Speculation about new printer announcements

Re: that video of Tom.

Ahh, he sounds kind of defeated in that video. I remember him when he was first on youtube, his early sort of content. I don’t think Tom is as keen on Bambu, but it kind of sounds like he is giving up and just saying fine, this is the world now, so I guess I’m gonna accept it.

I got the impression that he meant Bambu won because as things become more commercialized, patents will be had, things will slowly get cut off/locked down, and only a hand full of companies that hold those patents will be able to fully thrive. Everyone else will have to pay patent fees or think up increasingly weird ways to get around existing patents.

Think about the drone space. I mean, DJI isn’t Bambu, and Bambu isn’t DJI, but there is still some aspects that bridge. DJI got themselves at the top of the hill, and pretty much all of their competition died away. There’s the whole FPV market, sure, but it’s not what DJI is, it’s not what those sorts of camera platforms are. The FPV drone market is a vestige of where drones came from, and the very DIY nature of how it developed. It’s the aspects that couldn’t just be locked down by companies like DJI, so they’ve found space to continue living.

Bambu is winning, has won, because they are effectively positioning themselves at the top of the hill. The commercialization, the consumerization, of 3d printing has begun, and they are a juggernaut already. While other companies are trying to play catch up, they’re just focused on the products, and not the whole of what Bambu is building, how it connects, and the back end that solidifies their position within it all.

It doesn’t matter if one, as an individual, wouldn’t buy a Bambu printer. Why Bambu won goes way beyond that.

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I think thats been proven false by bambu stealing from stratasys and so far, getting away with it. Even the h2d switching nozzles has been done and patented. I personally think this is why bambu applied for patents for a completely different type of switching mechanism. As long as some countries are free to steal IP, there will always be companies that clone for 1/4 the price and maybe even add in a couple extra features. Im thinking of companies like elegoo.

I dont think there is a clear winner in all aspects. We havnt even seen 3d printing get popular enough for big companies to really want to even push there way into the market. Ankr was the closest but had the worst possible timing. If bambu didnt ckme out at the same time, the ankr machines were kinda next level also. Now we have companies like eufy peaking in. Its gonna get interesting. Especially if bondtech licenses the indx to other companies. Toolchangers and inkjet style resin are where its at imo. If bambu had made a toolchanger instead of h2d, i imagine most of this forum would agree. But some cant, because bambu didnt.

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Well, Josh, thanks for the answer.

I think he will find back on track. Probably a normal development step

When I bought my first PC, I had to ordered the individual parts and screwed everything into the case. Nobody told my how to get it together… When the Internet was coming, an amaising thing. Things change, and you have to be aware that the clock keeps ticking and need to adjust always - it’s a normal process.

Quality still counts, and 10% of all companies survive the first 10 years… so it’s still a bit early to even begin to form an opinion. There are also plenty of companies that can’t adapt, but that has nothing to do with declining quality standards; it’s more to do with the fact that dinosaurs that can no longer move simply die out. Companies that no longer deliver are simply go into trubbels and standarts always just going up… The world will not stand still for anyone just to make things more comfortable.

Well, I do not need to talk about Prusa, when Bambulab starts to falter because the young dynamics are coming. Prusa can sale there printers to VW and others and everyone is happy. Bambu will have there costumer and I go tho those doing the next step into the future… so finaly it is a happy end for everyone…

Until just recently I hadn’t heard much about the Sovol Zero. However, if you can tolerate the small print volume (even smaller than the A1 Mini), it seems to pack quite a punch:


In particular, they’re claiming that it’s the world’s fastest printer. That’s #1. And #2 is that it can apparently print the high temperature filaments. And #3 is that it comes with eddy current scanning and bed leveling.

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Probably the most late printer ever. At first, I thought he wouldn’t come and that even the admittedly admitted failure would happen.

But now it seems like someone is coming along who will work on their product without compromise - may. Just delives when hes ready, no matter how much pain get thure the delay.

May, and just may and I m sometimes also wrong - look lick a preofessional is komming ho know how to get a branch.

In any case, a brand that knows what it is doing (even if not in FDM - who knows?) and has a wealthy customer loyalty as not may at all…

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@Hank What are its selling points? i.e. what makes it special? i.e. why would anyone rational want to buy it instead of one of the many similar alternatives on the market? There are so many “me too” corexy printers these days that simply being “yet another corexy printer”, by itself, is no longer interesting. Probably comparing it to the P or X series printers would be of most interest to the readers of this forum, since we’re nearly all invested in one or the other of those Bambu models. What, if anything, does it have that we don’t already enjoy? If it doesn’t win on either features or price, then it’s DOA.

