I really do appreciate that you are keeping up on all these things, and especially Bambu Lab related issues. And also thank you for getting straight to the point with NO drama about it. It is getting to the point where 3D printing isn't just a hobby any longer. Your channel is one of the very best out there, thank you!
When cutting the belt for the flsun belted bed, create a loop and overlap the belt ends. That way whether you cut it straight or crooked then ends will perfectly match and ensure it runs true.
I had an Ender 3 for 3 years. In July this year I got a Bambulab P1S and what can I say, I love it! It's fast, it almost never fails me (and when it fails it's because I'm lazy and didn't clean up the plate well). So I agree P1S is an amazing printer.
My Ender 3 has been sitting idle since I bought a Prusa 3, then a Prusa 4. My friend bought an Ender 3 over the summer and still isn't getting reliable prints consistently from it. Both of our Enders were sub-$200 and it shows. Spend just a little bit more and get a modern printer (A1 or A1 mini). So much more reliable.
Love to hear that when I just ordered P1S this week. I also had an Ender and the amount of money I spent on upgrades and fixes is very much not worth it. Worst is all the time and nerves wasted.
I never stopped being amazed by Bambu Printers. So if the poop chute clogs, it detects it and you get an error. If the AMS gets tangled it stops and you get an error. Other printer companies boast they they have the first-of-its-kind tangle sensor, when Bambu printers have this and so much more and don't even mention such things.
I have one printer, a Bambu Labs A1 mini, and I have been having an absolute blast with it. I have learnt how to make things in FreeCAD, which does have a steep learning curve but is very empowering. I am now used to the concept that if you think of something, you can probably make it. Friends have been getting me to make things for them too, it is fun.
My X1C is from the kickstarter, and did develop a similar issue to yours where it would suddenly throw a random "nozzle temp abnormal" error. Eventually I figured out it was because the wiring from the hotend to the toolhead board was loose - I'd swapped nozzles a couple times before eventually instaliing a Panda, which didn't help, but at the end of the day it was just the rapid back-and-forth of the toolhead causing the wiring to wiggle loose. I ended up replacing the toolhead board to get the new wiring solutions, but your better electronics skills can probably solve that issue on your own.
I have "enjoyed" the hobby of getting my 3d printer to work for 4 years with my Ender 3 Pro. Last month, I picked up a Bambu Labs A1 and now I enjoy the hobby of learning CAD with OnShape. The difference is insane. Everything just works and all my mental energy is focused on design instead of troubleshooting.
I have some friends at university who frequently use bambulab printers, but i never got one. I honestly got my ender 5 pro with tons of modifications like a different mainboard, closed loop steppers, CPAP cooling, a direct drive extruder and of course klipper to the point where it just works (at least with PLA). The prints are easily comparable with bambulab ones and so is the speed but it was (and still is, if i want to) definitely an involved hobby
I got an A1 mini after having 3 really good years with my two modified ender 3s. A1 mini motivated me to put klipper on them and now the enders print as fast as my A1 mini. A1 mini can still move faster, but its limited by part cooling and volumetric flow. Looking back at it, i dont regret buying the A1 Mini, i just wish i knew it wasnt as magical as i thought it would be.
@@MumrikDKas someone that struggled with ender 3 V2, starting with faulty main board that took months to identify as a newbie, screw enders. You were lucky indeed. My heavily modified ender 3 V2 can print decent but it still has issues and surface quality, etc. That's the problem with enders - lottery. No one wants that.
The Prusa XL enclosure is hilarious. I REALLY want to like the XL, but its price is insane and that enclosure... when there are no videos on youtube less than 40 minutes about the enclosure, theres something wrong and the fact it requires hours and hours for install AND costs as much as a really nice fully enclosed printer.... it is a real hard sell. I dont know what they were thinking with that concept.
I had somebody with very little previous assembly knowledge put one together. It took them about 5 hours and there are one or two things that upon review we just couldn't make sense of, like the magnets for the accordion screen. We are still actually testing whether or not it's worth it, as far as heat retention. The unexpected benefits is that people stop sticking their grumpy little fingers in the print area out of curiosity.
@@krollmond7544 I stopped looking after awhile. But I saw a number of reviews on the enclosure for 40 minutes. Builds for hours. Ain't nobody got time for that
@@TeachingTech one think I thought would help is to not have the y axis rails be half cantilevered. Why not just nice the vertical supports to the corner like every other printer? It would simplify everything. Granted Ive never actually seen an XL in person so there maybe something I don't know. But I thought, start there. Have standard panels. Then, maybe the Bowden tubes are too long which is why they stick up so both. If they could be shorter, maybe the enclosure wouldn't need to be so tall. Assuming there is enough extra to reach all corners
I just got my SV08! Literally watching this then going to unbox it and set it up! Thank you for your contributions to the 3d printing community! Im so greatful for you!
@@Reds3DPrinting It wasn't on the list, but he did show it in several of the examples at the beginning of the video(while describing things he looks for in printers). So, I think it checks some of the boxes, but maybe he didn't include it because he's HEAVILY modifying his.
I'm slowly converting my "farm" to Bambu for ease of use and just works. And doing kit printers for fun and tinkering. Currently building a printer inspired from BLV cube, Ratrig and Voron. Thinking of going for an annex or micron as a "parts" printer.
Understanding your needs greatly narrows down which printer you should get. I'm happily running a 2 printer Etsy shop with A1 Minis and they are amazing. Does everything I need and they have by far and away paid for themselves with my sales.
Another awesome video, thanks ! I dont know how you do it, the information, the structure and presentation answered so many questions i have. Just getting back into 3d printing and your experience and insight has helped me decide what is the best printer and eco system to meet my printing requirements. cheers !
An honest and to the point presentation as always. My only regret is that there was no mention of the Mk3S+ anywhere in there, which somehow I was expecting, given that it is indeed one of those "just print" machines. Slow yes, and not the latest and greatest any more, but a reliable workhorse nonetheless.
I'm a beginner and I love my 3.5! Got it secondhand so not only was it a tried-and-true reliable printer for a great price, it was set up, tuned, and ready to go. I know it's not gonna be the most viable option for everyone but I get the sense that there are a lot of nice, knowledgeable hobbyists with extra printers out there (and a willingness to haggle) and maybe adventurous beginners should be advised to check out the secondhand market more often! People should at least know that you don't have to go closed-source for an easy setup...
LOL! I have an anycubic resin printer in the box, in a closet, with the entire setup ready to go to be set up in our utility room which has ventilation, and same - I've just not had a reason to even bother with it. Honestly my 0.2mm nozzle on the X1C just blew me away, I was going to sell the resin printer and setup but I kept it just to have it for if I ever needed it. I might want to print some clear resin parts like warp field grills for a starship but haven't had the need for that either yet since i have some perfeclty good blue transparent PETG that worked great
That squeaky pully would drive me insane. You should definitely get a Vivedino Marathon. It's an idex with a reasonable build volume. It's just about everything I'd put on a printer as a custom build.
I thought about that printer, and I may buy one eventually, because it has the build volume, IDEX, and a decent price point. However, it seems to take a lot of assembly, and I needed to buy something that I can get up and running quickly. Overall, it might be a good alternative to a Voron kit.
The Mini Delta doesn't work because the EEPROM has a very limited lifespan, and with a reasonable amount of writing it deteriorates, the only option is to replace it, this has happened to me on an Arduino.
@@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse you're right but his mini delta is already quite a few years old and at the time it may not be the improved version of the eeprom
I started watching you when I was looking at the Bambu A1, I had a creality in the past and really struggled, but I LOVE my A1. After your OnShape guides and about 40 projects now I just have to say thank you for the amazing content and helping my break into this space! I can't imagine not being able to design and print little things to solve stupidly specific problems xD
The Qidi plus 4 looks like a potential "it just works" printer for high temperature and abbbrasive materials and is compatible with a planed AMS type system
I have an X1C and am considering getting a P1S or A1 to be a companion simply to have a backup when the X1 is chomping on a 10-20+ hour print, I LOVE the idea of using an A1 as a dedicated TPU printer! I might want to get a mini just for that purpose - I only want TPU for box gaskets and tires for toys/replicas and I actually haven't even tried it yet because I've been waiting for BBL's official flexible PLA to come out (I iknow there's other brands' I just don't have a hot need yet)
I have a video of what I do to donate each printer. There's a series of steps to make the new owner's job as easy as possible. ruclips.net/video/XgqD2QgUCOw/видео.html
Your bambu with the intermittent connection issues in the toolhead... That could be a bad solder joint on the PCB. When you get around to giving it a good look, pull the board and look for cracks in the solder around the pin where it meets the board. A fairly common failure mode on physical connectors with thin solder on those booards.
