Bambu Lab A1 mini
| Bambu Lab A1 mini | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Manufacturer | Bambu |
| Model | A1 mini |
| Location | 3D Printer Area |
| Team | 3D Printing |
| Induction Required | No |
| Risk Assessment | Yes, see the assessment |
| Tools: all pages • list • Power Tools • Broken tools {{}} | |
These printers were installed in the Space on 7th August, 2024 and the second on the 19th August 2025.
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
We have installed Orca Slicer on the Computer next to the printers (Preferred by many because it has some extra configuration options).
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 A1 mini is powered on, you should be able to "see it" and select it in the slicer 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 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 printer 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 and use the A1 mini printer.
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 the 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 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:
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 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 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 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 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.