Charlie don't surf wrote: ↑Mon Nov 25, 2024 2:31 pm
Any experience with the A1? My daughter is.looking to learn and make stuff, this one is on the short list. Easy enough for a 13y old to learn with supervison? Easy enough for a non digital guy like me to run on a cheap PC?
I just got a Bambulab A1 mini to complete my X1C for some use cases I could not tackle with the X1C. The A1 mini is sharing a lot with the A1. I've ordered it without any AMS lite. Nozzle is super easy to change, it works well for PETG, PLA and TPU, and it is quite easy to work with. Reviews were good and at 200 bucks it was no brainer.
I have a work mate who has a A1+AMSLite. It was his second printer (the other one is a Snapmaker 3 in 1 printer), and he got it when it was out on the market, and he was affected by the massive recall on the bed. That said, beside this he had absolutely no issue with the printer, and he likes it.
Usually amoung my friends asking for "what printer to take as a first printer?", my usual go to response is Bambulab A1 or A1 mini if on a budget or without any requirement for enclosure (high temp materials such as ABS, PA, PC requires enclosure), P1S+Hardened extruder and Hardened nozzle if budget is not an issue or if they need to be able to print higher temp material. And I can tell I saw among my close friend 4 of them jumping on A1 or A1 mini, and they are all happy, and none of them experienced any of the issues I faced when starting my 3D printing journey. The experience is straight forward, the A1 will require a bit more of assembly as it arrives in a flat box, while the A1 mini is one plastic collar to cut, 4 screws to unscrew and 3 to screw in before you can launch your first print... And if you have a smartphone (Android or iOS), the setup is super straightforward if you are printing objects coming from makerworld. Note that a computer would be still required to model and create 3D files in CAD before printing them (tinkercad can work on the web, but you would still need a proper computer to slice the STL file in Bambu Studio to print it)... Ultimately, today, that's a very good starting point for a 3D printing journey...