So for brief background, I have been wanting to get into 3d printing mainly for wargaming (terrain even more so than minis). Resin was completely out of the question because I can only do this in our own apartment. The melting toothpaste approach here (see, complete pro here) always seemed far too bad in quality with all the lines for each layer.
Fast forward to today after watching dozens of videos about the X1 and…I barely dare say it, it seems exactly what I wanted - easy to install, easy to use, great quality for terrain pieces. Before I go all in though, I’d like some advise:
Fumes - are there none? I mean, is this fine to essentially run in your living room?
Noise - similar to question 1, how about in your bedroom? (thats a bit exaggerated but generally, can you stay in same room or annoyingly loud?)
Ventilation for printer itself - I imagine you are not supposed to enclose it, say in some cabinet but rather have it free standing?
Lastly, Is it completely closed? I’m asking because we have curious cats and I dont know if thats dangerous.
I know this sounds rather picky but I sort of have to decide based on “ideal” scenario (if it were super silent, near to no noise and save - put cabinet open to front) or rather, must find a free standing spot, best behind a door while printing for cats and windows open or something.
Maybe one more…
5) How “safe” is such a printer to run unsupervised? There could also be an option I run it in our cellar but its a rented apartment. (I remember some very, very old 3d printing videos, years, ago, where fire risk was an issue)
Being near clueless, I suppose because many channels I watched recommended it for this purpose. Turning this around, why the P1S instead and…of course, same questions as above.
Good questions - had these same ones (except for the cats) and didn’t find definitive answers so I’ll tell you what I did to mitigate your/my concerns.
I have a P1S for non-commercial use in my home office a foot from an outside window and four feet from my ears.
fumes - yes. Have not found air quality testing info online (edit - see below). There are definitely fumes but who knows what they are and how much.
Noise - yes. I have not found sound level info online. With the door closed, the print head moving back and forth is loud enough to hear and be a nuisance. Everyone will react differently.
Ventilation - looked at ventilation tents but wasn’t happy with the options so have mitigated with a 4" AC Inifinity grow tent blower from the P1S through the window. Typically during printing I run it ~6/10 setting. Its winter so I’m blowing warm house air to -0c outside but its worth it to me.
Closed - yes, from a cat entry consideration, no, from an air flow consideration. How smart are your cats? Can they hook a 1x2cm door handle and give it a good tug? The p1s is not a sealed unit. I haven’t seen any literature online for air flow through the frame. Gaps in the door, top, poop shute, etc.
Is surprisingly and annoyingly loud, you will certainly not be sleeping with it. I had one in my room (my games room) and was louder than my TV in the same room. I used to run prints overnight on my ender 3 S1 pro and it never bothered anyone, but the X1 could be heard outside the room with the doors closed, and downstairs through the floor, so I didn’t want to risk run stuff overnight. A shed or garage would be perfect, or hopefully you have thicker walls than I do.
Not sure why one would be quieter than the other, they have exactly the same movement system, etc. One has plastic panels, one has aluminium, so I guess they could resonate differently, but I can’t see it being enough to make one significantly quieter than the other.
It is louder than the A1. I think it echos. I’m in an apartment too with mines setup in the living room and I can hear the X1 in my bedroom. My cats didn’t blink when I got the A1. A month later got the X1 and they are constantly going into the living room staring at it and meowing at it. They don’t like it. As for fumes I haven’t noticed any but I’m sure there are some considering the filaments. I’m only using pla right now because of my cats but I do have a setup that I use for airbrushing that has a venting system. So I could setup the printer to use in that space if needed. I do print overnight and it’s not loud enough to wake me up but my cats sometimes growl at the X1 if it’s printing fast. I do have it on a base where they can’t get on it or next to it for their safety. They are into everything usually, opening cabinets, turning on water, opening doors … but since they don’t like the noise I doubt they will do anything except maybe try to attack it.
But if you don’t plan on printing anything high maintenance like PC or such just get a P1S and print an enclosure for it. It’s half the price.
Thanks a lot for all your input, much appreciated!
Reading through the replies, I do think that yes, the P1S (I prefer enclosed) is probably more reasonable than the X1 and I will also not need the AMS.
Overall I think there are two remaining points that concern me most and maybe I’m too worried.
