Bambu Lab A1 Combo vs Prusa Research MK4S with MMU3: Battle of the Color Bed Slingers

[Admin]

Can the $549 Bambu Lab A1 Combo take on the $1,269 Prusa Research MK4S with MMU3? We put these two mighty bed slingers into the ring to find out which 3D printer comes out on top.

Bambu Lab A1 Combo vs Prusa Research MK4S with MMU3: Battle of the Color Bed Slingers : Read more

 

[Personwomanmancameratv]

This comparison is laughable that you left out so many differences to pump the prusa it's borders on sad.

 

[yahbluez]

This comparison is laughable that you left out so many differences to pump the prusa it's borders on sad.

Can you provide a list what is missing?

 

[yahbluez]

Can the $549 Bambu Lab A1 Combo take on the $1,269 Prusa Research MK4S with MMU3? We put these two mighty bed slingers into the ring to find out which 3D printer comes out on top.

Bambu Lab A1 Combo vs Prusa Research MK4S with MMU3: Battle of the Color Bed Slingers : Read more

Comparing only the initial costs is a little bit miss leading.

A typical waste rate while printing colored models with AMS is >50%.
So even with cheap 20€ filament just 100 spools a year and you add 1k€ anual onto the TCO. Not counted the additional days of print time needed for slow color changes.

The new H2D already changed that a little bit.

 

[SllimMas]

Good comparison! Your points are spot on from my experiences. I think the readers need to also consider ease of printing. If ease of printing was part of the criteria this would be a tie. Depending on how important ease of printing is could also sway Bambu for the win. I’ve printed and continue to print in both environments.

Both are reliable with good results!

If you don’t mind tinkering, building, tearing apart, building again, upgradeability, and being present at the beginning of a print job the Prusa wins.

If you just want a print factory right out of the box and want the ease of being able to send a print job to your printer without the need to touch it or even look at it go Bambu.

 

[Personwomanmancameratv]

Can you provide a list what is missing?

What comes with the printers
A1 steel nozzle
Camera
More robust app ecosystem. Monitoring, remote object exclusion.
Eddy current system for filament tuning with relying solely on profiles and manual adjustments.
Better vfa
AMS 2 compatibility coming this year
Much faster single color prints, multicolor is however you set it.

Mk4
Ships w/ Brass nozzle
Camera, 1 frame every 10 seconds
Prusa app is lacking especially without a camera so remote monitoring is out.
Smaller build volume etc

Can you provide a list what is missing?

 

[Personwomanmancameratv]

Comparing only the initial costs is a little bit miss leading.

A typical waste rate while printing colored models with AMS is >50%.
So even with cheap 20€ filament just 100 spools a year and you add 1k€ anual onto the TCO. Not counted the additional days of print time needed for slow color changes.

The new H2D already changed that a little bit.

That's not even close to accurate.

View: https://youtu.be/bbDqJAUEW9U?t=291


1 the cost of filament waste is obviously dependent on the model
2. The cost of a filament per change is about 2-3 cents @ $25 a roll. even less for cheaper rolls.
You need about 1000-5000 in changes to nuke a roll. it would literally take you non stop printing and filament swapping to make up a $500 difference. 20kg-50kg in pure waste is hard to do in the worst of scenarios.

3.Then there is flushing volume modifiers(70% reductions).
long retract options, sacrificial purge to infill models and more.
4. multiple similar prints.