[fmeyer]

Nice post, let me build up on the software engineering analogy.

I've had a 3D printer for a while, and I have to say that Bambu has completely changed my perspective on the whole experience.

Before, I treated it mostly as a time-consuming hobby - setting up my own Octopi for remote printing, tinkering with different settings and parts on my Prusa. It was all trial and error, with most prints turning out below average.

Now it feels more like a continuous integration system. It runs mostly unattended, always ready to execute my next batch of prints.

I recently traveled for a week and only needed my wife to refill the filament and remove finished prints, allowing my workflow to continue uninterrupted.

I don't regret my initial experience since I learned a lot, but I really appreciate having a more streamlined process now.

[Ambadassor]

That has been my experience as well. I had a bunch of printers before the X1C, from 3 different countries, and all of them needed various amounts of tweaking and hacking to reach the print quality and ease-of-use I was expecting.

Even the Prusa MK3 (upgraded to MK3S, then MK3S+...) required a Raspberry Pi to be able to print without lugging an SD card from my PC to the printer, and a USB webcam to add print monitoring.

Now when people ask for FDM printer recommendations, I tell them that this hobby has two main paths: One path regards the printer as a tool to create things for other projects; the other path has the printer as the project itself.

An analogy I use is buying a car that's working and ready to drive vs buying a car that doesn't work and repairing it. Are you looking to drive or are you looking to fix/build a car?

Bambu printers are an easy recommendation for a printer which is a tool. The new Prusa CORE One might be a good fit as well, but it's still too early to tell what its quirks are. For printers that are projects, the Ender 3 comes to mind as a very cheap base for countless tinkering and upgrades.

[throw646577]

> Now when people ask for FDM printer recommendations, I tell them that this hobby has two main paths: One path regards the printer as a tool to create things for other projects; the other path has the printer as the project itself.

This is undeniably true at the youtube content level.

But at the printer level I think consumers will crash into this far less if buying the latest. Creality’s three new Ender 3 V3 models are all low-tinkering models, even the cheapest. So are the Anycubics. Sovol’s latest machines like the SV06 Ace manage to be both fully open source and also highly tuned out of the box.

As much as I admire the build quality of (most of) the Bambu Lab machines, in real terms what they have actually achieved is making the closed source, closed build, hard to upgrade and repair, RFID-chipped-consumables printer acceptable to the market. They even almost succeeded in making printing dependent on the cloud, until their little distributed industrial accident happened.

[avensec]

Massive +1 - Bambu changed everything for me. I've been in the hobby for 10 years, built multiple Vorons from source & kit, and heavily modified multiple Prusa machines (Full Bear). Nothing compares to how easy Bambu made everything. My wife, who has seen me print for all that time without being able to figure it out, can now print items without hassle or oversight on the X1C.

Another way I can tell that Bambu changed everything is through second-hand market prices. Before Bambu, I could sell most 3D printers for not much less than I purchased them or more, depending on the mods. I just struggled to sell a Voron 2.4 300 for $800 (near $1800 build price after extras). There is still a market for enthusiast printers, but the leap in user-friendliness is known. What they provided for the cost was a vast market leap.

[wdfx]

> and only needed my wife ... to continue uninterrupted

That's some sweet workflow optimisation. :)

I'd have tons more free time if I just outsource all the little tasks that keep me busy to my significant other.

[sircastor]

Likewise, my Bambu X1C changed my 3d Printing experience. Prior to it, I was spending an insane amount of time on fixing my printer, testing my printer, trying to improve my printer. The Bambu just worked. It breaks my heart a little that the machine I use daily isn't open source, doesn't have open parts that I can just replace. But just a little. Because the printer keeps working, really well.