Bambu Lab's NEW A1 Mini and why they didn't release an X1 XL!

[@FTBT3D]

This is the content the 3D printing community needed amidst all the drama. What an excellent interview on both sides!

[@moo00se]

I totally agree. Great questions and the answers really make me appreciate what Bambu Labs are doing more. I'll get an XL day 1, but am willing to wait for the Bambu Labs one wants to make.

[@therick0996]

sooo happy you're getting more and more into 3d printing! been watching your main channel for years

[@Metapharsical]

Why would you support a Chinese company that steals open-source ideas then turns around and builds proprietary non-serviceable products?

[@shadowbird42333]

What drama? I stepped away from the space for a couple of months.

[@Foxhood]

@@shadowbird42333 There is a bit of a Prusa VS Bambulabs fans drama. It has rendered it hard to talk about either brands. Discuss Prusa and you get BBL fans dropping in boasting about how cheap BBL is and how Prusa are overpriced has-bins that have no hope to keep up. Discuss BBL and you get Prusa fans rushing in to point out how you can't fix BBL machines yourself and suggesting that to support BBL is to go against the Open-nature the likes like Prusa, Voron and Ultimaker fostered. Personally. Both kind of got a point. Prusa has been lagging behind and BBL is cheap which is good for consumers, but it does have a few drawbacks that may have some effects later down the road like how they patent whatever they come up with.

[@rbaile508]

Ton of respect for this man after this interview. It is no wonder BambuLab is so successful with this man at the helm.

[@hanswurst9866]

I wonder how they grew such a toxic community then

[@bermchasin]

had no idea he was an astrophysicist.

[@j.stephenfitzsimmonsii2256]

@@hanswurst9866are you new to 3d printing? The hobby is loaded with toxic personalities. Everyone thinks their chosen printer is the best and the rest are horrible.

[@hanswurst9866]

@@j.stephenfitzsimmonsii2256 I am not new and never experienced something like this from for example the Prusa community

[@kyle8575]

@@j.stephenfitzsimmonsii2256in the 3D printing discord some bambu fans were crying that it was a bed slinger like it was the worst thing to ever happen haha. Clueless…

[@hawktrainer]

This is exactly what the 3d printing community needed right now - open communication and discussion. Big cheers to CNC Kitchen and Dr. Tao for doing this interview. So wonderful to have this interview and get to know the company and its origins better, and learn the story of the CEO. Thank you!

[@hanswurst9866]

Was it that open? It was PR manipulation at its best, as seen in these comments. He admitted to using open-source software and other people's work which created 3D-printing while at the same time asserted the readiness of Bamboo Labs to defend itself legally and patenting the hell out of everything. What a nice company yeah. The questions were also extremely careful and soft, just slightly critical to not piss him off...

[@dangerous8333]

I didn’t need it.

[@friendlee1008]

You can hear and see Stefan's skepticism specially when asking about technology sharing which the entire Maker community / 3d Printing community was established on. I agree. not really open but a PR opportunity for the guest and the government he represents.

[@Redemptioner1]

The guy is openly saying he took open source to make a business and now wants to prevent others doing the same......

[@BeefIngot]

@@hanswurst9866 you really hear what you want to hear. What would you have Stephan ask exactly? I swear some of these comments are insane.

[@radish6691]

This was a fascinating, informative, well produced video. Dr. Tao was charming and seems very open and honest. I definitely appreciate the hard questions you asked, Stefan, and that you also gave him time to talk about his background, business philosophy, and the origin of Bambu Labs. Thanks to Dr. Tao as well, 90 minutes is a big block of time for a CEO/engineer considering his company just launched a new product and a new web platform. This is honestly one of the most interesting videos, 3D printing or otherwise, I’ve seen in a long while. Great job, Stefan! I was kinda hoping you’d test him on how much German he remembers though. 😂

[@Eon-vids]

How has he not hearted this comment yet?

[@Eric_In_SF]

Strange because I saw them as deceptive and cunning and he just sounds like a villain. The only thing special he did was steal lots of hard work from the community and put together a marketing plan and probably stole a bunch of information from DJI because the manufacturing looks almost identical. Evil

[@3DandTeePrinting]

I have to give you massive respect for asking all the questions we the community wanted answers to. Even the tough ones. You didn't back down, like some other peoples interviews with him have done. Your amazing and a true assist to the 3D community. Keep doing what you do.

[@hakunamatata324]

That is why Stefan is known for being a trustworthy source. No bs, solid talk, difficult questions to make and answer. Mega respect for these guys.

[@Fosterforged]

That end was so awkward, but in a wholesome way. When he asks “Can we get a transparent version?” and then Dr. Tao is like “We only made like 20 of these for our closest friends.” Stephan didn’t even know he’s one of the lucky few…

[@fitybux4664]

You're missing the part where Dr. Tao explicitly said they sent him a transparent one. 😆

[@morbus5726]

This is one of the best 3d printing videos I've seen on youtube ever. The interview, review and analysis were amazing! I don't find myself watching full hour videos very often, but this was one of those times.

[@BeefIngot]

Right?I feel like all the folks who act like every Chinese company is the same just need to watch this interview. This guy and realities boss are in 2 different worlds. I couldn't tell you who the boss at Creality and it doesn't matter. Creality copy's, while Bambu creates.

[@BadPractices]

You can always count on CNC Kitchen to stand out from the crowd of 3D printing KZbinrs. Also, Dr. Tao was fascinating. I hope he does an interview for every new launch.

[@hanswurst9866]

Yeah he lets himself get instrumentalised by the chief propagandist of a toxic company with a friendly face

[@BadPractices]

@@hanswurst9866 Ok sorry I guess.

[@joelamaro4525]

@@hanswurst9866do you need a tissue?

[@A-G-F-]

​@@hanswurst9866at least give us some context :$

[@bru_haha]

Great interview because the CEO was very honest throughout. He gave insight into his thinking and was willing to call out his own printer’s shortcomings such as nozzle change difficulty, noise, etc. As long as interviews with company reps don’t consist of marketing or executive-speak it is great content.

