Does bambu labs core customer demographic really give a shit about the openness of their printers though? It seems pretty obvious they’re not targeting the 3D printer enthusiast but rather makers that just want a tool that works without any fuss.
That is exactly why I bought an A1 Mini when it came out after tinkering with an Ender 3 clone for years.
My only concern now, that I didn’t think about when I bought it, is what happens when they stop supporting it?
You will buy a new one sheep.
-sincerely Bambu Labs
Eh they have made 3d printing a hobby where tinkering with the 3d printer is the hobby. I’ll wait till they do the bad thing everyone says they well do.
Kind of the same for me. My hobby became a business and I need to ensure that it will survive whatever enshitification they do.
Currently have 1 printer X1 carbon, and I will get a competing product next year.
a Bambu Labs compatible heat sink, an E3D V6 ring heater, and a heat break assembly are required
a fan was sacrificed to mount a Big Tree Tech control board. Most everything ended up connecting to the new board without issue, except for the extruder.
made a custom mount for the ubiquitous Orbiter extruder.
The whole project was nicely tied up with a custom-made screen mount.So, other than the enclosure and print bed, what’s actually left of the original printer? It seems like the way to get a Bambu printer to run FOSS is to open the box from Bambu Labs, toss everything inside the box in the trash, drop a custom built printer in the box, and then proceed with your unboxing.
So, other than the enclosure and print bed, what’s actually left of the original printer?
The… Whole printer? The only thing they changed are the hot end and the control board. The entire construction of the printer, including all of the linear motion components that make these things so rock solid, haven’t been touched. Swapping those two components out isn’t anywhere close to a “custom built printer”. Besides firmware, it’s 90% stock, and it’s trivial for someone with the expertise to get a klipper profile built for something like this.
…or a tool that will tell you what you can’t print or materials you’re not allowed to use
… and then tell you that you can’t make it print better on your own … or faster on your own… but sell you a subscription to do the same thing.
What does any of that have to do with Bambu?
It’s the kind of enshittification Bambu is moving towards. I kind of expect them to do something like this in the near future, only allowing the “correct” filament and hiding the full potential of “your” machine behind subscriptions nust like car manufacturers.
And when if they happens sure shit on them but people are like this is what is going to happen.
Honestly, I don’t see it happening. Granted, I’d be spared that outcome anyway, I run custom firmware on my X1. But while they’re a bit of a pain about some things, I don’t see them taking steps like that. They’re more of a Chinese pain (don’t share the source code, don’t follow the standards) than an American pain (money at every turn, subscriptions, vendor lockouts, etc).
and a tool you don’t have to throw away when the evil minions who made it tell you that you have to.
