You'd almost appreciate getting into 3D printing on the janky crap that either forced you to git gud or filtered you out to the point you'd be capable of DIY'ing a Voron or something totally new if needed rather than starting off straight into Bambu's ecosystem and never even developing basic troubleshooting skills.
I was trying to help someone a few weeks back with a print issue on their A1 and after months of use on that printer they had legitimately no clue what a slicer even was, they only ever used their phone to print.
It's quite sad that the number of "capable" people in 3D printing is on a downward slope, and that those who were recommended Bambu as a "just werks" machine get more and more raped as time goes on, not less. It's like watching marlin to Klipper but in reverse for Bambu, you lose improvements over time not gain them.
If I ever had to buy/make a new printer it's comforting that there are still people coming up with weird ideas like these
There was another video with a guy who riveted a frame together from aluminium profile but I can't find it because YouTube search sucks balls
The base OrcaSlicer fork is still up and fully compatible with Bambu printers on LAN mode (for me). The fork that was taken down impersonated the user agent string of Bambu Studio so the user could remotely connect through Bambu's cloud servers, but I am not sure on the specifics (Citation needed).
The LAN version of Orca has worked well for me, especially after the recent updates (full access to auto pressure advance tuning, motion control, heaters, camera, start and stop, filament management for AMS and a few others) and just requires toggling an "enable developer mode" setting in the printer UI.
Honestly its slim pickings. Think of what kind of things you are going to make and the features you absolutely need (good multimaterial, enclosed chamber, is the nozzle common?, can it print engineering filaments). Then either find an off the shelf Chinese unit that runs Klipper internally, settle for a Prusa core one at twice the cost and half the features or consider a kit printer (they aren't too hard if you find someone to make the ABS parts and buy a complete component kit).
I can't think of any specific, up to date recommendations as its a case of "fuck you, i've already got mine" but I wish you the best of luck in your search.
I want something that works out of the box because I have worked with everything from the basic bitch printers all the way up to million dollar SLM printers for exotic metals. I have a home machine shop and am looking at it as another tool to expand what I can do. I don’t want to spend 6 months of fighting before I can print as I don’t get much time in the shop as it is.
Printing engineering materials and enclosed are my 2 big ones. Looked at a snapmaker as the laser and small CNC head seems like it would have potential but they are not required.
You vill print only ze 3D models you download from their website (that requires an activated account) using their slicer software in their own white-labeled RFID tagged filament
It's quite sad that the number of "capable" people in 3D printing is on a downward slope, and that those who were recommended Bambu as a "just werks" machine get more and more raped as time goes on, not less. It's like watching marlin to Klipper but in reverse for Bambu, you lose improvements over time not gain them.
I wanted a H2C but there's a few things stopping me:
1. Cannot mix and match nozzles. I can't print a wall at .2 and the infill at .6. this is not unique to the H2C, all off the shelf multiple toolhead cannot do this.
2. Vortek takes about 40 seconds per change of nozzle due to various factors. They brag about how it only takes 8 seconds for the nozzle to heat up but why should I care if it takes 32 seconds for the filament to arrive from the AMS? That being said, looks like the H2C is the only semi multiple toolhead printer that can handle more than 4 colors.
3. Rapidly developing market. Snapmaker got to market first and Bambu played catch up, Flashforge and Sovol are both releasing multiple toolhead printers soon.
I'm looking at the Eufymake E1 now which is a weird sort of resin 2.5d printer.
When I was looking at my first printer, I went to their place, thought I could just buy one and walk out...nope...10 day wait for shipping. OK. Then I went home and saw I could buy a P1S for less than the basic MK 4, and it had the AMS, enclosure, camera and light, all of which were optional extras for the Prusa. And I don't have to build the bloody thing and eat Haribo.
So yea, not into Prusa.
I currently have a Creality K2plus and a Prusa Core One. I got the Creality filament switcher(CFS) but never installed it, between poor OrcaSlicer support and the twichy filament roll-back system. Then when I got the Core One I had the INDX discount, but I'm not likely to spend $1000 on it. I'm waiting for my next printer for an INDX or INDX-style system when I upgrade the "big" printer. Currently Voron, Prusa(which is getting less Open-Source by day) or Sovol(which I guess is just Creality wearing an Open-Source hat).
But for now they both serve their purpose, fully disconnected printing where it melts plastic and makes it into shapes.
For plug and play machines, in order of my own personal experience and overall reliability:
Prusa
Sovol
Qidi
Snapmaker U1
I've heard positive things about the modern Creality coreXY but I've never really been a fan. Otherwise, get a secondhand X1 Carbon and load X1 Plus onto it.
If you want to build your own then it expands quite a bit. With some of the recent bills and proposals in the US it might be worthwhile considering building your own. Voron is great, Rat Rig is expensive but seems really reliable (and I love their cable management), and VzBot has a cult around it. The nice part about the kit printers is you can always add things like a chamber heater if you decide you need it at a later date. The Qidi Plus4 chamber heater is extremely easy to wire into an existing Voron.
