Bambu Lab:
We hope you share our excitement about the launch of H2S .
After all, the H2S is more like a product that everyone has been waiting for for the past three years; it is essentially a larger X1C.
But this announcement also brings us a thorny issue: should we let everyone know that we will be launching another product in the H2 series before the end of the year – the H2C?
If we announce it now, it will definitely hurt sales of H2D and H2S and affect the company's revenue, because H2C hasn't even arrived at our warehouse yet, and news of the new model may make people hesitate to buy it now.
On the other hand, if we don't mention H2C at all, many people may later regret buying H2D or H2S.
This is truly a difficult choice.
Ultimately, we decided to continue sharing the existence of H2C and telling the story behind the product.
Let's go back to the original question: Why do 3D printers "poop"?
It's very simple; you just need to clean the residual molten material from the nozzle.
When you try to print different colors with a single nozzle, it's basically like painting with just one brush.
You need to clean your brushes every time you change colors to prevent the old paint from staining the new paint.
The same applies to 3D printing: the nozzles must be cleaned before replacing consumables.
So, what if we could skip those tedious cleaning steps?
During the painting process, you can choose to use several different brushes, each corresponding to a different color.
But what is the equivalent of a "brush" on a printer? Is it the entire frame? The tool head? The hot end assembly? Or just the nozzle itself? Each option has its advantages and disadvantages—which is precisely what makes this competition so fascinating.
The contamination only occurs at the nozzle, but the nozzle does not work alone.
The nozzle requires a motion system, filament feed, heating, and temperature sensing, all of which need to be connected to the 3D printer.
Disconnecting and reconnecting these systems when changing nozzles is a reliability nightmare.
The more components that can be replaced as a whole, the more reliable the connection will be—but this will result in a larger footprint and higher costs.
The fewer components that need to be replaced, the lower the cost and the smaller the size, but the more difficult it is to guarantee reliability.
Ultimately, there is always a trade-off between reliability and cost versus space requirements.
Here is a quick overview of the various trade-off options:
Option A: Replace the entire rack. Simple and straightforward, with no concerns about connection reliability.
The downside is that each nozzle requires a complete rack, resulting in high cost and large size. This is the typical IDEX solution on the market, usually limited to two nozzles.
Option B: Replace only the tool head, but use the same motion system.
This can save costs and space, but now we need to deal with the mechanical connector between the gantry and the tool headstock.
The tool head is still too bulky, so not many can be installed.
This is the "tool changer" solution, which has been used in E3D, Prusa, and later Snapmaker products.
Option C: Replace only the hot-end components. This allows the hot-end components to share the motion system, extruder, and cooling system, thus saving more space and cost.
But next, you'll face the challenge of connecting all the power and signal cables used for heating and temperature sensing.
The spring pin connector worked fine in the demonstration, but ensuring it operates reliably over millions of cycles is another matter entirely.
Option D: The simplest idea. If you trust the thermal conductivity at the interface, you can heat it from the tool head side and measure the temperature, just like with the A1 nozzle.
This way you only need to replace the exposed nozzle and radiator. The challenge is to ensure consistent thermal conductivity, especially when nozzles are replaced thousands of times more frequently than with A1.
We can continue with Plan E, Plan F, and even further plans, but let's stop here.
In 2023, we decided that Plan C was the best option – striking a proper balance between reliability and space requirements – provided we could resolve the wiring issues.
Our secret? Ditch the mechanical connectors and use wireless connections.
Induction heating can already wirelessly heat nozzles, but heating alone is not enough; we also need to measure the temperature.
Our solution involves designing a custom microcircuit at the hot end to receive power, measure temperature, and wirelessly communicate with the tool head.
This may not sound novel on paper, but making it robust, reliable, and certifiable requires a great deal of engineering design and expertise.
Finally, this integrated approach allowed us to reduce the hot-end assembly to just four parts: the nozzle, the insulator, the thermistor, and a compact PCB.
All of these weigh only 10 grams and measure 20 × 15 × 56 mm.
Wireless heating and communication solved a major problem, but precisely positioning the nozzle is another challenge.
Simply switching nozzles is not enough—they must land precisely on every printer we deliver with micron-level accuracy each time.
Otherwise, your prints will have defects and scratches.
To achieve this, a highly repeatable mechanical structure, a fast and accurate measurement system, or both are required.
Then there's the software. Embedded firmware, slicer integration, user interface—all of these.
Customers often underestimate the importance of software, and to be honest, we did the same at first.
That's why, even though the hardware design was finalized months ago, we're still not ready to ship.
The reality of product development is staring at a bunch of finished printers waiting for software to be perfected, and you can't help but ask yourself: "Should we launch it now, or wait a bit longer?"
However, after three years of research and development, we finally have confidence. We will be ready to launch H2C by the end of 2025.
Before we conclude, we know many of you will ask one last question:
Can I upgrade my H2D to H2C?
The answer is yes—but it does require some skill, patience, a willingness to follow instructions carefully, and a few hours.
This is definitely more complicated than replacing a clogged nozzle, and we don't encourage entry-level customers to do it.
Can I upgrade from H2S to H2C?
Theoretically, yes, but we're publishing this blog post just to make sure you don't waste your time and budget on it.
👉To learn more about Bambu Lab's products, please visit our product page !
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SanDiMa offers more than just 3D printing ; we provide three major OEM services: " 3D Printing Manufacturing ," " 3D Scanning Services ," and " Spatial 3D Scanning Services "!
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