After the maker residency where I worked successfully with a Prusa Mk 3 and Mk4 printer, printing TPU for stamps, I decided to buy a new, modern printer. The one I already had dates from around 10 years ago and is gathering dust on the shelve now since around 2 years. I left 3D printing for what it was, focused on the laser and the router and if i had to print at all, i went to Fablab Enschede with it’s farm of Ultimakers. Even though it was not a bad printer, I never managed to get the multimaterial working properly (dual head, always leaking material from the head not in use and it had to be aligned very carefully) . Printing took just too long, and it had to print slowly to get a decent quality. Besides, the slicing software and the display were not user friendly to use. I mastered the levelling of the printing plate by hand (lots of trial and error), but it took too much time. I also wanted to get rid of the Peek connections in the printing head, they caused to much leakage and jams. Too much trouble to keep tinkering with it….
But now i enjoy printing again. The new machine, a Bambu A1 combo with multimaterial device, prints pretty good, straight from the box. And it prints fast. There was a flaw however, the Z axis was not exactly perpendicular to the building platform but with a small script in Grasshopper / Rhino3D I corrected that quite effectively and it prints at a 90 degree angle now. Which is very useful for architectonical maquettes (models).
Sure, i could have purchased a Mk4 as well, but i have there is such a huge difference in price… and the multimaterial option is also important. So i gave in and choose for the closed source Bambu with doubts about client helpdesks and so on. Still, i do not regret it.
TPU (rubber) printing works fine and the material is surprisingly strong, it just does not tear apart. I use it for stamps.
And last but not least I can print landscapes with it, which is useful for my work. Next test will be with multicolor, such as blue for below sea level, white for the 0-meter line and other colors for the dry land. It will be a nice addition to the lasercut, stacked models i made up to now.