that I know of.
After I stumbled across a Hatchbox spool adapter so I could re-use Bambu RFID tags - and the settings are working fine on the one roll I’ve tried so far - I’ll likely be moving to Hatchbox.
It still chaps me that Bambu has said nothing about this. What I especially want to know is if they will allow it to happen again or if this is the new normal. There’s no need to waste my time/money hoping they have fixed whatever led to that issue. As Bambu colors run out they will get replaced with other brands. I already have a pile of RFID tags labeled with what they are and spool cores labeled as what they are.
The RFID system got me to buy a lot of Bambu filament but without those assurances going forward, it also lost me as a filament customer. They can lock their system but we can reuse the tags on filament that actually prints properly using the RFID settings.
These little jobs just friction fit in the hub and the plastic Hatchbox spools work fine in the AMS. Only thing is you either need two or you need to be alert to putting one on the correct side of the spool depending on slot.
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I’m sure other companies are working hard to come up with an open system. If Bambu refuses to open their RFID system it could end up being a reason not to buy a Bambu printer.
Honestly, if someone else made a good printer but with open RFID, optical, or whatever other filament identification system and multi-filament capability, they’d probably immediately take away a big chunk of Bambu’s business.
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Wow! Not see it that cheap
You can even get High Speed (HF, HS, Rpid all mean the same) PLA+ for £12.50 a roll if you buy it in a four-pack.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ELEGOO-Filament-Stronger-Dimensional-Cardboard/dp/B0CL4SQV7R
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I don’t think the tag carries much information, other than a ‘serial number’, and reference to an existing bbl filament profile. I’ve no real idea, other than I ‘sniffed’ the tag I had with the original spool that came with the printer. So, somewhere in the slicer, i guess it will look at that info, and align the settings with that. I don’t think, unless you get into the slicer software, that merely generating a tag will do much, unless you think the existing bbl profiles are OK for non bbl filaments.
There’s a great YT video on this by Mitch, that was released about 2 months ago and goes through the decryption of the tag using a ProxMark reader.
Mitch shows that the tags BBL use are a mifare format.
I was thinking that BBL should build functionality into the mobile Handy app to write the filament info back to a tag.
Since we already use the slicer to configure all of the filament parameters (colour, material type, pressure advance, flow etc) and this then gets sync’d to your cloud profile.
( kinda cool actually, as my filament profiles automatically get sync’d between orcaslicer and bambuslicer )
I know this should work as I’ve used apps before on iOS to write to nfc tags.
This way, BBL wouldn’t have to open source or license their NFC encryption/security keys to anyone else. They should be also able to sell the nfc stickers from their store (you can buy them on alixpress)
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Welcome to the forum! I’m going to check that video out as soon as I get home. Was he able to write tags also? I would be happy if I could just create tags that represented “Bambu Red PLA” or “Bambu Black ABS” so the AMS would update automatically. Then all we need is some nice person to start a community site where people submit the tags they’ve scanned to create a database of filament types and colors.
**I edited this because I realized there are no tags currently for “Generic” filament types, it’s really early here lol.
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While we can ask for programmable tags or standalone tags, Bambu’s hands may be tied with RFID.
Everyone assumes the RFID tag thing is Bambu’s to do with as they wish. The patent appears to be MakerBot’s so Bambu is probably just a licensee.
Here is the patent. It describes pretty much any way to identify filament and configure printers. It describes the Bambu printers pretty well.
https://ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/10093061
Bambu’s hands may be tied. Some features described in the patent are encryption to keep users out as well as identifying spools to control what filament users can print with. Thankfully Bambu doesn’t do that.
Even though there is an odometer function they aren’t timing out tags yet. I’m sure others have already mentioned we can save Bambu tags and use them with other filament if the printer settings are the same.
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Yeah, after I posted I found a github describing how someone was able to read some of them and it was WAY more complicated than I thought it would be. It looks like they put more security on these filament RFIDs than some companies put in “high security” applications lol.
If the patent really is describing all the details of how Bambu printers identify filament (and they list a whole bunch of ways with QR codes, magnetic stripes, reading labels, etc so all are now tied up), the encryption part is key to enforcing what material can be used to print with.
As I’ve said in another thread, it may not all be legal in all countries, but they cover knowing when a spool is empty and locking out other build materials. They could conceivably sell printers locked to Bambu filament only and force paid upgrades to run other filaments. That patent is almost more about control than maybe about configuring printers for filament.
Anyway, with this thread popping up again, I thought I’d call attention to that patent. Bambu doesn’t use all of it but they use a lot - right down to the Handy app to send files to a printer. I don’t see any way Bambu isn’t licensing that patent or there would be injunctions and legal things blocking sales. It basically describes the Bambu ecosystem to a “T”.
On the other hand, unless Bambu paid extra for exclusive rights (which they might have done), we could see other printer companies licensing the patent as well. Without knowing the arrangements though it’s hard to know.
Added - And just spotted this - someone else is indeed now making multicolor printers - Creality.
https://store.creality.com/products/creality-k2-plus-combo-3d-printer
Makerbot must be making big bank off that patent.
And Anycubic, but theirs isn’t enclosed and it’s a bed slinger.
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Looks like Bambu’s exclusive for multicolor printing is ending. Makerbot having that patent and licensing it out may even be a good thing because if another manufacturer wanted to use the patent to lock out others and dominate the market they could. So thanks, Makerbot?
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I think I am going to wait to make that call until after the systems are released and well vetted. Designing and producing a reliable multi material system for a retail market isn’t an easy nut to crack.
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Absolutely. The Creality ones don’t ship until October and presales are closed so it is going to be a while to hear about quality and reliability. But that patent lays out lots of details. It’s basically a roadmap on how to do multicolor and Creality already does printers.
I’m very happy with my Bambu but I will be watching these other players to see how they do. Until today I had wondered if Bambu was able to get exclusive rights but looks like that answer is no. All in all it’s probably a big benefit to users to have competition among manufacturers. Had the multicolor market been locked down tight, we’d be entirely at Bambu’s mercy. Now they will have to watch their back and provide best bang for the buck.
Way better than the multicolor print market being closed.
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The best option would be to allow people to program their own tags, but sounds like that isn’t happening. I’ve also seen talk about patents that Bambu doesn’t own, which if true, might imply they are licensing the patent. That stinks if Makerbot (if true) is using patents in this way.
Others have said that BBL is trying to license their RFID system to other filament makers. I am one of those people that would pay an extra dollar per spool for the convience, but it requires filament makers buying into the system, and it requires enough signing on that it’s likely most people can buy “compatable” filament. The BBL filament is overpriced, but also their stock is sometimes limited and the bigger issue is that they have a very limited amount of filament types (ABS/PLA/etc) and colors, and even more exoctic filaments like translucent and dual-color filament (like eSUN Magic PLA).
I don’t do a ton of printing, so I’ve been paying for BBL filament when they have what I want. I feel dirty, like I’m being taken advantage of… When they don’t have what I want, it’s even more frustrating, because I can’t simply buy the convience with some extra $$.
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Bambu Labs I have read use MiFare tags at 13.56MHz. NFC is based on RFID 13.56MHz.
iPhone at least can read NFC cards, but won’t read the Bambu lab MiFare RFID tags, not sure about android phones, not that it will get you anywhere because bambu labs uses a private key to sign the data on the rfid tag. This video was interesting https://youtu.be/SdHqzZnYCCs
so to was this faq - GitHub - Bambu-Research-Group/RFID-Tag-Guide: Instructions on how to read out the bambulab nfc tags