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3D PRINTING GURU'S

Trickythemerc

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I am thinking of buying a 3D printer with the intention of strarting a bit of a side hustle. One printer that stands out is the Bambu Labs Carbon bundle, question is has anyone got one and how good is it. Whilst I understand some of the technical aspects of 3D printing, I have no hands on experience. Before I sink £1300.00 into anything, some help from somebody with experience would be most helpful.
 
The Bambu Lab printers were something of a revelation when they first appeared, due to their their price, their out-of-the-box usability, their availability and simplicity. At the time there was little to compete as a package. Other manufacturers have caught up somewhat, especially regarding speed, and some concerns have cropped up around the Bambu Labs printers - chiefly their need for prints to go via a Bambu Labs server unless printing from an SD card, their automatic firmware updates (even one case where prints would attempt to restart overnight despite a finished print being on the build plate), and some hardware faults. Like most 'brand wars' discussions though, I suspect these issues haven't bothered/affected the vast majority of users, and the Bambu Labs packages are still undeniably good quality and value for money.

I have a couple of Prusa printers - one MK4 with the MMU (for printing with more than one filament colour/type, like the Bambu Labs AMS), and one MK4 that I've upgraded from an earlier MK3S+. In both cases I bought them as self assembly kits, and spent approximately a day on each one building it up - very satisfying and a great way to get to know the printer for the inevitable occasions when some disassembly is required to recover from a failed print and/or to repair/upgrade parts. The Prusas are more suited to DIY than the Bambu Labs, if that's your thing, and they make a point of providing an upgrade path whenever a new model comes out. For instance, I've recently placed an order for an upgrade kit to take one of my MK4 printers up to the latest MK4S spec, which can print even faster than the MK4.

In 3D printing, the first layer is the most crucial thing about getting a good print. A number of factors affect first layer success, but the chief one is the gap between the tip of the nozzle and the build plate - even tiny variations across the plate can be critical. The Bambu Lab uses LIDAR to measure this distance in a grid across the build plate, and the Prusas use a load sensor - both can achieve a perfect first layer, and have helped new users to get going without endless adjustments.

There are other brands out there - with similar speed capabilities (speed itself may or may not be an issue for you, but generally a faster print allows a thinner layer height, e.g. 0.2mm versus 0.3mm, which improves print quality) - some are targeted at the DIY crowd for instance, and require you to source all the parts yourself. Whichever one you go for I'd certainly recommend getting one with a removable spring steel build plate and some way of getting a reliable first layer that doesn't involve twiddling adjustment screws! And make sure it has a heated print bed, since PETG and ABS/ASA require this. In fact, ABS and ASA in particular require a high ambient temperature - the Bambu Labs has an integral chamber which is passively heated by the heat bed, whereas the Prusa is an open frame that requires a separate enclosure to achieve the same.

Consider whether you really need the ability to print with multiple colours - I have a Prusa MMU on one of my printers, but rarely use more than one colour. In common with the Bambu Lab AMS, it tends to add a lot of extra time to a print, and can be very wasteful of filament since it needs to purge the old colour from the nozzle before the new colour runs clear.
 
I would add that I already had a Prusa MK3S+ when we were choosing a printer for use at work. The decision was more or less left to me, and I specified the Bambu Labs printer, chiefly because of the LIDAR that ensures a perfect first layer (such a huge benefit compared to the old MK3S+), and the speed increase over the MK3S+. It's been an extremely good printer - it worked perfectly straight out of the box. In practice we haven't used it as much as we expected though, and I've done much of our required printing at home on my printers. This is for two main reasons:
1) Jobs routinely take many hours, even on a fast printer, so they'd often run beyond knocking-off time.
2) It's not the quietest printer, so it's not particularly nice to have it running in an office - my MK4 is a lot quieter.

Perhaps the choice comes down to what sort of person you are. If you're unlikely to want to tinker with the printer, and just want it to churn out prints, the Bambu Lab printer is a good choice. If you like to get 'involved' with the printer (upgrade with compatible parts or future official model updates etc), the Prusa is a good choice.
 

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