Issues after 2 weeks of use

Bambu Lab X1 Series
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Greetings
I got a Bambu X1 Carbon with Dual AMS units, this is my 9th or 10th 3D printer… Including Creality printer (the big one 300x300x400), 2 GeeTech A10T’s 1 GeeTech A30T (3 color printers that mix at nozzle), a E3D Tool Changer, a IdeaFormer belt printer (that I just returned and ordered a different one). And my first one that was made out of wood, and second one that was made out of Acrylic… And two that I’ve not put together (and most likely, never will)

So, the point being that I’ve had a lot of experience with 3D Additive printing…

Out of all of those, the Bambu Lab X1 Carbon is my favorite… Just a few things that are REALLY annoying about it…

  1. I HATE having to upload my print to China, for one, that means I can’t use this for work related things, just for non-commercial ‘fun’ things, all my real work has to go to the E3D or one of the GeeTech printers. I should be able to decide NOT to use the cloud AT ALL and be able to send my job directly to the printer. This would also be faster, especially if one was on a slow network… I can send it at 1Gbps to my printer, or I can send it at to China, and back from China and have to wait longer to print.

  2. I hate how long it takes to calibrate the print each time, but I’ve found that if I don’t do the extrusion it prints badly, seems like if I was using the same spools that it just used nothing would have changed, but I printed a couple test runs without the calibration at the start and compared them to ones with it, and got night and day results… (on the TOP layer even, very weird)

  3. I Lothe how much space it takes from my print bed to do that, and I don’t think it NEEDS to use that much space - it has this bump up into the print about 60mm from the edge… if I’m printing something that is square then whatever color that is will end up on the bottom layer… You say it doesn’t matter, but it DOES if that was purple and the rest of the bottom layer (except what was intended to be purple) is white… AND you are using the bottom as the top - printing it upside down for a nice glossing top surface. This limits my print size to about 200x On top of that, you chop off another 5mm on two other edges… Is that REALLY needed? If you are going to require this, have there be a place where you can print it and then wipe it off into the waste bin.

OK, so let’s go to KNOWN Issues…

  1. The clod printing, er, cloud printing. Do the following test: Select a 2 color print, let say a print with the Letter A in spool 1 and the letter B from Spool 2 with a filled in circle around the other colors… (IE a color 1 circle with a color 2 B in it, and a color 2 circle with a color 1 A in it… Using the Bambu Studio app slice it and upload it to the printer. (Not sure if you have to at one point select different colors on a previous print job, maybe, but let’s do what I just did) You select that Color 1 maps to A1, and Color 2 maps to A2 (Only one AMS connected). For sake of simplicity, let’s say that A1 is Black and A2 is White, A3 Green and A4 Yellow. Now, you will get a nice print with A Black Circle with a B in it and a White Circle with an A in it. Good job, worked perfectly.
    Take the print out, put in another print (I’m using Wham Bam print beds, as I’ve found they work excellently without using any glue sticks with PLA (not done that in 5+ years, not about to start, don’t want a printer that requires that mess.) Anyway, so we have a good print… OK, now select ‘print again’, you will notice that the printer shows you a circle in the corner that is help for selecting the colors, but you CAN’T SELECT OR CONFIRM THE COLORS! OK, Fine, it is a simple feature that should be there (for ALL prints), but you select print again and confirm it… Away goes the printer ‘playing’ (another LOL thing, it is printing, not playing - that is a translation problem)… And you soon find you have two circles: a Green Circle with a Green A, and a Green Circle with a Green B! Good job there! I never even selected Green as an option! Where did it get that? (Oh, and no, I don’t have the option to substitute anything turned on, and even if I did, both of the other spools are just fine.

Next, if you select a file stored on your SD card and print it, let’s say you exported the above print, firstly it WILL print it every time with the correct colors (1 & 2), BUT unlike ‘internal’ ones, it will NOT prompt you for the colors or let you change / confirm them. Why?? That is kind of crazy, I mean, clearly you already HAVE the code to put up the dialog as it DOES that for some of the internal ones, and you must be keeping a mapping table: [T1,T2,T3,T4] = {A1,A2,A3,A4} Or whatever in memory to print the internal ones, or those that came from the cloud with that mapping, so it should be a trivial matter to prompt.

