Anyone been tracking this new printer?  I am 99% sure I will try to get in the discounted kickstarter campaign.

Bambu Lab
Kickstarter goes live May 31, 15:00 UTC.

I have been limping around with some janky printers for too long.  I have an old Ender 3 and and even older (but newer to me) Prusa Mk 2.  I wanted to upgrayyyde to a new shiny printer.  My budget was about $1000.  I was looking at a new preassembled Prusa, that's $1000.  Then I saw the Ender 7, very interested in new design and speed, but then getting mixed reports on it.

Now seen the Bambu X1 offering, which has some video reviews out.  How impartial reviewers, don't know.  Who are the big channels, these guys have <100k subscribers.  It's a new company but seems to have done a lot of development.  This is not a development kickstarted, but a preorder with things supposedly shipping immediately.  Early Kickstarter price of the X1 Carbon with the filament switcher AMS is $999, down from MSRP $1449.  So it's in my budget.

ModBot review
Edge of Tech review

Never trust kickstarter.

Established companies using kickstarter is doubly scummy. Its essentially consumers giving them money with no warranty or guarantees as kickstarter doesnt have any of those, and for these fly by night chinese companies, their "lifetime support" they will always promise generally lasts about the lifetime of the shipping label.

It’s and interesting printer. With the way things are kinda fucked up right now, the timing is a little off.

This dropped today

I’ve semi followed Brian Vines since he started on YouTube. He’s been burned before on Kickstarter things so he is pretty cautious. He’s also from Texas so that is a +1

10 AM Central time tomorrow, I think I'm doing it for the lulz.  I've had pretty good luck with KS since the early days.  Still beats Indiegogo in my book, just from my experience.  2/3rd the MSRP is a decent discount.  Plus you can reserve one at launch, and then cancel before the KS finishes... (that's a pro tip if you miss the early bird deals... keep checking in to the KS late in the project offering, people will cancel and the early bird slots will be available).

Some other videos popping up too.  Wish there was some big channels doing it.  CHEP where are you?

Pretty raw unboxing and review, this is part 2.  Likes the hardware, software/app needs work
Forum post from this guy with hi-rez comparison pics: https://forum.3dprintbeginner.com/t/bambu-lab-x1-carbon/479/23?u=3dprintbeginner

KS is live.  KS needs a KS to fund new hamsters for their servers, crap response.

500 comments on KS, most of them complaining how people couldn't get in on the early bird deal.

New review from a gun-friendly youtuber:

Finally some big channels getting into the game.

3 hours livestream:  (TL, DW)

If only Prusa could take some pointers from these guys and klipper. Pretty awesome that the company didn't just make another ender 3 clone like everyone else. Wonder how well the X1 can print with dissimilar materials in the same print, if its programed to purge enough material and pause to get the the hot end to the right temp. That last video posted here kinda suggests that is not a capability yet when I was skipping around to different parts.

Joel hit on some major points.

What is the build volume?

Sounds a little too good to be true for a grand.

Still wanting an XL. I think I'll stick with Prusa until the verdict is out.

256 cubed

On one of the Prusa chats they said they might allow klipper support, that may have been a translation error on their part though. I bet it would be a nightmare project to make a klipper code for all the new unique hardware Prusa has implemented.

After watching 3d print general I decided to get one. Always wanted an enclosed printer to do carbon fiber and other exotics as well as multi color and soluable supports. I'll let you know how it is if I don't pussy out and cancel before the deadline .

Nero3D has one but it’s still in the box.

Bump as the Kickstarter is about to end.  Shipping claimed to start in July by order number.

Good review

They had an XL at MRRF, I was rather impressed, pretty much exactly what they have shown.
There was actually quite a few tool changers there but you could see the quality difference in the Prusa system. Only real notes after seeing one is person is I do not see any good way to enclose the top and the baffle/cover felt just a hair cheaper than I would like to see.

Well Kickstarter has taken my money time for the impatient wait. They are also hiring tech support for US

I'm still skeptical of the whole kickstarter up front payment on this machine and the paid "influencer" reviews.

But I am looking forward to some honest reviews from members here on the waitlist!  I hope it lives up to the hype.

I know Uncle Jesse was having heaps of issues with his and bambu took it for autopsy but he also had another machine pledged and seemed to believe in it enough to not cancel his pledge

There is no way they didn't send him one for free like many of the 3dprinter influencers.

Hopefully it does turn out well. The Anker interest sure did go quiet on the heels of this, it was interesting that the pre production machines for anker were absurdly high quality, likely far too much for actual production. I hope this brings a new age in commercial 3d printers as we evolve from bedslingers. There has just been way too much overpromising and under delivering when it comes to kickstarters for these things.

