This 3D Printer Just Broke My Tests, Because the Future Is Here

For the final 4 years, I’ve examined 3D printers in a number of key methods. {Hardware} exams, like how briskly it’s or how effectively the print mattress heats up, are vital, however so is measuring print high quality evenly throughout machines.

To make sure each printer will get the similar check, I labored with a proficient 3D artist to design a customized print that rapidly exhibits high quality points from the most difficult duties for any given printer.

Initially created by 3D artist Fixumdude, the CNET check print is designed as a benchmark for 3D printing, testing a number of points in a single useful print. We designed it to seem like the prior CNET emblem, however added quite a lot of technical hurdles to make it laborious to print, whereas nonetheless trying cool. We additionally love a great branding alternative round right here.

At the moment, that check has met its match. I’ve lastly come throughout a printer that passes with an ideal rating. Whereas others have come shut, the Bambu Lab H2C is the first machine to attain prime marks throughout all the mannequin’s metrics.

• The mannequin is precisely 30mm tall (Dimensional accuracy check)
• The bottom is precisely 5mm tall (Dimensional accuracy check)
• The slash between the “C” and “NET” is 7mm broad (Dimensional accuracy check)
• The slash has overhangs at 50, 60, and 70 levels (Overhang/cooling check)
• The slash has bridging — gaps the place filament prints in midair — from 8mm to 24mm in 4mm increments (Cooling/Bridging check)
• The sting of the C has a circle with a diameter of 15mm (Arch printing check)
• On the face of the T are two CNET logos, one embossed and one engraved (Ringing check)
• Two spires mark the tail and the cross of the T (Stringing/Small level check)
• 4 pegs are inserted in the slash with gaps round them at 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5mm increments (Mattress adhesion/Tolerance check)

Whereas I do quite a lot of different printing on every machine, these 9 exams kind the spine of 3D printer testing right here at CNET. To date, no different 3D printer has managed to cross all 9 of those besides the Bambu Lab H2C. The one different machine that got here shut was the Prusa Core One, however the overhangs and bridging had been noticeably inferior to the H2C.

The exams do enable for some variance. Nothing is actually good, and melted plastic won’t ever be 100% correct. Once I run the exams, I see a variance that permits a printer to attain a typical cross, which is about 0.1 to 0.2mm greater than the “good rating” outcomes, and each printer on my finest checklist has achieved that end result. You’ll be able to see that the H2C has performed extraordinarily effectively throughout the board.

Bambu Lab’s newest flagship 3D printer includes a twin extruder setup, with the proper extruder able to hot-swapping six nozzles on the fly. I am nonetheless testing it absolutely, so I haven’t got a evaluation but, however I used to be blown away by how effectively it printed this mannequin. It is not even doing something extremely difficult to attain these outcomes. Just tons of of tiny tweaks that, whenever you put them collectively, produce improbable, repeatable outcomes.

Cover our skilled take

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The H2C is one in all the first consumer-grade “Indx” 3D printers. Its Vortek nozzle-changing system helps you to hot-swap six nozzles, decreasing waste and rushing up advanced prints. It is Bambu’s flagship, and with that top honor comes a excessive worth. It is not for everybody, however it’s a glimpse at what the future holds.

Cover our skilled take

3D printers have improved enormously. Even 4 years in the past, this check would have stumped most fashions, however now now we have a printer that may ace the check. It is also cool to know that the method I check them should change to maintain up. Again to the drafting board for me.