Great video. I’m planning to take apart my CR10v2 and Wanhao i3plus both I heavily modified. Now with a Bambu printer, I can take the plunge and make a printer out of those old 2 printers.
Some interesting choices. It would be interesting to see if Bambulabs could/would develop a competitor to the Prusa XL and what the difference(s) would be.
My 3d printer inventory is similar to yours, in that it goes back almost 10 years now to the first version of the Ender 3 and CR-10. Both were heavily modified before getting into Klipper, so none from that era are what I would label the current "modern" 3d printers that have the amazing features to make them print quickly with minimal artifacting. (i.e. they lack input shaping) My go to printers are the X1CC and Voron 0.2. But I do really want a 350mm cube or bigger fdm so i can print bigger board game box organizer inserts. My main print types are functional as well. I havent gotten back into resin printing because its just so messy. Although i do love the detail it can make for miniatures. Im foregoing printing any minis since my last resin printer leaked and destroyed itself.
Started my 3d printer days in about 2006 on a CR 10, many upgrades and printers between. Hands down my new go-to printers are Bambu Lab and the X1C at the top of the list. The A1's easy nozzle changes and speed for a bed slinger are right behind.
About that belt tracking issue. We have a $400 clothes rack, aka treadmill 🙂 To adjust the massive belt, there are adjustment screws on each side of the rear roller that move it in and out of parallel with the front roller. Turn the left screw so that side of the roller moves away from the front roller, and the belt begins tracking to the right. Move both screws equally and you tighten/loosen the belt to the rollers. So you have to play around a bit to get it right. Although I've watched a ton of your content I don't know anything about that build so maybe this info is redundant. If not, hope it helps.
I personally like my VzBot Vz330 very much. I installed a heater so I have a heated chamber. It is very fast with also very good quality. I can print a lot of materials. And the build volume ist big. So I think it is a very good printer the only downsides are I can't print multicolour and multimaterial and it is expensive
For multicolour, Annex Tradrack or ERCF would work, with tip forming option, for multimaterial you would need a Voron with Stealthchanger. For a 350mm build you can have 6 toolheads.
Idex lover here, have been using the sovol sv04 for a while now and its just such a huge step up from my ender 3. Never will leave my IDEX printer unless i make a toolchanger system
I recently acquired a Bambu Lab X1 carbon. From day one it threw me X-Axis related errors. I opened a supprt ticket and uploaded the print logs. The response was lightning fast and the engineer saw that the carbon rods had an abnormal resistance. They offered me the choice to return the printer or send me a replacement part. I chose for the latter and the new part was shipped to me promptly. The printer is now working flawlessly. Kudo's for their support. I still own an heavily modded ender3, a modded ender3 to the ender3-Max and a CR-10 Max. The X1C is a major game changer for me, but for the larger prints I still have to revert to my Ender3 Max or my CR10-Max. Reason for getting the X1C is that I needed a printer that "just works" for production work. And to that, it lives up to the expectations.
Great content as always. I'll give you a laugh as to my 3D Printers, some you may have never heard of and all but one I bought for 10 cents on the dollar on eBay marked for parts, as is, which needed either gantry, stepper motors, wiring, some needed parts. My first printer, the only one I paid full price, Dobot Mooz 2. Small build plate and I built a huge word color, reads out the time with neopixels, Raspberry pi, and 3D printed letters spelling out the time. Printed 2 letters at a time. 2 month project. Next Dobot Mooz 3 which can mix 3 colors of filament combined to one color or switching colors. Bought for $70, an $899 printer, marked for parts, as is, only issue was a scratched glass build plate. Next 2 Lulzbot Taz 5's. Various things wrong, paid $170 each, about $400 for parts for both and maybe 8 hrs labor. One runs either a .5mm nozzle, came with it 2.85mm filament. I also built an E3D toolhead 1.75mm filament .4mm nozzle. The other I built a moarstruder 2.85mm filament 1.2mm nozzle. Very strong prints, not enough detail, great for prototypes. 2 Snapmaker A350. One is for 3D printing, too slow really although I run it at 100mm/s. The other I dedicate to Laser or CNC. I seldom use the one set for 3D printing. A Sindoh DP200 used, exclusively for ABS as it's enclosed, slow BUT consistent. Voron 2.4, I use it a LOT, my go to machine, Klipper of course. 2 Ankermake M5 machines. I like them a lot. Very consistent especially as I bought both for $100 each and very little wrong, clogged nozzle on one, other needed a replacement heated bed $24.00 I think it was. I bought a piece of history Cubify Generation 2 by 3D Systems. Believe it or not they had the slicer than creates .cube files vs. gcode. It actually works. Not great prints at all but it's history, built in 2012. Cost me $70 came with 7 rolls of filament for the Cubify. Dried them our and used them on my other machines for functional prints. And, yes, I should sell some and keep the Lulzbot with the moarstruder, keep the 1 snapmaker set to laser or CNC, keep the Voron for sure. Keep one of the Ankermake M5s. The Sindoh is great as a supplement to the Voron, slow but enclosed for ABS. And I got to keep the cubify for history sake. Thanks for a great video.
Please have a look at/do a review of the QiDi Plus 4. Seems like a very promising/strong X1C competitor with a larger build volume, actively heated chamber, higher temp capabilities, runs Klipper, and will have an AMS system in the near future (Q1 2025 apparently).... All for less than the price of the P1S!
I have had Qidi X Plus 3 since the relaunch Aug 2023, been a great work horse, and their after sales service is great, they have sent me many newer upgraded parts for free by just asking.
@@megapro1725 That remains to be seen. Not that I don't love my X1C + Dual AMS setup, but I find myself working on more and more projects that require high temp nylons and larger parts and less and less projects that require multi colour printing. If it's a quality printer then the value simply cannot be ignored. I will not buy another printer that's not press print and walk away though... Still have PTSD about my Ender 3 days.
I have a Kickstarter X1C and i had issues where prints would stop due to the nozzle temperature failing to be maintained even though i could then heat it up after the print failed. The fix for me was to install the new version of the toolhead board set after which i haven't hit a nozzle temperature failure since. As far as i could see, the main difference is a better connector between the extruder and toolhead boards but since it worked, i didn't care to dig too much further into it. I think they have an even newer revision now and have gotten rid of one version of the LIDAR so it's possible if you upgrade now you need to also install a new LIDAR module (for example mine is one of the outdated ones so if i upgrade again I'll have to do that though Bambu says they'll give the LIDAR module to everyone once for free).
Perfect timing! I just ordered a new printer. Also you gave me an idea on what to do with my modified ender 3 v2 since selling it isn't really worth it (I've looked and there are dozens of offers that stay for months) and I don't know anyone that would be interested. I guess I'll put a bigger nozzle on it and use it for parts that don't need to look pretty or be very accurate. I might use it like that till it eventually breaks and I'll strip it for parts for other projects after that. I always like your video formula, clear and to the point. As someone with teaching background I think your format is great and you understand the principles of teaching well. I guess I shouldn't be surprised given the channel name huh... Also, always appreciate the additional validation from someone that knows their stuff that I made a good purchase. All that's left is to wait for shipping. I'm notoriously unlucky with my purchases so I am hoping this won't be the case this time. Cheers.
I ran a 12x12x24 Raise3D and it was a pretty good printer. Nice enclosure, good build quality. We bought it used and had to do some tweaking and tuning to get it running well because it had been used as an ABS production printer in a print farm. But every filament printer we tried was an arm wrestling match. Bad prints, or some glitch in the feed, or head. Tried upgrading hilt ends, cold ends, filaments, everything, and got pretty good at keeping it going, but having a failure on a 20 inch tall print in the last inch occasionally just took all the fun out of it. I loaned it out to a friend who runs 3 of them doing really basic single wall stuff. Instead we moved to LCD resin printing. Got a big Peopoly- which turned out to need some tweaking to get to run reliably, most importantly, sticking a reptile terrarium warmer inside the enclosure. Then we bought the Phrozen Mega 8K. I gotta say- it’s the ONLY 3D printer I have ever bought that worked right out of the shipping create without any issues. We very occasionally get a print that doesn’t stick to the platform, which just tells us to sand the platfrom and it will run fine. WAY better print quality than any filament. Though it requires some post processing.
