A1 Mini: Underrated Powerhouse - Revisit, Unbox, and 1 Year Review

[@StepPogger]

Been using an A1 for about a year, had the same issue with the 4 screws, took like a minute to fix and all is good again!

[@nickbutler7935]

I've had my A1 mini combo for just over two months. It was mainly to complement my Candle and Model making Hobbies. I wanted something that was straight out of the box and printing ASAP. It not only met, but exceeded my expectations. It also gave me great pleasure making all my Christmas gifts for the Grand Kids!. I watched your unboxing Video before it arrived so knew what to do or not. Cheers from the U.K.

[@KeoPrints]

So good! Happy to hear it friend

[@NWGR]

Great review, thanks for sharing your experience. I currently run three full size A1s, an A1 mini and two AMS lites in my small print farm, as well as my wife having an A1 with AMS lite and a mini. They've all been rock solid reliable. Like you said, keep up on maintenance and they'll keep working. I haven't had the loose screw issue yet, but I'm keeping my eyes open for it. Looks like an easy fix at least. Happy new year! 🍻

[@KeoPrints]

Great stuff! Thanks for taking the time to hang out here friend!

[@roblutter]

I just hit 1100 hours on my A1 after only having it 5 months, lol. I did have a minor issue where some filament crept up under the silicon sock and utterly decimated my hotend assembly but that was a $19.99 fix and was fixed the same day I got the part in the mail. A1 makes prints that people don't believe come from a bed slinger. I'm currently making a 4'x2' diorama of the Star Wars Trench Run on mine with about 6KG of filament. Besides advanced materials it really doesn't have any limitations as far as PLA and PETG go.

[@jsrogers6464]

I've had this issue twice now. The blob was so big it knocked the front cover off and wrapped everything in a solid block of PLA. The first time I gave up trying to clean it off and replaced the entire Extruder Unit ( $32). 2nd time doesn't look as bad so I'm trying to heat it up and save what I can. My theory on why this happens is wet filament. I "Think" the open AMS allows the PLA to absorb moisture and that leads to it not cooling as it comes out. My A1 Mini may set idle for up to a week or so as most of what use are X1C's. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks

[@brickedid3875]

I learn a lot from you!!!!

[@KeoPrints]

I’m happy to hear it

[@amberdamber7]

You have my subscription! Awesome overview!

[@KeoPrints]

Happy to hear it!

[@wewyllenium]

I hope I can grow up next year as well. Congratulations on your 1st year with that bamboo. I'm still dealing with E3V2s. I want to feel that drastic leap.

[@KeoPrints]

My friend… don’t let yourself stay caged by that ender. It’s going to change your life when you make the switch!

[@wewyllenium]

@@KeoPrints I'm old and I'm just worried it will take another year of learning. But many are saying that the A1 is like a dependable tool that just works. Will be thinking about it. Thanks for sharing your video.

[@cobbce]

I just went through the strange experience of going from my bambu a1 mini TO an ender3v2 (I was visiting family and needed a machine on short notice for prototyping). I promise the bambu experience is 10-100x easier and more pleasant. I spent most of my time fighting the ender and being sad about print quality rather than focusing on my designs. The bambu experience just involves hitting print, its worth the investment!

[@Denniss7420]

@@wewyllenium I purchased my 1st Ender 2 in 2017/2018 and Struggled with it + there wasn't as much online help available as there is now. Now that I have a P1P and A1 mini - I wouldn't in good conscience give my old Enders to a friend or relative!! Now that Bambu has been offering the A1 mini for $179 during their sales - No other mini can compare to it.

[@bradleyliebl2931]

Ive had so many printers and run a business I now run mostly Bambu (P1S's, P1P's, and A-1) and have added a few SV08,s and K2 plus's, and the darn A1's Mini is still the best printer I own, they print so good.

[@KeoPrints]

Incredible sample size. The value for these little things is hard to beat for sure

[@Memertoad]

The a1 (regular) was released at the same date

[@SeanSaunders-l8v]

I have an ender 3 pro that I’ve had for a while and heavily modded, been dying for a bambu labs printer but other stuff is taking priority. Life gets in the way

[@KeoPrints]

I know how it goes. It took me a while to get the machines that I wanted but I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait for you friend!

[@michawasiljew6620]

Heavly moved ender can have really good quality prints. Compare your prints with some bambu to see if it is worthy.

[@donald2167]

I've been using my A1 for 6 months almost 24/7. I love the printer. The only problem I've had was the loose screws like you did at like 5 months 20:50

[@KeoPrints]

Super common apparently. Luckily so otherwise I never would have figured out what was wrong with the thing!

[@donald2167]

@@KeoPrints Lol I was the same way. I had no clue what was wrong with my first printer. Until I found posts about loose screws and gave it a shot. one backed out and the others were loose/barely tight. I'm glad it came with the Allen tool to tighten it.

[@richlawrence4160]

Great presentation style.the machine does what it says and does it well. Issue we have is it only works for a single user, cant be "bound" to more than one user account at a time. Need to set up a fake email and bambu account to share the printer and features of the associated apps; studio, handy, lab and maker world.

