Bambu Lab:
We hope you’re as excited as we are about the H2S release.
After all, the H2S is more like what everyone has been asking for for the past three years; essentially, a bigger X1C.
But this announcement also brought us a tricky question: should we let everyone know that we will be launching another product in the H2 series, the H2C, before the end of the year?
If we announce it now, it will definitely hurt sales of the H2D and H2S and impact company revenue, as the H2C hasn't even arrived in our warehouses yet, and news of a new model might make people hesitate to buy now.
On the other hand, if we don't mention the H2C at all, many people might regret buying the H2D or H2S later.
This is truly a difficult choice.
Ultimately, we decided to share the existence of the H2C with everyone and tell the story behind this product.
Let's go back to the original question: Why do 3D printers "poop"?
Simply put, it's to clean residual melted filament from the nozzle.
When you try to print different colors with a single nozzle, it's essentially like painting with only one brush.
Every time you change colors, you need to clean the brush to prevent the old paint from contaminating the new.
The same applies to 3D printing: the nozzle must be cleaned before changing filaments.
So, what if we could eliminate that tedious cleaning step?
In painting, you could choose to use several different brushes, each for a different color.
But in a printer, what is equivalent to a "brush"? The entire frame? The tool head? The hotend assembly? Or just the nozzle itself? Each choice has its pros and cons—which is precisely what makes this competition so fascinating.
Contamination only occurs at the nozzle, but the nozzle does not work alone.
Nozzles require a motion system, filament feeding, heating, and temperature sensing, all of which need to be connected to the 3D printer.
Disconnecting and reconnecting these systems when changing nozzles is a reliability nightmare.
The more components replaced as a whole, the higher the connection reliability—but this comes with a larger footprint and higher cost.
The fewer components replaced, the lower the cost and smaller the size, but the harder it is to ensure reliability.
Ultimately, there is always a trade-off between reliability and cost versus footprint.
Here's a quick look at the various trade-off options:
Option A: Replace the entire frame. Simple and straightforward, no need to worry about connection reliability.
Disadvantage: Each nozzle requires a complete frame, which leads to high cost and large size. This is the IDEX solution on the market, usually limited to two nozzles.
Option B: Only replace the tool head, but share the same motion system.
This saves cost and space, but now you need to deal with mechanical connectors between the gantry and the tool head carriage.
The tool head is still bulky, so not many can be mounted.
This is the "tool changer" solution, applied in products from E3D, Prusa, and later Snapmaker.
Option C: Only replace the hotend assembly. This allows hotends to share the motion system, extruder, and cooling system, saving more space and cost.
But then you also face the challenge of connecting all the power and signal wires for heating and temperature sensing.
Spring-pin connectors can work in demonstrations, but ensuring their reliable operation over millions of cycles is another matter.
Option D: The simplest idea. If you trust the thermal conductivity at the interface, you can heat and measure temperature from the toolhead side, like with A1 nozzles.
This way you only need to replace the bare nozzle and heatsink. The challenge is ensuring consistent thermal conductivity, especially when nozzle changes are thousands of times more frequent than with the A1.
We could continue with Plan E, Plan F, and even further, but let's stop here.
In 2023, we decided that Plan C was the best option – a proper balance between reliability and footprint – as long as we could solve the wiring connection problem.
Our secret? Ditch mechanical connectors for wireless connections.
Induction heating can already heat nozzles wirelessly, but heating alone is not enough; we also need to measure temperature.
Our solution is to design a custom microcircuit in the hotend to receive power, measure temperature, and communicate wirelessly with the tool head.
This might not sound novel on paper, but making it robust, reliable, and certifiable requires significant engineering and expertise.
Ultimately, this integrated approach allowed us to miniaturize the hotend assembly to just four parts: nozzle, thermal break, thermistor, and a compact PCB.
All of this weighs only 10 grams and measures 20 × 15 × 56 mm.
Wireless heating and communication solved a big problem, but precise nozzle positioning is another challenge.
Simply switching nozzles is not enough—they must be precisely located with micron-level accuracy every time, on every printer we deliver.
Otherwise, you'll see defects and scratches on your prints.
Achieving this requires a highly repeatable mechanical structure, or a fast and precise measurement system, or both.
Then there's the software. Embedded firmware, slicer integration, user interface—all of it.
Customers often underestimate the importance of software, and honestly, so did we at first.
That's why, even though the hardware design was finalized months ago, we're still not ready to ship.
The reality of product development is staring at a pile of finished printers waiting for software to be perfected, and asking yourself, "Should we launch now, or wait?"
However, after three years of R&D, we finally have confidence. We will be ready to launch the H2C by the end of 2025.
Before we conclude, we know many of you will ask one final question:
Can I upgrade my H2D to an H2C?
The answer is yes—but it does require some skill, patience, a willingness to follow instructions carefully, and a few hours of your time.
This is certainly more complex than replacing a clogged nozzle, and we do not encourage entry-level customers to do so.
Can I upgrade my H2S to an H2C?
Theoretically, yes, but we are publishing this blog to ensure you don't waste time and budget on it.
👉 To learn more about Bambu Lab products, please visit our product page!
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