I was extremely disappointed with the cancellation of the Ankermake V6 Colour changer however the Ankermake M5 printer is still by far my most reliable printer after replacing the bed with borosilicate glass. I'd recommend doing the same and giving it another chance.
Also fantastic for me. The motor calibration update helped quite a bit, but yeah there are still some vfa visible on big flat surfaces. Don't see them on organic parts though.
Kickstarter X1C version issues : Would be great to have a video about this early version issues and the related fixes!! On my end, nearly all sensors involving the tool head display errors and from time to time, they suddenly work as intended!.. only to display errors again on the next print!..
I have had nothing but problems with my 5 toolhead XL in the 6 months since I received it. I am currently preparing to return it to Prusa for evaluation and repair. Before I even powered it up I contacted Prusa support because the right support arm for the heat bed required it to be bent about 2cm in order to attach it to the bed which did not seem right to me. Prusa said this is "normal." Within days, a tool head detached and destroyed the plate. Prusa support claimed it was due to the tubes not being perfectly vertical causing "filament friction to detach the tool head" even though Prusa's own pictures of XL's show tubes that are tilted comparable than mine. I never could get a consistent first layer on the right side. I began printing only on the left side of the printer but whenever a print was taller than 10-20cm, I would get a large layer offset that ruined the print. One day the bed elevated asymmetrically on the right side and I heard a scary grinding sound. I powered the printer off and manually elevated the bed so it was even and recalibrated. A few prints later it recurred and before I could power it off the bed elevated past the z-screw support, breaking it and causing the heat bed to bend and break. These are not the only problems I have experienced. I have had many random orange screens of death with various heating, power supply, etc. error messages. Now, half my warranty is gone and I may be facing high costs returning the printer and getting it repaired. Honestly, I would not buy another XL and in fact I just today placed an order for a Bambu X1C. I also have a Mk4S and independent of the XL problems, I find Prusa's are high maintenance. I have to replace my hot end about weekly and its a chore. While Prusa's support is excellent they often go down the wrong rabbit hole. My MMU3 would not work and Prusa support persuaded me to buy a replacement idler motor at a relatively high cost due to the cost of shipping from the Czech Republic. The replacement motor did not work. Ultimately, I discovered the root of the problem was manufacturing debris in the male plug preventing a proper contact. My wife has a Bambu X1 and it has been very reliable. She has only needed to contact Bambu support one time in 2 years. For every 5 hot end's I replace, she replaces one and it is much simpler and easy to do. I'm exhausted with Prusa printer problems. I just want a printer that is reliable and low maintenance. I hope the X1C will deliver.
I understand you make more functional parts that dont need to look pretty as you say towards the start and i only have an ender 3 fdm to conpare to and saturn sla but i find myself using resin more and more these days personally,i just love how fast it is compared to fdm and really have gotten quick at cleaning and curing, especially good if you have multiple small parts to make ,and some resins are plenty tough for functional parts too if implemented right(mostly still weaker than most fdm still ise tpu for drone parts) ,i printed the bodywork of my ebike on my saturn and coated it with fiberglass filler and all the battery connectors for a custom 21700 pack to fit inside it been riding it for 2 years with like 2000km ridden no issues at all.
P1P is the best option on the market, it is not difficult to sew up the walls with polycarbonate yourself, BUT you will have space outside for additional installation of the chamber heating. I did not have the heart to drill the body of my P1S/
The quality of printed parts in the "just works" category, aka bambu printers, is so good it might have pushed over the edge to get a a1 mini. Altough i'm broke so fixing the ender would be cheaper, just needs a looooot of attention and time.
If you can scrape together the money for a Bambu printer you will not regret it. I have multiple printers at home including an enclosed and heated SKTank but I do all my printing at work on the Bambu printers instead of dealing with the maintenance of other printers.
the a1m is a beast for the $$ I replaced a problematic machine with an a1m and frankly I couldn't be happier.. I never have to spend any time getting it working.. just slice and go.. I put 300hrs on mine in 2 months and I don't do that much printing 🤣 thing makes me wana print stuff for the heck of it
I would love an updated CR-10 Max video. Mine was offline for a year because the bed cupped to over 2mm. I bought a new bed and have now run a new extrusion down the middle from underneath.
Creality utterly destroyed any good will I felt with the crap they released in the early days. It'll be a cold day in hell before I give them any more of my money.
Great video. I have a Rat Rig V-core 3.1 that I built a year ago, and while I am jelly that the V-core 4 is out now, I have been looking into the new V1.0 Toolhead for the 3.1, as well as the beacon probe. It would be awesome if you could make a video or a guide on your install of the beacon onto your Rat Rig.
For the printer that gets the bed out of level when you clean it, how hard would it be to add some physical buttons, or maybe ones on the control panel, to energize and de-energize the Z motors? Then just push it before you clean. Or if the printer is in an enclosure, set it up to energize the Z motors any time the door is open!
I'm still rocking an Ender 3 Pro as my only 3D printer, and I use it at least several times per week. It is pretty heavily modified, of course. It has a direct drive extruder, ABL, full machine enclosure, aftermarket control board with silent stepper drivers, etc.
Do a video like this focused on cost to performance, there's 8000$ VS 600$ printers in this list so it's hard to make sense about all these 'annoyances'... A small gripe with a cheap printer that overall does a good job is quite different then when it's a near 10$k one, I'd expect the super expensive one to be near perfect.
Im still using my first 3d printer which is a tevo little monster which i got in 2018. Im patiently waiting for your sovol sv08 build. As very interested in that as my next printer! (Also awaiting for your other channel to have an update btw!) 😊
I recently bought an A1 Mini combo, primarily for multicolour printing, but there's no denying it's great for fast printing. I'm sticking with my Ender printers because I also enjoy the tinkering and customising aspect.
@TeachingTech I have the same nozzle temperature problem with the X1C. And indeed, wiggle the wiring and it works again. Fully assembled replacement hotends give the same problem. I did notice that I get the warning more often when I print with the door closed. Should you ever find the cause, I would be gratefull to hear it. Thanks for al the years you've taught us about 3D printing. I found your channel when I had trouble with my first ender 3. 20 printers later I still watch every video. Looking forward to the next one.
Have a Bambo A1 at work and my HEAVILY modified Ender3 Pro at home. The fact I made my E3P my way, I hands down prefer it. As reliable and fast as the A1, just with less failures on the rare occasion they happen...
I love my ELEGOO Neptune 4 Pro, once it's dialed in it just works. But its not really plug and play. The 2 drawbacks are the unique nozzle and it works WAY better with aftermarket support struts for the Z axis.. but for a low price FDM, its great.
This video is nice! I’m a bit skeptical about machines made in China, so I prefer to support other companies. I really like how Prusa operates, and my next printer will definitely be from them
I've only had a couple things I've had wrong with my Ender 3 V2. 1. Sometimes the print head doesn't home properly? It's not constant, but it's probably due to the board. 2. The original tension arm for the filament extruder broke 3. It wouldn't get hot enough for Nylon despite being able to, so I had to switch to a different firmware. Other than that, I've used it a ton, and I have few complaints.
With the Caveat that I haven't had a Prusa and don't want to go into Bambu's semi-walled garden, the Magneto X has been pretty much about the same as any other printer in terms of filament calibration. The regular OrcaSlicer calibrations (temp tower, flow, pressure advance) give me almost ideal results, with the exception that some filaments prefer to have a slightly bigger outer wall wipe gap, probably because of the longer melt zone. Although, I've had a couple really bad jams in there. Haven't actually managed to get a flexible to work in it yet, but I keep my heavily modded Ender 3 (v1) around for that for similar reasons as you.
My CR10S is a real workhorse, though there's not much left of the opriginal hardware now :-) I'm tempted by a Core XY printer, but then I think that my current printer does what I need already.
