First print: How the Bambu Lab X2D tackles multicolor waste

Bambu Lab reached out to me a few weeks ago and asked if I'd be interested in checking out its latest 3D printer, the X2D. I purchased the P2S about six months ago, and it reinvigorated my passion for 3D printing. It was the first printer I owned that had multicolor print capabilities thanks to the included AMS 2 Pro.

But multicolor printing with a single nozzle is also wildly inefficient. Each time a color change occurs, the printer has to clear the nozzle of leftover filament, and in the process of purging, it creates a lot of wasted plastic. Not to mention, each filament change (and sometimes there are multiple per layer) takes time. A lot of time.

However, the X2D has two nozzles – excuse me, extruders – which means it can switch between two colors with practically zero waste. As you start adding more colors, and the efficiency of the overall print job increases drastically.

I've only run a few prints on the X2D so far, but one of the first prints I did immediately after setting it up was the included two color panda design. I loaded black filament in the AMS to feed the left nozzle, and white filament on the external spool holder to feed the right nozzle, and then pressed start.

One hour and thirty-eight minutes later, I had this:

Image by Jason Cipriani

A cute panda, and two very small amounts of purge waste. There's also a purge tower just out of frame (I wasn't thinking about posting this pic when I snapped it), but that's par for the course with a multicolor print.

After seeing just how little waste there was with the X2D, I decided to run the same print on the P2S to compare print times and, more importantly, the amount of wasted filament.

Nearly four hours (!!) later, I had this:

Image by Jason Cipriani

Not only did the print time more than double, the amount of purge waste was exponentially more. I should have weighed it. I still don't know what to say about the difference. I had accepted this amount of waste as the price to pay for multicolor prints. Now I'm wondering why I don't have a printer with 4 nozzles.

Admittedly, I face a steeper learning curve with the X2D over the P2S. With the P2S, I'd just load colors into the AMS and press start. With the X2D, however, I'm still getting the hang of the workflow a second extruder requires.

More to come, of course. But if you have any models or print ideas to help test the X2D's capabilities, feel free to reach out.