Bambu Lab P2S 3D printer w/ AMS

From what I’ve gathered, 3D printing went through an inflection point about four years ago: Up until then, 3D printers were generally finicky and unreliable and, for most people, not worth the effort. They were hard to set up, had to be calibrated manually before each print, it’d take several rounds of trial-and-error to get something that resembled what you were trying to make, and you’d spend as much time maintaining the printer and as you did printing. 3D printing in more than one color was also its own separate ordeal.

And then in 2022 a startup called Bambu Lab launched a Kickstarter to build a 3D printer with a wish list of features: automatic calibration, easy multi-color prints, built-in error detection, and all at a price point that would set the industry on its ear.

That printer was the Bambu X1, and three or four generations later the P2S is Bambu’s mid-range printer, sandwiched between the entry-level A1 series and the higher-end X2D and H2 series. I’ve had my P2S for about two months, and it’s been going almost nonstop since it arrived: I’ve printed custom shelving that exactly fits the space under our bathroom sink, storage systems for the kitchen, bookshelves that fit various niches around the house, and dozens of toys for the kids. The P2S was easy to unpack and assemble, and was up and printing less than an hour from when it arrived.

The P2S has also been low maintenance, although I will say this: You know how when there’s a paper jam in a 2D printer, you have to open little doors on the printer and go elbows-deep into the guts of the machine to clear it? Clearing a jam in the P2S requires partially disassembling the machine with the provided Allen wrenches. The good news is that the P2S has only jammed once so far, and when it did the printer’s touchscreen displayed a QR code that took me to excellent step-by-step instructions for taking the printer apart and putting it back together. But 3D printer maintenance is still at the “I am comfortable taking things apart with tools” level, not the “make an appointment at the Genius Bar” level.

That being said, I’ve been very happy with the P2S: I’ve gone from having no experience at all with 3D printing to cranking out prints on a daily basis. It’s fun and useful.