Bambu Lab A1 3D Printer

ByChris Savage Posted on Last updated

History

I don’t want to pick on Creality, but prior to Bambu Lab 3D printers, that was the only 3D printers I ever purchased. My first was the Creality Ender 5. When I first purchased it on someone’s recommendation, I didn’t realize that it didn’t have auto bed leveling. I didn’t even assemble the printer as when I contacted Creality, I was told they were releasing a sensor that would add that capability to the printer. Unfortunately, I turns out that this required an upgrade to the printer’s control board and display. I ended up not using the printer at all.

A co-worker told me to sell the Ender 5 and purchase a Creality Ender 3 S1, touting it as the most popular printer. I asked him if he would help me to get everything set up and make sure I was ready to go when the printer came in and he agreed. But on the first print I had issues with the Z-Axis. The nozzle was too high above the plate, requiring me to have to adjust the Z-Axis offset manually. I was not very good at that, having zero experience. Even after the adjustments were made, the first layer didn’t really seem like it wanted to stick. The print head seemed to drag some of the first layer around a bit before things started sticking.

This was in December of 2022 and we set the printer up at work. Once I got the printer home, the next print resulted in the same issues and leveling the bed required me to again have to adjust the Z-Axis offset. I did manage to get a few more items printed (See my 3D Test Prints), but after going through this issue on each print, once the sample filament was gone I never really fired the printer up again. Fast forward to February 26th of 2025.

Introduction to Bambu Lab

I was at work talking to a coworker about my issues and opinions regarding my previous 3D printers. He pulled out his phone and showed me a print in progress that was running at his home, but initiated from his phone at work. I was amazed that he was also able to see through the printer’s camera exactly what was happening with the print. After asking a few questions, I sat down in front of my PC and looked his printer (A1 mini) up on the Bambu Lab website. I saw that it had a bigger brother (A1) and immediately selected Add to Cart.

Although my coworker actually owns the A1 mini, I saw the A1 had a bigger bed and was sold. Adding the AMS to get the combo was a given.

20 Minute Setup

Everything I read mentioned ~20 minute setup time. For me it was more like ~45 minutes. Watching the old setup video on the Bambu Lab website is partly to blame for that, though when I got my second A1, I made sure to watch the correct video, which made things go faster. If you’re watching the video and unboxing your printer, you’ll know right away if you’re watching the wrong video because even the unboxing won’t match.

The AMS (Automatic Material System) allows you to print in up to 4 different colors, or to switch to an alternate spool should the current one run out. It comes in a few parts and, like the printer, must be assembled. I used the included stand for the AMS. I have seen several people print a custom part that allows the AMS to be mounted on top of the printer. In my opinion, this is a bad idea! While the A1 has vibration compensation, mounting the AMS to the top of the printer puts a significant load on top, raising the center of gravity and increasing inertial motion during printing.

Speaking of inertial motion; I originally had my A1 on a tool cart that rolls around and has drawers. It’s fairly heavy gauge steel of industrial quality, however it’s on casters and when the printer would get going at the higher speeds, the cart would start shaking all over. Eventually, I got a more solid bench for both printers. These are industrial quality and adjusted for standing height, just like the bench for my laser cutter (same bench).

The AMS plugs into the back of the printer into one of the two ports that resemble phone jacks. The color screen makes it easy to set options and see status and the Wi-Fi connectivity means you can remotely control the A1 without being tethered to it.

First Print

My first print was the popular, Benchy model. This particular one is a 3-color version and came out very nice.

Of course, the very next thing I printed was this A1 Purge Waste Bin and Deflector designed for the A1, since I was already starting to accumulate little bits & pieces. It’s two or (optionally) three parts. I didn’t print the optional liner plate, but I did print the bin and deflector. Waste bins, often called, “poop bins” are one of the first things users tend to print, since the printer does generate some waste, especially during Dynamic Flow Calibration, but also when switching filaments / colors.

Printing From Your Phone

The real charm of this printer for me is the Bambu Handy app that let’s you choose models and print them without even being near the printer! You can choose models from MakerWorld, or you can choose from your collections. You can also select previous models and print additional plates from those models. Most of what you can do on the website can be done on the app.

