Hello Bruce,
I too was more interested in the design aspect of 3D printing snd not the act of printing itself. I avoided 3D printing for many years until a friend that owned a BBL X1-C that roped me into purchasing a P1S printer after he printed my designs for 3 weeks back in December 2023. He sang the praises of BBLs as being as close to plug and play as possible. With trepidation I purchased my P1S in February and was initially a bit overwhelmed. I had my first print disaster with PETG basic after about a month and was faced with having to wait for a new hot end to arrive (about a week) or dive into fixing the old nozzle. It was completely encased in PETG, silicone sock bloated out and wires embedded. The information here in the forum, the BBL wiki, and YouTube saved the day and I was able to salvage the mummified hot end and go on my merry way. In retrospect, the disaster only broke down my resistance to getting into the mechanics of the machine, which is a necessity if you want to own a printer no matter how plug and play they are. If you want no issues with 3D printing itās probably best to send your designs out of house, but if you want the ability to quickly prototype with numerous design iterations the price is increasing your knowledge about the machine with both experience and study. I chose the later and couldnāt be happier. I intend to add the AMS unit next month now that Iām comfortable with printer. I have NO experience with any other printer and am a complete newbie (3 months of exposure to the process, and a little over a 6 weeks of actual ownership. I now look forward to my next failure, itās the best motivation for mastering any device. All the best, happy printing!
Thank you, Roger. I really appreciate you taking the time and sending me your comments. I think that there maybe a P1S in my future but I am still a bit nervous about the potential breakdowns. As I said before I more interested in designing and making things then spending a lot of time fixing a machine. Thanks again and stay well.
Hello Bruce,
I sense that we both are coming from the same place on this. Had my friend not coddled me with printing my design changes every night for 3 weeks for me to pick up in the mornings I probably would not have gotten so hooked. But even with the issues Iāve run into, mostly out of my own ignorance - like not purging after using PETG, I find the device to be pretty damn reliable. Iām only now acquiring the maintenance skills since Iām a good month+ in and over 100 hours of printing under my belt so it is certainly more involved that handing it off to someone else, but I have no buyerās remorse whatsoever and really love the connivence of rapid prototyping. Design and making things is my main skillset also so this was a bit of a leap, but I really find the process enjoyable and exciting. All the best and good luck in your making adventures.
Iāve been 3d printing for several years now. Roughly mid 2017 I bought a Tevo tarantula. Put it together and futzed with it for yearsā¦ Made a bunch of stuff, tossed a bunch also, but learned what to expect and not expect. Bought a $900 Mk3s+ kit in late 2019. And started playing with cad. Tried out Shapr3D and ended up buying subscription which Iāve kept and continue to use. The Prusa was/is a good printer for what it is. But it is outdated by years now. I found Bambu just about the time the first machines were being shipped and bought and received mine in late Dec 2022. X1CC, spent the dollars and I was blown away. 10X times better than the Prusa, speed AND accuracy and it does colors well. Iāve been printing over 2300 hours on that machine, (had 3500 hours on the Prusa) Runs 40 to 60% faster and I can fill my bed and EXPECT to have EVERY item print correctly. Prusa never could accomplish half a plate. Iāve had 3 clogs in extruder, PLA and surprising to me ASA. Chamber temp must be watched and top off and door open in hot areas. Winter, not so much or in cool climes. Iām on my original nozzle/hot end, it will soon be replaced, probably 3k hours. Oh, I have had some minor issues with the number 1 AMS slot, the filament will occasionally not feed into the machine. I moved it to number 4 position and the problem moved, so Iāve ordered a $70 part. Cheap and easy to fix.
I WOULD NOT borrow and buy a 3d printer, it is not something I would borrow and buy, but that is me. Oh, I sell some of my designs and have paid for EVERYTHING I purchase plus extra.
Exactly. You only hear the horror stories and never the good news stories in online forums. The āsqueaky wheel gets the oilā usually, but when they donāt get they get very upset and vocal.
I upgraded to a P1S in September after 12 months of using the Flashforge Finder I bought for my 9yr old son. Sure I learned a few things during that time but TBH the P1S just works AND if and when something does go wrong Iām not going to go bleating on the internet. Iāll just get on with fixing it by researching, finding the fix, DIYing or throwing money at it. At the end of the day itās just a tool. I get way more enjoyment learning how to make and print my own models than I do maintaining the machine.
