Multi plate automation for A1 mini

Bambu Lab A1 Series General Discussions
497

I imagine if you looked at every model on MakerWorld and its volume envelope, you would find 80%+ would print on the A1 mini.

Scaling things up isn’t always as easy as you imagine, there are other factors that are not as easy to understand until you get into the whole thing.

Plus, there are valid business reasons for following one path.

This is to help those that need to prints lots of things with minimal human intervention. Printing bigger tasks spread across several build-plates improves individual part reliability as no one damaged part will take out all the other parts. That isn’t to say you can’t fill up the build plate though.

I have used it and it works perfectly every time.

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498

Just scale what you’re printing down.
The A1 is too large…

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499

No it wouldn’t be as easy as scaling things.
Everything is different form the two printers.
The printer base, the build plates size and shape, the z axis.
This mod would require a complete redesign to be able fit and work on a A1.

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500

When will you publish the website? Also, if you need recommendations for the name we are here.

501

Site is online but the shop need to be setup. Have not found time yet. But soon. If you have other cool domain names in mind, feel free to share :slight_smile:

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502

No names. It looks fantastic! The front page already looks finished! Are you thinking about creating swap-mods for other printers, or is the A1 mini the only that is truly worthy?

503

I have some further plans.

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504

I would guess that you do not operate a print farm based on your comment. Being able to run your printers 24/7 or as close to it as possible is the best way to operate. A swapmoded A1 Mini is still more narrow than an A1, the depth is not really relevant in most farms.

505

What is the point of buying more machines if no one is around to operate them? The more machines you have the more the downtime cost you. Human labor is the most expensive part of almost any manufacturing process.

Do you calculations with products that only take a couple hours to print or even one hour and you’ll understand the benefits of automation. Minimizing your downtime in a calculation is pointless.

Also if you aren’t interested in this project move on and stop trolling LOL

506

How long until we get this in the US!!?? I NEED IT

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508

Same! Half the reason I even visit this forum is to check the product’s status. The other half is for entertainment.

509

@Bambuzzled @Froggydog10 Sorry guys, in the next few month there will be no update on this. I’m quite busy establishing the production and distribution of current version. But once it’s done the US version is the next target. I have a lot of requests from the US and it’s highly motivating :slight_smile:

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510

Does that mean you’re stocking up on swap-mods?

511

If I may answer you until you get an answer from the source.

I am a backer of the project on Kickstarter, and despite having a review unit, I wished to pay into the cause.

A recent backer update showed us a video with progress and the production line appears very much full-steam ahead.

512

That’s amazing! I was worried about the progress because the “early bird” sold out so fast. @Dill, are you currently focusing on the new website then?

513

Congratulations @Dill for 500 posts on this topic!

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514

I currently have no use for this and no space to use it, but I so want it. I wonder if the mrs will let me move my mini from my office to the dining room table?
Congrats on such a great product. I only found out about this through a Facebook post where someone was asking for this type of solution (don’t think it was for the mini though).

It took me a quite a while to read all the posts.
@Dill just one quick question if I may. I have seen others ask about mid print changes to the order of plates or adding/removing plates. If you think it can be done in cloud, then it should be possible locally using a raspberry pi or more generically a docker container. Is this something you have looked at? I’m not asking for this feature, just curious.
And damn it, it looks like I’ll be ordering one tomorrow, even though I have no use for it, just to satisfy the geek in me :joy:

515

Decided in the end that I would not be backing it tomorrow.

I backed it 5 mins after posting.

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516

You’ll be surprised, but a friend of mine did just that! And guess what, he’s still not divorced! So good luck, man :sweat_smile: :crossed_fingers:

I have seen others ask about mid print changes to the order of plates or adding/removing plates. If you think it can be done in cloud, then it should be possible locally using a raspberry pi or more generically a docker container. Is this something you have looked at?

With my app you have to cancel the printing queue, edit it and then start it again. There are some “hacks” on how to proceed without a need of canceling currently running print but I will explain such details in a later setup guidance.
If you wont a live queue, then there are third party services like SpimplyPrint which can provide this kind of functionality. It seams to work even without an Raspberry Pi.
For now I’m not planing developing an own cloud or local-server based application to manage the queue since it’s not my core competence. I will rather collaborate with third party service providers to provide a seamless integration. Such services will not be free and probably more interesting for businesses.

517

Hey guys, I have an announcement to make,

Next week FormNext, a big 3D printing fair, will take place in Frankfurt, Germany. I’m happy and proud to announce that BambuLab has invited me to show swapmod. :smiley: I would like to thank BambuLab for this opportunity and invite you to visit their booth D01 in hall 12.1.

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