I’ve been thinking a lot about Bambu Lab’s new H2D device, and I am very puzzled.
For two years, the 3D print community has anticipated the release of a new and bigger 3D printer from Bambu Lab. The company’s enormous success in providing a low-cost, highly reliable advanced 3D printer revolutionized the desktop 3D printer market. Other companies had to adapt to keep up, and some have even gone out of business. More will expire before too long.
The initial success of Bambu Lab’s products was expected to continue through to their next flagship product, which turns out to be the new H2D. It definitely has, but there are some questions that arise.
That’s because the H2D is — and is not — a 3D printer. It’s a hybrid device that includes not only the 3D printer but also an optional laser cutter/engraver toolhead. There’s also a cutting/plotting toolhead as well.
Bambu Lab’s tagline for the H2D is “Personal Manufacturing”, and by that, they presumably mean that a maker could use the several functions of the H2D to make products. You could, for example, laser cut some wood pieces that fit together with 3D-printed corners, and then cut some vinyl stick-on labels for the product.
Bambu Lab has also taken steps to make the extra functions not only easy to use but also highly safe through the use of air filtration, flame sensors, and protective covers. That’s all good.
While I haven’t yet used one, I am pretty sure the H2D works very well as a hybrid making device.
Who is the H2D for?
That’s not what’s bugging me. The H2D will work fine. The question is, “why?”
Why bundle these other making features into a 3D printer? In the past, there have been multiple attempts to do so, all of which have mostly failed.
They failed for two reasons. First, in order to keep costs down, the multiple functions were compromised: low-power laser, rickety CNC mill, etc. You’d buy a machine but couldn’t really do much due to the limitations of these components.
The second reason is a bit more subtle: not many people want or need a hybrid machine.
Anyone doing serial production would be far, far better served by buying standalone devices instead of using an expensive hybrid machine. The standalone machines would be better in almost all respects than anything that could be crammed into a 3D printer build envelope.
So the H2D really isn’t for low-volume manufacturers. What about a makerspace or library? It’s the same issue: if you have severe space constraints where you couldn’t install standalone equipment, that’s about the only reason you’d seek a hybrid machine to reduce the footprint.
The only parties I can see making use of the H2D laser edition are individuals with space constraints that will occasionally need the extra functions. That is going to be a small percentage of the market.
Why didn’t Bambu Lab just announce a larger, more advanced 3D printer? Well, in fact, they did: the H2D without the extra functions is exactly that: a larger, more advanced desktop 3D printer. That will no doubt be the most-sold option from Bambu Lab.
As someone that has operated laser cutters, I can also tell you that combining these functions is going to be problematic for many operators new to laser operations.
Laser Complications
Laser cutting is VERY different from 3D printing. It requires much more attention to detail and materials.
For example, it’s easily possible to start a fire with a laser cutter if you accidentally use the wrong parameters or wrong materials. It’s also very possible to emit toxic smoke when lasering certain materials. In my workshop, these materials are banned. Do new H2D laser operators know this?
Another challenge is the smoke. While it is (presumably) exhausted out to the air filtration system or directly outside, the entire inside of the 3D printer will be exposed to smoke.
Particles burned off the materials will stick to the sides of the build chamber and will get on everything.
A very common problem with laser systems is that smoke particles will accumulate on the laser focusing lens. Normally, the laser beam travels freely through the clear lens to hit the target material. But as smoke particles accumulate, those deposits are impacted by the laser beam, heating up the lens and inevitably cracking it. I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve had to replace the lenses on our laser cutters. You really have to carefully clean the lens on each and every job to avoid this.
Do 3D printer operators know this?
There’s also a new problem: what happens when all that smoke is deposited on the 3D printing components inside the build chamber? Will that eventually cause problems? Will the particles be re-emitted into the atmosphere when heated, if they happen to be on the hot end? Is the filtration active at that point? Will the operator diligently clean the inside of the build chamber? Is it even possible to clean the inside of the build chamber with many hard-to-reach areas?
It’s even worse because we don’t know which materials are being lasered, so we don’t know what kind of particles and chemicals are being deposited. They may be toxic. Or not.
As you can see, the introduction of properly powered laser functions into a 3D printer is a highly complex operational matter. While Bambu Lab has been very good at getting people to properly operate their 3D printers, it’s going to be a big challenge to have them properly operate the laser. They clearly have taken all the steps they could have to increase safety, but there are still all kinds of new operational challenges for operators to overcome.
When these challenges become more widely known, it could cause some to avoid choosing the H2D laser edition.
Why Laser?
Let’s get back to my original question: “Why?”
Why would Bambu Lab introduce all of this extra function with all those associated issues when instead they could have simply launched the H2D as a more advanced 3D printer? Why do this when the market for hybrid 3D printers is probably quite low?
I can think of only two reasons.
The first reason is that perhaps Bambu Lab knows something we don’t about the market. Maybe they’ve seen competitors sell a great deal of standalone desktop laser cutters and wanted in on the action. But wouldn’t it have been easier to simply build a standalone laser cutter and avoid all the complications?
H2D Strategy Speculation
The second reason is more speculative. Readers will recall there was a mysterious delay in the announcement of the machine, which was widely expected last fall. Bambu Lab even announced an official delay to the public about this.
Also, you may recall that last summer Bambu Lab was sued by Stratasys for patent infringement. Stratasys holds a number of key patents, including those for some features now seen on the H2D machine.
In spite of exaggerated posts from the 3D print community believing that Stratasys intended on suing every 3D printer manufacturer, they really focused only on Bambu Lab for one reason: they believed Bambu Lab was about to launch a 3D printer that could directly compete with their own products. Stratasys doesn’t care about other machines, and so they don’t bother suing those companies, even though patents may be violated.
So we have an expectation of a new machine, a lawsuit to block that type of machine, then a delay, and now a machine announced. We haven’t heard any official word on the outcome of the lawsuit.
There is a possibility that Bambu Lab introduced the laser feature simply to make the machine “different” and therefore “not legally competing” with Stratasys. The Stratasys machines do not have a laser feature. This could explain the announcement delay while Bambu Lab added the extra features.
Is this really the case? I have no idea, as this is mere speculation. But it does align with what’s happened, at least so far.
Via Bambu Lab