So go for it! Buy the P1S
PS I bought extra spares at the time just in case. They are all still in their boxes
Ich habe mir einen P1S gekauft, vorher hatte ich einen Creality CR-6 SE. Denn Creality hatte ich mit hochwertigem Hottend und weiteren besseren Teilen erweitert, trotzdem immer wieder Fehler beim Drucken. Mit dem P1S bin ich absolut HAPPY, er druckt sehr schƶn und die Laier verbinden sich super. Ich wĆ¼rde den Bambu Lab P1S sofort wieder kaufen. Ćbrigens ich drucke nur noch mit Bambu Lab Filamenten (leider hat aber Bambu Lab ein Problem mit mit dem bereitstellen von den Filamenten, sie sind oft nicht lieferbar 
.)
I too am very new to 3D printing. I had seen it used at my places of work to make concept models before committing to expensive tooling and machining. I casually mentioned a desire to get one to my son-in-law that I wouldnāt mind getting one as a project in the winter (I am retired). I was considering a kit that I would assemble. A P1S was delivered the week after Thanksgiving last year which was an early Christmas gift from my son-in-law for helping him finish their basement.
As I said, I had no experience with 3D printing or CAD. I unboxed the machine, followed the startup instructions, and was printing one of the pre-loaded files within 20 minutes. I have downloaded dozens of models and printed them with no issues. I have been designing my own models with TinkerCad and enjoy that very much.
I have had no reliability issues with my P1S. One of the recent firmware updates caused issues but I reverted back to the previous version until they released an update. I perform the recommended maintenance approx. every two months based on the amount I print. The maintenance is minimal.
Good luck, and enjoy.
I will add my voice to the people that are happy with their P1S. I cut my teeth on an Ender 5 Pro and between bed levelling, the speed of prints, etc it became a bit of an ornament. Middle last year I took a chance and after a lot (!) of procrastination purchased a P1S and AMS combo. I am very happy with it - yes, Iāve had a couple of issues but that was caused by me - otherwise the printer soldiers on. I realise it is not a big milestone for some, but Iāve just hit over 1 000 hours of printing and when I compare that to my Ender, I am impressed by the ease of printing that Bambu provides.
If you think you need a PHD for use a BL printer, then quit before you start! The BL X1C is the absolute easiest to use, the most versatile and provides the best results of all my printers. If you really want to earn a degree in 3D Printing, start with a barebone sub $300 printer such as and Ender 3Pro. After you are able to get reliable and consistent results, then go to the X1C. The X1C provides an easy workflow and eliminates most of the frustration in comparison to an entry level printer.
If you should be nervous about any one thing relating to BL it would be actually getting the printer to your door undamaged. BL is infamous for bare minimum packaging, even though they are aware of the abuse that carrier exacts on their product. The first P1S I received had a dented box and the printer had a cracked frame, it took a month of painfully slow correspondence with BL until I received a replacement unit. I had the second unit shipped to the UPS depot instead of my home, it also arrived in a damaged box, I stated to the UPS rep that I intended to refuse the product or they could open it in front of me so I could look it over for damage, when I found no damage I -then- signed for the package and took ownership.
I would highly recommend that you have the printer shipped to the UPS depot and pick it up, if you see any damage to the the box -at all- I would ask if the rep can open it in front of you, if they refuse then I would photograph the damage, refuse the delivery and immediately contact BL, be aware that the entire process will most likely take three weeks from the date of refusal that is of course only if the next unit shows up undamaged.
Many and I mean many thanks for your input. I will 100% take your advice and follow the steps you have out lined. Thank you again.
I was in same boat before my P1S purchase. I had zero experience with 3D printing. I am a handy person, I like to tinker and I do as many of my home and auto repairs as I can. My one rule on tools is i donāt buy one until i have a need for it. Well i finally came on a part i needed that I literally couldnāt get. It was part of a larger package and while the package was available, this little part was. But while i was looking, i found where someone had uploaded the 3d plans to make it. I finally had my reason to get one. In the 3 months since my purchase Iāve run through probably 6 kg of filament and other than my little welder it my favorite tool in the garage. I hear what your saying about the phd sounding language that you read on these forums, and i agree its intimidating, i still donāt understand half of what these guys say, but honestly with my purpose, i donāt have to. Iām not making art or products to sell, extremely small imperfections in my print are not a problem 99% of the time. The thing i liked about the P1S is it worked out of the box. Yes I have had ot take apart my hot end a couple of times, mostly due to my messing upp the settings, but if you have a printer, then you are probably the type of person that likes to tinker anyway. Overall its been a great experience
I was in the same position as you a few months ago. Had no experience or knowledge of 3D printing at all - jumped in with a P1S Combo, followed up a week later by another AMS - theyāre great!
Honestly just grab it and learn as you go. I have alot left to learn - Iāve tinkered a bit with Fusion 360 but just donāt understand it. Will have to watch some YT tutorials when I have time.
