Bambu Lab A1 3D Printer

After nearly 3 years and 3,000+ printing hours, my Elego Neptune 4 Pro finally called it quits. With heavy hearts, we moved on to a brand new printer "The Bambu Lab A1". Great hardware demands great ideas and this legendary printer deserves legendary builds. Before I go ahead and print anything, let me add some essentials to it. In this video I will show you guys 5 must-have accessories, and all the STL files are free on MakerWorld. The links are provided in the description below. Print these before you print anything else.

5 Must-Have Bambu Lab A1 Accessories You Need to Print First! https://youtu.be/bnusfji1o8s

After reading numerous reviews about 3D printers, I finally settled on the Bambu Lab A1 Combo. The Bambu Lab A1 was recommended as an excellent unit for beginners and intermediate users, at an affordable price point. The "combo" comes with an external filament spool holder that supports up to 4 additional spools of filament, which is useful if you plan to do multi-colored prints. Otherwise, the standard A1 comes equipped with just a single external spool for one colour.

Right from the start, I was not disappointed with my purchase. The A1 comes well packaged with excellent instructions and even has colour-coded elements on the unit, which was very helpful during the initial assembly. Although I am a complete novice when it comes to 3D printing, I am reasonably tech savvy and a quick learner. But I was worried that I could mess up the assembly, so I took my time. But thankfully, the instructions were very clear and came with excellent diagrams and with either colour-coded or well-labelled parts, assembly ended up being very straightforward. It took about 90 minutes in all to complete the setup and figure out the basic configuration and settings.

Following the quick start guide, I set up the network settings and connected it to my home wi-fi and was ready to go. The Bambu Lab A1 comes with some sample models preloaded onto the unit, which you can select and print via the touch screen interface. But ultimately, you will need to download the Bambu Handy app onto your smartphone and/or Bambu Studio to your computer if you really want to get full use of the A1. Depending on your level of familiarity with tech devices and 3D printing, your experience could be a little different than mine. But I am pleased to say that by the end of my first evening, I finished setting up my printer, including the AMS Lite (external filament spooler) with 3 filament spools (that I purchased separately) and my completed first print job.

As I mentioned earlier, the printer does come with some 3D models preloaded onto the unit. I selected a simple scraper, which is used to scrape and clean off the printer bed after each project. But by the next day, I was able to select other models from my Handy app and have them printed directly from my phone. By day 3, I was able to download other 3D models from the internet, have them imported into Bambu Studio on my PC, and get them successfully printed off on the A1. But a word of caution, you do have to be patient as 3D printing takes time, and there are still many concepts and terminology that you have to become familiar with. I still have a long way to go. But it was very satisfying to have my first 3D printer fully set up and get my first few 3D prints working on day 1. I have since printed off 10+ models, one taking up to 12 hours to complete. If my first experience in 3D printing is anything to go by, the Bambu printer is an excellent unit to get started with and offers so much more. The results so far have been amazing. I'm very happy with my purchase. It is sturdy and well made and overall, a great unit capable of excellent results.

Note: The photos I have included show my A1 printer sitting inside an aftermarket enclosure. The enclosure is optional, but is helpful in keeping the unit self-contained. I have also included a small sample of a few items I printed - the scraper, a folding mini toolbox to hold the bits and pieces that came with the printer, and a 2-colour filament checker to measure how much filament I have left.

Also, the A1 only comes with a sample filament so you will need to purchase at least one spool to get going with the unit. I suggest trying a matte white, grey or black PLA filament to start. Later, you can get more fancy with different colours and finishes. The A1 comes with a set of colour swatches so you can work out what colours you may need for your multi-coloured projects. Good luck and have fun..