You dont need to trim the bed! Just give your rollers a tapper on the ends, it will naturally pull the belt back to the center. There are guides on this this. This is an easy fix =)
I realize I might not be representing a very big demographic here but I'll say that as a beginner who prefers open hardware and dislikes Bambu's business practices, I've been having a very good experience with my secondhand Prusa. Your mileage may vary of course and it's not for everyone but I strongly suspect buying secondhand from a knowledgeable hobbyist with extra printers may be the best of all worlds for some beginners - if you find a good listing you could potentially get a well-maintained, ready-to-go, reliable machine that you can learn to tune and maintain as you go, plus any extra components and tailored advice they want to throw in, all for an affordable price for you and a happy bit of cash for them. Also all the usual more abstract benefits, manufacturing waste, cargo emissions, blah blah blah. Eventually I might crave a lightning-speed Core XY or something but as a newcomer I find my "outdated" machine to be quite magical and I'm honored to be giving it new life.
On the mini delta, you could edit Marlin and add a new eeprom. It's probably simpler to just add a new main board but it's certainly possible to add an external eeprom.
I have 16 printers now, including a brand new, still in the box Ender 3 from MicroCenter. At this point, keeping it sealed may be my best bet, as hopefully someday it will be a collectable lol
The X1 carbon led to everything else going. My thickness gauges went away and I’ve forgotten where they are which is how it should be. Never having to fiddle with Z offset is a game changer
I went from an extensively modified Ender 3 Pro to an X1 Carbon. The difference is mind blowing. No Z-offset change with bed surface changes, no x and y skew offsets, tolerances are dead on when printing parts that fit together. I absolutely love the X1 Carbon. Oh, and the reusable spools from Bambu and cheaper refill rolls, awesome!
My go to printer has been my qidi x-max 3 in the last year. It's like a larger bambu carbon for the same price and so far it prints extremely well. Cleanest z wobble tower I ever printed and it prints insanely fast while keeping things clean. Been debating if I should try selling my rat rig 3.1 to fund a 4 with an idex.
I missed your work flow for more demanding materials, such as the ones used on your car's mechanical customisation, or stuff that really require some industrial grade capabilities like a heated chamber and over 300C print temp.
Hi Michael. Thank you for all your content that has accompagnied me in my 3D printing journey. I was wondering, for your belt problems on the FLSUN, would'nt it be possible to have an alternate ejection sequence, per exemple tree roles forward (ejection) than a reroll action or a way to eject piece rolling backward? Keep it up and thanks again!
I had an Ender 3 V2 for 3 years, and I thought I was going to keep it forever and just keep modding and upgrading it. However, I bought a Bambu Labs A1 Combo about a month ago and have now retired the Ender to storage. I realized that in order to achieve the same speed and quality as the A1, I would need to spend the same amount on upgrades as a new A1. A friend of mine bought an AnyCubic Kobra 3 Combo for a few hundred dollars less, and I'm a bit jealous of some features it has, such as USB connection for a camera and expansion. However, it is missing some important functions like flush waste total in the slicer, and there are other things that I can't remember right now that will eventually be fixed in software updates. Oh, and it has a much noisier fan compare to the A1 and mine has nosier X Y Z movement.
I'm suprised that the Prusa MK4 havent made to the list. It's kinda sad that they used to make top notch 3d printers, and now their place is taken over by almost every Bambu Lab printer.
@@filmodpetra My thinking as well. Despite it's price, this list does not seem complete without the MK4. And an influencer like Michael should have experience with it. I must admit I wish the MK4 had gone down in price, given it's competition. However, I still bought one this summer. I'm super happy with my purchase, knowing I could have saved money buying a BBL A1. 🙂
The Mk4(s) $800 disassembled or $1100 assembled before shipping is hard to swallow for a comparable A1 339 or 489 with an ams lite. It's especially hard to ignore for a first time buyer that has not used a Prusa printer or an even older printer to compare it to. Michael is in a unique position where price isnt his only concern but can he use it in projects.. Showing multiple Bambu printers is more than ringing endorsement.
@@hawtdayum Yeah, I get that a newcommer might easily gravitate toward the cheaper option, regardless of what it may be. Prusa where never the cheaper option; at least not for as long as I have been paying attention. But it used to be to go-to, if you had the budget for it. These days, it seems you have to special interest in their way of doing things, to care to pay for it. I'll admit, it is a hard pill to swallow. But I still chose to buy an Mk4 with MMU3 over any of the BBL-alternatives. And I chose to upgrade my Mk3's to 3.5. I won't be selling those any time soon, all though I have other non-prusa printers as well.
I went from an ender to a Prusa to a bambu. The Prusa was a GODSEND in terms of reliability and I didn't mind getting my hands into diy after the ender. For years family, specifically my mom, wanted to get into 3d printing and I knew I would have a headache and a half supporting an ender and she would be calling me constantly if she needed to use a slicer to manually move files to an SD card, navigating a dial screen etc. So I got her an A1 loaded the bambu app on her cell and she has never touched a slicer, needed to manually load filament, outside of the ams lite, printed in multicolor and has been printing daily with makerworld for months. There is something to be said about dirt simple, reliably and user friendly devices and it was less than $500. Prusa doesn't need to be the cheaper option but there is a whole section of people, like my 65+ mom that hasn't been served until recently. Ankermake has a print from app option(m5 and m5c) as well, and this was before prusa added the app integration with printables.
I would love to switch to a Bambu but I am waiting for a good way to reduce the amount of waste from the printer, it does a great job but the purging is a bit crazy!
Always love teaching tech he gets straight to the point and he dont care what he says about the printers when he reviews them
😅 I'm pretty sure he cares a lot about he says... At least, I hope so, since I hope to take his advice.
I really do appreciate that you are keeping up on all these things, and especially Bambu Lab related issues. And also thank you for getting straight to the point with NO drama about it. It is getting to the point where 3D printing isn't just a hobby any longer. Your channel is one of the very best out there, thank you!
When cutting the belt for the flsun belted bed, create a loop and overlap the belt ends. That way whether you cut it straight or crooked then ends will perfectly match and ensure it runs true.
I had an Ender 3 for 3 years. In July this year I got a Bambulab P1S and what can I say, I love it! It's fast, it almost never fails me (and when it fails it's because I'm lazy and didn't clean up the plate well). So I agree P1S is an amazing printer.
My Ender 3 has been sitting idle since I bought a Prusa 3, then a Prusa 4. My friend bought an Ender 3 over the summer and still isn't getting reliable prints consistently from it. Both of our Enders were sub-$200 and it shows. Spend just a little bit more and get a modern printer (A1 or A1 mini). So much more reliable.
lol the only time my P1S fails is when I forget to take the prior print off the bed before starting a new one!
This is exactly what I did as well. Love my P1s Combo
Love to hear that when I just ordered P1S this week. I also had an Ender and the amount of money I spent on upgrades and fixes is very much not worth it. Worst is all the time and nerves wasted.
I never stopped being amazed by Bambu Printers. So if the poop chute clogs, it detects it and you get an error. If the AMS gets tangled it stops and you get an error. Other printer companies boast they they have the first-of-its-kind tangle sensor, when Bambu printers have this and so much more and don't even mention such things.
I have one printer, a Bambu Labs A1 mini, and I have been having an absolute blast with it. I have learnt how to make things in FreeCAD, which does have a steep learning curve but is very empowering. I am now used to the concept that if you think of something, you can probably make it. Friends have been getting me to make things for them too, it is fun.
My X1C is from the kickstarter, and did develop a similar issue to yours where it would suddenly throw a random "nozzle temp abnormal" error. Eventually I figured out it was because the wiring from the hotend to the toolhead board was loose - I'd swapped nozzles a couple times before eventually instaliing a Panda, which didn't help, but at the end of the day it was just the rapid back-and-forth of the toolhead causing the wiring to wiggle loose.
I ended up replacing the toolhead board to get the new wiring solutions, but your better electronics skills can probably solve that issue on your own.
I have "enjoyed" the hobby of getting my 3d printer to work for 4 years with my Ender 3 Pro. Last month, I picked up a Bambu Labs A1 and now I enjoy the hobby of learning CAD with OnShape. The difference is insane. Everything just works and all my mental energy is focused on design instead of troubleshooting.