Just finding STLs online and printing them is fun enough in the meantime. Finding HueForge prints amazed me for a couple of weeks. And instead of Fusion 360 Iāve been using Tinkercad.com a bit to ease me into it. I find it much easier to pick up without having to learn anything.
You canāt be any more of a noob than me. The first print I did was the benchy and it came out so good. Then I tried printing a doorstop multiple times with the white filament that came with the printer. It was PLA Support 
It took me 3 failed prints until I learned what Support filament is for.
I certainly wonāt be designing any masterpieces anytime soon, but itās a fun hobby. And so much to learn means itās a hobby that can keep you interested for a long time.
TLDR if you can scrape together enough money, get a P1S Combo and start collecting the colours of the rainbow.
For your sake I hope you donāt have the same level of OCD as I do - I need to have stock of every Bambu filament they have. Just in case. 
Totally agree! Why struggle with an āentry levelā 3D printer when starting out, other than itās cheap? Thatās like people advising you to start with an old Motorola brick mobile phone rather than with an iPhone. Why go through the pain and frustration??
@chrisby : I can recommend a great way to learn Fusion 360 quickly. The free, hands-on, guided tutorials on YouTube by āProduct Design Onlineā are easy to follow. Hereās a link to the 2024 playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrZ2zKOtC_-C4rWfapgngoe9o2-ng8ZBr
This is about the most up-to-date that I am aware of. If you follow the first three in sequence you will have the basics sorted out.
The basics of Fusion 360 (and almost any CAD) are:
- Create a New Component
- Create a 2-dimensional sketch using lines, circles, etc
- Extrude the sketch to create a 3-dimensional object
- Add to, subtract from, and modify the object
Sketch, Extrude - wash, rinse, repeatā¦
I hope this helps.
I was a complete newbie about 3 months ago when I bought my P1S. I have to say I have learned a lot since then, but there is no better printer company to help get you started. I was able to make a print minutes after unboxing and setting up. Since then, through the extensive use of YouTube, have modded the printer, learned about printer and filament profiles, changed my slicing software to OrcaSlicer and more. Sure I have had failed prints, but not many considering how much I use it. BambuLabs also has extensive documentation complete with videos and ownersā contributions. Believe me, youāll do ok. If youāre worried at all, consider buying one of their A series printers, costs less and you can then see how you like it. Then upgrade and have 2 printers or sell the first one. Good luck!
I canāt understand this statement at all. The hotend is 2 screws and 2 plugs. It literally takes 2-3 minutes to swap a hotend assembly. Of course that assumes you have a spare ready to go which everyone should certainly have.
And how many posts where someone has misaligned the plugs? Not everyone has a complete hotend assembly ready to go as you put it. Some people want to swap out for different size nozzles all the time. Not me, but compared to some other machines, like I pointed out for example the flashforge adventurer 5m, which are much easier.
Assuming that weāre talking about the X1/P1, I must agree with @rmb. Swapping a hotend is a clumsy procedure in my view, not well suited for the newbie. Sure, for for those of us whoāve been tinkering all of our lives, no problem, but it flies in the face of Bambuās avowed design philosophy of being a device that anyone can use.
Think about it and ask yourself if your grandmother would be comfortable with such a procedure. Two tiny screws(if you can figure out which ones they are, that one might easily drop) two extremely fine connectors(which were never designed for high duty cycles) and finally, stiff wires that have to be carefully tucked out of the way before you snap the cover back on and for good measure, make sure you donāt pinch the fan wire or perhaps unseat the fan plug during the swap-out. What could possible go wrong? 
Aunt Bea could do this with her eyes closed. 
No sir, the X1 and P1 hotend swap-out is not yet ready to be call plug and pray, itās design invites all sorts of misadventure for the non-technical user. Itās not like swapping out a toner cartridge.
I just put in a support ticket on March 18 and they replied on March 21 with instructions to fix my problem.
They are actively working to improve their support ticket system, they are selling a lot of printers, so they needed to majorly expand their support team. Part of the problem is sometimes people are contacting support for things they should be dealing with themselves. Many issues can be resolved by looking at the Wiki or by asking a question on the forum. If more people would do that instead of rushing to support, the people that actually need support would get it faster.
I have had the X1C and AMS since November, and have had no major issues, even the ticket I just dealt with was about a minor nuisance, and it was easily fixable. I talk about it here:
The majority of issues I have had were caused by me. 3D printing isnāt like printing ink on a piece of paper, you have to understand the strengths and limitations of FDM 3D printing technology and consider that when making your design or it will fail, no matter what printer you have.
People with problems will always be the loudest and most active, while you wonāt hear anything from most who are not having problems, so it can seem worse than it is. It is estimated that Bambu lab is making 14 million USD per month, so when you consider how many printers they are selling, there really isnāt that many people complaining about problems.