I’m starting to run up against the printer’s small build volume. This is my first 3D printer, and I was attracted to the easy out of the box experience. I actually intended to buy the A1, but got its smaller cousin by mistake. I could have sworn I clicked the right button, but everything from the emailed receipt to my order history on the Bambu Lab website says I ordered the mini.

I decided to keep the printer even though I knew I’d eventually outgrow it. I told myself this was my toe in the water for this hobby, and I’d re-evaluate in 6 months to a year whether upgrading to a larger printer would be worth it.

I bought the printer in November, and since then Bambu Lab has begun the enshittification of their products[1]. If I upgrade, it will have to be to a different brand.

So I like the A1 mini’s ease of use and no brainer setup, but don’t like its small build volume, the new restrictions placed on it by the manufacturer, and the fact that the printer is not enclosed. A better camera is a nice-to-have but not necessary. Any suggestions for an upgrade?

  1. Follow-up question so as not to double-post, IIRC the A1 mini was not included in the initial enshittification rollout earlier this year. I put my printer in LAN mode and blocked outgoing traffic from its IP on my network as a precautionary measure anyway upon hearing the announcement. Have the changes made to the other products trickled down to the mini yet? Can I safely upgrade still or should I keep it isolated? ↩︎

  • UsefulInfoPlz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    What’s your budget and target size? I love my Qidi max3. I just got an elegoo centari for my dad and so far it seems decent.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      Here’s another vote for the X-Max 3. Mine has been quite solid.

      If anyone is interested in multi color support, though, it seems that the Qidi “Box” filament changer deal will never be made compatible with the Max series, and will only work with the new/current Plus 4. There is at least one third party solution for this in the CoPrint ChromaSet thingy, but this engenders some pretty significant compromises and also locks you into using their nozzles, in addition to reducing the print volume significantly which kind of defeats the purpose of the X-Max 3.

      If you have any AMS-ish aspirations, the X-Plus 3 and X-Max 3 are probably out of the running.

    • early_riser@lemmy.radioOPEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      I was going to say about 10x10x10 inches, but after recalculating the dimensions of the latest thing I’m making (a pill bottle organizer) I may be able to squeeze it onto the mini, so the thing that prompted this post may be a non issue, at least for now. Continued suggestions are welcome though.