I know the decision is ultimately up to me; however, please listen to my situation, I would like to hear what you would do. I just finished up my first year of mechanical engineering and love it. I am fortunate enough to say that I currently intern at a local space design company. I started looking into 3D printers again shortly after I started working there. I have used multiple 3D printers in the past, owning one of them back home which is an original Flash Forge Creator Pro. I grew tired of tweaking this printer, which is why I am looking so heavily into a Bambu Lab printer. I have always wanted a quality 3D printer but now possess the means to purchase one. I am specifically looking for a printer that can print engineering-grade materials. I was going to pull the trigger on a Bambu Lab X1C at the beginning of this month. About a week before this preset date of purchase, the Reddit AMA occurred, where they said the new generation of printers will come out soon and definitely in 2024, teasing a revolutionary design. I currently have a budget of about 2000 dollars and would like a printer at least on pre-order before the next semester starts in late August. It is quite difficult to find a printer to use at the school and I need to print many parts for one of my upcoming classes. If you were in my shoes, Would you buy an X1C now? Would you wait for the New Printer to be announced and decide then? Is there another printer that you would buy? Please share any knowledge that may help and I thank you for taking the time to read this post!
How long is a piece of string?
At some point, you will have to jump in and buy something.
When you have, something new will come out and you will wonder if you should have waited for that instead of the one you purchased.
You could buy an entry-level A1 mini to start playing now and later buy the bigger, better, unknown entity.
You could buy the best now and benefit from actually 3D printing something now with that top-end model.
That’s a really good point! I like the analogy and that’s a smart way to look at it. Buying an A1 mini for now wouldn’t be too bad of an idea… I’ll have to give that some serious thought.
Thank you so much for your input!
You are welcome.
I recommend getting the AMS lite as a combo with the A1 mini.
I haven’t heard of a single person who regretted it.
- You can use it for multiple colours
- You can use it for PETG support layers and vs versa
- You can use it to have more than one spool auto continue when another one runs out.
As with any technology, you can always wait for the next thing that’s coming. At some point, you just have to decide what your requirements are and if the current model fills those needs. Yeah, it’s frustrating to buy something and have a new something come out shortly after, but in this case, an X1C is an amazing printer and if they do release an X2 line, I’m sure it will be amazing too but that doesn’t change the fact the X1C is still amazing.
As someone fortunate enough to work with a machine shop that is accurate down to the hundred thousandth inch, I think I forgot how difficult it can be to get a dimensionally accurate part. With your point, what printer would you recommend instead? Do the parts produced by Bambu vary that much no matter what or is there something I can change about it as I dial in the printer? Also how do other companies combat this and how does the calibrated Bambu Tolerance compare with a self-calibrated printers tolerance? Sorry for the onslaught of questions and thank you for your input!!!
I’ve bought a P1S for my house and made the company that I work for buy 2x P1S. I would recommend getting the AMS just for the simplicity of filament swap. For example, I have ASA and PLA in my AMS. I can test my design with PLA and when comfortable with the design I print with ASA. The AMS make this filament selection between printing soooooo much easier. The P1S I bought for my house was not with the AMS at first, but after seeing the AMS in action at work, I got the AMS for me. Also nice if you want to print overnight and are at the end of one spool of filament.
That precision thing Nebur is talking about, I just don’t see it, I always give some tolerance of .10mm to .25mm in my design depending on the situation and I always get good result (some caution with PETG and default settings, you’ll need to bump the temperature to 270-280C to get good result at standard speed or reduce 50% speed, or get the E3D high flow nozzle).
I had an older printer bed slinger but always had to do tinkering to get one print, now I’m using the P1S like I use any other tool, it just works!
If I were you, I would get the P1S with AMS, if you’re in mechanical engineering, I’m sure at some point you’ll think that 1 printer isn’t enough. I never liked buying the first batch of anything, there’s always something that they need to fix. The A1 series will limit you with some engineering material that requires enclosure and the X1 series has more feature but shares the same printing capabilities as the P1S. I think the 500$ USD difference is not justified for my need.
What I would do, get P1S w/AMS and wait 1-2 year to see if you want to get the next Bambu Lab generation.
Yeah sorry about that, the shop is accurate down to .0001 inch, I also got confused with the imperial units haha.
Your point with calibration has really opened my eyes, I have now opened my search to many printers rather than a select few, thank you so much for your input.
Hey Jake I own multiple printers and have been printing for about 6 years. Going from Ender 3’s Voxelab Aquila, sovol sv04 idex. And then…… Bambu was here. Purchasing an x1c was the single most important thing I ever did. I now have 3 of them and some A1 mini’s the A1 mini print quality after proper filament calibration prints as good as my x1c. The only negative with the A1 is the temps are very low which is the only thing that has frustrated me. If they allowed for printing Asa abs and nylon it would be another game changer for them. I am assuming because of the massive drop in price on the A1’s there will be another printer coming out with this ability. To sum it up print quality and speed of the Bambu printers lives up to the hype and price.
So easy choice then…
Waiting until half of August, lets say until the 15th of August.
And then you have 2 options:
- If there’s a new release/announcement by then, you can still decide for yourself which option is better for you and what fits better in your budget,
- If there’s no news bij the 15th, you can still place an order for the X1C, which will arrive within 3 working days. So by late August.
