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Bambu Lab

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bambu Lab
Native name
拓竹
Industry3D printing
Founded2020
Headquarters
Shenzhen
,
China
Websitebambulab.com

Bambu Lab (Chinese: 拓竹; pinyin: Tuò zhú) 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.[3]

Founding

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Bambu Lab was founded by four engineers but the main engineer is 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.[5]

Products

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An X1 Carbon model with an AMS

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".[6][7]
    • A1 Mini - a Prusa Mini style printer, thus 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 leveling 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. Bambu Lab shared files via their website for users to print their own customizable side panels.
  • X1 - an advanced CoreXY printer with high-end features, including a built-in lidar scanner, targeted at professionals.[8] 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.
    • X1 Carbon (X1C) - an iteration of 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.
    • X1E - An upgraded, enterprise-ready version of the X1C that is marketed for manufacturing and educational use, shipping with additional privacy measures for businesses such as support for fully isolated local networking, and some performance upgrades over the X1C such as a dedicated chamber heater.[2]

Criticism

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One point of criticism regarding Bambu Lab's 3D printers is their dependence on the cloud. In August 2023, a Bambu Cloud outage caused some printers to print uncontrollably or cease functioning altogether.[9]

Although Bambu Lab took responsibility and promised new security features, criticism intensified in 2025 following the discovery of a security vulnerability in the cloud connection.[10][11] The manufacturer announced in a blog post that future firmware would be equipped with an authorization and authentication protection mechanism.[12] Users feared that basic functions, such as printing over the local area network (LAN), would require authorization via the Bambu Cloud and restrict the use of third-party slicers.[13][14][15] Bambu Lab also retroactively edited the original blog post to corroborate a newer post where they dismissed many concerns that users had, claiming they were the target of misinformation and cited their edited post as proof. However, the original, unedited, post along with their terms of service appeared to confirm or imply that many of these concerns were not unfounded,[16][12][independent source needed] some of which are concerns that Bambu Lab intends to force users into a cloud connection/subscription model. Louis Rossmann criticized Bambu Lab for restricting device functionality[17][18] as well as pointing out that they have changed the terms of service without any notice and removing evidence of said changes.

See also

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  • Voron 2.4, a CoreXY printer with open source hardware and software

References

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  1. ^ "About Us - Bambu Lab". bambulab.com. Retrieved 2023-10-07.
  2. ^ a b "The team behind Bambu Lab X1". Bambu Lab Blog. 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2023-10-07.
  3. ^ a b "An AI 3D Printer". Time Magazine. 10 November 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  4. ^ Peels, Joris (17 January 2024). "3D Printing News Unpeeled: Open Source Bambu Labs, Quadrupoles, Carbon Fiber". 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  5. ^ "The team behind Bambu Lab X1". Bambu Lab Blog. 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2025-01-23.
  6. ^ "The Bambu Lab A1". Bambu Lab.
  7. ^ Davis, Wes (5 February 2024). "Bambu Lab is recalling every A1 3D printer — don't use yours until you read this". The Verge.
  8. ^ Kraft, Caleb (2023-08-23). "3D Printer Review: Bambu X1 Carbon with AMS". Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers. Retrieved 2023-10-07.
  9. ^ Harding, Scharon (2023-08-22). "3D printers printing without consent is a cautionary tale on cloud reliance". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-01-22.
  10. ^ By (2025-01-17). "New Bambu Lab Firmware Update Adds Mandatory Authorization Control System". Hackaday. Retrieved 2025-01-20.
  11. ^ Bitdefender (2023-05-11). "Someone is hacking 3D printers to warn owners of a security flaw". Retrieved 2025-01-20.
  12. ^ a b "Firmware Update Introducing New Authorization Control System". archive.is. 2025-01-16. Retrieved 2025-01-22.
  13. ^ Denise Bertacchi (2025-01-19). "Bambu Lab Security Update will remove OrcaSlicer's Access". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 2025-01-22.
  14. ^ "Bambu Lab Limits Third-Party Printer Control with New Security Update". All3DP. 2025-01-16. Retrieved 2025-01-22.
  15. ^ Tyrer-Jones, Alex (2025-01-20). "Bambu Lab Responds to Backlash Over New Firmware Update". 3D Printing Industry. Retrieved 2025-01-22.
  16. ^ "Bambu Lab Terms of Servive". Archived from the original on 21 January 2025.
  17. ^ Rossmann, Louis (2025-01-19). "Bambu Lab Just Went Full HP..." YouTube. Retrieved 2025-01-20.
  18. ^ Louis Rossmann (2025-01-20). Bambu's Gaslighting Masterclass: Denying their own documented restrictions. Retrieved 2025-01-22 – via YouTube.
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