Bambu Lab Explained

Bambu Lab is a consumer tech company that designs and manufactures desktop 3D printers. The company is based in Shenzhen, China, with locations in Shanghai and Austin, Texas.^[1] It was founded in 2020 by a team of engineers from DJI.^[2]

Bambu Lab's first product, the Bambu Lab X1, is a desktop 3D printer that launched on Kickstarter in 2022. The campaign raised $7 million, making it one of the most successful 3D printer crowdfunding campaigns of all time.^{[3] [4]} Time Magazine named the X1 one of the Best Inventions of 2022.

Founders

Bambu Lab was founded by four engineers but the main engineer is named Dr. Ye Tao. Dr. Tao was born and raised in China and graduated with a doctorate from MIT's Department of Chemistry. Before he founded Bambu Lab, he worked at DJI where he experimented with 3D printers.

Products

The company manufactures 3D printers, filament, and accessories for personal, commercial, and educational use. The main printers are:

• A1 - a Prusa i3 style printer for personal use, that supports multi-color printing via an Automatic Material System (AMS) called "AMS Lite".^{[5] [6]}
  • A1 Mini - a smaller and less expensive version of the A1, for beginners printing small objects.
• P1S - a closed-case CoreXY printer with advanced features for professionals. It is functionally similar to the X1 printer, with some omissions or downgrades including a non-touch display, slower processor, simplified control board and no LIDAR scanner for automatic bed levelling and first layer detection. It supports multi-color printing via Bambu Labs' full-size Automatic Material System (AMS)
  • P1P - a cheaper, non-enclosed version of the P1S
• X1 - an advanced CoreXY printer with high-end features, including a built-in lidar scanner, targeted at professionals.^[7] Bambu Lab's initial flagship product, it was eventually phased out, being replaced by the X1C/X1E for higher end users (the E representing the enterprise model) and the P1S filling the role of a more budget-friendly machine.
  • X1E - an upgraded, enterprise-ready version of the X1C for manufacturing and educational use, shipping with additional privacy measures for businesses such as support for fully isolated local networking, and some performance upgrades such as a dedicated chamber heater.
  • X1 Carbon - an iteration on the X1 shipping with higher-end features such as a hardened nozzle, hardened extruder gears, H12 HEPA filtration and activated carbon odor filtration, and an aluminum enclosure. The "Carbon" model name may be a reference to its ability to print carbon-composite based materials thanks to the hardened nozzle and gears, though not all materials are compatible due to missing active chamber heating and other limitations.

Notes and References

1. Web site: About Us - Bambu Lab . 2023-10-07 . bambulab.com.
2. Web site: 2022-05-19 . The team behind Bambu Lab X1 . 2023-10-07 . Bambu Lab Blog . en.
3. Web site: An AI 3D Printer . Time Magazine . 10 November 2022 . 22 December 2023.
4. Web site: Peels . Joris . 3D Printing News Unpeeled: Open Source Bambu Labs, Quadrupoles, Carbon Fiber . 3DPrint.com The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing . 12 April 2024 . 17 January 2024.
5. Web site: The Bambu Lab A1 . Bambu Lab.
6. Web site: Davis . Wes . Bambu Lab is recalling every A1 3D printer — don't use yours until you read this . The Verge . en . 5 February 2024.
7. Web site: Kraft . Caleb . 2023-08-23 . 3D Printer Review: Bambu X1 Carbon with AMS . 2023-10-07 . Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers . en-US.