This is what I’m doing. Super pleased with the A1-mini for getting me started, but now wanting something full-sized.
the rumors are killing me lol, so I have enough giftcards for a second printer that I’ve been saving up for and jonesing for… but these rumors and planned release by possibly THIS MONTH… okay I’m waiting. I almost clicked the buy button tonight, even pasted all the giftcards… but I know I would have unconsolable FOMO if the new model came out and I could afford it even half as much with giftcards. c’mon Bambu, give us the deets!
The wind tells me September. It whispers sweet nothings in my ear of product releases, a soft and gentle hand of guidance towards my future. Do not take this as a given, as the powers that compel me are as knowledgeable as those that wield astrology as a given truth. Do the stars align? Maybe then you could give me such weight. Maybe in a month’s time someone will be back to proclaim my predictions to have come true. I hope so, not for my own fame or fortune, but because I want a new product from Bambu that hopefully fits the bill of my needs, simply.
Ah, pardon me. I’ve been saving back too for a potential new comer. It does seem like something is in the air. The X1 isn’t the investment it use to be, the P1 is aging, the A1/A1 Mini is awesome, but short of what you need if you need an X1, but the X1 lacks the innovation of the A1.
I’ve been wanting to upgrade my P1S to an X1C, but have been holding back to see what comes out, whenever that happens. So, since it isn’t a pressing need, it’s been easier to hold back and wait. Although I did have to detour a little to grab some of the new PETG-HF filaments.
“The wind cries Mary” 
NBR’s most recent video says November. However, given recent current events, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were delayed.
I feel like the extra €500/€600 between the P1S and the X1C is totally not worth it at this point…
The X1C stays on it’s former pricepoint, where the P1S seems to be on a “permanent” discount now.
For just €100 extra you can upgrade an P1S almost to a X1C.
- Panda Touch
- Hardened steel extruder gears
- Hardened steel nozzle
Only staying the lidar, which just seems to be a gimmick and I wouldn’t be surprised when it will not be there anymore on a “X2C”. If it’s not capable of reading the calibration lines at the start, then it just falls vack on the standard flow rate values, which work pretty darn good on the P1S already.
And the AI feature, which might be interesting for detecting failures. But actually don’t have that many failures on my P1S, so really not worth the extra €400.
I’m at the point of returning my P1S due to other problems. And I’m actually thinking about waiting a bit for a newer model now.
But it might still take a while considering the lawsuits at the moment.
But I also read somewhere that it possibly is going to be a multi head printer. Which should not need the use of a prime tower (it’s one of the lawsuits as I believe). But a multihead printer will probably going to rise over the price of the X1C now, which already is pretty costly. But they could now, since they now have the entry levels A1/A1 mini.
But customer support isn’t great either on BL. So because of that I’m also thinking about going to look for an alternative.
It depends on your experience level and what it is that you want to print, and with what kind of filament, both now and in the future. For anyone still just getting their feet wet, I think Bambu is still the best choice around, but if you have experience, then I think the issue is only budget and whether you want just 1 printer or a print farm of diverse printers. If just only 1 printer, then unless you need a bigger print volume, then Bambu probably wins again. I say this, having surveyed the market pretty extensively. If you reach a different conclusion, it would be interesting to hear what it is.
On the issue of waiting, it may be a very long wait. We just have no way of knowing. If you having nothing at all, I wouldn’t wait. I’d buy something and start getting experience. An A1 mini would be a great entry point while you wait. I mean, you can barely buy an only half-way decent laptop for $200. Right? So, in terms of intrinsic value, it seems hard to beat.
Well I tried to love their printers. Tried other printers and brands before and I got sick and tired keeping tweaking and calibrating over and over. So I thought to give Bambu a chance.
One of their key features however was their AMS, while it’s an “reliable” working concept for printing with multiple colors and materials. At a much lower pricepoint then their competitors with multi head printers.
Although it’s verry time consuming and it brings a lot of waste…
There’re some competitors who’re already implementing the same concept. Like Creality and Anycubic. So the’re beginning to lose that advantage a bit.
However, I already had to contact their customer service while 2 machines already were faulty. And their customer service is really terrible. At least to my experience.
And knowing this now, it might be a reason to stay away from BL in the future.
It’s not only the product they need to stand out with on the 3D-printer market. Their machines are not cheap, people pay a lot of money for it while they also have trust in it’s quality and support. But when contacting them it feels like you’re talking with some Aliexpress idiots. Like talking to a wall…
Again, their machines are pretty costly and when support is failing, it might be a reason to look further. For a machine that is cheaper and can almost do the same and taking a bit of teeaking for granted. Or for a company that offers a better support. It might be one way or another then.
I’ve had zero interaction with customer support, with any printer that I’ve ever owned (now 5 different manufacturers), so I can’t speak to that issue. Well, actually, come to think of it, I did have an interaction with Creality once, and they didn’t really admit to the problem even though their forum proved it was an extremely common issue. So, I did return that printer within the window. Best advice is to do a thorough shakedown within whatever return window you have, regardless of manufacturer. In their case, it was a design flaw, so I bought a different printer afterward. If it’s just a lemon, you can buy the same one and then bang, you’re back in business right away. I guess maybe that’s why I’ve had zero interaction, save that one experience.
Not needed. Saw already mentioned Creality.