I have some friends at university who frequently use bambulab printers, but i never got one. I honestly got my ender 5 pro with tons of modifications like a different mainboard, closed loop steppers, CPAP cooling, a direct drive extruder and of course klipper to the point where it just works (at least with PLA). The prints are easily comparable with bambulab ones and so is the speed but it was (and still is, if i want to) definitely an involved hobby
I must be lucky. This has been a CAD learning hobby for me even though I have an Ender 3v2. The only problem it gives me is manual bed leveling.
I went the same way. Swapped from the Ender 5 pro (now under the bench) to a Bambulabs P1S. As you say, the difference is night and day!
I got an A1 mini after having 3 really good years with my two modified ender 3s. A1 mini motivated me to put klipper on them and now the enders print as fast as my A1 mini. A1 mini can still move faster, but its limited by part cooling and volumetric flow. Looking back at it, i dont regret buying the A1 Mini, i just wish i knew it wasnt as magical as i thought it would be.
@@MumrikDKas someone that struggled with ender 3 V2, starting with faulty main board that took months to identify as a newbie, screw enders. You were lucky indeed. My heavily modified ender 3 V2 can print decent but it still has issues and surface quality, etc. That's the problem with enders - lottery. No one wants that.
The Prusa XL enclosure is hilarious. I REALLY want to like the XL, but its price is insane and that enclosure... when there are no videos on youtube less than 40 minutes about the enclosure, theres something wrong and the fact it requires hours and hours for install AND costs as much as a really nice fully enclosed printer.... it is a real hard sell. I dont know what they were thinking with that concept.
I had somebody with very little previous assembly knowledge put one together. It took them about 5 hours and there are one or two things that upon review we just couldn't make sense of, like the magnets for the accordion screen. We are still actually testing whether or not it's worth it, as far as heat retention. The unexpected benefits is that people stop sticking their grumpy little fingers in the print area out of curiosity.
Not sure what you've been watching, the videos I saw weren't even that bad even if the design isn't the best.
@@krollmond7544 I stopped looking after awhile. But I saw a number of reviews on the enclosure for 40 minutes. Builds for hours. Ain't nobody got time for that
I'm thinking about building my own budget version. Probably no filtration but a useful enclosure otherwise.
@@TeachingTech one think I thought would help is to not have the y axis rails be half cantilevered. Why not just nice the vertical supports to the corner like every other printer? It would simplify everything. Granted Ive never actually seen an XL in person so there maybe something I don't know. But I thought, start there. Have standard panels. Then, maybe the Bowden tubes are too long which is why they stick up so both. If they could be shorter, maybe the enclosure wouldn't need to be so tall. Assuming there is enough extra to reach all corners
I just got my SV08! Literally watching this then going to unbox it and set it up! Thank you for your contributions to the 3d printing community! Im so greatful for you!
I was a bit surprised I didnt see it on the list! I hope it turns out to be a good one for me!
They have tolerance issues. And sovol is a toxic company.
@@Reds3DPrinting It wasn't on the list, but he did show it in several of the examples at the beginning of the video(while describing things he looks for in printers). So, I think it checks some of the boxes, but maybe he didn't include it because he's HEAVILY modifying his.
@@richmondrivet That'd make sense. Most the printers shown were completely stock
So how's your SV08? I'm still undecided whether to get one
I'm slowly converting my "farm" to Bambu for ease of use and just works. And doing kit printers for fun and tinkering. Currently building a printer inspired from BLV cube, Ratrig and Voron. Thinking of going for an annex or micron as a "parts" printer.
Very impressive printers collection. This year P1P is definitely my go-to printer.
Understanding your needs greatly narrows down which printer you should get. I'm happily running a 2 printer Etsy shop with A1 Minis and they are amazing. Does everything I need and they have by far and away paid for themselves with my sales.
Another awesome video, thanks ! I dont know how you do it, the information, the structure and presentation answered so many questions i have. Just getting back into 3d printing and your experience and insight has helped me decide what is the best printer and eco system to meet my printing requirements. cheers !
OMG the squeaking RatRig/spider motel 🤣 Spider I could happily cohabit with...but that noise would drive me insane! 🫤
Looking forward to your video on the x1plus board 😃
An honest and to the point presentation as always. My only regret is that there was no mention of the Mk3S+ anywhere in there, which somehow I was expecting, given that it is indeed one of those "just print" machines. Slow yes, and not the latest and greatest any more, but a reliable workhorse nonetheless.
I'm a beginner and I love my 3.5! Got it secondhand so not only was it a tried-and-true reliable printer for a great price, it was set up, tuned, and ready to go. I know it's not gonna be the most viable option for everyone but I get the sense that there are a lot of nice, knowledgeable hobbyists with extra printers out there (and a willingness to haggle) and maybe adventurous beginners should be advised to check out the secondhand market more often! People should at least know that you don't have to go closed-source for an easy setup...
LOL! I have an anycubic resin printer in the box, in a closet, with the entire setup ready to go to be set up in our utility room which has ventilation, and same - I've just not had a reason to even bother with it. Honestly my 0.2mm nozzle on the X1C just blew me away, I was going to sell the resin printer and setup but I kept it just to have it for if I ever needed it. I might want to print some clear resin parts like warp field grills for a starship but haven't had the need for that either yet since i have some perfeclty good blue transparent PETG that worked great
That squeaky pully would drive me insane.
You should definitely get a Vivedino Marathon. It's an idex with a reasonable build volume. It's just about everything I'd put on a printer as a custom build.
I thought about that printer, and I may buy one eventually, because it has the build volume, IDEX, and a decent price point. However, it seems to take a lot of assembly, and I needed to buy something that I can get up and running quickly. Overall, it might be a good alternative to a Voron kit.
@@dfloyd888 I haven't built a printer from scratch yet. This one took about an hour. Only the side panels were painful.
The Mini Delta doesn't work because the EEPROM has a very limited lifespan, and with a reasonable amount of writing it deteriorates, the only option is to replace it, this has happened to me on an Arduino.
Modern eeprom memories still need a very large number of writes! It's a hard to reach number for us just saving settings
@@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse you're right but his mini delta is already quite a few years old and at the time it may not be the improved version of the eeprom
I started watching you when I was looking at the Bambu A1, I had a creality in the past and really struggled, but I LOVE my A1. After your OnShape guides and about 40 projects now I just have to say thank you for the amazing content and helping my break into this space! I can't imagine not being able to design and print little things to solve stupidly specific problems xD
The Qidi plus 4 looks like a potential "it just works" printer for high temperature and abbbrasive materials and is compatible with a planed AMS type system
Just ordered mine last night. Hope so! It certainly has all the bells and whistles
I have an X1C and am considering getting a P1S or A1 to be a companion simply to have a backup when the X1 is chomping on a 10-20+ hour print, I LOVE the idea of using an A1 as a dedicated TPU printer! I might want to get a mini just for that purpose - I only want TPU for box gaskets and tires for toys/replicas and I actually haven't even tried it yet because I've been waiting for BBL's official flexible PLA to come out (I iknow there's other brands' I just don't have a hot need yet)
That was really good!
You’ve built some great machines over the years.
I’m keen to see your racecar. 🙏🏻😎🤜🏼🤛🏼🍀🇦🇺☮️
Looking forward to see a video of you donating that printer to a school and teaching the kids how to use it cuz i have not seen many people do this.
I have a video of what I do to donate each printer. There's a series of steps to make the new owner's job as easy as possible. ruclips.net/video/XgqD2QgUCOw/видео.html
Love it when my decision are re-inforced
Your bambu with the intermittent connection issues in the toolhead... That could be a bad solder joint on the PCB. When you get around to giving it a good look, pull the board and look for cracks in the solder around the pin where it meets the board. A fairly common failure mode on physical connectors with thin solder on those booards.
Great video. I’m planning to take apart my CR10v2 and Wanhao i3plus both I heavily modified. Now with a Bambu printer, I can take the plunge and make a printer out of those old 2 printers.
Some interesting choices. It would be interesting to see if Bambulabs could/would develop a competitor to the Prusa XL and what the difference(s) would be.
Love to see all the astro parts being made. Perfect use for a printer
My 3d printer inventory is similar to yours, in that it goes back almost 10 years now to the first version of the Ender 3 and CR-10. Both were heavily modified before getting into Klipper, so none from that era are what I would label the current "modern" 3d printers that have the amazing features to make them print quickly with minimal artifacting. (i.e. they lack input shaping)
My go to printers are the X1CC and Voron 0.2. But I do really want a 350mm cube or bigger fdm so i can print bigger board game box organizer inserts.