[@KeoPrints]

Thanks for commenting! That is a bummer that only one user can be bound to the device. The fact that you need to be logged in in general is a hard sell for most. But you are right. The ecosystem they have created makes it very convenient to find and print models

[@OZtwo]

Loved the video. I'm waiting right now for Bambu Lab to release their next flagship printer. As I am a QIDI X-Plus (org) user, I want to hold out before upgrading. I have had this QIDI printer for over 4 years and have not as of yet cleaned it and it still works as it did the first day -- if you have the bed leveled right! :)

[@KeoPrints]

Awesome! I am testing the Qidi Plus 4 right now and I am soooo impressed with the results. They are serious contenders these days!

[@92buckinbroncomann]

Hey. New subscriber here. Could you do a short video on what (if any) final prep. you do on prints before you ship them? Do you do any sanding, etc.? Thanks!

[@KeoPrints]

Here you go! kzbin.infoCrAC50C__cQ?feature=share

[@JWDigitalArchiving]

What filament dryer you using? Works well?

[@KeoPrints]

I have a handful of the polydryers from polymaker which I like a lot but I’ve also been messing around with the sunlu s4. Check out my video on the polydryer if you would like. It has a lot of features I like personally though they are a little bit pricey

[@JWDigitalArchiving]

@@KeoPrints Thank you for replying will do.

[@madmaxh3]

Just purchased a1 mini combo today, currently in the process of setting up. One thing I've noticed, mine does not contain the tools I've seen in many videos.

[@richlawrence4160]

0urs had the tools in a small zip lock plastic bag, not the nice box.

[@madmaxh3]

@@richlawrence4160 Same

[@Dr44dst44l]

I'm not sure that blue loctite on the hotend screw's will do the trick of locking the screw's cause it's on the heating block and heat releases that blue loctite very easy

[@writer8706]

man the hate for the P1S screen is real. like i never use it unless i want to see how many hours the printer has on it. otherwise i just use the apps to send and cange things. I hardly even use the one on my A1. But you know what for $700 you think we would get a better screen so i understand it.

[@KeoPrints]

Agreed. I just think they should have shipped with no screen or a nicer one. Not this silly in between

[@drzflyest4]

I agree but i may be buased as i have both an a1 nin and a1 w ams

[@christianlainesse4281]

If I could figure out an inexpensive method to prevent my cat from messing with it, I'd buy an A1 mini combo just to print with the 0.2 nozzle.

[@ryanspitzer]

Maybe keep it in a room where the cat can’t get to it

[@shanechristiansen38]

There is a new youtuber named Snail that makes a hanging mount to put the a1 mini and big brother on the wall on its side. He does this for temp releasing parts and looping the program to production run many parts over and over.

[@christianlainesse4281]

@@ryanspitzer I'm also married, so... keeping doors closed might be impossible.

[@christianlainesse4281]

@@shanechristiansen38 my cat jumps pretty high, but that dude's system is hella cool in any case

[@shanechristiansen38]

@@christianlainesse4281 my 8 month old cat is part long haired farm cat, part Maine coon, and he jumps about 5 feet, but the printers have been around longer than him, so he doesn't hop up there. He can put his paws on the 💩 bins tho and see what is happening, as the shelf is only 2 feet off the ground.

[@landarrows1810]

My A1 mini keeps knocking over supports. Any advice?

[@KeoPrints]

You could try adjusting the amount of z-hop the slicer is using. I know the gaming mouse model was having issues printing when the mini first shipped because their slicer profile would knock the thing over due to lack of z-hop. Otherwise, slow it down maybe? Best of luck!

[@Chad.The.Flornadian]

BUT...did you ever go back and finally update the firmware?

[@KeoPrints]

Ahh yes good question… that we may never know the answer to

[@airheadbit1984]

I just purchase an A1 Mini Combo, I hope they started using lock tight on those screws. Thanks for the heads up, I did have issues with the .04 FPS camera, added a BTT Branch + 2K 5V WiFi Camera+Panda Touch+LED lights, this is the BTT Branch cover: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXy9pph4o6t3ntU

[@duelx24]

I decided to remove the vibration compensation from the machine's start G-Code for my printer because it was becoming quite irritating to deal with before every print. In my opinion, it's not necessary for every single print. If the print quality starts to decline, you can always recalibrate manually. Looking at the issues you had, I'm glad I made the decision to remove it very early on! :)

[@KeoPrints]

That’s what I hear a lot of people doing. Maybe it’s just a placebo for me but I like running it each time for maximum quality. Though if I didn’t, then I wouldn’t have had the loose screw issue so soon I imagine

[@unclerichard6729]

I've had an A1 and AMS Lite for about a month now and have had the opposite experience as you. After dealing with Bambu Lab for a month, I wouldn't recommend their printers to my worst enemies.

[@KeoPrints]

Yikes! That’s awful. Sorry to hear that’s been the case for you

[@JustGoAndFly]

you still want your AMS lite I'm buying

[@azimuth9819]

I can't even think of an issue you could have thay warrants that opinion, unless it caught fire and killed your bird, with Bambu on the phone laughing 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[@leikiamyrini233]

You must have brain damage

[@youtubehandlesux]

Bambu printers are so awfully built their input shaping are tuned so extreme to compensate for it, it affects print details. Unfortunately if you want a non-trash printer in 2025 the only way is still to build one yourself.

[@Denniss7420]

LOL, pay 3x as much to struggle and how many hours to build your own without the guarantee that it will print well. It's not a one size fits all for everyone. Some have more time than money, while others have more money than time.