They haven’t lost faith. The X1C was the first printer I could recommend to a normal person. And they love it could they have used some printer before no they involved to much tinkering.
Comment on Bambu Lab announces the Vortek H2C, an automatic nozzle-changing version of the H2D
DaddleDew@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
Snapmaker beat them to it with a much simpler design and it does not have the mechanical connector issue they’re trying to insinuate they have simply because the toolheads are always connected.
Also Bambu has completely lost all trust from everyone by taking obvious steps towards anti-consumer features.
Auli@lemmy.ca 9 hours ago
TheRealKuni@piefed.social 22 hours ago
Also Bambu has completely lost all trust from everyone
No they haven’t. They’ve lost trust from a lot of the hobbyist community, sure, but they’ve tapped a whole new market. And at the risk of having to hand in my hobbyist badge, the slippery slope argument that closed firmware means they’ll someday require DRM for filament is nonsensical. They know what happens to companies who pull that. And they don’t need it anyway. Plenty of people will exclusively buy their filament anyway since it’s the same company that made their printer. From a business perspective they stand to lose far more than they gain locking down filaments.
Don’t get me wrong, the firmware situation is infuriating. And for those who prefer the 3D printer side of the hobby over the 3D printing side, it’s a non-starter. But the field has expanded and most users aren’t power users now.
SW42@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
I would have to disagree, it’s about the possibility to run my printer using whichever slicer I want - and I prefer orcaslicer to the bambulab offering. Having to jump through hoops and reduced functionality since the firmware update was the reason I took the printers offline and never upgraded. Works faster through LAN as well…
princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 hours ago
You just touched on why the OC is wrong. You can use it via LAN only, and there’s no way they can disable that. You can also downgrade the firmware. While some of their actions have been concerning, and people should keep their eye on future developments, there’s no need for alarmism.
SW42@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
I’m still stuck with an old firmware. And if I want lan mode with the new firmware I would have to use another app and lose the printing status and direct controls in orca slicer. So if they add fixes and improvements (new build plates, new filaments) I’m still stuck on an old version. That’s not alarmism, that’s a fact.
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
I have to agree. I’m not happy about anything getting locked down, but what they’ve done for the industry in just a few years is absolutely insane.
I was (and still am) quite glad to dump my old bed slinger that I’d spent the previous three years tinkering with and upgrading because despite all the time and effort spent on it, it was still slow and unreliable. With my X1C, I literally don’t even bother checking my prints until it’s time to unload because after 14 months of almost daily use, I can count the number of failed prints on one hand and it prints so well (plus AMS) that I’ve been able to sell prints and recoup everything I paid for the thing.
Even if the company goes to shit in 5-10 years it doesnt matter because they’ve raised the bar quite drastically and everyone else is taking inspiration from it. I can buy a new printer in 2035 from whatever company is consumer friendly at that point, but for now I’m enjoying the hell out of this thing. Parts are cheap, filament is cheap (and not restricted), prints are quality and quick, and it’s always ready to go.
j4k3@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
I’ve had all of that from day one with a MK3S+. It just works. I don’t even think about it. Plus your using a slicer that is derived from what I paid for while your money does nothing for me. Adrian Bowyer and RepRap built everything. It would have started in the 1990s if proprietary shit companies like stratasys did not exist. Nothing good comes from selling your right to autonomy and citizenship by inference. The world is falling apart right now because of this exact issue of a lack of big picture ethics. Every decision has consequences. You are either part of the problem or part of the solution. I’m a real liberal. You have a right to be wrong, but I’m still going to call stupid stupid.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
I still have my Mk3s too. But, there was a a harder learning curve to getting a quality print from that Mk3s than there is to the Mini/AMS combo I have next to it. And casuals want that ease of use. Just unbox, plug it in hang a spool of Bambu branded filament with RFID then slice and print.
Like it or not, few people want to spent time running calibration models and temp towers. Raging against the sea is a losing battle.
nullroot@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
I definitely wouldn’t say they’ve lost all trust in everyone. Bambu has brought all kinds of innovation to the space as well as spearheaded the whole making it an appliance that just works which brought 3d printing more mainstream than ever. We have a lot to thank Bambu engineers for I’d say.
Nonetheless they deserve to be constantly ridiculed for their closed ecosystem contrary to reprap ethos
kurushimi@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
A level headed take on Bambu identifying positives and negatives? I must be reading the wrong community.
nullroot@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
A1 mini was my first printer and it just worked. It made my foray into 3d printing smooth and enjoyable. I keep it offline now and I’ve registered complaints with Bambu about them walling off their garden. I will unlikely be buying another Bambu machine, but I like the one I’ve got.
kurushimi@sh.itjust.works 6 hours ago
Yep, for me my first printer was a Prusa MK3S+. At the time it was definitely the sort of experience you just described, and I jumped on the Prusa Enclosure upgrade to enable ABS. But there were some maintenance frustrations nevertheless that prompted me to get a backup printer.
I went with an Ender 3 V2, and my god that gave me the whole “literally doesn’t work out of the box, buy this mandatory set of aftermarket upgrades and enjoy your continuous maintenance trap” experience.
Never again. I sold that and grabbed an X1C which became my main printer with the Prusa as the backup.
I totally appreciate the value of open source; Linux built my career and I’ve lived and breathed it and the OSS community for the better part of two decades. I also totally appreciate and respect folks who take joy in tinkering with and maintaining their hardware. I’m just not that guy anymore and I’ve transitioned into the “wanting things to just work” phase for most things.
To me, if we can have both closed source options and open source options competing and each surviving — to me similar to say MacOS and Linux — then everyone can benefit; there’s a solution for everyone.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Yep. Bambu has done a lot for the perception of 3D printing in the main stream. They offer good hardware with ease of use that didn’t exist until they appeared. And at a decent price for casual hobbyists/users whether the pure haters like it or not.
***Full disclosure: I own a Mini with AMS Lite and a Prusa Mk3s. My take on Bambu is, “Good hardware with not always very good software and sketchy business practices.” YMMV