[@jasonwu2758]

This bloke understands the needs of the 3d printing community and the way to move it forward. They probably took a note or two from Voron's whilst developing The X1 and Prusa mini, Ender 2 Pro ect. for this A1. Honesty is hard getting from 90% from any 3d printer manufacturer and this guy just says it as it is. No PR team to vomit out standard stuff that frustrates makers everywhere. These guys gave every company up to very pricey commercial printers a kick up the backside and I look forward to them continue to how show them how to do it correctly, once. Not minute upgrade every month to upset new buyers who will never see support for their purchase after 3-6months. You do you Bambu Lab. Let everyone else say otherwise until they actually use one of your printer and they start questioning themselves on there choices and money spent. Great work as always, Stefan!

[@abertheham]

I’m an open source FPV nut and love Prusa among all the other incredible OS projects. That said, as a fellow hard-science-purist-and-absolutist, I struggle to overstate the amount of respect I have for this man. More power and prosperity to him-the whole world would do well to possess a fraction of his vision and work ethic.

[@Freedom_and_Democracy]

You speak wumao talk, no one believes you are a westerner. I do not trust him. They collect sensitive design data, that's why everyone is trying to load X1Plus firmware.

[@VacFink]

Thanks! Great interview. I hope they can ultimately solve for color change waste. I'd like to see an option to feed it into infill or choose putting it into the model in specific location.

[@logicalfundy]

Isn't Bambu Studio a fork of PrusaSlicer? They should be able to pull those features from upstream, so hopefully they are coming soon!

[@Brian-S]

This man is so humble and honest it's wild hearing a CEO talk the way this guy does. Bambu is definitely going places

[@hanswurst9866]

honest? did we see the same video?

[@Metapharsical]

Wow. An 'interview' with a Chinese CEO and comments full of shills.. imagine my surprise 🙄

[@milesmccall2301]

He talks like he has basic PR training

[@NiceGamingNG]

wdym?@@hanswurst9866

[@gangmeow]

He's an engineer lol that's why he talks like this. He's a builder that has ceo tendancies

[@sagichnicht6748]

Others talk about the printer, you talk directly to the CEO of Bambulab in a really interesting interview. CNC kitchen is for me certainly one of the top channels in the hobby 3d printing space. Dr. Tao seems to be not only passionate about his business but a nice guy too.

[@luisengineering]

After this interview I finally understand why the Bambu lab is such an amazing product. You can really see, that the team and ceo are just a bunch of very talented engineers who want to build great products.

[@floodo1]

When the anniversary blog post said the X1C is a 55/100 I knew they are legit. A perfectionist would find 45 ways out of a 100 to nitpick their own product (-8

[@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi]

Your right, at the moment they havent been swallowed by western/american greed above all else. They seem like a great bunch of highly intelligent intelectuals. I hope they keep making money and enjoying their work without becoming another greed based yank company like crapple and the rest.

[@pawelw.9172]

yeah, it is very easy to build a product watching tons of open source community experience which makes possible to avoid mistakes, and then sort of cheat to you that they are so amazing and want to develop for you.

[@milesmccall2301]

The absolute irony of a Chinese company enforcing patent law against Western competitors.

[@OutOfNameIdeas2]

What?

[@EricLS]

@@OutOfNameIdeas2Chinese companies basically just ignore western patent law all the time. Of course now Stratasys is suing Bambu lol

[@milesmccall2301]

@@andririan6342 It does to Chinese companies

[@andririan6342]

For those who don't know, chinese gouvernement enforce patent law in china. Not the same way and not as efficient as in USA but it is enforced. Most of the knock off good you saw came from underground factories in china, not the official ones.

[@UnCoolDad]

Would love to see a similar interview with Josef Prusa. Find out how he started, his education motivations for starting to make 3D printers, but also his opinions on how 3D printing is moving forward in the future, and how they will compete against the likes of Bambu and their closed source ecosystem.

[@herr_rossi69]

I don't think it's possible. You can't serve two masters. The interview confirmed for me not to buy Bambulab. Bambulab may not be evil. But China does. And if you're wondering where the great prices come from, you might want to think about it. I feel sorry for the people at Bambulab.

[@UnCoolDad]

@@herr_rossi69 a bit of an unfounded comment on Stefan. Totally possible to interview Prusa - assuming he agrees.

[@herr_rossi69]

@@UnCoolDad You are right, a somewhat provocative answer. If I'm honest, I'm a little disappointed in Stefan. I have to give him credit for his partly critical questions. Surprised by the partly honest answers. A chinese company, probably supported by the chinese government, uses mostly open source software and builds a good printer. That's all right. But now they patent it to protect themselves. Is that fair, should I support something like that? Should I trust someone who does this? Today it's 3D printers, tomorrow it might be something that affects you and your work. I admit that I am suspicious when KZbinr make a first day release. That has for me the aftertaste of dependencies. Without wanting to imply that here. But I wonder from the product that almost all test are enthusiastic. If prusa had published this, there would be a shitstorm. Never bed slinger again, trust me We will see how the channel develops here. I hope that in the future there will be something about open source projects. But I am quite sure that it will be so😉

[@UnCoolDad]

@@herr_rossi69 I think you are being overly critical. Bambu aren't the only closed source 3D printer makers - not by a long shot. Neither are they the only printer maker with patents. Reprap and Prusa went down another route - OpenSource - and that's their choice. Nobody is forced to buy a Bambu (I don't own one), but they do appear to make very good printers at a consumer affordable price - which everyone agrees. If you disagree with their ethics - don't buy one. Stefan did a great job interviewing here - and I'd love to see similar from other CEO's in the same field. Prusa, FormLabs, Ultimaker, Creality, etc.

[@herr_rossi69]

@@UnCoolDad I don't think it's bad that Bambulab is closed source. I find it cheeky to use open source software and then make closed software out of it to hinder the competition. My English is not the best, but the Bambulab CEO has confirmed that at Stefan's question.

[@F_K3NT_D]

That was a great interview IMO. You asked some of the tougher questions I didn’t think would be asked and had for myself. I also think he was as honest and thorough as he could be answering your tougher questions. Nice video

[@drauc]

Yes PLEASE MAKE MORE TRANSPARENT EDITIONS!!! Or sell the parts to replace the shell :)

[@CNCKitchen]

Look @BambuLab, I found another one, who likes my idea!