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@neverdie, fundamentally, you’re right. Except that it has the lower weight point and is modular, meaning you can get everything from the stripped-down version to the fullest.

The printer is massively late; I actually thought it wouldn’t arrive at all. The video is not a review, it is a video created by the company and that is the difference. These are not developers, but businessmens how do lissen to costumers over decates… of course, to serve everyone is never possible.

They don’t ship their printers “for free.” If something doesn’t work yet, they “might” not sell it until it does. Whether that’s the case remains to be seen. They don’t have to look for 3D printing customers, they already have. They don’t have to look for a local distribution network and dealers; they have local dealers. This will probably be the furthest release that doesn’t come from Prusa or China. Taiwanese manufacturing cannot be compared to Chinese manufacturing. In the past, “Made in Thailand” was considered somewhat derogatory, like today’s “Made in China,” but they’ve long since gone their own way… not for everything.

It’s simply an big elephant standing still in the room. A very quiet elephant since he don`t need to be loude. When the Elefant starts walking, then no one may will stands in its way - Whether it’s something, I don’t know. We will see.

To complete the following Video - but for the moste it will by offtopic (but in fact exactly the last feet were bambu ist standig on. Even if the person on the video is swiss (as I), I at least 100% agree on “plastic is still plastic”. I m a littel more macanic, so I m not that happy as he is. I do not see so much quality as he sees. I just see the overpriced things as he notes by the others - but I m thanksfull to get his point of view and got his H2D thing a littel more - yes its cheap so he is also right. But by his Points, Bambu will lose over the long run against phrozen as sone they are in. Thats just a matter of time since phrozen are those doing business and are expirianced on:

And also offtopic but interessting: A1 costumer… so what happen there :wink:
May: Please no more bed slingers, but please at least include an display for more than 5 bugs :wink: If you forget how you got into the market, then the boomerang comes along.

I think Bambu is large enough to start getting into these fights. Look at like Samsung and Apple. The amount of lawsuits they have been involved in with each other. I use to follow a lot of that. You know, most companies can spin PR stuff in their favor, but they can’t spin PR in court, so you tend to get a clearer image of what’s actually going on if you follow their court cases and how they act in them.

I’m rambling, pardon. Point is, I think Bambu has grown enough in size that they can start getting into these fights, and asserting themself as such. It’s a sign of their size, and the weight they are starting to gain to throw around.

I won’t pick sides, or assume Stratasys is the victim just because they have the patent, or whatever. Having followed patent lawsuits for over a decade, I’ve realized a lot of it isn’t about protecting actual innovation, but about trying to stifle competition in any and every way you can.

Patents are more so the currency of large multi-national corporations. They’re what gets you a seat at the table, and what you use to jokey for power. They’re the tool used to keep young disrupters at bay, so these large corporations can hold their seats of power while putting the minimum amount of work into it as they can.

Okay, well, Bambu hasn’t entirely “won” yet, but I think they’re the clear frontrunner in this race, and the odds of them loosing at this point are getting slim. I remember when there were still competitors to DJI’s camera platforms, but look where we’re at now. :man_shrugging:

I think there’s a lot of the older school crowd that just doesn’t realize/see the full of what Bambu is, of what they’re becoming. A lot of people like to point out this or that upcoming printer that’ll challenge Bambu and knock them off their pedestal, but people seem to failure to realize that Bambu isn’t just their printers. They are a lot more, and all of those things add up.

For the past few years especially, I’ve seen people ohh and ahhh over this and that upcoming printer, but upon release, everything just kind of fades. Oh, and Prusa getting mentioned, as if they’re somehow relevant. I mean seriously. Those that complain the loudest about their issues with Bambu, it’s like Prusa is exactly what you want. Those people don’t want Prusa though, they want Bambu… so.

Prusa is a fine brand. I don’t want a Prusa. Prusa is reacting, not innovating. The Mk4 and the Core One are repackaged MK3s trying to compete with Bambu, but still falling short because Prusa isn’t an innovator anymore, and just doesn’t fully get it. That’s not to say the machines are bad, or can’t stand up to snuff, but at the end of the day they still fall short of what you get from a Bambu.