They did send him one for free but I understand it he backed it to get another one as well

It will probably change a bit. Prusa hasn't even gotten the parts to build 100 prototypes yet per the latest prusa talk.

30-day update from the gun printing guy

According to Bambulabs, the first 2,000 orders have shipped... and I mean shipped, as on container ships unless the buyer opted for air shipping.  Production rate 600 per week.

Should be here on Saturday

Nice I haven't gotten a shipping notice yet. I'm around 3300 with a X1c combo

I was around over 1000, so you're probably about 4 weeks out if they are achieving their 600/wk production they claimed.

It's here, and it works.  Very nice first impression of packing and overall solidity.  I followed this online unpacking tutorial and it all went smoothly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJcjfINcA2I

I really like the overall setup as an appliance, rather than my previous open printers.  I don't want to jack with it, I just want it to do things.  That may or may not come true, but it sure gives a better impression.  The machine is not overall heavy, but it is somewhat awkward without handles anywhere (except the single spool holder on the back).  Plus the AMS is just loose on the top, but connected by both bowden tube and wire connection, so they have to be moved together.

Calibration went smoothly, except for me putting the sheet in sideways which caused a homing error at first.  It also told me to calibrate the lidar, but didn't give any hints how to do that.  The screen interface on the device is okay, but the phone app is not too useful so far.

I'm still using the 250g of Bambulab PLA.  Printed a benchy and now working on some of the other little stuff that is preloaded.  17 minute benchy is real, although it is 23 minutes with the optional self-testing it does before each print.  I think the Benchy was set at a higher speed, not sure about the stuff printing now.  Sound is noticeable but not too bad, there's just one part of the calibration where it gets into a harmonic that causes a buzz.  Needs a really solid base, the machine bounces and vibrates around as the head is moving so fast.

ETA: I haven't used the gluestick, I put on the Visionminer nano-polymer stuff instead, I used to use it on my Prusa.  Bench popped right off, we'll see on this larger scraper thing that is printing now.

Benchy underway:
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17-minute Benchy, a few things could be better but possibly my best I've ever done
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The first X1C droppings from loading filament and cleaning nozzle:
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Simple scraper.  First layer and bed adhesion are just right
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Day 2

Printed the 3D female torso (giggity) from the included files - perfect.  Very little infill so the outer shell is flexible.

Printed a set of 3 phone/tablet stands from the included files - perfect.  Hinges work great, very nice adhesion over large area.

Printed a large tray and lid from the included files - perfect.  

Had a false positive 1st layer failure somewhere in here... system thought the first layer looked bad, but it was fine.  Apparently this is quite common.

Installed Bambulab orange PLA in AMS slot #2.  Very nice loading system, grabbed the filament as soon as it was presented to the opening.

Printed 3d mesh vase from the included files - failed due print coming loose at about 1cm height.  Spaghetti detection alterted, but did not stop the print since I didn't have that option turned on.

2nd try 3d mesh vase - planned for failure since it would run out of white PLA halfway through.  Did run out and stopped print.  I thought it would give me an option to continue with other PLA or other options.  I wanted to test the ability to stop and restart a print.  Instead showed an error for running out of filament, instructed to clear out the bowden tube from AMS to main unit.  When trying to troubleshoot and moving the unit, I disconnected the power cable (it is quite short for a PC power cable).  I also thought the X1C had the ability to come back from a power outage?  I need to research the failure modes and procedures more.

Cleared out the bowden tube using some troubleshooting videos on the Bambulab site.  It still had about 4' of white PLA in the system??  Kind of surprised at this, throught it would know when it lost the end of the filament at the AMS, and it would know how much it had left?  Maybe the roll didn't release the end cleanly.

Installed and reloaded the orange PLA.  I had not reinstalled the bowden tube correctly, so when the AMS went to feed it to the main machine, the bowden tube popped off and it kept feeding orange PLA out into midair.  Slight mess.  Correctly installed bowden tube and it worked fine on reloading.

I need to find a tabletop-height location for the printer.  I have it on top of a chest of drawers, that puts the main box at eye height.  But with the AMS on top it is much too tall to work on.  Even the main unit screen is marginal since it doesn't tilt down from its position at the top edge of the box, only vertical or tilted up.

Installed bambu slicer and PC program.  Much nicer than the phone app, at least for me semi-Luddite.  I need a big screen.  Linked up to accounts and printer.  Grabbed a Glock stand/holster .stl and sliced it using the default settings.  Sent to printer through the cloud, very handy.  Desktop program shows the printer status and video from the internal camera, I was wondering where that was in the phone app.  Very cool to watch.  Speed is still phenomenal, large print with heavy infill was still <2 hours.

Glock holster printed perfect with orange PLA.

Now working on an overhang testing device that I sliced with the default settings.

