Bambu Lab A1 mini

Bambu Lab A1 mini
Manufacturer	Bambu
Model	A1 mini
AKA	{{{aka}}}
Obtained	(7 August 2024)
Location	3D Printer Area
Team	3D Printing
Induction Required	No
Booking	{{{booking}}}
Status	Defunct
Tools:   all pages • list • Power Tools • Broken tools     {{}}

This printer was installed in the Space on 7th August, 2024.

Buying Filaments

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

The nozzle in the A1 mini is now the 0.4 hardened version so you can use filaments that contain "fillers" such as Carbon fiber or glow in the dark.

PETG prints well, is tougher than PLA but can create strings if printing too fast - is better that 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 misform in high ambient temperatures.

You can buy branded Bambu filament off the Bambu store, or just shop about on Amazon.

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

The Recommended slicer for the A1 mini is Bambu studio. Download and install from the Bambulab site:.

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

Using Bambu Studio slicer on your own laptop within Hackspace

If you are connected to the LAN in Hackspace and the A1 mini is powered on, you should be able to "see it" and select it in Bambu Studio under the device dropdown.

If it doesn't, you may need to adjust your firewall settings.

When connecting to the printer, it will ask for a PIN 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 printer to any Bambu account - please leave this in LAN Only mode.

Using Bambu Studio outside of Hackspace

You do not have to be in HackSpace to slice your files and use the A1 mini printer.

Install Bambu studio 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 the printer is configured in Bambu Studio, 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 machine to print

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 Bambu Studio

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

In preview tab of Bambu Studio 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 Bambu Studio 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 firewlal-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 or Debian using ufw, it should be something like: (untested)

sudo ufw allow 2021/udp from 10.0.0.0/24

Printing from a Micro SD card

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

In "Preview tab" of Bambu Studio, 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 A1 mini, your sliced objects will appear for printing on the A1 mini screen. REMEMBER TO REINSERT THE ORIGINAL SD CARD AFTER YOUR PRINT HAS FINISHED

Choose the object and hit print.

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.

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).

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

Sometimes first layers dont 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 dont try and tinker - contact the 3d printing team if you have issues.

Bambu SNAFU

As of January 2025 Bambu have announced they are going to cause users problems in the name of security.

For details and some potential mitigations see: [1]

Please note: This does not affect printing using the A1 mini in LAN mode at the HackSpace. It also has no impact if you choose to print from an SD card.