At least Prusa’s XL gets rid of the MK2/3 lineage and actually does some stuff different, advances things.

Regardless, there’s a whole connected world beyond the printer itself. A lot of the old school crowd will turn a blind eye to that, but those aspects of the experience aren’t insignificant. They are part of what defines the experience as a whole.

Other companies like Creality and Anycubic may try and mimic aspects of that, but they don’t understand it or get it. I think it shows. At least anycubic doesn’t stray too far, but look at the monstrosity that is creality’s online repository.

Like the things people cry about that Bambu might do, Creality is already doing. They have a premium subscription that gives you things like “ad-free” and you can control more than 3 printers (apparently the free tier only allows 3).

I don’t want anything to do with their model repository. It’s the porta potty of model repositories, the one that all the homeless do their drugs in.

You know, it’s just that there’s a whole world that goes beyond the printer itself, and while many may just gloss past that, it’s also an increasingly important part of the product as a whole. Not everyone will make use of every aspect of that product line, but it’s a driving force. It’s part of what is making Bambu a juggernaut.

I’m reminded of a post on reddit where someone talked about how before Bambu, messing with 3d printers was the hobby, but after Bambu, it became just a tool. I think there’s a large, and growing, amount of people that want that full on ecosystem because to them it is just a tool. That ecosystem helps give them the resources and access they need as they plunk along. There’s certainly people that will grow beyond that, but the consumer market at large…

And I’ve seen that consumer Market. Certainly, StreetSports, you or I are not that consumer market. I think we both know well enough how to navigate the world of 3d printing without all of the fluff. You don’t need the fluff!

Having put myself out there as a designer on Makerworld though, I’ve seen that consumer market first hand, and I see how much it values what Bambu has done with the whole system, and how they tie it all together.

I’m a long winded blowhard, so I asked ChatGPT to summarize for me, and boom goes the dynamite!

The author believes Bambu Lab has grown large enough to start engaging in legal and competitive battles typical of major tech players, like Apple and Samsung. They suggest that patent lawsuits aren’t always about protecting innovation but are often used by large corporations to suppress competition and maintain power. Bambu’s rise signals it’s gaining influence in the 3D printing industry.

The writer argues Bambu is currently the clear leader, even if not the absolute “winner” yet. They compare it to DJI’s dominance in drones, suggesting Bambu offers more than just printers—it’s an ecosystem that appeals to modern users who want a seamless, tool-like experience, rather than a hobbyist one.

They criticize older brands like Prusa for lacking innovation and claim newer machines are just rebranded older models trying to compete. Other companies, like Creality and Anycubic, are seen as mimicking Bambu poorly, especially in areas like online services.

In conclusion, the author believes Bambu’s strength lies not just in hardware but in its integrated ecosystem—something increasingly important to a growing consumer base that values convenience and usability over tinkering.

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I can’t speak on what Eufy is doing, so gonna leave that side. I just wanted to touch on the topic of toolchangers.

One of the frustrating aspects I’ve had with 3d printing over the years is the integration of some of these neat/new products that companies make. I’d love to try more of them out, and use them. Often times I don’t really have the resources to fully intergrade something like that into my own printer, for any number of reasons.

You know, it’s like easier on a 3d printer to put in whatever hardware. There’s enough standardization to things. With 3d printing though, there isn’t, and anything new you want to introduce can require a bit of tinkering and knowledge.

I used to put a lot of effort into trying out new tech in the 3d printing space. When the Revo came out, I wanted it, loved the idea, everything. Ahh! But it came at a point where I was getting tired of always having to tinker, program, deal with all of the troubleshooting, and everything else. I had bought two Anycubic Vypers too, and there wasn’t really a way to swap the nozzle out for one of those Revos. Well, not easily. I couldn’t stick a revo on my ol’ MK2 either, as that’d just be a lot of work I didn’t have time for. My other DIY printers were getting a little long in the tooth, so didn’t seem worth it.

I feel like I miss out sometimes.

Frankly, we all know I love my Bambu printers, but I still have moments where my heart yearns to tinker and play. I still dream of that Voron. I could cheap my way and get the Sovol version, but no. I’d rather build it. I’d love to be picking the components I want.