My main print types are functional as well. I havent gotten back into resin printing because its just so messy. Although i do love the detail it can make for miniatures. Im foregoing printing any minis since my last resin printer leaked and destroyed itself.
Started my 3d printer days in about 2006 on a CR 10, many upgrades and printers between. Hands down my new go-to printers are Bambu Lab and the X1C at the top of the list. The A1's easy nozzle changes and speed for a bed slinger are right behind.
About that belt tracking issue. We have a $400 clothes rack, aka treadmill 🙂 To adjust the massive belt, there are adjustment screws on each side of the rear roller that move it in and out of parallel with the front roller. Turn the left screw so that side of the roller moves away from the front roller, and the belt begins tracking to the right. Move both screws equally and you tighten/loosen the belt to the rollers. So you have to play around a bit to get it right. Although I've watched a ton of your content I don't know anything about that build so maybe this info is redundant. If not, hope it helps.
I personally like my VzBot Vz330 very much. I installed a heater so I have a heated chamber. It is very fast with also very good quality. I can print a lot of materials. And the build volume ist big. So I think it is a very good printer the only downsides are I can't print multicolour and multimaterial and it is expensive
For multicolour, Annex Tradrack or ERCF would work, with tip forming option, for multimaterial you would need a Voron with Stealthchanger.
For a 350mm build you can have 6 toolheads.
Idex lover here, have been using the sovol sv04 for a while now and its just such a huge step up from my ender 3.
Never will leave my IDEX printer unless i make a toolchanger system
Snapmaker J1 has proven to be a good idex printer for the price. The quality for the price point is hard to beat.
I recently acquired a Bambu Lab X1 carbon. From day one it threw me X-Axis related errors. I opened a supprt ticket and uploaded the print logs. The response was lightning fast and the engineer saw that the carbon rods had an abnormal resistance. They offered me the choice to return the printer or send me a replacement part. I chose for the latter and the new part was shipped to me promptly. The printer is now working flawlessly. Kudo's for their support. I still own an heavily modded ender3, a modded ender3 to the ender3-Max and a CR-10 Max. The X1C is a major game changer for me, but for the larger prints I still have to revert to my Ender3 Max or my CR10-Max. Reason for getting the X1C is that I needed a printer that "just works" for production work. And to that, it lives up to the expectations.
Great content as always. I'll give you a laugh as to my 3D Printers, some you may have never heard of and all but one I bought for 10 cents on the dollar on eBay marked for parts, as is, which needed either gantry, stepper motors, wiring, some needed parts. My first printer, the only one I paid full price, Dobot Mooz 2. Small build plate and I built a huge word color, reads out the time with neopixels, Raspberry pi, and 3D printed letters spelling out the time. Printed 2 letters at a time. 2 month project. Next Dobot Mooz 3 which can mix 3 colors of filament combined to one color or switching colors. Bought for $70, an $899 printer, marked for parts, as is, only issue was a scratched glass build plate. Next 2 Lulzbot Taz 5's. Various things wrong, paid $170 each, about $400 for parts for both and maybe 8 hrs labor. One runs either a .5mm nozzle, came with it 2.85mm filament. I also built an E3D toolhead 1.75mm filament .4mm nozzle. The other I built a moarstruder 2.85mm filament 1.2mm nozzle. Very strong prints, not enough detail, great for prototypes. 2 Snapmaker A350. One is for 3D printing, too slow really although I run it at 100mm/s. The other I dedicate to Laser or CNC. I seldom use the one set for 3D printing. A Sindoh DP200 used, exclusively for ABS as it's enclosed, slow BUT consistent. Voron 2.4, I use it a LOT, my go to machine, Klipper of course. 2 Ankermake M5 machines. I like them a lot. Very consistent especially as I bought both for $100 each and very little wrong, clogged nozzle on one, other needed a replacement heated bed $24.00 I think it was. I bought a piece of history Cubify Generation 2 by 3D Systems. Believe it or not they had the slicer than creates .cube files vs. gcode. It actually works. Not great prints at all but it's history, built in 2012. Cost me $70 came with 7 rolls of filament for the Cubify. Dried them our and used them on my other machines for functional prints. And, yes, I should sell some and keep the Lulzbot with the moarstruder, keep the 1 snapmaker set to laser or CNC, keep the Voron for sure. Keep one of the Ankermake M5s. The Sindoh is great as a supplement to the Voron, slow but enclosed for ABS. And I got to keep the cubify for history sake. Thanks for a great video.
Please have a look at/do a review of the QiDi Plus 4. Seems like a very promising/strong X1C competitor with a larger build volume, actively heated chamber, higher temp capabilities, runs Klipper, and will have an AMS system in the near future (Q1 2025 apparently).... All for less than the price of the P1S!
tryed to buy a qidi printer and they cancelled my order as evidently if your not in a capital city they refuse to ship to you
I have had Qidi X Plus 3 since the relaunch Aug 2023, been a great work horse, and their after sales service is great, they have sent me many newer upgraded parts for free by just asking.
not even close to a bambu
@@megapro1725 That remains to be seen.
Not that I don't love my X1C + Dual AMS setup, but I find myself working on more and more projects that require high temp nylons and larger parts and less and less projects that require multi colour printing. If it's a quality printer then the value simply cannot be ignored.
I will not buy another printer that's not press print and walk away though... Still have PTSD about my Ender 3 days.
@@megapro1725 agree, Bambu is not just the printer but the whole ecosystem, and no one is even close to the ecosystem Bambu has
Good info. I am shopping now. I think the BBL P1S with upgrade for hard materials and AWS unit looks good. So about $850 will do it.
So to summarize, your fav printer would be the P1S. I would have bet money on anything other than that. Thanks for the vids as always!
maybe look into crowning one of the rollers or maybe crown a 3rd roller underneath to keep the belt centered, it's the way belt grinders work too
I have a Kickstarter X1C and i had issues where prints would stop due to the nozzle temperature failing to be maintained even though i could then heat it up after the print failed.
The fix for me was to install the new version of the toolhead board set after which i haven't hit a nozzle temperature failure since. As far as i could see, the main difference is a better connector between the extruder and toolhead boards but since it worked, i didn't care to dig too much further into it.
I think they have an even newer revision now and have gotten rid of one version of the LIDAR so it's possible if you upgrade now you need to also install a new LIDAR module (for example mine is one of the outdated ones so if i upgrade again I'll have to do that though Bambu says they'll give the LIDAR module to everyone once for free).
A definite excite from me about the x1 plus board, first time seeing it and I wanna know more.
Perfect timing! I just ordered a new printer. Also you gave me an idea on what to do with my modified ender 3 v2 since selling it isn't really worth it (I've looked and there are dozens of offers that stay for months) and I don't know anyone that would be interested. I guess I'll put a bigger nozzle on it and use it for parts that don't need to look pretty or be very accurate. I might use it like that till it eventually breaks and I'll strip it for parts for other projects after that.
I always like your video formula, clear and to the point. As someone with teaching background I think your format is great and you understand the principles of teaching well. I guess I shouldn't be surprised given the channel name huh...
Also, always appreciate the additional validation from someone that knows their stuff that I made a good purchase. All that's left is to wait for shipping. I'm notoriously unlucky with my purchases so I am hoping this won't be the case this time. Cheers.
I ran a 12x12x24 Raise3D and it was a pretty good printer. Nice enclosure, good build quality. We bought it used and had to do some tweaking and tuning to get it running well because it had been used as an ABS production printer in a print farm. But every filament printer we tried was an arm wrestling match. Bad prints, or some glitch in the feed, or head. Tried upgrading hilt ends, cold ends, filaments, everything, and got pretty good at keeping it going, but having a failure on a 20 inch tall print in the last inch occasionally just took all the fun out of it. I loaned it out to a friend who runs 3 of them doing really basic single wall stuff.
Instead we moved to LCD resin printing. Got a big Peopoly- which turned out to need some tweaking to get to run reliably, most importantly, sticking a reptile terrarium warmer inside the enclosure.