In the studio… I want to be able reorder the print, specifically, I want to be able to select what prints first, that could make a difference for what I’m printing… Or maybe not, but I shoudl be able to do that. At the least if I have 4 objects and A and C are the same color, it would be ncie to put them next to each other in the file… It does appear to sort the list when it is imported, which put all my numbers at the top and letters at the bottom, so I guess by creative naming I could change the order, but I don’t know if that affects the order it prints or not.

Ok, going to stop here, there are other things… but the losing 65mm of space and the printing the wrong colors when I ‘reprint’ something are top of my list of things that annoy the heck out of me…

Well, that and the upload to China stuff…

-Traderhut Games

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Can’t you simply bring the SD card over and insert the file?
Furthermore LAN Only mode doesn’t use the cloud for files?
And finally, I believe many many maaany people opt not to do the calibration every single print, they tune their settings with Orca for best results and have zero issues you are presenting here.

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You can also use Orca Slicer (forked from Bambu Studio) to manually calibrate the filament. Then you turn off the flow calibration that the printer does which uses so much space at the front of the bed.

You can also change anything you want in the machine start gcode. If you know what you are doing you can eliminate much of the startup time. You can move where the nozzle load line is printed. Etc.

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You’re not uploading prints to China. In the US, at least, Bambu uses Amazon Web Services, so your files aren’t going outside the US.

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Is the lidar that useful? does it adjust temps depending on the test area? If so I could see that useful per material and plate, but beyond that my p1p has had perfect first layers. I’ve adjusted temps based on speed and brand, but never with difficulty. +/-5 or 10c and GTG.

What am I missing?
Thanks.

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so your files aren’t going outside the US.

No, you can’t be sure of that. AWS is a global enterprise. They have server farms all over the planet, not just in the US. And these are distributed systems, data is replicated across multiple farms. A centralized server would choke on the high workload. When you ask AWS for data and you’re in NYC, it comes from a different place than if you made the same query from California. But it’s the same data.

Additionally, AWS customers can choose the region(s) where their data resides.

Since Bambu is based in China, and paying AWS for services in China, odds are good that some or all of your data ends up on the server there even if you’re based in the US.

The OP’s problem is more about security of IP (Intellectual Property). Many companies, for example, won’t let their employees use a Cloud data service (like Google or Dropbox) because of concerns that proprietary information could leak. If the company can’t know for certain exactly where their data is going and exactly how their data is protected, using these kinds of services represents an unacceptable risk.

Same thing applies to connecting “unauthorized” devices to the company’s network. Because the printer requires a WAN connection, it opens up a potential attack vector for bad actors. Company IT departments (at least, the “good ones”) should also have a problem with the printer residing on their LAN because of this, irrespective of the security concerns around model files that the printer is printing.

Think of it this way: You just bought a new laser printer for your computer, but to use it, you have to send all your files to the printer company’s servers so they can then send it to your printer. To use their printer, you have to trust that they’re not reading your printouts or making copies.

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This is a good point.

I do wonder, if someone in this specific situation could circumvent some of these issues.

Such as using a router that is air gapped from any other device on the existing network.

Using a hotspot from their personal mobile device they do the installation process for the printer.

Once everything is setup switch over to LAN only and deactivate the hotspot network connection.

I understand this would severely limit their ability to use any services at all, and that if they needed customer support they’d be out of luck.

But hey, if you are working in that industry you probably have some budget to fuss around with so who knows. This “solution” albeit brittle as all get, might fit a person or two on this Earth. Just a scenario that comes to mind.

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Ok, first off… You don’t want this printer. You stated that several times so return it.

Most of your problems are self inflicted. If your work is so sensitive, secret, or top-secret, that it cannot be sent to unsecured servers … then no consumer or prosumer connected divice is safe for your line of work. So, you might want to not connect this printer and instead use the SD card.