[@oliverfong418]

@@CNCKitchen Would 100% get one if they're really making it, we need to bring back the 90s clear everything tech trend!!

[@CB_agotchi]

Should absolutely be an option or special edition!

[@ulrichveh1123]

Wow nice! I would buy.

[@AnIdiotwithaSubaru]

@@CNCKitchen PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE! I print water fountains and need a good-looking plastic to make videos with. The Bambu PETG basic transparent is so cloudy. Even my INLAND filament looks more transparent!!

[@MikeKobb]

I want to just second the comments of several other folks in saying that this is absolutely one of the best videos available in the 3D printing space. Watching this lengthy and very well thought-out conversation with Dr. Tao has given me a *much* better sense of Bambu Lab as a company, why they’ve made some of the choices they’ve made, and the people behind the brand. Thank you!

[@hassenfepher]

I just wanna take a moment and appreciate that. Two men are coming together and speaking a language. This is neither of their native languages to produce content for people like me who speak it. Thanks guys.

[@cbgslinger]

Well worth watching! Bambu Lab has shaken up things in the 3D printer arena and for the better. It’s great to hear the CEO’s journey to this point and try to understand where he is coming from and trying to go. I wanted a bigger printer when I got my X1, I still do. But I know now that when Bambu Lab does it, not only will it be bigger, it will be better. It’s not hard to believe based on the new innovations in the A1! Stefan you did a phenomenal job with your interview, it was a grand slam!!! Thanks.

[@shawnhicks619]

I’m currently desperately looking to replace my large format printers and right now the only options are a K1 max or Neptune 4 max or build my own voron or rat rig. As a maker I enjoy the processing of the prints, not fiddling with the machines. So in my case voron or rat rig are kinda out of the question never mind the fact that I realistically need at a minimum 3 or 4 of them. That leaves the creality or elegoo printers to choose from. Realistically core xy is the obvious choice due to the reality of the pitfalls of a bed slinger and tall prints. Unfortunately the K1 max has issues currently that prevent me from making a purchase. While I am disappointed that Bambu labs released a smaller printer, in my shop, small bed printers are highly useful and the ability to have an AMS is appealing. I may still add one but currently resources are focused on newer larger resin printers due to the lack of commercially available 400mm cubed core xy with decent print speed. I’m still hoping Bambu labs announces a large format printer by the end of this year or early next year and if not I’ll break down and test the K1 and Neptune 4 max printers myself. If I had to choose between the K1 max or Neptune 4 max today I reluctantly would choose the Neptune 4 max. Maybe the K1 has its issues resolved by December/January but it is creality so I doubt it, it’s more likely the community will resolve the issue before creality does. It’s a shame too because the K1 appears to be capable. I also think it’s only a viable printer if you use orca slicer though I’ve only seen reviews using creality software which seems severely confusing and lacking.

[@cbgslinger]

I understand your dilemma. My first printer was a bedslinger and after using the x1 Carbon for over a year, I don’t want another one. Fortunately, I can get by with my x1 for now, so I can wait. I honestly don’t know which large format printer I would choose right now. After using the x1, I don’t want to give up any of its features and capabilities. Good luck!

[@shawnhicks619]

@@cbgslinger the frustrating part for me is I print prototypes for companies so time is key. I’ve been transitioning to core xy for the bulk of my farm for a while. The vast majority of my fdm fleet is p1p and x1-c printers which have drastically improved in and out time. For a real world example I sliced a part yesterday that on my cr-10 was going to take nearly 7 days however the same part on the x1-c was 17 hours. Why? 2 reasons I can see, first being machine print speed, second being the support settings offered in Bambu studio. Sure on the beta of prusa slicer there are organic supports but I think Bambu studio tree supports are better. Also the beta prusa slicer is buggy at best, so in my experience unreliable especially on a long print. Never mind that 7 days is a long time to tie up a machine and a long time for something to go wrong. From clogs to layer shifts it’s just unreliable. Now if I’m able I just build parts in pieces that I can fit onto the Bambu build volume unless a company specify a solid on piece part. This is even worse if I take consignment work for cosplay items like helmets or armor. Multi part helmets add a lot of time to post processing, where single print items finish much easier. Nearly everyone I know that does 3D printing for a living use 2 basic printers, prusa and Bambu labs. And more and more of them are moving more twards Bambu over prusa since the Bambu printers more or less have proven to be fairly reliable at a lower price point. A few of the guys I know have some pretty large tron xy machines but they are slow, use larger filament and standard nozzle size is much bigger. Though the parts do come out great. The thing that makes the tron xy stand out is build volume. The ones I’ve seen are big. If I were just printing for myself in my free time maybe I could just live with 40-60 mm ps printing speeds but I’m not just printing for me. I get paid by the job, and more product out means more cash flow in. Even if these printers only lasted me a year I’m getting the productivity of nearly 4 out of them so as weird as it sounds it’s “ok” if I have to buy a new one to replace it. What I will say about Bambu labs and their printers is it most certainly spurred the printer manufacturers to push the speed of the products they sell. Even prusa, who’s made no bones that they think you should print slow, have started bumping up the speed. That’s not to say that fast printing is better, it really depends on what your doing. It you are printing a production part then both slower speed and filament type matter, but for prototypes speed and part accuracy is key. And I dare say for the bulk of cosplay stuff I’ve made the speed didn’t overly change the reliability of the items.

[@cbgslinger]

Shawn, I appreciate the detailed response. You are a pro and have serious requirements! I fully understand your need for size, speed, and reliability; it’s business and it all affects your bottom line. I’m retired, only have 1 printer, and my hobby/business needs are modest. I design small parts for the cigar box guitars I build. The x1 Carbon Combo has taken me to the next level and was money well spent. I spend 3x what I was originally planning and it has been worth every last penny. It was the machine I didn’t know It was looking for. I hope a larger core XY machine from Bambu Lab is coming sooner rather than later. I know I’m ready to purchase mine. Good luck! Doug@@shawnhicks619

[@TRABWorkshop-ri4ql]

For bigger volumen, there is also Qidi Tech x-max 3, that also comes with heated chamber.

