The Bambu Lab A1 mini is the newest offering from the Chinese manufacturer. It is a bed slinger 3D printer, that is to say, it moves the print bed along the Y-axis and the print head along the X-axis. This despite the fact that previously the company had stated that it did not want to produce bed slinger variants of 3D printers due to the numerous print flaws that may arise due to its design. However, Bambu Lab has confidently stated that this will not be a problem for the A1 mini. They claim to have distilled the best qualities of the Bambu Lab printer line into this, their most affordable and compact 3D printer yet, “a bed slinger printer with Core-XY speeds and quality precision.”
Attributes of the Bambu Lab A1 mini
The A1 mini is able to make these lofty claims thanks to its construction, which consists of a rigid metal frame, bearings and full-metal rails made of steel and extruded aluminum. The metal parts are also in the hot end, gears and nozzle, which are stainless steel. The nozzles are also designed for quick replacements with a single clip design. Overall, the design hopes to extend printer life and quality by using higher-grade materials.
As mentioned above, Bambu Lab has claimed that this would not be a bed slinger printer like the rest, and to prove that claim, the A1 mini comes equipped with some of their prominent technology from the X1 and P1P/P1S models: a nozzle pressure sensor, closed-loop cooling fans, accelerometers, powerful MCU and an advanced motion control system that features full auto-leveling and active vibration and flow rate compensation. Similarly to the A1 mini’s older brothers, the X1 and P1S, the A1 mini has its own version of the AMS filament storage system which can be bought together or separately from the printer. The “AMS Lite” system allows for up to four filaments to be used at once, and the A1 mini comes equipped for automated filament loading and unloading.
The A1 mini is even equipped with motor noise-canceling and silent mode, which can reduce printer noise levels to under 48 dB. Like all Bambu Lab printers, the A1 mini syncs seamlessly with Bambu Lab’s own slicing software – Bambu Studio, and has additional capabilities for remote monitoring and timelapse recordings on mobile devices with their phone app, Bambu Handy. The printer and additional software systems can also work in synergy with Bambu Lab’s file-sharing site, MakerWorld. The A1 mini will be available starting at $299 or $459 including the AMS Lite filament storage unit.