As to the glue thing… Good for you. Send it back or… I don’t know don’t use the cool plate.

You can turn off most of the features you don’t like.

As for the printing the qrong color issue… Did you move colors in the AMS?

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If… If… They are either

A. A public sector employee their shop has a budget and if… If… It’s secured in anyway, then this printer is not viable for their shop and they knew this before purchase. It would never be approved unless the approving person was not aware of the features on this printer… Or these features didn’t get disclosed.

B. More than likely a contractor. If they cannot follow regulations with secured info and are prototyping parts for the public sector in a secured way, they are jeopardizing their clearance and projects by using this printer. There are more appropriate options for this level of work that cost maybe a little bit more. Again, if this is such a security risk with classified projects, they bought the wrong printer.

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Oh yeah I whole heartedly agree and don’t think this is a viable alternative to a proper code of conduct, it’s usually written right there in your contract as you state.

Though I am sure people will still attempt to question their purchase as if the marketing didn’t mention cloud enabled software. That’s the big red flag I guess people are ignoring for some reason?

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AMS issue - No, I made no changes at all. I hit the ‘Print again’ and ‘Continue’ button and got a totally different set of colors (both colors switched to a different color), this doesn’t happen if I print off the SD card.

I also just did a reprint of the same job that I queued before using Bambu Studio, and I noticed that by default, it had ignored what I set last time (T1=A1, T2=A2), and picked T1=A4, T2=A3), and had I not noticed that and corrected it, it would have wasted another print.

It isn’t so much that my work is so sensitive, secret or top secret… it has more to do with the laws in China… there are NO copyright laws, NONE. An example of why I have been concerned with China, in particular… I was helping a friend publish a game, and I did the work of finding a company who would do everything, I wanted them to do it all except for printing the rules. I could easily print them here, and add them to the boxes when I was ready to ship (zero inventory system, as you don’t pay tax on inventory unless it is a complete unit, which these would all count as parts as would the stack of rules, so no taxes), so the China company said they would be happy to publish the game for $15/game, which would give us about $10 if we sold it for $25, sounds good, lets get started… Their only condition was that I send them the rules and they also publish the rules. There can ONLY be ONE reason they would need that… they have nothing to steal if I only give them the parts and no explanation of how to use it.

As for your statement that I don’t want this printer… because my issues are self inflicted… I’m not seeing that, the reduced bed size (thanks for a solution for that, for those that gave me one), the sharing all my IP with China, where it can be duplicated with zero possibility of being able to sue over theft… Sure, maybe they won’t do that… Maybe they will, maybe I come up with a cool vase that I (or my artist daughter) spent a lot of hours designing and drawing up in a CAD package, and maybe that is selling for $1,000 to collectors… and now, it is also available at price below my cost to produce it from 50 companies in China… Sure, we can just spend another 200 hours to create another one, and see how long that is good for…

I’ve had a fair amount of experience with IP being stolen, and the damage it does to ones morale, not to mention pocket book.

And why would one even send it off lan?? You are REQUIRED to have the printer on the same lan for some things to work (according to the documentation, although, some things seem to work OK without doing that - such as the video actually worked remotely).

As other people have pointed out, being a software architect (in addition to inventor), I setup my printer on its own WAN, using an isolated ISP from my main company network, for the very reasons that were mentioned by others. Yes, by having such a device on your network, you are trusting that they never get a virus on their servers and upload that to all their printers… it is a bit of a reach, but all you need is a way to remotely connect to the machine and then route packets out to the local network, shouldn’t be that hard - it uses unsecure protocols… (http, not https, FTP, not FTPS… ) It uses secure ones when it goes across the internet, but not locally…

Overall, as I said, I find that this is a FANTASTIC printer, and the additional things that I’ve been able to do with it that I can’t with other printers is amazing, I’ve printed prints that failed on every other printer I’ve used - and some of them I tried for weeks to get a good print from, this one, first print, every print perfect.

