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Bambu Lab announces the Vortek H2C, an automatic nozzle-changing version of the H2D (blog.bambulab.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world
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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.

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[–] 7 points 1 year ago (13 children)

I would have to disagree, it’s about the possibility to run my printer using whichever slicer I want - and I prefer orcaslicer to the bambulab offering. Having to jump through hoops and reduced functionality since the firmware update was the reason I took the printers offline and never upgraded. Works faster through LAN as well…

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (12 children)

    You just touched on why the OC is wrong. You can use it via LAN only, and there's no way they can disable that. You can also downgrade the firmware. While some of their actions have been concerning, and people should keep their eye on future developments, there's no need for alarmism.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (11 children)

    I’m still stuck with an old firmware. And if I want lan mode with the new firmware I would have to use another app and lose the printing status and direct controls in orca slicer. So if they add fixes and improvements (new build plates, new filaments) I’m still stuck on an old version. That’s not alarmism, that’s a fact.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    I'm not sure about new build plates, but new filaments can absolutely be added within a slicer, including the BL slicer.

    I'd also be really interested to see if a project like the X1 custom firmware is extended to more devices.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    Yes I’m sure they can. I’m talking more about the selection of the loaded material on the printer itself. Bambulab updated the list through firmware updates and so the slicer already loads the correct profile. It would be of course possible to load any material and set the correct profile in the slicer - but again it’s jumping through hoops.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Isn't that literally something BambuLab improved upon over every other printer though?

    Edit: Also, you totally can on a firmware that works LAN-only before the changes, it's like the last version before them, at least for the A1-series.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (5 children)

    Build plates are just sheet steel with a coating. And Bambu filament is just Sunlu with an RFID tag that isn't worth the extra cost.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Extra cost? Where are you getting filament? In my country it is very competitively priced at least the refill filament. Even Amazon is maybe a buck cheaper.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    I'm not hung up on any one brand. I've been doing this long enough to know I can make any cheap filament print well. I watch for sales and I can easily save $5 or more per kilo without needing to buy 10 or more kilos at time. I have 4 kilos of AnyCubic filament I just payed $10 per kilo for. So, yes Bambu filament costs a lot more for no better quality.

    Unlike many here, I'm super big on inventory management. Storing large amounts of materials that I have no real immediate use for costs money. Money I can use elsewhere to better effect. Right now, discounting the spools hanging for my Bambu Mini and Prusa Mk3s, I have 6 kilos of new unopened and a few partials that are getting used up.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    Yes and no. It‘s about being able to select Special Materials from the Printer After loading to be Synced with the slicer. Happened when they extended the materials range.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    2 mouse clicks and I can tell the slicer what filament and color is where on my AMS lite. If you are running a print farm and swapping filaments constantly, that's maybe one thing. But I have 2 printers, only one of which is a Bambu. And the one spool of Bambu filament I bought demonstrated very clearly to me that the RFID tag is not worth any money to me.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Good for you! Everyone is different. It’s nice to be able to sync the filament I set when loading it to the AMS. That isn’t possible with the updated firmware if I use anything other than Bambu Studio. That’s why I haven’t updated and thus have missed out for instance on the TPU for AMS as my current firmware refuses to let me print TPU from the AMS period.

    I don’t think one can reasonably defend a company taking away options from users that have already bought the product. What bothers me is the reason they used was demonstrated to be complete BS.

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