I picked up a Bambu Lab A1 Mini Combo knowing next to nothing about 3D printing

Hi, I’m Paul and I recently discovered I needed to make a few things that apparently don’t exist at the moment. Now, the journey to making those things isn’t this article, this is just about setting up the unit, my first tugboat, and my first print on the first 3D printer I’ve ever had access to.

TL;DR – total noob vs well planned out device

After discussing in the discord channel that I was looking for a 3D printer Bambu Labs was mentioned and I went on to watch a few videos discussing why the A1 Mini was not terrible. I was more interested in the “meh, get it” reviews than the vast majority of the reviews out there saying that it was great. Even people with the absurd systems tended to think at least it was a great starter printer and all around probably pretty decent.

I checked the rave reviews after this and decided that if I had checked them first I probably would have wandered off due to built in positive commercial blocking.

So I decided to order the Bambu Lab A1 Mini Combo and 3 spools of Filament due to there being an anniversary sale (still going on) and that I thought I was ordering 4 spools… eh, my bad.

I placed the order, and maybe two days later I had the spools and notification that the A1 Mini Combo had shipped.

What happened next, only UPS knows as they took possession of it and then it sat with the status “emergency situation or extreme weather” for several days. I wasn’t in a particular rush as I didn’t have the place set up for it and I had a vacation I had to attend to, but Bambu Lab had done their part and I contacted them the day UPS released it and gave a date for delivery.

I wanted to devote 3 hours to setting it up and a first print, so it sat for a few days until I could do this. Based on the pictures I have from unboxing to printing my first tugboat was an hour and 13 minutes. This included several minutes in which the printer went through an initial calibration and noise testing and otherwise did things it will probably not do on a routine basis.

I was a bit surprised at the packaging and setup process. The packaging seemed overkill and includes having to remove 4 screws and an arm that exists solely to prevent movement. This encased in foam, cardboard, etc. I’ve got a trash can full of half recyclable materials here. Maybe better safe than sorry.

Attempting to pair the printer to my Bambu Handy account had some bumps… seems like I had some minor issue creating the account where it would just sit and spin for a minute before giving me an error message and then disappearing. That either cleared up or I chose to log in using Google, I can’t remember which.

My first print started and after gazing at a print head printing stuff for suitably long enough I returned to another project. Things seemed to be going along well so I left it unattended until I heard a weird noise, turned around, and most of the printing part of the unit was off of a table and about to throw itself to the floor.

I didn’t know what to do at this point other than grab the not-hot and not moving parts of it and move it back to the table. As such I believe was the creation of the issues with the back of the boat and at least one line on the front. The unit was not in a stable enough position and was shaking itself silly.

I decided to do a second print and was informed there was an error and that I needed to do run a self test. Wish I’d taken screen shots, but I ended up having to Google it and whatever it did took less than a minute and as it finished I was informed there was a firmware update and chose to take it.

After the firmware update and issues I didn’t have enough time to do a second print that day – it was now saying it wanted me to oil the Y access and I saw no printed documentation for that. Figured I would do that in the morning and print up something one of my children wanted. I did not want to run another print unattended because 1) I had not oiled it yet and wanted to make sure I did everything properly, 2) I did not want to come back to a printer on the ground.

A quick and easy lube later I printed my first Axolotl (highest rated in the Bambu Handy app, I have no idea how to link it yet.) With the printer positioned in a much more stable location and using a different filament I had no visible printing issues like I had previously with the boat.

I fully realize at the end of day 2 I have only reached the point of printing other people’s stuff, but with the time I have been able to devote to it that’s where I expect to be.

My goal tomorrow is to take a logo for my work with a font that does not exist and print up a small door plate. This is going to be interesting because I see how to do it if you have the font, but many moons ago (sometime in the 90’s) work’s logo text was designed and drawn and as such I have PSDs, PDFs, but no fonts.

So far I feel like I’m on a guided adventure with the Bambu Lab A1 Mini Combo… there was the thrill of setting it up, the boat which was there waiting for me (assuming on the SD card,) my first error and having to figure out how to get the printer to do anything (if you say I need to run a self check give me a button to run a self check people,) a requirement for lubricating the Y access after the first print, and who knows what the rest is going to bring as I have grease as well, and a couple of tools that have not be used or referenced yet.

I’ll probably end up shortly making some drawer organizers and lock pick holders because I’m cool like that.

Anyhow, just a story of my first two days… I’m on print #3 now and may trust the unit now that it’s positioned better to print something when I am not in the building.