Seems like Bambu Lab has a new trick for reducing waste. Rather than a toolchanger like the Prusa XL or the Snapmaker, they’re swapping just the nozzle. As far as I can tell from the video, the printer still has a second nozzle which won’t swap in and out, meaning a print can be run with 7 nozzles (six from the Vortek system, plus the second nozzle in the toolhead). So if you’re using 7 or fewer filaments, no pooping is necessary.
The cool bit here is that they’re using wireless chips in the nozzles to communicate the thermistor data to the printer, so no pin-based connections are needed.
Pretty cool solution, I think. I assume you’d still need a prime tower, but that’s a small amount of waste if they’re eliminating poop from purging the nozzles.
I’m curious to see how they’ll handle calibration, surely the nozzles aren’t all going to be perfectly aligned all the time.
I have to agree. I’m not happy about anything getting locked down, but what they’ve done for the industry in just a few years is absolutely insane.
I was (and still am) quite glad to dump my old bed slinger that I’d spent the previous three years tinkering with and upgrading because despite all the time and effort spent on it, it was still slow and unreliable. With my X1C, I literally don’t even bother checking my prints until it’s time to unload because after 14 months of almost daily use, I can count the number of failed prints on one hand and it prints so well (plus AMS) that I’ve been able to sell prints and recoup everything I paid for the thing.
Even if the company goes to shit in 5-10 years it doesnt matter because they’ve raised the bar quite drastically and everyone else is taking inspiration from it. I can buy a new printer in 2035 from whatever company is consumer friendly at that point, but for now I’m enjoying the hell out of this thing. Parts are cheap, filament is cheap (and not restricted), prints are quality and quick, and it’s always ready to go.
I’ve had all of that from day one with a MK3S+. It just works. I don’t even think about it. Plus your using a slicer that is derived from what I paid for while your money does nothing for me. Adrian Bowyer and RepRap built everything. It would have started in the 1990s if proprietary shit companies like stratasys did not exist. Nothing good comes from selling your right to autonomy and citizenship by inference. The world is falling apart right now because of this exact issue of a lack of big picture ethics. Every decision has consequences. You are either part of the problem or part of the solution. I’m a real liberal. You have a right to be wrong, but I’m still going to call stupid stupid.
I still have my Mk3s too. But, there was a a harder learning curve to getting a quality print from that Mk3s than there is to the Mini/AMS combo I have next to it. And casuals want that ease of use. Just unbox, plug it in hang a spool of Bambu branded filament with RFID then slice and print.
Like it or not, few people want to spent time running calibration models and temp towers. Raging against the sea is a losing battle.