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@krellboy

No probelm: Generally, a German needs about eight years in Switzerland at work to understand small differences in saings. By the time the eight years are up, you go after work home and think that everyone is always super friendly to you :wink: But as I see, you are at least fimilar with swiss german - or you are swiss :wink:

Not Sponsered (but would by cool) - this kann mean a lot. What he means by that, I would have to ask him a little more in depth.

That can mean anything from being open to cooperation to a ripping low blow so even much more than “scheisstrottel”… only he knows - I understand it as following: It’s may an invitation to think about the actual sitation of sponsoring at all. But it is very difficult to interpret. What he was thinking by it, only he knows.

By the way: The toys are normal. For 3D printers a Bambulab is enough for me. For everything else, there are people like him who you can pay - but i need to know were are there limits, thats my job :wink:

That’s a great write-up and I’m definitely someone in their target market. I only entered the 3D printing hobby last November but for the reasons you describe: I wanted a tool to play with, I didn’t want the printer itself to be the hobby/project. This combined with MakerWorld makes it just so damn easy to enter the hobby.

And Bambu has me in their walled garden pretty firmly since I only use their filaments (easy to just buy from a single store), and I have bought a bunch of their Maker Supply things (including some of your projects haha). I also backed their CyberBricks project so I’m all in on Bambu :sweat_smile:

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Im probably in that old school category, ive been in 3d prinring since 2016 (Monoprice Maker Select v2…aka Duplicator i3) and I loved the tinkering at first. I’m in to building cars and live in the NE USA so in winter i went from tinkering cars to 3d printers, but as I get older I dont have time and dont want to spend the time fixing things (I was mostly a Creality user) so when Bambu came in the picture, after my first machine, i sold all my crealitys and replaced em with Bambu’s lol.

I was thinking about this whole pancake printer thing.

We should just replace inkject printers with pancake printers, and print edible documents. We would save a ton on printing cost and probably solve world hunger too.

I mean, a gallon of HP ink will cost ya about 20k. A gallon of pancake mix will cost you like 8-16 bucks, maybe cheaper if you get it in enough bulk.

Not to mention that the HP ink isn’t even edible. Money down the drain!

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I would LOOOVVVEEE if they could just figure out how to make an ink printer I can use as a tool when i need to and not have to worry about ink drying in the heads and having to purge and waste it and all the time spent to get it back to printing properly again lol. I used to do a little sublimation in my projects with a regular converted inkjet printer, but its a real pain in the ass if you dont print anything for a week or two and one of your colors starts “misfiring”

I’m still bitter after this happened to my large format printer. I love photography, and printed all my own photos for the wall. It got dried up/clogged though and I worked for awhile trying to make it work again before eventually just having to toss it.

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Yeah thats the biggest reason I never got a DTG machine (for making tshirts). I’m a graphic designer by trade and I’ve always wanted to add one to my arsenal, but if you arent a tshirt business and constantly turning out shirts, its not worth it so I settled on heat transfer vinyl and sublimation though their limitations can be constraining. Now i’m focused more on the 3d printing and such, so I’m not doing much sublimation and I just get tired of constantly purging and wasting ink. Not to mention some of the Espon printers have a purge tank that has a fill limit and you have to jump through third party hoops (and a small fee) to reset the tank so you can print again. Epson is the another king of planned obsolescence and trying to handcuff you to their stuff. I use third party cartridges with a chip resetter to get by that, but going forward if I replace it i would use one of their ecotanks that eliminates the cartridges, but still no getting around wrestling with drying up heads

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Are they not the same lot behind the colossal disappointment that is the AnkerMake?

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They had to rebrand over that :slight_smile: eufymake = ankermake :slight_smile:

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sounds weird but i think instead of a laser module they should have added a SLA printer below the buildplate… wouldnt work at the same time but at least u dont have dust and dirt all over the place…

i hope they will come out with a SLA printer one day…

a uv printer also would be interessting… dont really know why they did laser stuff…

What’s happening with the Flashforge M5?

Yes, I know there’s also a Pro version - I have a few myself. And yes, I’m aware of the AD5X, but soon there will be even larger models that are more interesting.

But my question is specifically about the M5, where you can swap the whole print head using just four screws. Starting this week, a few sellers have been getting rid of their M5 models, and you could pick up one of my favorite printers almost for free.

Now, the prices for the M5 are back up to 260–300 Euros. Looks like the sellers realized these printers aren’t going away at all :wink: Yes there are still abrasive and TPU for printers without AMS :slight_smile: