Bambu Lab A1 Mini Pro Build Tips

Learn how to properly assemble the Bambu Lab A1 Mini and helpful modifications for the best print experience. LINKS:
Get our FDM-optimized gaming terrain and miniatures here: www.fatdragonga...
For help printing our Dragonlock and Crypt Classics models join our Facebook group here: / 528423924186756
Bambu Lab affiliate link: shrsl.com/2dml2...
FDG equipment and parts links: www.fatdragong...
A1 Mini Z axis sloped cap: www.dropbox.co...
A1 Mini Lubrication Video: • How to lubricate the B...

[@go4cloud736]

Thanks for showing the printer without AMS. Thats exactly what helped me out.

[@davidm9545]

I had to finally order the A1 mini since it’s at $199 right now. This video will be a great help when it comes in. Then to print your miniatures!

[@NWGR]

I ordered this and it arrived a few days ago. It's an amazing little printer. Once the full size A1 comes back in stock I'll be ordering that with the ams lite.

[@dylanoxford]

The teflon tape is one of those ideas that's so good and so simple that I'm mildly irritated at myself for not thinking of it.

[@JKtheSlacker]

Video was worth it for the PTFE tape advice alone, totally going to do that on my Ender 3 V3 KE.

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

It's surprising how much it reduces friction. :)

[@chrisbelmont5960]

My son and I just ordered this printer with the AMS Lite. We can’t wait to get started and this video was very helpful for some ideas on getting it set up right and some improvement tips. Thanks!

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Great, you will love it! be sure to watch my video on how to lubricate the printer as you will need to do this frequently. :)

[@MeepMeep88]

8:54 I like how no one else explained what that lever thing was lol.

[@mendelian8768]

Thank you for the tips. What I also recommend for all printers is a snap-on filament dust remover. I use them on all my printer and filament. They remove a lot of dust you don't want to have in your nozzle and prints.

[@KaboozeRocks]

Seen you talking about this for a wee while - for ease and great results, what more could you want! Great that you've got an affiliate link as well, will make sure to use it when I go for it

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thank you!

[@StephenMichaelElliott]

Your feedback on your videos is fantastic. I returned my Ender 3 V3 SE (broke within first month), and my A1 mini just arrived. Of course I'm going to watch your setup videos on it!

[@SeanLumly]

I've recently decided to get an A1 (the larger version than the A1 mini). I have a cheap, Ender 3 clone, but it has taught me that I would rather print than fuss with broken parts, printing inconsistencies, and lack of features -- the extra $100 spent is WELL worth the cost. My next printer(s) will almost certainly be custom built, unless the market releases an affordable, quality, full-colour printer in the next little while.

[@sebcam9498]

I absolutely love mine. 3D printing has never been easier

[@snorrevonflake]

I thought this is the printer you buy for your grandma, plug and play in 10 minutes, thats why i would choose it, now i find your channel and several videos with all kinds of problems and longer setup information, all kinds of extra tools and stuff - just started to watch while waiting for my printer to ship.

[@Lumi_nance]

How did it go?

[@Rucka_Inc.]

Should have waited a week for the sale lol

[@jasonjulian1]

@@Rucka_Inc.yep! With a $25 off 100 coupon, I just paid $175 for the A1 mini.

[@snorrevonflake]

Well actually it works super out of the box and some of your maintainance videos are very appreciated. That they started to sell it for 200 instead of 270 a couple of days later (4 days too late to get a refund) - is another thing.

[@TDHobbies]

I DO NOT need this little printer, but for some reason I HAVE to get one! The Discounted price has me sold, just ordered it. Easter Sunday watching videos and shopping.

[@S.A.S.H.]

Love tyhe plumbers tape idea. Brilliant.

[@glencwilson]

Got mine last week but this was still useful as a check. What a great printer - it just works!

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

It really is, and with Sunlu PLA Meta the results look like a resin print!

[@glencwilson]

@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors Will have to try that. 👍

[@raybarron316]

Just received my A1-mini. Watching your video before unpacking.

[@dmpease01]

I like the z axis bar cap. I'm setting up a production lab for a non-profit and will be remote most of the time, so PTFE tube management cap is a must. Thanks!!

[@coloradocornbread6996]

Thanks for all your advice. Picked one up yesterday and I'm sitting here calibrating it before work :) this is not my first printer. im coming from an ender 3 v2 Neo and Creality K1. I know its kinda marketed as a beginner printer but im just in love and didn't have the desire for another enclosed printer, (P1) just a color changing one :)

[@APlusModding]

Great video, very informative, I have had my Bambu Lab A1 Mini with the ams addon for a few months now and love it.

[@thomasmiller8962]

Great videos as I wait for my new heated bed for my A1 from Bambu....Thanks Tom!!!