Then we bought the Phrozen Mega 8K. I gotta say- it’s the ONLY 3D printer I have ever bought that worked right out of the shipping create without any issues. We very occasionally get a print that doesn’t stick to the platform, which just tells us to sand the platfrom and it will run fine.
WAY better print quality than any filament. Though it requires some post processing.
I was extremely disappointed with the cancellation of the Ankermake V6 Colour changer however the Ankermake M5 printer is still by far my most reliable printer after replacing the bed with borosilicate glass. I'd recommend doing the same and giving it another chance.
The XL has been great for me. I do agree though that there are some VFA's still that I don't get on my MK4.
Also fantastic for me. The motor calibration update helped quite a bit, but yeah there are still some vfa visible on big flat surfaces. Don't see them on organic parts though.
Kickstarter X1C version issues :
Would be great to have a video about this early version issues and the related fixes!!
On my end, nearly all sensors involving the tool head display errors and from time to time, they suddenly work as intended!.. only to display errors again on the next print!..
I have had nothing but problems with my 5 toolhead XL in the 6 months since I received it. I am currently preparing to return it to Prusa for evaluation and repair.
Before I even powered it up I contacted Prusa support because the right support arm for the heat bed required it to be bent about 2cm in order to attach it to the bed which did not seem right to me. Prusa said this is "normal." Within days, a tool head detached and destroyed the plate. Prusa support claimed it was due to the tubes not being perfectly vertical causing "filament friction to detach the tool head" even though Prusa's own pictures of XL's show tubes that are tilted comparable than mine. I never could get a consistent first layer on the right side. I began printing only on the left side of the printer but whenever a print was taller than 10-20cm, I would get a large layer offset that ruined the print. One day the bed elevated asymmetrically on the right side and I heard a scary grinding sound. I powered the printer off and manually elevated the bed so it was even and recalibrated. A few prints later it recurred and before I could power it off the bed elevated past the z-screw support, breaking it and causing the heat bed to bend and break. These are not the only problems I have experienced. I have had many random orange screens of death with various heating, power supply, etc. error messages. Now, half my warranty is gone and I may be facing high costs returning the printer and getting it repaired. Honestly, I would not buy another XL and in fact I just today placed an order for a Bambu X1C.
I also have a Mk4S and independent of the XL problems, I find Prusa's are high maintenance. I have to replace my hot end about weekly and its a chore. While Prusa's support is excellent they often go down the wrong rabbit hole. My MMU3 would not work and Prusa support persuaded me to buy a replacement idler motor at a relatively high cost due to the cost of shipping from the Czech Republic. The replacement motor did not work. Ultimately, I discovered the root of the problem was manufacturing debris in the male plug preventing a proper contact. My wife has a Bambu X1 and it has been very reliable. She has only needed to contact Bambu support one time in 2 years. For every 5 hot end's I replace, she replaces one and it is much simpler and easy to do. I'm exhausted with Prusa printer problems. I just want a printer that is reliable and low maintenance. I hope the X1C will deliver.
I understand you make more functional parts that dont need to look pretty as you say towards the start and i only have an ender 3 fdm to conpare to and saturn sla but i find myself using resin more and more these days personally,i just love how fast it is compared to fdm and really have gotten quick at cleaning and curing, especially good if you have multiple small parts to make ,and some resins are plenty tough for functional parts too if implemented right(mostly still weaker than most fdm still ise tpu for drone parts) ,i printed the bodywork of my ebike on my saturn and coated it with fiberglass filler and all the battery connectors for a custom 21700 pack to fit inside it been riding it for 2 years with like 2000km ridden no issues at all.
P1P is the best option on the market, it is not difficult to sew up the walls with polycarbonate yourself, BUT you will have space outside for additional installation of the chamber heating. I did not have the heart to drill the body of my P1S/
I would recommend adding a Qidi printer into your lineup. They're pretty reliable and the aftermarket support is insane.
The quality of printed parts in the "just works" category, aka bambu printers, is so good it might have pushed over the edge to get a a1 mini. Altough i'm broke so fixing the ender would be cheaper, just needs a looooot of attention and time.
If you can scrape together the money for a Bambu printer you will not regret it. I have multiple printers at home including an enclosed and heated SKTank but I do all my printing at work on the Bambu printers instead of dealing with the maintenance of other printers.
the a1m is a beast for the $$ I replaced a problematic machine with an a1m and frankly I couldn't be happier.. I never have to spend any time getting it working.. just slice and go.. I put 300hrs on mine in 2 months and I don't do that much printing 🤣 thing makes me wana print stuff for the heck of it
The A1 Mini is on sale right now even! I promise it won't disappoint you if you get one
I would love an updated CR-10 Max video. Mine was offline for a year because the bed cupped to over 2mm. I bought a new bed and have now run a new extrusion down the middle from underneath.
Creality utterly destroyed any good will I felt with the crap they released in the early days. It'll be a cold day in hell before I give them any more of my money.
You forgot the WIP SV08 tool changer!
Great video. I have a Rat Rig V-core 3.1 that I built a year ago, and while I am jelly that the V-core 4 is out now, I have been looking into the new V1.0 Toolhead for the 3.1, as well as the beacon probe. It would be awesome if you could make a video or a guide on your install of the beacon onto your Rat Rig.
For the printer that gets the bed out of level when you clean it, how hard would it be to add some physical buttons, or maybe ones on the control panel, to energize and de-energize the Z motors? Then just push it before you clean.
Or if the printer is in an enclosure, set it up to energize the Z motors any time the door is open!
I'm still rocking an Ender 3 Pro as my only 3D printer, and I use it at least several times per week. It is pretty heavily modified, of course. It has a direct drive extruder, ABL, full machine enclosure, aftermarket control board with silent stepper drivers, etc.
Do a video like this focused on cost to performance, there's 8000$ VS 600$ printers in this list so it's hard to make sense about all these 'annoyances'... A small gripe with a cheap printer that overall does a good job is quite different then when it's a near 10$k one, I'd expect the super expensive one to be near perfect.
Bambu Lab is now the Gold Standard for consumer printers.
Im still using my first 3d printer which is a tevo little monster which i got in 2018. Im patiently waiting for your sovol sv08 build. As very interested in that as my next printer! (Also awaiting for your other channel to have an update btw!) 😊
Ender 3v2 for my "slow" Projects, Flashforge Adventurer 5m is my actual "workhorse", endlosed in IKEA housing. Salutes
I recently bought an A1 Mini combo, primarily for multicolour printing, but there's no denying it's great for fast printing. I'm sticking with my Ender printers because I also enjoy the tinkering and customising aspect.
That's totally fair. Everyone has different interests and priorities and you have a setup that meets your needs.
I'm still using my heavily modified cocoon create plus. Using some of your videos.
@TeachingTech
I have the same nozzle temperature problem with the X1C. And indeed, wiggle the wiring and it works again. Fully assembled replacement hotends give the same problem. I did notice that I get the warning more often when I print with the door closed. Should you ever find the cause, I would be gratefull to hear it.
Thanks for al the years you've taught us about 3D printing. I found your channel when I had trouble with my first ender 3. 20 printers later I still watch every video. Looking forward to the next one.
Have a Bambo A1 at work and my HEAVILY modified Ender3 Pro at home. The fact I made my E3P my way, I hands down prefer it. As reliable and fast as the A1, just with less failures on the rare occasion they happen...
I love my ELEGOO Neptune 4 Pro, once it's dialed in it just works. But its not really plug and play. The 2 drawbacks are the unique nozzle and it works WAY better with aftermarket support struts for the Z axis.. but for a low price FDM, its great.
Great review. I'm happy with my 1st printer N3+, I will buy a much faster printer in future when printers mature more.
3:28 you can just add an end gcode so the bed travels all the way down. This way its easy to remove the part/sheet and it stays (mostly) level
This video is nice! I’m a bit skeptical about machines made in China, so I prefer to support other companies. I really like how Prusa operates, and my next printer will definitely be from them
To fix the belt creep make the rollers somewhat oval. Similar to the way belt sanders work. It will self center then.
I've only had a couple things I've had wrong with my Ender 3 V2.
1. Sometimes the print head doesn't home properly? It's not constant, but it's probably due to the board.
2. The original tension arm for the filament extruder broke
3. It wouldn't get hot enough for Nylon despite being able to, so I had to switch to a different firmware.
Other than that, I've used it a ton, and I have few complaints.