[@MadRC]

So cool to see Dr T on camera. I used to talk to him on RCGroups when he was at DJI. Such an amazing guy. People have no idea of the history this man has. He was everything that was good about DJI when he was there and had a missive hand in creating the drone industry we have today. It’s no coincidence that Bambu Lab came out swinging when you consider this man had a massive hand in products like the DJI Mavic, inspire and their other drones.

[@makerspace533]

We bought 4 P1Ps for our makerspace and personally I own both a P1P and a P1S with 2 AMS units. So I have quite a bit of experience with these printers. It was really refreshing to find an affordable 3D printer that was so well designed. I am a retired design engineer, so it was obvious that much effort and cost went into the design of the printer and the tooling required to mold the plastic parts and form the sheet metal. The Bambu Lab printers are a well thought out mature design, not just a pile of 80/20 extrusions and 3D printed parts screwed together.

[@DifferentAverage]

Barely made it six minutes into the video and this you’re already getting all the questions answered that people have been asking for months. Bravo Stephan!!

[@SmokyFrosty]

I could listen to Dr. Tao all day. What an inspirational scientist/engineer turned CEO. I will most definitely be investing in Bambu Lab Printers.

[@sjkba]

That is by far the coolest gift I have seen anybody receive on a podcast and from the CEO of a major company on top of it all. Congratulations!

[@peterfelecan3639]

As much as Dr Tao is nice as a fellow, we need to recognize that Bamboo Lab has the same approach as DJI, i.e., looting the open source community and locking down everything eventually. Kudos for the nice interview Stephan.

[@rickevans7941]

Disagree. He mentioned the race to the bottom, and this is exactly why 3DP has been stagnant and not as ubiquitous by now as inkjet document printing; that would be where 3DP would be today if the Chinese IP theft to Amazon Clone pipeline hadn't priced innovation and R&D out of existence for almost every physical product. There absolutely must be gatekeeping for development and innovation of developing technology, otherwise it's race conditions and stagnation. Open source has some consequences that are actually bad for consumers and contribute to escalating the current reality of asymmetrical economic warfare.

[@skyrider4789]

Thank you Stefan for this! Much respect and appreciation to you for choosing to do this interview with Dr. Tao. Very happy to get to know some about him. Seems like a good (and smart) guy. :) I LOVE my X1Cs (2) and am definitely excited for the big brother!

[@haenselundgretel654]

Dr. Tao seems very nice and like a really good CEO. Seeing BambuLab's great products he did make many very good choices. Cheers for the really good interview! Awesome video!

[@swolbrink]

Hearing his story, I got the impression that he is a good, honest, man. I respect him and wish him the best. I will be purchasing Bambu Lab equipment because of this interview, thanks.

[@Lex_FX]

Thanks for the interview video, and in particular, for doing what most influencers or content creators struggle with during an interview. And that is to NOT talk. You let him speak at length without interjecting or colouring the answers he was giving. So MASSIVE congrats for doing that. Also, congrats on asking the critical questions that seem to inflame so much of the maker community and doing it in a way that didn't slant the response one way or another.

[@SKid_Athor]

When Dr. Tao said "I was not smart enough....."..... Ah, really? This shows how much important the self-awareness of a CEO is. And its cool to see him speaking out all things pretty clearly. Yes they do have patents... yes they got inspired by xyz (so copied ideas), but others can do the same with their products. Tbh thats the most honest talk I've ever seen from a CEO. It's very direct talk. Loved it. And as he said: You cant rely on words or promises, you have to wait for facts. Then you can judge. Best interview ever! Imagine this kinda interview with CEO of Microsoft, Apple or TikTok.... Cool guy. Cheers!

[@Yoless1971]

Thank you for making this interview. There are not many with Dr. Tao or anyone else from Bambu Lab and it was really interesting to listen to all of it - because you ask the right questions. More of this please!

[@ravm84]

I bought Bambu lab x1c printer at the time of first releases. There were a lot of bugs in a software but it was clearly communicated. My concern was if it was only sw problems and if so will they really fix all issues. They got my credit and today I am sure it was very good choice. This interview just confirms me more. In my opinion what Bambu lab represents today is a benchmark for others and in my opinion this improves 3D printing world. What Dr. Tao says is a hard world of economics and business and in my opinion he is very very smart guy. Good luck and keep going.

[@Repkord]

Great interview Stefan. I really enjoyed the contextual format of injecting product overview into an interview format like this. I hope you consider doing more of these in the future.

[@FunnyPhisto]

Ordering an A1 mini after seeing this interview and a teardown of the machine. As a designer who also loves the engineering part of designing something this machine is just beautiful. So many right questions asked during the designing/engineering of this product and a very likeable CEO with a good vision and understanding of his market.

[@justinbaluch3394]

Hands down the best interview of the week regarding anything Bambu. Well done Stefan. Fantastic content as always.

[@mothershipco]

The joy and happiness this man has brought so many of us 3D printing enthusiasts and entrepreneurial small guys is just unmeasurable. I'm so grateful for everything he has accomplished so far, as well as in the future. Congratulations Dr. on all of your hard work. It is outstanding.

[@bjdchwr]

As a technology teacher and heavy 3D Printer user, I am so impressed with this interview video and I will use this video as a case study for my students in the near future :-)

This guy is smart enough to do anything he would like. He is talented in so many ways. I feel bad that he thinks he is not good enough. I am glad you are using your skills and talents to develop better products that benefits all of us. Thanks to both of you!!

[@Anonym-ww3kd]

I kickstarted the x1, my machine now prints several times a week and its still going like day one. I love my x1c and if an XL version comes out I will definitely buy it.

[@Pridanc-oj4ot]

Stefan, meant to drop you a note when I saw this last week but a squirrel ran by so I was done. All that aside IMO this was an outstanding interview. HUGE kudos to you for asking some questions that clearly made you uncomfortable no matter how bad you wanted to ask them. Takes guts. And so wonderful to e-meet Dr. Tao. I've worked with many wonderful German engineers and appreciate how this has influenced him. I know there is a fine line between taking open source info/data, using it, and then making something closed source. Not that I want to be flamed but isn't that how everything in the world is made one way or another? Someone sees something, takes the idea and builds their own version which is often better? At some point the hard work and investment needs to be rewarded and with a way to slow others from just walking in and taking his decidedly different Bambu 3d printing machine, Bambu has made it all closed source. Is this behavior mean spirited? Wrong? Downright Evil? Since I've personally been in both the open source world and the closed off world, I see both sides well. That Bambu has chosen to work this way, I've no problem at all. Not to be a turkey but a great example of this can be seen in the modern car world. Have you seen what it takes to work on some cars today? The manufacturers purposefully make it almost impossible for anyone but the dealer to do so (never say never..🙂..) and for sure most of everything they are "closing off" has been used before, originally come from somewhere else. Again, I'm not looking to stir the pot other than to say I get it and that CNC Kitchen continues to be the rock for all of us to learn from. I've little doubt there is a Bambu Labs printer in my future. But I so enjoy building my own. Stay well Stefan, Dr. Tao and Thank You both.

