An upgrade to the subspace - Bambu Lab P2S

Recently, I decided to just send it and upgrade from my Prusa MK3S+ to a Bambu Lab P2S. Yes, I’m aware of the cloud controversy and security implications and etc. (losing Octoprint support also sucked), but seeing the output quality of the printer at basically half the price I bought my Prusa for was just too tantalizing to pass up on. So, I smashed the purchase button. Meet, Prints of Persia! (Thank you, Olivia for the name)

By the time this blog post is published, I’ve had it in service for maybe half a month. I’ve hooked up Sage (which was my homelab AI assistant, Morgana but renamed to Sage - Sage’s choice) to listen over MQTT for updates the printer may have.

Having this printer whirl around at speeds much faster I could get my MK3S to reliably run at is astonishing to see. It’s just sad to see all the…poop…it generates. But hey, clean toolhead. Fair tradeoff.

If I forget to disable it, the leveling, homing, and calibration sequence takes a significant amount of time that it makes me feel bad to run a small print.

What I Love

• The speed of an XY printer, now I don’t have to worry about the bed slinging around an unstable part
• The build quality at ~600USD (no AMS)
• Vibration and noise compensation seems to be solid
• Slicer (Bambu Studio) is solid
• Being able to launch jobs over the cloud
• Cloud account not mandatory
• Enclosure standard (MK3S+ would need a separate purchase)
• Touchscreen
• Enclosure light
• Camera for live-feed viewing (cloud account not required surprisingly! Refreshing.)
• S P E E D

What I (kinda) don’t

• How much filament it seems to ‘waste’ when doing a purge at the beginning of a print
• Toolhead homing, nozzle cleaning, etc. seems to take a significant amount of time (2-5 minutes) - but ultimately not so much a problem
• Cloud integration can raise some security concerns for some people. I’ve deemed it acceptable given my current set up.

What I don’t

• Closed source upstream (disregarding Bambu Studio)
• No Octoprint support
• Filament spool holder is on the side and maintenance can be difficult
• The “poop-chute” for spent filament is at the back of the printer. Had to print, ironically, another chute to redirect the plastic poop to the side of the printer for easy maintenance

For anyone getting into 3D printing, I would recommend both Prusa and Bambu Lab. Prusa has been in the printing scene for an established time, boasting open-source, a strong community, and well documented support. Bambu Lab has some of those elements, but their focus on speed and OOTB experience draws some fall-backs that those aware of the “enshittification” of the internet, cloud experiences, and etc. would probably shy away from. You really can’t go wrong with either printer in my opinion, though I feel I got more value from the P2S than my Prusa (~600 USD to ~1100 USD respectively).

Enjoy a not-as-fast video of the Bambu Lab printing parts for the Evoker from Persona 3: