Ecosystems

[Bryan Eckert]

So, might be a great discussion, and I believe an important one. Because it is shaping and will shape 3D printing on the hobby side at least in the immediate future. This is a lengthy post, so apologies in advance.

So much we focus on hardware. Which printer is this, that and the other. At least on the FDM side of things, but honestly the hardware now is kind of ubiquitous. Many of us here built our own machines, we extreme mod our printers so that’s in our nature.

The Bambu X1C tossed the FDM world on its head when it came out. Me personally, it was the only Kickstarter I have ever backed (but I was close to grabbing a U1). My serial number is 890, out of 5,500 kickstarter machines. 

Bambu released a machine that set the standard in the hobby/maker space, which we now see personified in other brands like the Elegoo Centuri series, the Creality K series and Prusa Core series. Clones building off Bambu’s success. 

Most importantly in my mind it set a fire under Prusa’s ass, which had been resting on its laurels. I’ve always been a Prusa fan, and hope for their continuing success. 

But now, Bambu is just an undeniable juggernaut. I just read an article that Tencent is seeking to invest, which could push Bambu valuation to well over TEN BILLION dollars. That’s more than all the other 3D manufacturers - including Stratasys - COMBINED. 

I see videos of print farms with THOUSANDS of X1C’s and P1’s. Bambu has virtually unlimited R&D with hundreds of engineers (250 worked on the H2 series since immediately after the X1C debut)

We can discuss and argue how good or bad that is, but I’d rather draw light to WHY. 

To me, it comes down to 3 things… hardware reliability (My X1C is ancient at this point, and I do damn near zero maintenance on it), software and ecosystem. 

As far as software, those of us in the kickstarter that got our machines early helped pave the way with feedback - and opting in to sharing with Bambu our print results, etc. with Bambu. We found security holes in the software that got patched quickly. We made Bambu change their stance in thermal runaway (the hotend cannot actually have thermal runaway to ignition temps due to physical design as pointed out by Bambu) and alter code. My X1C is the only printer I owned that constantly got better and improved print quality on its own, which I had a hand in.

But, we were just focused on polishing the printer. 

What truly has made Bambu that juggernaut in my eyes is ecosystem. Bambu Studio, Handy and Makerworld. Because other manufacturers offer similar printers - some at half the price - but none really match the experience. 

And now Bambu is enhancing that even more with things like MakerSupply - where you can get parts like magnets, screws, LEDs, etc. And Cyberbrick, a modular offering of electronics where you can design and print your own robots and RC cars, and there is a huge repository of models on Makerworld already. Bambu is heavily invested in STEM, and is now offering $300K grants for makers. 

When we talk innovation in the 3D printing world - it’s not simply limited to hardware.

Imagine what Prusa could have done if they’d have had the foresight to build out such an ecosystem.

That’s not to say Bambu is going to rule forever. Look at Stratasys. They were the King, until a new kid came along and punched them in the mouth and invaded their space - by accident. 

Anyway I’d like to hear others thoughts about this.  Bambu is definitely taking the DJI and Apple road. Remember- Apple wasn’t a phone company until they released one. 

[3D Printing Tips and Tricks]

"Imagine what Prusa could have done if they’d have had the foresight to build out such an ecosystem."

Imagine what Prusa, or just about any other producer, could have done if they too could ignore basic capitalist, business/market fundamentals and simply produced without worrying about supply chain, funding, profit or paying off investors!

It's well known that all production out of China works by completely different rules from Western companies. They overproduce and then dump at absurd low prices.

From my perspective Bambu's achievement is singular... ease of use for those who are new to 3D Printing.

I agree about how quickly fortunes change. Especially since in China copying designs is considered a compliment instead of IP theft. Its a sure bet that every "original" design from Bambu will appear in other Chinese products and will sell for a lot less.

[Ray Price]

Have been super busy, so haven't had the time until now to respond.

Have to agree 100% with you Bryan.  I'll start throwing out quotes and misquotes, but "it's the ecosystem, stupid" for one.

While I haven't been in the Bambu camp very long, Bambu's whole system and engagement has been extremely comfortable and smooth.  Another apropo quote that I found on the intertubes:  "my hobby used to be 3D printers, now it's 3D printing" and that pretty much hits the nail on the head with respect to what Bambu has created.  I've modded every one of my Creality and Elegoo printers with at least bed posts and extruders, hot ends, etc.  Even built an entire H-Bot (back in the day) from a spreadsheet BOM and a boatload of parts from across the globe, but all that can't hold a candle to what a robust ecosystem can provide for breadth and depth of support, quality, and capability.

These past few years, I've been just "doing what I normally do" and completely missing out on simple things like adopting 3mf as a project format and the whole multi-plate concept within that.  Bambu has helped bring me into that fold and has really opened my eyes to changing the way I've been doing things.  I had built a process / system for printing in my shop that was based around always importing an STL, generating the gcode; sending it to Octoprint; and then generally discarding the file from Prusaslicer / Cura / etc because there was little to no need unless I had specific changes around print settings or layer height, manual color changes, etc.  I believe PrusaSlicer has the "plate" concept, but really didn't see the need for it because 1) all color changing was a manual step anyway.  2) none of my previous printers were/are "color aware", and 3) Octoprint has been my bread and butter for printing, where it maintains a nice tidy organization of GCODE files ready to print at a touch of a button.

I completely recognize that all of what I've built / created from a process perspective has been built due to inertia and the path of least resistance.  The turning point for me has been that the Bambu technical capabilities and the ecosystem have created a new path of least resistance for me that just blows everything else I've been doing out of the water.

I could go on, but that covers the high lights.  There will always be folks here and in the hobby that want to continue to have 3D printers as their hobby, for me, I'm excited to move over to 3D printing as my hobby.  There are only so many hours in the day and design/printing/etc sparks the most joy for me personally.  Don't get me wrong, the experiences I've had with 3D printers, while not nearly as extensive as most other folks here, have been extremely valuable to get me to this point and will pay massive dividends going forward.

Just my .02

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "3D Printing Tips and Tricks" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to 3d-printing-tips--...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/d42ffc8f-b3c0-4f0c-8a2b-4007ea9a726fn%40googlegroups.com.

[Bryan Eckert]

One of the great things about 3MF, and that Prusa and Bambu have fully committed to it is that it's simply a ZIP file. 

So, I can include things like photos, assembly instructions, BOM's and the like... all in one file to an end user. They in turn can just grab those files out of the 3MF, without having to hunt down and download separate files.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/CAGbEhsBy6pfagRTsNKRxjSNfY7FYxmhdbxjdBiai%3DkmMXB56mw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Ray Price]

I think I've seen that comment, and that is cool.  Will have to remember that going forward.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/CANjNy1V%3DRwO20QUjHbmRoO7AfAbFoJ1SRmeA8GMVenZ-05FYig%40mail.gmail.com.

[Alan B]

Are there any security risks from executable or other files slipped into .3mf's?

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/CAGbEhsA5tXQgUS7%2BOUg_r6VX%2BX1Fz6NcvLPNzZ5k6M1Xcgb%2BJA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Ed Street]

Security risk with .3MF files? I can easily answer that one by asking, "Is the pope Catholic?"  

https://checkmarx.com/blog/pwn3d-abusing-3d-models-for-code-execution/

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3607199.3607216

One of the better, well-rounded reports.  https://all3dp.com/1/3d-printer-security/