this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2025
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Bambu Lab announces the Vortek H2C, an automatic nozzle-changing version of the H2D (blog.bambulab.com)
submitted 1 week ago by TheRealKuni@piefed.social to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world
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Seems like Bambu Lab has a new trick for reducing waste. Rather than a toolchanger like the Prusa XL or the Snapmaker, they're swapping just the nozzle. As far as I can tell from the video, the printer still has a second nozzle which won't swap in and out, meaning a print can be run with 7 nozzles (six from the Vortek system, plus the second nozzle in the toolhead). So if you're using 7 or fewer filaments, no pooping is necessary.

The cool bit here is that they're using wireless chips in the nozzles to communicate the thermistor data to the printer, so no pin-based connections are needed.

Pretty cool solution, I think. I assume you'd still need a prime tower, but that's a small amount of waste if they're eliminating poop from purging the nozzles.

I'm curious to see how they'll handle calibration, surely the nozzles aren't all going to be perfectly aligned all the time.

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[–] Bronzie@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I'm thinking more and more that this is a semi-rushed response to Snapmaker having insane success on KS with their U1, more than a goodwill gesture from BL, tbh.

I also struggle seeing the true point of it, depending on what the price ends up being.
Let's say it lands at 2500-3000€. The H2S will have higher print speed (lighter gantry), fewer movable parts and a thoroughly tested hot end setup at 1150€ without AMS.
1500€ in poop is going to take most people a lifetime to produce, not considering the advanced Vortek system needing maintenance. That's like 75 full 1 kg rolls of pure poop if you pay 20€ for each.
It will also require at least two AMS units to function fully, both of which are proprietary and useless the day you buy another branded machine.
If you don't need a heated chamber or the increased print size, you can get away with the P-series for even less money.

Add the closed ecosystem to the mix, and I can't really see any viable reason to wait for the H2C at all...
Am I just being dumb here? I'd genuinely like to know

[–] Test_Tickles@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I think that the problem is that you are being too smart rather than dumb. I think you are grossly overestimating the amount of thought that a good portion of consumers put into their purchases. Don't forget, people didn't just buy the cyber truck, many even bought it as a status symbol. Even worse is that some people are still buying them.

[–] Bluewing@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

From what I read, it's supposed to have only the one hotend. But perhaps I misread.

The swap-able nozzles are a clever idea. And does have it's advantages over tool changers. And despite the in house testing Bambu says they have done, it will be interesting to see what happens when you turn such an unproven system loose on all the knuckle dragging, hoof handed, club footed, thumb fingered masses of the world.

But I suspect the price puts it out of the range of most hobbyists. Much like the Prusa XL, this is perhaps aimed at print farms more than the hobbyist.

[–] Bronzie@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah, I think it's very clever, but like you say it will be interesting to see how the system fairs outside a lab environment over time.
And even if it does work flawlessly, there is no way they will price it lower than the H2D which is already outside what I consider reasonable for sporadic home use.

If all my dreams come true, the competition heats up and they end up dumping the prices over the board.
Realistically though, I'll keep an eye on the H2S over the next few months and see if people have issues with it before I give away even more of my hard earned money.

[–] Bluewing@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

My opinion is these printers are aimed a lot more at print farms and other businesses that use 3D printing than the average consumer/hobbyist. And the pricing will reflect that. I think that the X series printers get faded and Bambu keeps the A and P Series printers. The A series for beginners and the cheap bastids like me. The P series then becomes the flagship consumer models. While the H series is the prosumer market. The nozzle swapper is aimed at the heart of print farms where every milligram of waste is money lost.

I'm quite sure Bambu has all the patents locked up and it's going to be a good while before we will other printers with similar technology.