Bambu Lab announces the Vortek H2C, an automatic nozzle-changing version of the H2D

Submitted ⁨⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨TheRealKuni@piefed.social⁩ to ⁨3dprinting@lemmy.world⁩

https://blog.bambulab.com/h2c-is-on-the-way-heres-how-it-all-started/

Seems like Bambu Lab has a new trick for reducing waste. Rather than a toolchanger like the Prusa XL or the Snapmaker, they're swapping just the nozzle. As far as I can tell from the video, the printer still has a second nozzle which won't swap in and out, meaning a print can be run with 7 nozzles (six from the Vortek system, plus the second nozzle in the toolhead). So if you're using 7 or fewer filaments, no pooping is necessary.

The cool bit here is that they're using wireless chips in the nozzles to communicate the thermistor data to the printer, so no pin-based connections are needed.

Pretty cool solution, I think. I assume you'd still need a prime tower, but that's a small amount of waste if they're eliminating poop from purging the nozzles.

I'm curious to see how they'll handle calibration, surely the nozzles aren't all going to be perfectly aligned all the time.

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Comments

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grue@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Who cares? Bambu is proprietary shit that betrayed the community. Nobody should use their products, ever.

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- xyguy@startrek.website ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Who do you like instead?
  
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  - grue@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
    Anybody who uses regular open-source firmware and doesn’t try to circumvent copyleft, and especially ones who actively give back to the community. Prusa, Creality, Elegoo, etc. Also, DIY/non-commercial projects like Voron.
    
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  - DaddleDew@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    I’m personally keeping an eye on Prusa. They’re working on a new multi-filament system for their new Core One printer and it might be worth the wait.
    
    It is pricier because it is made in Europe but at least the company has a solid reputation for more ethical business practices than whatever enshitification hell Bambu is heading down the road towards.
    
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Bronzie@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I’m thinking more and more that this is a semi-rushed response to Snapmaker having insane success on KS with their U1, more than a goodwill gesture from BL, tbh.

I also struggle seeing the true point of it, depending on what the price ends up being.
Let’s say it lands at 2500-3000€. The H2S will have higher print speed (lighter gantry), fewer movable parts and a thoroughly tested hot end setup at 1150€.
1500€ in poop is going to take most people a lifetime to produce, not considering the advanced Vortek system needing maintenance. That’s like 75 full 1 kg rolls of pure poop if you pay 20€ for each.
It will also require at least two AMS units to function fully, both of which are proprietary and useless the day you buy another branded machine.
If you don’t need a heated chamber or the increased print size, you can get away with the P-series for even less money.

Add the closed ecosystem to the mix, and I can’t really see any viable reason to wait for the H2C at all…
Am I just being dumb here? I’d genuinely like to know

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DaddleDew@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨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.

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- nullroot@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨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
  
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  - kurushimi@sh.itjust.works ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    A level headed take on Bambu identifying positives and negatives? I must be reading the wrong community.
    
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- TheRealKuni@piefed.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨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.
  
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  - SW42@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨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…
    
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  - CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works ⁨7⁩ ⁨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.
    
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thatsnothowyoudoit@lemmy.ca ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Seems like a good way to sell very expensive hot ends.

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- TheRealKuni@piefed.social ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Not wrong, lol. Cheaper than a bunch of toolheads though, I assume.
  
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  - CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Prusa’s 5 toolhead kit costs more than I paid for my X1C with AMS.
    
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