I ordered a new 3D printer yesterday, a Bambu H2C. That’s the one with 2 nozzles, one on the left and one on the right that’s equipped with a 6-hot end tool changer.
It arrived today in a beat up box.
“Fragile.” “Handle with care.” “This side up.”
FedEx took those as optional suggestions.
I guess it arrived safe and sound.
I set up the AMS 2 4-spool filament bay for the tool changer, and manually loaded a filament on the external spool holder.
It detected incompatible modules. A firmware update fixed that. I then had command the machine to re-read the tool heads. I had to repeat that step later on, after I got the AMS units working.
Manually loading filament was a pain. It purged and purged and purged. Then had to repeat everything twice. It looked like it was clogging. But it didn’t. I searched online and found a couple of “why does the purge look weird” questions but not answers.
Maintenance needed. Already? I ignored it – I’m pretty sure the lubrication warnings were on a timer. I might apply some grease to the rails after I do some more testing.
Calibration. Done.
I then moved things around my workshop. That took a while.
I knew how big the Bambu H2C was, but really needed to move it around to find a setup that could work.
It bugs me is that my air filter is on the other side of my garage. But, the filter’s on wheels.
I grabbed another AMS 2. One for the left nozzle, and one for the right. Ideally, I’ll add one more to the right so that I can have a filament for all 6 of the tool heads. More color and material options sound good. They all have heaters for drying filament, and I have an external power adapter in case I want to change which one is actively drying filament. But I digress.
It didn’t work.
The printer kept giving me weird error messages. My older AMS 2 wouldn’t recognize any filament.
I searched around and learned the AMS filament path was clogged.
Yep. I pulled out a broken piece of old filament. And then another. Still didn’t work.
I took the thing apart.
Bambu’s online guides were helpful for this. I dug out one more fragment that was blocking everything in the AMS 2’s filament path.
Lost a screw.
I searched and searched and searched.
Laying a flashlight down on its side for darkfield illumination helped.
Wow my floor is dirty. I broomed it clean a few weeks ago. Once I’m gone with a little more cleaning and reorganizing, I’ll mop.
Found the screw!
Made a sickly looking yellow and grey panda.
That’s the only shortish built-in test print it allowed me to make that would test the left nozzle. I don’t know why the standard benchy couldn’t be printed on the left nozzle.
Maybe it’ll be different now that I got both AMS units working?
I’ve got more testing to do tomorrow.
And cleaning.
I lost my 36″ workbench to the Bambu H2C, but I still have a 48″ workbench.
At this point you might be wondering why I went with Bambu. Or maybe you’re going “eww, Bambu.”
They’re popular. Troubleshooting is easier.
I mainly wanted dual nozzle printing for supported prints. Having a bunch of different nozzles in a tool changer is convenient.
You can use PLA and PETG with one as the support interface for the other, or a dedicated support filament, with a single nozzle 3D printer. But it’s not perfect. If you get even a little cross-contamination via reside in the nozzle, it’ll mess with your print quality.
Dual color sounded good too. This way you can print out a panel and use the other nozzle to fill in text recesses or similar.
Thus dual nozzle was requirement, and the H2C’s Vortek hot end changing system had additional perks.
I looked at the Snapmaker U1. Snapmaker U1 Multi-Color 3D Printer is Available for Preorder
They couldn’t answer questions about when the top cover would be available. From what I read, its print quality is good but build quality kind of cheap. It sounds like it was rushed to market.
There’s also the Prusa Core One and Indx toolchanger system. Sold out. The Core One had so-so reviews. The Bondtech Indx system is still very new. If I’m spending my cash, as I did with the H2C, I’m not going to be an early adopter. Let them iron out the kinks first.
The different brands aren’t mutually exclusive, but I didn’t find Snapmaker or Prusa solutions compelling.
There are others on the way. I didn’t feel like waiting any further.
As for the beat up box, I guess it was to be expected. The shipping weight is close to 100 pounds. I’ve seen videos of FexEx rolling boxes off trucks.
The machine weighs just under 72 pounds.
When unboxing the 3D Printer, it did feel like Bambu knows what these boxes go through.
I ordered through a camera and electronics supplier, because my credit card with them saves me tax. I considered going to Microcenter, but that would be a 65-75 minute round trip, not including time at the store.
So I took my chance.
According to the internet, that the printer prompted me to apply lubrication right away suggested it’s been sitting on the shelf for over 90 days. I wonder if Bambu made any production improvements in the couple of months since then.
That makes me nervous. But, I saved $150 something by ordering it from the camera and electronics retailer. Returns with them would be easier than with Bambu, if needed.
And there’s no guarantee that Microcenter would have had fresher inventory.
Should I have spent more and over an hour of driving to buy it at Microcenter? Maybe the box wouldn’t have been so beat up, but is that the only difference?
Getting everything setup was a little more complicated than with my Bambu X1C, but still fairly easy to follow.
It’s going to be a busy week as I run some test prints, and then I’ll start on the 3 days worth of prints it’ll take for the nerf foam dart blaster I just ordered internal parts for.
I guess I’ll review the H2C at some point. Got any questions?