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As a software architect who works with AWS, you (in this case Bambu) can decide exactly how/where the files are setup… just because it is going to a US server does not mean it stays there.

Also, it was awesome when the cloud was down for a few hours, and I had to walk the disk to the other room to print, and couldn’t view the status because it wasn’t able to send it off my network and back to it… Limited good reasons for that, it should be designed to figure out that you are on the same network and work exactly the same way, but use the local lan.

Putting in in LAN mode should disable exactly zero features other than downloading updates, and even then, you should have a mode to say 'Lan mode with remote updates - installed when I say it is OK to do so, or tell it when to schedule it… (like, when this print ends, or at 5 AM, or something)

Most of our data for AWS is in fact in the South Central US, but that is by our choice.

I also don’t know why they would want the huge cost of streaming all the videos through their servers, AWS charges per kb of data sent in and out of their networks… I have the camera feed up 24/7 on my main work computer so I can just look at it… I’ve been using this printer nearly 24/7 since I got it…

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Yes, I could sneaker net the file back and forth, and I have to for some prints. (ones that I want to be able to print a 2nd copy of using the print again feature and be sure it gives me the right colors), it is about 55’ to the printer and that back, so about 110’ to make the trip… I have to run the file over there, but I can’t swap out the SD card if it is printing (which is 90% of the time). So, I have to wait, and then run to the printer grab the card, (swap the bed so it is ready for another print), go back to my desk, remember what I wanted to print, export it to the card, and eject it, (instead of hitting one button), and run it back to the printer - put it in using the side of the USB device to push it in as my fingernails are not long enough to either eject it or insert it, this causes wear on the printer, and I know the SD card slots have a limited life space, what happens when that is done? (Yes, I’ve had one wear out on a printer before), I ended up getting an extension cable that fixed it for one printer - it plugged in to the SD card slot and hung out in the air - but for the Bambu, that would need to be mounted somewhere or the door would be hitting it every time I opened it.

As for the LAN mode, I’ve not yet tried that as according to what I read from Bambu, that disables being able to use the App in the phone, or the Studio - although, if that is true, then it doesn’t make sense to call it ‘LAN’ mode, it should be called ‘Network Disabled’ mode - which is actually how I used it for the first 5 days before putting it on its own network / ISP in semi-isolation.

From what I’ve later read, I think the lan mode might sort of work, but I think it will still kill the camera feature that I use all the time - it is how I know the job is about done, or is done, or has had a problem.

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They should have decoupled the camera streaming from their service and allowed users to opt out of that part of the data collection. Creating a live service and an entire hardware array sounds very ambitious as it is, adding in more network costs just doesn’t sound worth the data price at this point in time. They get plenty of metrics from everything else thusfar.

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Actually, just because you are using AWS does not mean you know where your files are going.

  1. AWS has many regions and the customer (BBL) can choose which region is used for data.
  2. Often when someone is concerned about their data going to China, they really are not talking about where it is stored, but rather who has access to it. I suspect that the BBL employees can access data stored on their cloud servers.
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There is a long post and poll about LAN only mode. It has been pointed out that in addition to LAN only mode, when not set to LAN only the software should be smart enough to recognize that it is on the same LAN and use direct transfer for status, commands, and camera feed.

@traderhut

In one of my first conversations about connectivity problems with a Bambu Lab employee, I complained that Bambu Studio did not stay connected to the printer and had to reconnect at the start of each print, and did so even if I was connected on the device tab. I was very annoyed with this because the sync printer status in the print dialog always timed out and then I had to refresh and wait. I was even using LAN only mode.

The response was, we do not maintain connections because that costs more for the cloud service.

As for the camera feed, I believe that it does go to the cloud when not in lan only mode. That is why the camera for the X1 does not work in LAN mode.

In order to allow remote access to the camera feed from Handy on a device not on the local network, they must be storing the actual video file in the cloud and then appending to it. The device just keeps downloading the tail of the file. I suspect this is why Handy does not work in LAN only mode.

The entire system was originally designed as a cloud only system. They had to start adding LAN support because people like me would not buy a cloud solution.

