Sir Benchy is looking smooth. Photo by Monica Jones
Our 6-year-old daughter, Ana, watches the magic happen. Photo by Monica Jones
It’s been a long time since Devon has been giddy about a new printer. I don’t know whether we’ll have time for a complete review, but first impressions are positive.
This might not be the machine that makes 3D-printing accessible to everyone, but it’s close. He had it up and running within minutes of unboxing it — without the blood, sweat and tears common with our other printers.
We celebrated our 13th anniversary by seeing Honor Among Thieves (for the second time), and we left Devon’s parents and our kids to play with the printer while we were out. None of them had ever used a 3D printer before. Despite a few technical difficulties, they were able to finish a couple of prints without help, which would have been impossible with our other printers.
Initial thoughts
— The Bambu Lab X1 Carbon eliminates several time-consuming annoyances, like the ongoing need to level the bed.
— It’s speedy compared to our other printers, with a noticeable improvement in print quality.
— When a print goes wrong, it goes wrong immediately rather than six hours in.
— It has an easier time with some of the more fiddly filaments than our other printers.
Other reviews have noted that this machine wastes a lot of filament. That’s true, sort of. We wish we could recycle or compost the plastic that comes out of the poop chute.
But having a print break early rather than after several hours prevents a lot of wasted time and material. The ability to switch seamlessly between filaments means we can use up small amounts of plastic that would otherwise end up in the trash. We can switch filaments on our other printers, of course, but it’s such a hassle to do it mid-print that we rarely bother using up the dregs of a roll. We suspect this will mean less wasted plastic overall.
Bonus: The X1 Carbon purges exceptionally well, making it easy to switch between different kinds of plastic. With our other printers, the nozzles jam when we switch from PLA to any other plastic, so each printer is dedicated to a specific type of plastic for a while before we toss the nozzle. The X1 Carbon will open up a bunch of new options for us, including carbon fiber PLA and more extensive use of PETG.
So far, it’s hard to see this as anything but a straight upgrade.
Thank you to our Patrons! Your support allows us to upgrade our tech so we can continue bringing you the 3D designs you’re looking for.
BTW: Go see Honor Among Thieves. It doesn’t suck.
We purchased the X1 Combo with our own money, and we have no business relationship with Bambu Lab.
Our new Bambu Lab Carbon prints a Benchy in a fraction of the time it takes our other printers. Video by Monica Jones