[@AuntJemimaGames]

Loved this interview, it was full of interesting and insightful information! Dr. Tao is a really knowledgeable and approachable guy. I'm not sure I agree with their approach to patents and cloud connectivity, and I really appreciate Stefan's willingness to ask hard questions and emphasize the value of the open source community's contributions to 3d printing technology which Bambu has benefited so much from. We should continue to encourage them to give back to the community, and push back against plans to lock down the kinds of resources that were only possible as a result of it. And while I've been waiting for an XL machine myself, I can't say I fault them for their reasoning about wanting to make additional improvements to their designs before simply releasing bigger versions of the same. Can't wait to see what they come up with in the future!

[@larsbecker2003]

It's great to have such an intelligent, sympathetic and honest ceo. who doesn´t lie or tells stories for marketing reasons but loves to please the consumers with good products.

[@IvanJoel]

Preventing firmware upgrade via SD card is just another way of preventing their printer from using 3rd party firmware. I'm sure when the enterprise version comes out, it will do it via ethernet combined with their slicer to still prevent it.

[@bigkahuna75]

I'm really late to the party - allowing firmware updates via SD card is a security hole considering that the machines are cloud connected. Not to be an apologist, but I don't think these guys are quite as sophisticated as Google or Amazon when it comes to closing attack vectors in their software that might affect them as a company and you as a user. Bambu Labs printers obviously aren't for everyone. I build my first Wilson II ages ago and now I'm in my late 30s. I really just want to print. Tackling print failures isn't my idea of fun and if the cost is closed source software, so be it. I got a life to live and tearing apart hotends every week isn't part of that.

[@tcha9779]

People may not be aware, but one becomes accustomed to receiving critical questions in academia, sometimes delivered quite assertively. Dr. Tao's academic experience has equipped him with the skills to handle such inquiries adeptly. During the interview, he demonstrated the safest and most straightforward approach by being completely transparent and honest in his responses. Applaud Dr. Tao and Stefan for their candid and open dialogue.

[@MarinusMakesStuff]

It's fascinating to hear him speak about the subjects. Thanks for doing this, and thanks to Dr. Tao for giving this open interview. It felt very open and honest, a lot more than you normally see from people who run a company.

[@TBJK07Jeep]

Wow, I can really appreciate his drive to make a better product. The passion is definitely & makes it worth the wait for other products of theirs.

[@xidameng]

I have to admit, the interview video is really worth watching, right questions were asked and the answer from Dr.Tao sounds really honest and down to earth, I have no doubts if Bambu Lab stays the way it is now it will be very successful in the future, possibly the "Apple" in the 3D printer world

[@CMDR_Hadion]

Hopefully a Woz-ish Apple rather than a Jobs-ish Apple. They’ve been more Woz-ish than Jobs-ish so far, not going after 3rd party parts manufacturers, but I feel they could lean more into the Spirit of the Woz.

[@OutOfNameIdeas2]

Brutal honesty. I Highly respect the BambuLabs CEO now.

[@TheNextDecade]

I really appreciate the full interview Stefan. Thank you for making this with Dr.Tao!!

[@markuskeller9734]

What a great and humble interview. Good questions, great answers.Thumbs up! Great vision and thoughts Dr. Tao shared and how they actually arrived in the 3d printing market is a great success story of a great and curious team of engineers. Very empathic and likable. Even though I do not (yet) have a Bambu Lab printer (but from many other brands) I think Bambu Lab will have a great future in the 3d printing market.

[@sofronio.]

That's the kind of content I wished to see more on KZbin. Not the regular specs and showing the g codes printing. This bts interview makes me more appreciate the tech behind the product, not like those hateboys repeating about close source or forced to use cloud. I think this kind of interview gives more inside views. Hope you can do more of this.❤❤❤

[@abotolo]

It would be lovely to see a double interview with Bambu Lab CEO and Prusa, discussing the future of 3d printing.

[@sofronio.]

​@@abotolo Indeed. That would be amazing.

[@hanswurst9866]

@@abotolo Joe Prusa would certainly not ask such tame question about the company that uses open-source software and tech while patenting the hell out of everything else in order to destroy competition like true capitalist.

[@mjetdevelopment]

@@abotolo Hahaha I don't think Josef Prusa likes Bambulab very much, Bambulab must be causing them a lot of stress.

[@Drumaier]

@@mjetdevelopment Yes but I think Josef knows this is partially his fault for not innovating.

[@GarethLewin]

I joked on Twitter that your video would be the best, but I didn't realize how accurate I was. So much better than almost every other A1 video which is just telling us about the same things. Thank you for this, and I know the algorithm probably won't reward you for this but please make more!

[@DustinGorman]

Great video! Very insightful. Can't wait for the XL version and whatever else Bambu comes up with. Very bright team of people doing big things. I'm also very happy to hear that he is toying with the idea of making the AMS Voron compatible. Thanks for all your hard work Stefan!

[@Ehren1337]

probably gonna be $1500-2000 for XL.

[@xlxalm]

So the same price it is currently lmao

[@Ehren1337]

@@xlxalm ehh pretty close yeah 1500 but i was looking at on sale price on X1. lol its prob gonna be 1600-2000. Why read on first price? Its the range.

[@UloPe]

Very nice video. Congrats on the very calm and straight forward interview style. To the point and not afraid to ask difficult questions without being needlessly aggressive. BTW maybe it would be a good idea to mention the interview in the video title?

[@johncheek07]

The interview made it worth watching and set your review apart. Thanks for making it.