It seems at least some of you let these printers run at home, in the living or bedroom etc. I googled a lot and I’m still not really sure on fumes for PLA. It does “sound/read” like its no big concern unless you are basically right next to it?
I did however read an article about letting 3d printer run unsupervised and it went into lots of detail on small chances to start fires - that one seemed a bit scary. Certainly would keep me from letting it run in the cellar. (the article went on about smoke detectors, auto-shut off system etc etc)
Thing is, since this is a rented space, I don’t really have a whole lot of options like “create a well ventilated space” (due to cats I also cant just keep windows fully open for example).
In your oppinion, am I too worried about these points (fumes/fire hazard)?
As others said hold off on Bambu unless they roll back this recent narrative.
But in answer to your other question, am in a small room 4x4meter 1 window, the fumes even for pla were so bad I thought would have to get rid, but running a duct hose from the exhaust on the p1s to the window, made a world of difference.
Am also running an air purifier next to the printer and a fan for circulation as far from the window as possible. Have not smelt prints since, and only get a whiff when open the enclosure.
As a last note, if Bambu do roll back the decision, the p1s is an amazing deal, you can grab a half dozen filaments, gear and nozzle upgrades (for printing carbon fibre), a couple plates, a filament drier, and still come in at under the x1c. It was the direction I went when making the same choice.
The whole authorisation thing is not really my biggest concern but I have zero options to run a hose out of the window, air purifer is possible, even have an unused one. Really unsure on that part. Friends of mine run a 3d printer in their living room and tell me there is nothing to smell and thats all exaggerated, they dont use any purifer, hose or similar (like, dont worry about it). This alone might be a make or break kind of issue for me
EDIT: this becomes even harder to judge for me since some of you say “didnt notice any fumes” compared to your “were so bad I thought have to get rid of it” - not complaining, just confuses me
Yea I don’t understand how people are printing full face masks in their bedroom without an enclosure. Maybe if it’s in the living room, they can easily get away from it, plus they have bad sense of smell. I don’t know.
First few days I was getting headaches, being asked by other people in the house what was going on with the smells, and it was exclusively PLA, with the fans on window open but just being pushed out in to the room.
I would say it’s the biggest factor to consider, because they print slowly, and any substantial print could take tens of hours or even days.
funny were you sure you weren’t printing ABS or ASA? because that doesn’t happen with PLA.
Also to the starting user… I would wait until this who authorization thing is sorted out. At this time they just force you to accept whatever idea they might come up with according to their terms of service. For one meaning that if official support stops in 2027 they are allowed to brick the entire printer.
One thing about enclosures - depending on build plate you can need the printer door open for better printing temperature so an enclosure may not provide as much protection as people think.
Also, there are tiny fine strands of filament plastic that get liberated and can float around with various solvents and other components in printer filaments.
I don’t know other suppliers but Voxel has carbon filters for the X1C (probably others) and sells the bento box unit that together do a pretty good job of reducing at least some VOCs. Some have done some basic testing and the results are very promising that these can help reduce contaminant levels.
I bought the HEPA/carbon filters for the X1C and also a bento box. Bento box needed one additional hole to pass wires but did that with a hot screwdriver.
I had only 1 black standard pla and then a charcoal, grey and orange matt pla in the ams. Former to test first print, latter to print multi-boards. Not realising how long the pieces would take.
Only spool I’ve had that isn’t pla is 1 carbon fibre, but I wasn’t ready to use before sorting out the airflow or even ready to do the upgrade in those first few days.
It is a very small room with very little free space, and getting the printer helped me realise how bad the airflow in here was so maybe not as bad in a more open environment. I wonder could it be worse when the printer is new and wearing in (ie parts of the printer burning?), was there some other contributing factor, but as solved with the duct piping from exhaust a couple of days later I am fairly confident to say that was at least my experience printing with pla.
Oh don’t get me wrong I’m an advocate for not printing when someone is in the room.
That said it’s ABS and ASA that is the smelly stuff. PLA isn’t. As far as it being healthy while in the room I dunno but I’d avoid it if possible with or without an enclosure and just ensure for good ventilation.
If all you’re going to print is PLA, consider one of the A-series printers. They’re really quiet and easier to maintain than a P-series. You can get a soft enclosure from Wham Bam.
PLA, doesn’t have many fumes, but women have more sensitive noses than guys do. A HEPA filter should help out with that.