In my opinion the system should always use the LAN for communications if possible. If the user wants the print file stored in the cloud it should be an option on the print dialog. Lan ONLY mode should never try to access the cloud. Current the printer supports that, but Bambu Studio does not.

Please add your thoughts to the poll so we can get BBL to improve things for us.

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You have my vote, thanks for doing the legwork! Very thorough!

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I would add one more thing that I found as a feature that seems obvious to implement:

  1. Tell me what your humidity sensor actually is returning as the humidity. I’d like to know if it is 10% or 20%, you might consider both of them 'OK", but I’d like to know it might be time to start thinking about updating the drying agent (I also use a molecular sieve inside of the spools (using the printed holders for that).
  2. There is a printable update for the AMS to allow it to handle smaller spools, that sounds like a simple design change to the plastic you are using. I got some 200g spools and was less than impressed that I couldn’t use them. I ended up printing a spool holder that was the size of a normal 1kg spool holder (with a space to hold a drying agent inside - the remake for it is published on thingaverse), and had to print that so I could use the smaller spools. It worked, but kind of sucks if someone has already provided you a solution and you just haven’t applied it yet. (To be fair, you would have to change your injection molded mold for that part, and that isn’t cheap, so I get that…)
  3. You say in one of the configuration screens something about should you track the amount left on each spool - and I do track that, but where can I see that? I don’t see it anywhere.
  4. The purge volumes seem high for the most part, I’ve lowered most of them to the 103 or 107 level and only had an issue switching from purple to white, and I raised that to around 150 and it seems like it was fine.
  5. the print tower seemed to come on by default, it doesn’t make any sense for this printer to use a print tower - you purge to an external waste bin, so why would you ever make a tower?
  6. I can’t seem to change where to put the tower, but the obvious location is on top of the calibration space, using up space on the far side doesn’t make sense. I used to use towers all the time on my 3 color single head printers, and I was able to move them to another location in the slicer (don’t recall which one I was using, I’ve moved multi color to the E3D printer, or now this one with the AMS)
  7. Would be nice if the lamp could be brighter once you are done with the LiDAR which you say it interferes with, yeah, that is a no-brainer… you want a nice bright image of your print, both for the time lapse as well as remove viewing.
  8. The calibration once seems to only be an option if you get a 3rd party version of the slicer, clearly, that needs to be a checkbox on a print, where it saves it by default.
  9. if you last printed in spool 1, and you haven’t printed anything else since… On your next print it seems you should be OK to have not unloaded the filament from that head, because maybe, you are printing with the same color the next time, and perhaps, you might not want to have it purge 150mm of your filament out the waste bin to ‘clear out’ the color that was there… This would save time not having to unload the color and reload the color after each print if you were doing a lot of the same color. (I understand why you would unload it, makes it easy to push a button and pull out the filament instead of having to do a ‘unload’ of it, and avoids someone yanking hard on it and wrecking the printer… so maybe this isn’t that big of an issue… just tosses money away and is bad for the environment and such…

I’d also love to be able select what color prints first… there are times that is important… if I have a 2 color print, but both of those colors are on the 1st layer say, A and B, and the rest of the print is all B for example. One way to print that is to load B and print, then purge to A, print A, and purge to B and print all the rest of the layers. a 2nd way is to print A, switch to B and print the whole rest of the print. Also, I might care about which color I calibrate with as well…

A few suggestions… Again, love this printer and it has been running non stop since I got it!

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I found that when I print with silk and matte and both are on the first layer… That I prefer flow calibration be done on the silk filament. Changing the models filament usually works. Just make sure you change the filament before painting.

Sometimes I’ll make the 1st layer all one filament type or color. 99% of the time the first layer isn’t seen.

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In my case, the bottom is the top of the print, this is something that works fantastic on this print, especially if you use a 3rd party print bed with an amazing texture… You get that texture as well as multiple colors smoothed together and it comes out fantastic (for coins for example), but there are a lot of other things this works for… But yes, until I started doing this, my bottom layer was often not seen…