With the Caveat that I haven't had a Prusa and don't want to go into Bambu's semi-walled garden, the Magneto X has been pretty much about the same as any other printer in terms of filament calibration. The regular OrcaSlicer calibrations (temp tower, flow, pressure advance) give me almost ideal results, with the exception that some filaments prefer to have a slightly bigger outer wall wipe gap, probably because of the longer melt zone.
Although, I've had a couple really bad jams in there. Haven't actually managed to get a flexible to work in it yet, but I keep my heavily modded Ender 3 (v1) around for that for similar reasons as you.
2:29 Hey Michael, great video, yet again! Is that a smartphone holder for a telescope eyepiece? If so, do you have a link to the model?
Please follow the link to the Magneto X review, it's linked there.
I saw one time on a video about flat belts on tractors that you need a taper smaller on the sides larger in the middle. The belt will self center
That's what my curved version was targeting. Unfortunately without success.
My CR10S is a real workhorse, though there's not much left of the opriginal hardware now :-) I'm tempted by a Core XY printer, but then I think that my current printer does what I need already.
You dont need to trim the bed! Just give your rollers a tapper on the ends, it will naturally pull the belt back to the center. There are guides on this this. This is an easy fix =)
I realize I might not be representing a very big demographic here but I'll say that as a beginner who prefers open hardware and dislikes Bambu's business practices, I've been having a very good experience with my secondhand Prusa. Your mileage may vary of course and it's not for everyone but I strongly suspect buying secondhand from a knowledgeable hobbyist with extra printers may be the best of all worlds for some beginners - if you find a good listing you could potentially get a well-maintained, ready-to-go, reliable machine that you can learn to tune and maintain as you go, plus any extra components and tailored advice they want to throw in, all for an affordable price for you and a happy bit of cash for them. Also all the usual more abstract benefits, manufacturing waste, cargo emissions, blah blah blah. Eventually I might crave a lightning-speed Core XY or something but as a newcomer I find my "outdated" machine to be quite magical and I'm honored to be giving it new life.
On the mini delta, you could edit Marlin and add a new eeprom. It's probably simpler to just add a new main board but it's certainly possible to add an external eeprom.
I have 16 printers now, including a brand new, still in the box Ender 3 from MicroCenter. At this point, keeping it sealed may be my best bet, as hopefully someday it will be a collectable lol
very jealous of the tpu quality you got from that a1. mind sharing the type of tpu you use? thinking about a dedicated tpu-machine too
It's 85a, pretty standard stuff: x3d.com.au/products/x3d-pro-flexible-tpu-1-75mm-800g
@@TeachingTech thanks 🙂
The X1 carbon led to everything else going. My thickness gauges went away and I’ve forgotten where they are which is how it should be. Never having to fiddle with Z offset is a game changer
I went from an extensively modified Ender 3 Pro to an X1 Carbon. The difference is mind blowing. No Z-offset change with bed surface changes, no x and y skew offsets, tolerances are dead on when printing parts that fit together. I absolutely love the X1 Carbon. Oh, and the reusable spools from Bambu and cheaper refill rolls, awesome!
Gonna get one soon I think. I'm ready for a big boy printer.
@@SpentAmbitionDrain get a P1S. It’s what I’d do if facing the same decision now.
I got a clear message from this video: It's hard to have a do-it-all 3D printer, but being an early adopter mostly sucks!
I use my A1 Mini like you use your A1, for TPU. It's not fully dedicated to TPU, but more times than not that is what is loaded in it.
Im just loving my mk4, just no issues, throw a print at it and walk away easy
My Ankermake is my primary tpu printer. It just seems to work even though pla is iffy.
It would be interesting to have a comparison of useability, sorted by technology, eg. bed-slinger, corexy, delta, etc.
I can't seem to get rid of my original Ender 3 either. I think it is more nostalgia than functionality at this point. Ah, good memories.
Good luck tomorrow and enjoy the game.
My go to printer has been my qidi x-max 3 in the last year. It's like a larger bambu carbon for the same price and so far it prints extremely well. Cleanest z wobble tower I ever printed and it prints insanely fast while keeping things clean.
Been debating if I should try selling my rat rig 3.1 to fund a 4 with an idex.
I missed your work flow for more demanding materials, such as the ones used on your car's mechanical customisation, or stuff that really require some industrial grade capabilities like a heated chamber and over 300C print temp.
Hi Michael. Thank you for all your content that has accompagnied me in my 3D printing journey. I was wondering, for your belt problems on the FLSUN, would'nt it be possible to have an alternate ejection sequence, per exemple tree roles forward (ejection) than a reroll action or a way to eject piece rolling backward? Keep it up and thanks again!
That is a great suggestion thank you. I will tweak the macro and see if it helps.
Great video and round up. No enclosed printer with heated chamber - does that not limit your projects?, re engineering grade materials?
I had an Ender 3 V2 for 3 years, and I thought I was going to keep it forever and just keep modding and upgrading it. However, I bought a Bambu Labs A1 Combo about a month ago and have now retired the Ender to storage. I realized that in order to achieve the same speed and quality as the A1, I would need to spend the same amount on upgrades as a new A1. A friend of mine bought an AnyCubic Kobra 3 Combo for a few hundred dollars less, and I'm a bit jealous of some features it has, such as USB connection for a camera and expansion. However, it is missing some important functions like flush waste total in the slicer, and there are other things that I can't remember right now that will eventually be fixed in software updates. Oh, and it has a much noisier fan compare to the A1 and mine has nosier X Y Z movement.
I got a p1s after about 2.5 years with the plague 3 v2. man that's a difference.
Your experience with the Qidi Plus 4 would be good to see.
I'm suprised that the Prusa MK4 havent made to the list. It's kinda sad that they used to make top notch 3d printers, and now their place is taken over by almost every Bambu Lab printer.
I'm happy with my MK4, and most people seem happier with the MK4 than with the XL, but yeah, the A1 ate its cake.
That's global capitalism, I guess.
@@filmodpetra My thinking as well. Despite it's price, this list does not seem complete without the MK4. And an influencer like Michael should have experience with it.
I must admit I wish the MK4 had gone down in price, given it's competition. However, I still bought one this summer. I'm super happy with my purchase, knowing I could have saved money buying a BBL A1. 🙂
The Mk4(s) $800 disassembled or $1100 assembled before shipping is hard to swallow for a comparable A1 339 or 489 with an ams lite. It's especially hard to ignore for a first time buyer that has not used a Prusa printer or an even older printer to compare it to.
Michael is in a unique position where price isnt his only concern but can he use it in projects.. Showing multiple Bambu printers is more than ringing endorsement.
@@hawtdayum Yeah, I get that a newcommer might easily gravitate toward the cheaper option, regardless of what it may be. Prusa where never the cheaper option; at least not for as long as I have been paying attention. But it used to be to go-to, if you had the budget for it. These days, it seems you have to special interest in their way of doing things, to care to pay for it. I'll admit, it is a hard pill to swallow. But I still chose to buy an Mk4 with MMU3 over any of the BBL-alternatives. And I chose to upgrade my Mk3's to 3.5. I won't be selling those any time soon, all though I have other non-prusa printers as well.
I went from an ender to a Prusa to a bambu. The Prusa was a GODSEND in terms of reliability and I didn't mind getting my hands into diy after the ender.
For years family, specifically my mom, wanted to get into 3d printing and I knew I would have a headache and a half supporting an ender and she would be calling me constantly if she needed to use a slicer to manually move files to an SD card, navigating a dial screen etc. So I got her an A1 loaded the bambu app on her cell and she has never touched a slicer, needed to manually load filament, outside of the ams lite, printed in multicolor and has been printing daily with makerworld for months.
There is something to be said about dirt simple, reliably and user friendly devices and it was less than $500. Prusa doesn't need to be the cheaper option but there is a whole section of people, like my 65+ mom that hasn't been served until recently. Ankermake has a print from app option(m5 and m5c) as well, and this was before prusa added the app integration with printables.
Yo I made that same telescope lens mount for my phone, things great!
Have you cambered your idler roller for the treadmill? Give it a little central bulge and itll track itself right down the middle
I would love to switch to a Bambu but I am waiting for a good way to reduce the amount of waste from the printer, it does a great job but the purging is a bit crazy!