[@ToddRumbach]

Nice tips on a simple assembly. It's the little things you find that to make a really good printer, great. Keep up the good work. I'm a little jealous of your build plate. Mine doesn't have the Bambu logo.

[@nicolasheffner3488]

Thank you so much for all your videos !!!

[@ChrisGWilliams]

Glad to see I set mine up right. Great tip on the tape on the filament holder.

[@bryanjohnston5856]

As always sir, great video and awesome tips. Been thinking about getting a Bambu Labs printer for a while now to replace my older Ender 3

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thanks! The A1 Mini and full size A1 are both amazing machines, I can't believe they are so inexpensive.

[@LordSquee]

Waiting for the bigger boy to re-release. Looking forward to picking it up. Really enjoying your videos on the series though :)

[@wombat74]

Great guide as always, Tom. Thank you. As soon as I get my voucher from Bambu for the A1 recall I'll be picking up a Mini :)

[@mattlberge]

Holy cow he has done it, scaled up his terrain and turned it into his studio! Just, kidding quick comment for the algorithm. keep up the good work

[@redherring5532]

The sd card bit is a good, vital one.

[@SirJerr]

Thanks again for your invaluable videos!

[@kevinwalker3918]

Thanks Tom for the information especially the lubrication guide you made earlier. I am still the process of returning my A1 through the recall - 3 weeks and no response to the support ticket filed through their recall system. But trying to be patient. Hope it doesn't get close to the CC chargeback time limit.

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Something is wrong then, I got a reply to my submission after a few days. Maybe try starting a new ticket?

[@kevinwalker3918]

Thanks Tom! I will try it again- I hope the system will allow me to resubmit. The system warned me at the onset that I could only do the recall submission once, but I’ll give it another try. 😊

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

You can always file a separate support ticket asking them to look into the first one. They were shut down for two weeks in February because of Chinese New Year, so no idea how that affected things.

[@dakkaflakkaflame]

Thanks for the video! I'll definitely be re-watching when I pick up a Bambu A1 or A1 mini. I'm still waffling between the two as I'd like the bigger print bed but I've heard people are getting better detail out of the Mini.

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

They are both fantastic machines, but for miniatures, the a1 Mini does slightly better (I think I may have even that resolved for the A1, but won't know until I can run it again once I get my replacement bed.)

[@sneakypepe]

@3DPrintedHorrors Your videos are really informative. I've seen a few people on reddit asking specifically about any quality differences between the A1 and the mini. When your bed situation gets resolved I'm sure your opinion will be appreciated by many before they buy a new printer. Nobody else is doing this kind of testing, and your attention to detail when making these profiles is very useful. Thanks.

[@dakkaflakkaflame]

@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors thanks for the reply! I'll hold off on buying a little bit longer then.

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

@@sneakypepe as soon as the bed replacement is installed I will be doing a full print quality comparison video :)

[@andrewmoore5712]

Got 2 A1 Minis, great little printer, so easy for nozzle swop. As usual great video

[@bencejoful]

Quick comment: when printing multiple things (like dungeon tiles), try using Print By Object instead of Print by Layer (on the "Others" tab, Print Sequence). It will print each object fully before going on to the next object. This is really useful to decrease overall printhead travel time and chance of stringing between models, or one failed print ruining the entire batch. Your pieces do need to be further apart, but you can still fit 5 models usually - 1 in each corner and one in the middle.

[@MrAndersonMusic056]

How does the speed change on this? As far as print time goes.

[@bencejoful]

@@MrAndersonMusic056 In terms of raw print time, it actually increases speed just a bit, since the printhead is focused on one smaller area of the build plate at a time, and requires less travel per layer. However, it significantly reduces the amount of things you can print in 1 job. So whereas if you print by layer you can print 9 dungeon tiles at once (in a 3x3 grid), printing by object only allows 4 tiles (in 4 corners; some smaller objects like miniatures would also allow 1 in the center), more than halving your output per print. Short answer: slightly faster per object, but fewer objects per print, so it requires more human intervention to clear the plate and start the next job. The last consideration, which I should have said in the initial comment, is object height. You can have objects of any height by spacing them out on the Y-axis. But if you add two objects that have overlapping X-axis values (i.e. the front two corners or the back two corners), at least one of them must be shorter than the X-axis bar, so it doesn't get knocked when the second object starts printing. Practically, this means if your objects are more than ~1 inch tall, you can only print 2 or 3 at a time with Print By Object (but you can print an additional 2 shorter objects at the same time as long as those print first). Hope this helps!

[@gilbertpatrucco5196]

Great video as always Tom! Can't wait for May so I can get my revised A1 :)

[@Kensownvids]

Great video. Followed this video in setting up mine. Love it already. Sits next to my p1p.

[@jeffsmith6659]

Thank you for this. I'm looking at this and it's big brother. The mini looks sweet.