[@bigtexuntex7825]

Thank you for this interview! Hearing Dr. Tau give us his thoughts on the big-printer question is very important to me. I loved his race to the bottom discussion, because that was the same thing going through my own head on my own 3d printer design. In the end I could not find a margin without higher prices, but having my design made by third parties undercutting me was likely within 12 months. So I decided it would be a race to zero. I didn't have the software arm, I was strictly making a big printer better. I still can make that better printer, no one else has made it yet, but the whole software ecosystem, and the material engineering takes a larger company. I would rather buy a good printer, and concentrate on my actual design work.

[@firstpitstop]

The clear transparent plastic makes the 3d printer look so sweet I will wait for the bigger version but if a transparent one is made I would buy it in a heartbeat it just looks so good and yes it will make a tinker stare at it all day! Now wishing my E5+ was transparent. 🙂

[@adamfilipowicz9260]

I prefer this format of video. vs a standard recap of the machine.. lots of other channels are covering the basics, I like the deep dive interview style to get to the heart of why a product exists

[@f1hotrod527]

The irony of a Chinese company stating that they would not want to make it easy for their competition to use their intellectual property to compete against them. Bambu does not want to be open source, and if they had their way, their stuff would be completely proprietary. I don't really have a problem with that. They do have to be somewhat open source because they built their product on top of what the open source community developed. But if they had started from scratch with hardware and software, then they would have every right to not be open source. I think open source does help a community advance the hobby, but at the same time keeps big companies from doing R and D to advance the hobby. It was very cool to have you ask these questions. I also appreciate the truth in giving the answer.

[@hanswurst9866]

What a dumb way to justify utilizing open-source software and tech for their own gain while preventing everyone else doing the same by patenting everything and threatening with legal defense...

[@SAFbikes]

😂 he also claims firmware updates MUST be done by connecting to his companies cloud network not an SD card for security reasons and it would be “extra work” 😅

[@no-expert]

I like to thank you for this direct communication, was surprised by some of the questions. And even more surprised by the no-bs answers that are so clear and honest, even when it’s bout money and patents. Awesome interview!

[@markusbundy431]

Thanks Stefan for this great video! Especially your way of asking the more "critical" questions was very pleasant but straighforward. No sugarcoating or sucking up as some other creator did ;-) I hope your video gets is earned attention!

[@LordNerfherder]

This intervjiew is fantastic. I love hearing things like this from actual sources.

[@mvadu]

Stefan, @2:00 your comment about giving them the air time, I think you did a fair thing. All if you have given Joseph or late Sanjay the similar air times when they started. It was good to hear from them. Even though just for the open design sake I am not going to buy Bambu and will stick with mk4.

[@TouchofDepth]

All respect to Bambu! Doing things right and giving access to everyone to get into this hobby!

[@macswanton9622]

Very refreshing perspective. Encouragement to broaden personal experience is the mission of 3DP developers, and Dr. Turbo has the best approach to this, and it will keep his company on the forefront.

[@RaphiJegerParagliding]

What a great and humble guy! I stumbled upon this video and did not intend to watch it 'til the end, but I could not stop. All while my X1C is printing... or *was* printing because it's so fast 🙂

[@jamesdownes1974]

This was absolutely fascinating - excellent video. Bambu are doing some amazing and exciting things, and Dr Tao is clearly a person who leads by example with his genuine humility, honesty and integrity.

[@hanswurst9866]

He admitted to using open-source software and other people's work which created 3D-printing while at the same time asserted the readiness of Bamboo Labs to defend itself legally and patenting the hell out of everything. What a nice guy... a genuine capitalist. It's amazing how manipulative this interview seems to be.

[@jamesdownes1974]

@@hanswurst9866 Thanks for replying. I think he was very transparent about the topic, which in itself is refreshing. I love open-source as much as the next nerd, but I think it has its limits (Tom Sanladerer did an excellent video on this topic). While what they have done may not be within the spirit of open-source, they seem to be complying with the requirements of the licences (I'm not a lawyer or an expert, of course). I don't agree that the interview was manipulative - it was a congenial conversation between two passionate makers and engineers. I don't think it would be reasonable to expect an aggressive approach from Stefan, and I don't think it would have been as interesting or enjoyable to watch.

[@mick2d2]

“I should have the freedom to tinker with it and I should have the freedom to not tinker with it”. For me, that sums it up in a nutshell.

[@jayphone1]

Really nice interview. I would appreciate more of those in the future. The CEO seems to be an humble and sincere person.

[@hanswurst9866]

Humble? He admitted to using open-source software and other people's work which created 3D-printing while at the same time asserted the readiness of Bamboo Labs to defend itself legally and patenting the hell out of everything...

[@jayphone1]

@@hanswurst9866 I have to admit that I hadn't watched the whole video at that point. And yes, "humble" was maybe painting him in a too good light. But he still appears to be an sincere person to me, only knowing him from this video. But I also think that it is a complex and debatable topic patenting technology. I see arguments for both sides.

[@HomoSapiensSomos]

Of all videos, this one will hold a special place. I apreciate the way the interview was made. It was made professionaly.

[@monkeywrench1951]

Do you have less waste from this printer ? With the x1’s and P painters you see packed beds because the waste is about the same for 1 model as for 10.

[@Local_Salad]

Stumbling into this hobby months later (with bambu), this inspires confidence and optimism for the future of this community (for me)! Thanks for the great interview!!

[@LittleGreenFire]

Fantastic interview! It's great to hear more about the motives behind the X1C. I personally like the diy klipper printers because I'm not afraid to fix or mod mistakes, but I fully acknowledge that PRUSA opened up the market to less advanced users and x1c is just the better option for those types of people. Thanks for the video!

[@jothain]

Why is it better? I haven't had virtually any problems with hundreds of Prusa printing hours. Like the printing tutorial is awesome with Prusa covering pretty hefty amount of pages about basics.

[@Redemptioner1]

At least Prusa did the right thing and continued to "open source"......

[@H34...]

I think he meant the prusa/bambu lab option is better for non tinkerers than a diy klipper printer

[@Blei0]

​@@jothainBambu labs printers have some more convenience features, like the automatic nozzle cleaning. Additionally, you can just start printing more advanced filaments like ABS without any knowledge and the AMS unit is the simplest way to start a multi material print. It's very unfortunate that they don't go the open source route and I really like PRUSA, but Bambu labs printers have some additional features for a very good price. That's a point that they have earned.

