It was time for a new 3D printer, but I didn’t want to rush it… I waited, debated, and researched for at least a year. What to get, the Prusa XL, Ultimaker S, newest Anycubic…? I did reconnaissance at Maker Faire, the Winter Park Library, random maker spaces, friends’ houses, but finally settled on a Bambu Lab X1C.
I have to admit I was not super excited about them at first. I didn’t like the idea of using another custom slicer (in this case Bambu Studio), was wary of the overseas network communications, and have had issues with quality and customer support from Chinese products in general. But in the end, they won me over. More and more people kept recommending their printers (people I trust), and their price point was just unbeatable. I settled on an X1C with AMS filament loader combo. I even bought some of their own filament. At the time of writing this, the X1C can do carbon fiber laced PLA and other specialty filament, but doesn’t have the chamber controlling features or the hard ethernet switch for local LAN. For me these were wants not needs, although I do recommend the local LAN printing for small shops, public spaces, etc.; having to talk to a server in China is not ideal. I bought a few different sized nozzles; the 0.2mm nozzle is fantastic for fine details (although much slower when unneeded, so swapping is a thing).
All that having been said, I must say… wow! Not only did my X1C work right out of the box with minimal setup, it worked perfectly. And it took at least 15 prints before I had a single noticeable defect (which just ended up being from stringy filament, not the printer itself). It has a camera in it that takes time-lapse videos. It has an app that allows me to check (and control) it remotely. They have their own print community w/ preset profiles (Maker World), like Thingiverse and even more convenient, but of course you can still print any .stl from anywhere configured however you want.
True story: I printed most of my Christmas presents this year.
Another true story: I printed something for my son but we ended up gifting it to his friend (since I knew I could always print him a new one). But then my son was quite bummed, so while at dinner, I opened up their app, kicked off a print from history with same options, and by the time we got home it was done and in his hands. I mean… I’m not saying we live in a time of Star Trek replicators (yet), but I was impressed.
Here are various prints from it. Keep in mind, I’ve done very little fiddling with preset profiles (mainly because these prints are working so well out of the box). I’m still mostly working in PLA or PLA Wood, although occasionally print with PETG. Eventually I’m going to try the carbon fiber laced PLA.
I even built a work table to hold it and fit the space I wanted it in perfectly, using leftover materials from old projects. The only things I had to buy were some new screws, soft-close draw slides, 2 Tupperware-ish tubs to hold filament and desiccant, and a lamp that I mounted on the wall. Everything else came from leftovers.
Falling asleep while watching a print remotely…
