There’s a way for desktop 3D printer operators to determine their place in the coming consumer shift.
We’ve seen the beginnings of a big change in the desktop 3D printer space. For many years, the equipment has been quite challenging to operate, requiring a minimum level of technical ability — and a lot of patience — to succeed.
Fortunately, the number of people with those capabilities was sufficient to support the desktop 3D printer manufacturers for a decade and more. But there are not an infinite number of tech-savvy 3D printer operators.
That’s a problem for manufacturers of desktop 3D printers: how do they keep growing? They can’t make more technically capable people.
Instead, they have to make their equipment even more usable, so much so that general consumers without significant technical abilities can easily use their products.
That’s exactly what Bambu Lab has been doing with their equipment. They’ve carefully designed the software to be user-friendly, and it’s succeeded. After discussing this with Bambu Lab CEO Dr. Tao, it was clear the company intends to double down on this approach, which would open up their products to a vastly larger audience.
That audience is the general public, which is many, many times larger than the existing tech-savvy 3D printer operator group.
My belief is that companies like Bambu Lab will attempt to capture as much of that market as possible, and if successful, will grow to enormous size.
But that also means their products will become increasingly less flexible for tech-savvy operators. We are already seeing the beginnings of this with the recent controversy over Bambu Lab’s software updates. Those moves Bambu Lab a bit more toward the closed system world, which offended many tech-savvy 3D printer operators.
Some operators have now sworn off Bambu Lab equipment and have moved towards other machines with fewer controls.
I believe this will continue to happen. As Bambu Lab gradually increases the proportion of non-technical buyers, they have less need to address technical operators.
Some say they will stay with Bambu Lab because they are not interested in the controversy and simply “want to get good prints done”. That’s telling me something about their place in the 3D print industry.
It comes down to a simple question:
Do you have a 3D printing hobby or do you have a 3D printer hobby?
If you want to tinker with the machine, then the long-term direction of companies like Bambu Lab is not for you. If you just want those parts done without fuss, then maybe Bambu Lab is a good option.
Above I have been describing Bambu Lab, but the truth is that there will be other players that also want a bite of that juicy consumer market. They will also reorganize their products to become far easier to use — and by implication be far more controlled.
Expect to see a split in the market, with several large and growing companies selling to consumers, and several others selling more flexible options to those with technical skills.
Which side will you fall into?