[@jothain]

@@Blei0 Nozzle cleaning is quite nice feature indeed.

[@manamp773]

This is a very good interview, and Bamboo Labs' CEO comes across as a very interesting and sincere person. Thank you for doing this!

[@johnbrooks7350]

I actually really respect Bambulab for waiting and not just scaling up the X1C. I am definitely in the market for an XL printer and I think I probably would be disappointed with just a larger X1C. I love my X1C but I think for something larger I would want something that could do more. Whether it will be the switch to a flying gantry, idex or tool changer, etc. I think an X1 XL needs more.

[@floodo1]

Agreed. Size is but one feature, and as he said they want many new features because it will inevitably be their new flagship. I for one would like multi zone heated bed like Prusa XL and some type of heating system to minimize heat soak delays … etc (-8

[@johnbrooks7350]

@Broskisnowski Something I haven’t seen but could really be good would be an idex system that could print with one of the heads using the AMS. Personally, I’ve been struggling with support cross contamination when doing bulk prints for ABS and ASA. I’ve been using HIPS and it definitely lowers layer adhesion when using a single nozzle

[@CMDR_Hadion]

@@johnbrooks7350why not idex with two AMS extruders? You could get many, many more materials that way, having one dedicated to higher temp materials and one to lower temperatures.

[@patrickdenis8567]

That was an awesome interview!!!! One of the best one so far that I have seen. There wasnt even sketchy moment with sensitive questions.

[@mhdm]

It's truly a shame going from Open Source firmware (marlin, klipper) back to fully closed. That happening for innovative, compelling products like Bambu Lab's makes it worse.

[@BeefIngot]

I feel you hard. At the same time, how hard did Scott work, how hard do the kipper guys work to make pennies VS the companies that make millions off their work. Opensource licensing is broken. I think we need licensing that distinctly says hey, use it as a sharer, you're good to go. Making profit and have closed stuff? No.

[@SodaDjinn]

And once they have a strong foothold in the market, they will make it so closed you have to use their filament and asset browser to print anything and pay hefty subsciption fees for it. Just look at what happened to 2D printers. I say thanks but no thank you. I'll stick to open source.

[@kaween1000]

@SodaDjinn As one who's stood behind "open source" for a decade and even contributed financially (to a tiny degree, but still contributions were made), I find myself turning away from it, or at least _not caring about it_ anymore. While is seems to be good fashion to sing a song of praise in regards to Marlin for example, having spend nearly 10 years with _fighting the ongoing obscurities of Marlin_ have finally driven the nail into Marlin's coffin for me. Just a couple of things to explain what I'm talking about : 1) LInear Advance in Marlin is inherently broken. Scott Lathiene is the first one who admits "a full rewrite of the current 1.5 LA is needed to make it fully compatible with other components inside Marlin. It's been that way since very much since 2019. We're 4 years futher ... it's still broken because in the open source community, there's simply no drive to improve it anymore. Doing stuff like this takes time. It takes effort. Lots of it. And clearly after 4 years, nobody feels noble enough to commit all the time and money to do it, leaving Marlin users with "a broken firmware" in that regard and no reason to think _it won't stay like that for another 4 years, or maybe forever". 2) Input shaping on Marlin ? Same story. "it will probably never use ADXL systems" (Scott talking). "it may, or may not, in the future" support Delta Kinematics (Scott talking). "It may be improved in terms of capabilities in the future, though no commitment, nor timetable is given". A perfect example of the inherent flawed structure of the Marlin project is, for example, the grapical design bed level system aka "radar screen". It's great as idea, but it simply doesn't work on machines like Delta's. You can enter it, but can't exit it, or the system (in some builds) even attempts to mechanically KILL your machine by pushing the effector outside the mechanical boundaries of the machine. The people at Marlin know this. Their statement :" yeah, nobody of us has a delta". Like, it costs 200USD to find one new but clearly that's too much of a hurdle. " But their statement is "yeah it's in there, and it looks cool, but it's not considered an important factor. We know it has issues but we are not going to put any developtime in it". That situation has been going on since 2018 by the way. Support for SBC ? Dead as a doorknob since 2019. Just another example. The thing is, when Marlin works for a certain (simpler) kinematic model, it's absolutely nice. But it's extremely frustrating to see issues 5 years old, and no intention from the devs to look into them. The "but it's open source so you can fix it yourself" excuses is utter BS. No, 99,999999% of the users can not. I can not. I can _use_ what is made available, and make it _useable_ for other people having the same machine as me and having even less knowledge about Marlin Firmware setups, but that's it. And the fact these issues are known, documented and reported very well, yet after 5 years, all have several "reported bug" statusses and what not, still exists sums up what really IS wrong with the open source model : people should be compensated for their efforts. Lack of such compensation yields to the current situation where known broken code is left to rot, as nobody feels any responsibility (hey, it's free) or drive to fix it. On the long run, this model is *not* in the interest of the user who wants to use his machine outside the hobby-scene because there's no ownership, no accountability for the product. I know this is not a popular opinion and many fanboys will vehemently defend the open source model with non-meaningful arguments aka "you're full of sh*t" and "you know nothing about Marlin" but I asure them, I've _some_ idea of how to build a Marlin firmware for any given machine, and as such I know very well where it bumps into issues which have been unresolvable for the last 4 years. You may not agree with me, but the complete stall of any meaningful development at Marlin in the last couple of years proves my point that Marlin as open source product is _not_ going to survive in its current form. It's already being pushed into obscurity by other firmware interpretations, and this won't get any better if nothing gets changed real quickly.

[@scifi_shop]

Yea sux, I need to do some automation, much difficult

[@SikhFPV]

@@SodaDjinnthat’s not true I have the Bambu & never bought their filament ever only using other 3rd party filaments & I’m getting amazing results

[@ENKTechnologies]

Fantastic interview. Eye opening and valuable. Thank you for asking the hard questions as well as the nerdy tech questions. I started 3D printing with the original Makerbot Replicator when it first came out - the wooden one. I spent months fixing and refining it to make it a usable printer. That experience really helped me understand printers - so much so that my next printer was a completely custom scratch built delta printer that was my main printer for the last 10 years. I just bought the P1S and It is a fantastic (though not perfect) machine . In fact it is so good it caused me to finally decommision my scratch built printer - a bitter sweet event.