[@MrAndersonMusic056]

Just popping in for support 🎉

[@dreadknot69]

Thanks Tom. I used your affiliate code and grabbed one. Should be arriving today!

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thank you!

[@noahs97]

Would love to see you do a video with your settings for terrain on this printer :)

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

I did!

[@TimDavis77]

Thanks for the informative video. Do you have an alternate SD card extender you recommend? The one on your site list is currently unavailable on Amazon.

[@Avocadomolotov]

gonna try the tape part

[@travisbarber1945]

Thanks for another great video

[@SemoshSemosh]

Thank you for the awesome content, just found the channel and have a x1 carbon ive been trying to get better quality prints out of. Will be watching all your content other videos, keep it up!

[@marchache]

Excellent as always

[@kevindowty2545]

great video. thank you

[@boydhenry9164]

Thank you

[@Lancaban]

I tried the plumbers tape, and sadly after less than a dozen prints, the tape has worn completely through on the two spots where the spool sits. I did a good 4 -5 passes/coats/layers of the tape, not sure what I might have done wrong.

[@kenspaceman3938]

Great vid as always, thanks!

[@arielmarshall5501]

Do you know if it has the same privacy concerns as the x1 and p1s, etc? Does the printer need to be registered with an internet connection and does it send data back to Bambulab?

[@gregferguson8654]

Thanks a lot for the settings.

[@sdfg512]

My dog was losing it at the dragon on the bottom right of the screen lmfao

[@Bornmong]

Thanks.

[@johnwatrous3058]

With an Ender 3, you can actually miss the slot and drop the SD card inside the machine, meaning you have to open the printer up to retrieve the card.

[@curtislincoln6044]

Nice video

[@donepearce]

Objects I make with my A1 Mini come out slightly undersized. For example, I made something that should have been 20mm, and it printed at 19.7. A bigger object at 50mm still comes out 0.3mm small, so this is not a proportional problem. I just need it to add 0.3mm to whatever it prints. Any ideas?

[@Michael_Greenhill]

Awesome video!!!

[@lucasb.2410]

I got an Ender 3 v3 SE, it's good but bad at the same time (auto-calibration you said, CREALITY? ugh?), resell it at a good price. I followed your advice and now waiting A1 mini. I really like what your are doing for minis. If you have any profile that would be neat.

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Did you watch this video? Custom A1 Mini profile linked in it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/naiVc6iCrJ6bhKcsi=uq4d2Ty4KbJdOm_N

[@lucasb.2410]

thank you my lord@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors

[@hasasanka]

This is an odd question but I am curious and planinning to get into 3D printing in coming months with minis being one of my usecases, The bigger printing space however tempts me. I heard your complains about A1 and I assume that P1S and X1 would both have same problems due to multiple z lead screws?

[@sabrinag.5845]

Thank you so much for this video!

[@erickhernandez7716]

thanks

[@anderdelrio]

Love these videos!!! Thank you!!!

[@krisstmartin7657]

Great!

[@Orbitire]

Hi Tom! Just had a question about your mini profile: I find that when I’m printing smaller diameter columns like swords or staves, they tend to break either during the print or very easily after. Do you think this could be because of the cooling fan being so high?

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Which one of our minis is breaking? I specifically engineer swords and such to have enough shells dictated by nozzle extrusion diameter to avoid this. As far as being caused by the fan settings, I tested for this to eliminate any issues before I released the profile.

[@johnmolt3456]

Thanks so much for this.

[@MateuszRulski]

Great tips! Thanks!

[@chi-dog738]

Nice!

[@mrjayd]

Is that logo on the build plate new? I bought this printer and the A1 and the P1S and none of mine has this.

[@andrewholland2763]

Is the a specific SD card format that this machine uses?

[@Warlord_Thor]

Great video brother, keep it up!

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Thanks! :)

[@Waynes-Wares]

Good vid, Tom!

[@dalecipperley40]

Great video!

[@Scott4271]

Nice

[@metaphysicalArtist]

Yes !

[@pinkyrabbo9698]

Nice video!

[@RandyTheSavage5150]

do you have a preferred microSD to SD adapter?

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Yes, in the video description is a link for my recommended 3D printer parts that has it linked on the page. :)

[@beedok]

nice

[@user-ot4wp4mz6l]

I'm the 23rd person to watch this video and the first commenter

[@AdamPower]

Fast comment

[@ITSREALLYNOTYOURFAULT]

"fast comment" ;-)

[@heatblast3771]

whoops i started printing and bambu only said to do the y axis

[@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors]

Do the Y and X axis.

[@uror907]

A

[@queerchameleon]

Great Video

[@BadLuckFPV]

nice

[@timothyjones7907]

Fast comment

[@matthewmclean9583]

Thanks