Next step is some 3rd-party PLA, then work on switching filaments with the AMS.  The reports I have seen show very good results with the Bambulab stuff and more variation from other makers.  I don't have any experience with other materials.

Overall - very positive.  Felt a bit frustrated with the filament switch but it was partly user error.  But not quite the plug and play appliance feeling they were selling.  Without having some prior experience, I would have been a little lost.  But I could also read the manual or something too.

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Overhang test with default slicer options.
Right to left
75 deg worked with just the tip falling off where it is just 1 layer deep, some fuzz on the lettering
80 half decent, tip and lettering failing
85 hanging in there
90 just a mess
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Wasn't able to put much time with it, but did finally get back to printing on Saturday.  Nice "appliance" type day.

Working with the AMS, I loaded some eSun red PLA+ in slot 2, then formally unloaded the Bambulab orange from slot 1 in the printer menu, and loaded the red.  This worked fine.  When it ran out leas time, the unload didn't work and left filament in the feeder that had to be removed by disassembling.

Then I added some really generic shiny white PLA in slot 3, and then again in 4.  This was a little different since the AMS didn't pick it up the way it did on slot 1 or 2 with the others.  I just stuck the filament end into the feeder a short distance and hoped for the best.  So I was a little worried.  I had tried in slot 3 and got no response, but it did the same in slot 4 so I just went with it.

Then I printed up a tea bag caddy I had done with my Prusa years ago, using the red and white on the various parts.  Did make it 10% bigger in the slicer to fit the tea bags better.  I'm getting the hang of the slicer, putting multiple models on one build sheet, etc.

Printed two plates of red parts just fine.  The ESun PLA+ did not have as great of a first layer as the Bambulab stuff.  Not bad at all, just could see the lines a tiny bit more.  Need some optimization.

Then sent the plate of white parts.  In the slicer you can select the filament used out of the 4 slots in the AMS.  With a bar code on the spool, it will auto-recognize Bambulab stuff, or you put in the parameters by hand.  The printer successfully removed the red from the system and loaded the white.  Yay!

Printed the white parts and had one problem, the initial corner of the first part didn't adhere.  I was watching on the camera and was afraid it would eventually detach or cause other problems, but it otherwise printed everything fine.  See pics below.

Except for that one corner not working, this printing felt very appliance like.  Gaining confidence in the AMS.  The only service the printer needs is loading filament, removing parts, and cleaning the build surface (alcohol and then Visionminer).  I'm made it my policy to always leave the printer ready to print, cleaning the surface after removing a part.  Then I can send it things from the desktop slicer or the phone app without further work.  

I felt very advanced when this morning I went to reprint the one not-perfect white side to the tea caddy.  Sliced the single part, started it up, and went back to bed.  But later realized I hadn't enlarged it by 10%.  So from the phone app I was able to cancel the print and go back to snoozing.  Futuristic!

As for the noise, it is definitely noticeable.  I don't think the noise from any individual move is that much more than any other printer, but it just goes so fast that those noises come closer together and it feels like there's more noise overall.

Screwed up corner and normal one.  This was also my first print with supports on those little tabs.
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A typical evening, sci-fi on one screen, science fact matter assembler additive manufacturing on the other.  This was the messed up white print, you can see it on the Bambulab camera.
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Glad to see you got your X1 in hand and it's been working well for you.

You may be interested that you can use PETG as "support" only material and print PLA directly on top of it like they are doing here. Setup a multi material print in your sliced and set all the support structure as a separate material to only be printed in PETG. Since it has a higher melt temp you can print the lower temp PLA directly ontop of it and set a z-height for support gap to zero. This may take some playing around with. But the PETG should pull right away from the PLA print when complete and you should have better surfaces on those supports since you can set the gap to zero and get some squish on those layers without bonding to the supports.

Thanks, even with my old printers I've never gotten into the other materials, or fancy supports.  I see the water-soluble and solvent supports around, but results seem mixed, have you ever tried them?  They even sent a sample of the water-soluble stuff with the X1C but it will likely remain sealed for a long time.

Can you use any filaments you want to, or only proprietary filaments?

Anything.  These are the presets below, and you can modify from there with custom settings.  The AMS just auto-recognizes the Bambulab products, and the presets will be slightly more optimized.  The AMS is also set up for 200mm spools that Bambulab uses.  The ESun and others are slightly narrower and aren't quite as stable on the AMS rollers, but work fine.  There are already printable sabots available to add to 180mm or 167mm spools so they fit correctly in the AMS.
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Little print today with eSun PLA+, tactical FDE color.  Multiple M1 Garand clip holders with integral belt loops.  Did supports up to the belt loop, but left the hole in the belt loop unsupported (supports from build plate only).  Really solid print, supports worked great and detached easily.  Everything I've done so far hasn't touched the default settings except to turn on supports.  There are a few points where some tweaking or work in the slicer would help.  Second pic shows the failure in the 90-degree section of the belt loop hole.  
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I'm back to browsing the 3d-printer deal pages, ha.  The filament shelf takes a big hit with 4 rolls stored in the AMS.