[@NickBR57]

What a remarkable man. "I wasn't good enough to be a scientist" - so I just disrupted a major growing consumer market instead! Motor noise is one thing. What I would like to know is why Bambu have not either found or designed quiet fans. Traditionally the high airflow required for the speeds involved means high noise levels - I bet Bambu could design their own if they chose to

[@andrasszasz4373]

Because the motor thing its bs, instead of using a what 15-20$ TMC driver they went with a 1$ h-bridge driver and some software to cut down on costs, then they discovered later that they can do better with the shitty h-bride driver as in the first iteration and use it as marketing. A latest version of TMC driver and a good quality LDO motor are as quite as possible, no need for "super fancy" cheap ass h-bride driver and software but when you want as cheap as possible on the long run then yes... you squeez the last processing power out of that mcu and do as cheap hardware as you can

[@hardiebotha5476]

Not a Bambu fan specifically, but it was an excellent interview and a good insight into the thinking and their approach. Love the innovation they bring to the market and opening the market to more newcomers with multicolor capabilities at a very affordable price. Thank you, Stefan and Dr Tao!

[@supercurioTube]

Fantastic interview! Dr. Tao has what it takes to make a great CEO. Hopefully he'll be the one who stays in charge at Bambu Lab for a while.

[@mpoxDE]

That was an awesome video and interview. Thank you! I really enjoyed the conversation and learned a lot. Who know, perhaps you can ask Creality, Anycubic or whoever you like if they're evil. Maybe as a podcast guest? Thanks again and keep up the great work.

[@Dust599]

did they send one of these to every youtuber on the planet?!?!

[@CNCKitchen]

Might that be the reason why they barely had any retail machines?

[@etzmannschnappuleck1181]

You can bet they did!

[@DarthTater5738]

Stefan might be late but I value his opinion more than most.

[@UnCoolDad]

Sure feels like it 😜

[@Aikano9]

More like two, but seems like it

[@billmacfarlane4083]

"People ask critical questions. Why not answer them?" That right there show the worth and integrity of the man. Great job Stephan and Dr Tao!

[@UnCoolDad]

Really enjoyed this. I loved the human side of the interview and the openness of the interviewee. You asked lots of hard questions while still being respectful- and he answered them well.

[@jamesocker5235]

Thanks to Bambu for making an excellent user experience. Thank you

[@lb3d650]

I just spent 90 minutes listening to a 3D Printing Company CEO and I dont regret it haha, very interesting and well guided by Stefan!! 👏🏼

[@f.timothe]

I just got a Bambu printer and was impressed by it, but after watching this interview and seeing how cool this man is, it went from oh what a good product to wow this company is great with great humans in it and I really love what they are doing

[@emberprototypes]

Great content Stefan! I am happy to see something actually unique out there on a platform where others are just trying to jump on the band wagon

[@BigBadDodge4x4]

Dr. Tao is a very smart and wise person. He has the ability to see many paths to reach one solution. He understands everything related to his industry, on all sides. I look forward to see his ideas become reality.

[@brezovprut4431]

I will still continue to give advantage to Prusa but they should highly consider bringing enclosed printer from factory, and not as an (expensive) option. We need Prusa M/L 27x27x27cm build volume (9 tiles) enclosed with two toolheads (solution close to what they already developed for AFS). Regarding MMU, Prusa should consider redesigning MMU radically to bring compact thinkerless solution like this without existing buffer plates, flimsy spool trays and bunch of PTFE tubing..

[@NorwayVFX]

Highly doubt this considering how hard they are struggling to deliver the current XL machines, and how they rushed out the Prusa Mini+ firmware update that ended up bricking many machines. They are falling behind very quickly and currently need to focus on delivering the machines people ordered 2-3 years ago. Prusa are selling outdated machines and have never managed to make a functioning MMU system no matter how much they try.

[@OmDeLaTara]

@@NorwayVFX , older MMUs with latest firmware (3.0.0) work very very good

[@Foxhood]

​@@NorwayVFX Kind of hard to be really mad on them for that. I'm an electronics engineer in Europe and it being difficult to source parts has been a problem continent wide. :/ The only way around for many of us, is to rely on outsourcing development/production to china which has easier access. Otherwise i would have had to wait a whole 8 months for controllers to be available here. A lot of segments in the electronics field has seen a sudden uptick in foreign competitors outpacing domestic competition as a result. Which is only now starting to very slowly head towards normalization. This also led to a sudden rise in using interchangeable controller solutions Like Sparkfun's MicroMod socket, to give a backup if another shortage. I don't mind that particular shift as MicroMod is awesome!

[@emberprototypes]

Thanks!

[@ectubechannel]

I have a feeling that once one is locked into the Bambu ecosystem, I would expect Bambu to implement "licensing." By that I mean, pay an annual subscription for the cloud services, for updates/upgrades, for service/repairs. After all, it is a closed/single-source ecosystem (think Tesla or Apple or DJI). Since Bambu stays involved with your printer via the cloud, the cloud services won't be free forever. Bambu is clearly in the "experience" business rather than one-and-done printer hardware, and that means one will eventually have to pay to upkeep the "experience."

[@No0o0o0o0o0]

You can go 2015 and be offline or lan only mode just like every other printer out there. If they are providing a service someone wants to pay for then the consumer talks and BS walks.

[@AerialWaviator]

A very insightful interview, well done. An open interview like this can stand the test of time. It takes a brave and honest person to answer (or ask) the tough questions, as there's risk that the 3D printing community will call out any future actions as being inconsistent. It will be interesting, see if other companies provide a similar level of transparency and answer tough customer/community questions. Having a honest dialog shows a level of maturity by those in the industry willing to do so, and helps to differentiate the leaders from the followers. It's the actions, not the words that establish who are the leaders.

[@NathanBuildsRobots]

42:48 Can’t imagine suing Voron or RepRap. Hmm, that doesn’t sound legally binding.

[@EduardoMoreira-Ozzy]

Excellent interview! Loved to see their openness to answer the questions. Awesome