Another thing I really like about the Bambu Handy app is the ability to control multiple 3D printers. You can start / stop / pause printing tasks, adjust printer settings, etc. I now have two A1 printers and the app allows to me to switch between them seamlessly. As you can see the first printer is called, “Number 1” and the second is called, “Johnny 4”. Sometimes when a model has multiple plates, I will run one on each printer, cutting print time in half. In these screenshots I have enabled the live video on each printer so you can see what the camera sees.

Firmware Updates

Bambu Lab is pretty good about updating the firmware on their printers.

When an update is available, a notice will pop up on the printer display. When you select update, you can see version notes / information. Selecting update downloads the update and installs it, after which the unit reboots. Once you see the home screen again, you’re up to date.

With the built-in cameras, you can view what’s going on in near real time with the on-board camera. I say near real-time, because it’s not quite real-time (see first video). You can also do time-lapse using the built-in camera (see second video). Time Lapse takes screenshots during printing by moving the print head out of the way while saving that image. When you play the time lapse video back, it looks like the print is growing from the bed up. When the printer is idle you can clearly see the bed and contents.

Bambu Studio

Bambu Studio is an open-source, cutting-edge, feature-rich slicing software. It contains project-based workflows, systematically optimized slicing algorithms, and an easy-to-use graphical interface, bringing users an incredibly smooth printing experience. While it is listed as slicing software, I found that for very basic designs, you can use it to create models as well. I created the two versions of my Acrylic LED Sign Shims right in Bambu Studio. Models can be imported directly from the MakerWorld website into Bambu Studio for printing as well. You can also have multiple instances of Bambu Studio open and connected to multiple printers for different jobs.

Fast Printing

Compared to my Creality Ender printers, the A1 is very fast at printing. In fact, it goes so fast sometimes that the entire bench starts shaking. Of course, the vibration compensation helps. Here are two videos of the A1 printing. The first one is printing the 3-color Benchy (30 seconds). The second video shows the Waste Bin being printed (34 seconds). In both cases you can get an idea of the normal printing speed, and yes, it can go faster!

Printing Examples

Below is a gallery of 12 of the items I have printed. It does not include everything, just some examples I have chosen to share here. Below the photos I will include links to these models on MakerWorld.

All of these models were selected directly from the MakerWorld site via the Bambu Handy app, and are still in my collections.

Printing Issues

For the most part, once the setup was completed I just started cranking out prints. I didn’t really have any issues for a while, but then I did start having some issues with the larger prints warping on me. At first I didn’t understand what was happening. I later realized that I wasn’t keeping the plate clean of skin oil from my hands, which contributed to some of these issues. A few prints just had bad print profiles.

On a couple of prints I had issues with the first layer getting scraped up by the nozzle while putting down additional layers. I’m still not sure what caused this. It should not be happening. One thing I still need to fix is the deflector for the waste bin. Sometimes when the A1 goes to eject the hot filament, it sticks to the deflector. Once, on a multicolor print this happened enough times that the ejector became jammed and the printer stopped the job.

Finally, I have had a few spools that had the filament wound in such a way that it crossed itself while unwinding, leading to a filament jam, which stopped printing. It’s an easy enough fix when you’re right there and you can recover and continue. But it did happen to me once or twice while I was at work and I ended up cancelling the print, simply because there can be a noticeable line in the print when continuing after everything has completely cooled.

Assessment

So far, this has been the best 3D printing experience I have had! I really like the A1, which is why I bought two. The pricing, when on sale, can’t be beat for the quality and ease of use. There is a lot of thought in both the hardware and software. I give it a thumbs up! I would recommend this as both an entry-level and quality commercial unit, though since it using an open frame design, you are more limited in the materials you can print, sometimes just due to fumes. In those cases, some individuals have constructed vented enclosures to run the printer inside of that vent outdoors or have filter systems.

Resources

Bambu Lab A1 3D Printer Store Page – External Link

Bambu Lab P1S 3D Printer – Review

3D Printing on Savage///Circuits

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