Bambu Lab A1 mini

Bambu Lab A1 mini
Manufacturer	Bambu
Model	A1 mini
Serial Number	{{{serial}}}
AKA	{{{aka}}}
Obtained	(7 August 2024)
Location	3D Printer Area
Team	3D Printing
Induction Required	No
Booking	{{{booking}}}
Status	Defunct
Risk Assessment	Yes, see the assessment
Tools:   all pages • list • Power Tools • Broken tools     {{}}

We have two A1 minis in the 3d printer area, Frank and Stan.

Frank was installed in the Space on 7th August, 2024 and Stan on the 19th July 2025.

Buying Filaments

The A1 mini takes 1.75mm filament, so choose some PLA or PETG in your favourite colour.

Both Stan and Frank have a 0.4 hardened nozzle meaning that you can use filaments that contain "fillers" such as Carbon fiber or glow in the dark.

Please don't try to print wood filler filaments on the 0.4 nozzles, they really require a 0.6 hardened nozzle and will clog the 0.4.

PETG prints well, is tougher than PLA but can create strings if printing too fast - is better than PLA when coming into contact with water and will resist higher ambient temperatures than PLA.

PLA gives good detail and clean prints - is brittle and is not good to use in moist conditions - it will also tend to deform in high ambient temperatures.

You can buy branded Bambu filament off the Bambu store, or just shop about on various online marketplaces. Members sometimes will place bulk orders, or be willing to resell spare rolls of filament. Please ask on Discord.

WARNING: TPU loves to grip onto build plates - especially the PEI plates (which is the gold one on the printer). It is highly recommended to apply a thin layer of glue stick (pritt et al) to the print plate before printing to prevent the TPU "welding" itself to the plate ruining it.

Slicer choice

We have installed Orca Slicer on the Computer next to the printers (Preferred by many because it has some extra configuration options).

https://www.orcaslicer.com/

Beware: There are several fake versions of this site containing malware, including orca-slicer[dot]com, orcaslicer[dot]org and orcaslicer[dot]net.

Orca slicer is a fork of Bambu Labs "own" slicer - Bambu Studio.

https://bambulab.com/en/download/studio

If you want to slice your models at home for testing or printing purposes, we suggest that you download and install your slicer choice from the relevant sites. By doing this, you will be able to control more of your own settings and see how long a print will take when you bring the sliced file into Hackspace to print.

From now on we simply refer to "the slicer/slicer" rather than Orca or Studio.

Using the slicer on your own laptop within Hackspace

If you are connected to the LAN in Hackspace and the printers are powered on, you should be able to find them in the slicer under the device dropdown.

If you do not see any printers you may need to adjust your firewall settings.

When connecting to a printer, it will ask for an Access code which can be found on the printer under Settings > LAN Only. Please do not press the refresh icon, as everyone else that already has setup their slicer will need to reset their PIN code.

Do not register the printers to any Bambu account - please leave this in LAN Only mode.

Using the slicer outside of Hackspace

You do not have to be in HackSpace to slice your files for the printers.

Install your chosen slicer and select the A1 mini as your printer - you will be able to slice your files and save to a Micro SD card (see below)

Slicing the part

Once a printer is configured in your slicer, import your object (the slicer accepts a number of file formats) and orient it to minimise overhangs. Supports can be enabled if necessary.

Ensure that you are slicing for the correct filament you have loaded or will load into the printer.

Click the Preview tab to slice the model.

You can move up and down between the layers to ensure certain areas will provide enough strength you can go back to the prepare tab to adjust your settings and reslice.

Preparing the printer

Check your filament is loaded. Load your filament by following the instructions on the A1 mini screen under Filament > Load. Choose the filament type Generic PLA or Generic PETG etc.

Check that the build plate is correctly positioned.

There is a detailed breakdown of steps for getting things up and running on this page:

Howto:_Bambu_A1_Mini

Printing direct to the printer from the slicer

You have to be connected to the LAN in Hackspace and be able to "see" the A1 mini.

In preview tab of the slicer choose "Print plate", this will Send the sliced code to the printer and the print job will begin.

Firewall

In order to allow discovery, you may need to open some ports on your firewall. Newer versions of the slicers allow you to specify an IP address and access pin by selecting "Bind with Access Code"

If you are running a RedHat-like distribution (e.g. Fedora), you can allow inbound traffic on the discovery port (2021/udp):

sudo firewall-cmd --new-zone bambu --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --add-source 10.0.0.0/24 --zone bambu --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --add-port 2021/udp --zone bambu --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

On Ubuntu, Debian or Mint using UFW, you can use:

sudo ufw allow from 10.0.0.0/24 proto udp to any port 2021

On Windows, you can paste the following into a command prompt (Win key and R, then type cmd and press return)

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="bambu" dir=in action=allow protocol=UDP localport=2021

Printing from a Micro SD card

You will need to have saved your sliced part to a Micro SD card.

• In "Preview tab" of the slicer, choose the dropdown from "Print plate" and select "Export plate sliced file"
• Click this and you will be prompted to save the file in a name format yourname_m.gcode.3mf.
• Put this file on your Micro SD card and head off to Hackspace.
• Insert your Micro SD card into the printer. Your sliced objects will appear for printing on the A1 mini screen.
• Choose the object and hit print.

REMEMBER TO REINSERT THE ORIGINAL SD CARD AFTER YOUR PRINT HAS FINISHED

Printing operation

The printer will go through its startup routine (which includes auto bed levelling), a little shaking too.

A purge line will be printed on the front of the build plate.

When the print is completed - wait a few minutes for the build plate to cool down and then it should be very easy to remove your printed item by gently flexing the build plate back and forth.

Please try not to use scrapers or tools that might damage the PEI print plate material.

Cleaning up

Unload your filament by following the instructions on the A1 mini screen under Filament > Unload.

Ensure the build plate is free of your printed item, supports and any filament purge lines (found at the front of the build plate).

Please make sure any waste filament from purging or loading is either collected in the "poop box" or placed in the bin.

If you printed from your own SD card, remember to reinsert the original SD card from the printer when you leave.

If your print does not want to stay put on the build plate during printing

Sometimes first layers don't seem to want to "stick" to the build plate. This is usually due to grease/dirt from fingers previously touching the build plate. To try and remedy this: using a little washing up liquid and water (not Soap) - wash the plate - rinse with clean water and dry the plate with a paper towel. This tends to solve 99% of bed adhesion issues.

Note: there are no manual adjustments on this printer (unlike older printers) so please don't try and tinker - contact the 3d printing team if you have issues.

Bambu SNAFU

As of January 2025 Bambu have announced they wanted to tie people into using their slicer, in the name of security. Subsequently they announced a LAN only, Developer mode that is now delivered in the latest version of their firmware. This mode allows a LAN only mode with the ability to print directly from Orca slicer without restriction. We operate this "LAN only, Developer mode" on our Bambu printers in the space.