Ender 3, Ender 5, and Prusa Mk2 going up on Craigslist soon.

Still waiting for mine to ship. Wish it would hurry up I have a back log of things I want to print to feed the beast

Did the first FMDA without any tweaking, turned out pretty good.  Looks better than it appears in this closeup.  I did figure out how to change the speed, it's on the touchscreen or in the slicer, there's a "100%" field which is normal speed, it can be changed to "silent" (slow, not silent), sport (faster), or ludicrous (highest).  This print was about 5 hours at normal.  With 4.5 hours remaining, I switched to sport, hoping for it to finish before I went to bed.  Tim went down to 3.5 hours.  When going to bed, I switched it to silent mode, time went up about 2 hours.  Can't really see on the print where the changes were.

Working on removing supports:
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Then today I switched to the black generic PLA+ (literally, there's no mfg name on the spool label), trying to print stuff for my drone.  First print failed after the first layer, had some lines come up that the printer caught in its scan.

Cleaned up and tried again.  Checked back later and found the first real failure.  Didn't see it on the camera since it was black.  This would have been a spaghetti failure, but the filament went back up into the hot end unit.  Packed all around the nozzle.  I heated up the nozzle and the front cover popped off easy enough (it is just a magnet connection, one was already pushed off by all the filament).  I don't think anything is wrong with the nozzle or extruder.  But being black, I can't figure out what part is filament and if there are any little black X1C parts in that mass of stuff.  That's a suspiciously perfect square cast into it, but that might just be the negative image of the nozzle.  Anyways, excavation is beginning.

Worse comes to worse, there are new front covers on the Bambulab store for $14...

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Dang, that sucks. I've had a lot of failures that are related to under extrusion or bed adhesion but have never had a filament blob. Hope you can get it straightened out.

Well, about that.
With a heat gun, I was able to get the blob pliable and get it peeled off.  Looking at the other part of the hot end, I was pretty sure there were no parts inside the blob, and I was right.  

Unfortunately the heat and/or my leverage cause the black bottom part of the front cover to detach from the grey top part with the fan.  And with a few melty parts on the bottom part, it won't go back together.  Almost fits but won't stay closed, mostly a snap fit with two tiny screws (or maybe three if I lost one).  There's nothing active in the bottom part, but it has half the magnets for attaching the whole front cover to the extruder assembly, and I am assuming some ducts that help part cooling.

Reference pic for the inside cover below... plus the angled off bottom piece.

I reinstalled the front cover, minus the bottom piece.  Fits fine but I added a square of tape to the side, since it only has 2 of the 4 magnets holding it.  Printer self-tested okay.  I removed the black PLA+, and I'm pretty suspicious of the white PLA+ that I also think is the same maker.  Maybe coincidence but 2 failures in a row after many successes with the ESun PLA+, I am suspicious.  Loaded up the ESun red PLA+, all worked fine.  As I thought, no clogs.

Starting a small test print now.  Printing okay, although the first layer was pretty bumpy.  We'll see what it looks like.

Ordered a new front cover from BL store.  Plus a roll of their matte PLA, and also a roll (0.5kg for $45, ouch) of the PA-CF.  It will be a good test to see if they have their retail side working.  Still waiting on the kickstarter gift coupons to go live for 3 free nozzle assemblies.

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Does work, maybe losing a little part cooling, but seems pretty normal.

Also, BL claims to have shipped my parts and filament already.  They are pretty serious if they are working on a Sunday evening on Labor Day weekend.

Did this big plate of multiple drone parts.  Didn't notice some of them had brims for some reason, how archaic.
Print time 2 hours 15 mins at standard speed.

Concept:
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Execution:
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Today's work:

Posted all 3 other printers I have on Craigslist and Nextdoor.  If anyone in DFW wants a project printer, I'll hook you up for cheap.

Printed some random stuff and 2 plates of the drone landing pad in eSun PLA+ red
Printed 3rd drone landing pad in generic PLA+ white, using automatic AMS change (initiated by the slicer, not doing it bay hand from the touchscreen).
Printed 4th drone landing pad in the suspicious 3d Warhorse black PLA+ that caused the blob yesterday.  Again with automatic AMS change, all good.  I looked up my purchase records and saw the brand of this stuff was 3D Warhorse.  One good print done now, I will try some others to be confident with that filament.

Landing pad front, decent with a few bobbles in the white and red.
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Landing pad back, very nice.
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