Bambu Lab has launched the H2S, a single-nozzle 340×320×340 mm printer that starts at $1249. The printer has twice the build volume of the X1C and is 30% faster. Billed as being simpler, this gives people an inexpensive, big build volume machine. The company says that being single nozzle not only means that it’s cheaper but also faster. The machine comes with a 350°C nozzle, 65°C heated chamber, and optimized air flow, which puts a lot of materials, such as ABS and polyamides, within easy reach. The system has 23 sensors, three cameras, and the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) extruder, which is said to be more powerful and precise than other extruders. You can also get a laser version if you’d like, and get it with or without the AMS unit. You should probably get the Vision Encoder calibration tool if you want to improve accuracy.

H2S tech specs comparison chart.

The single-nozzle variant will be available in October. Meanwhile, a $1499 one with the AMS 2 Pro is available for purchase now, and a laser model is available for $2,099. Bambu Lab is now continuing to offer a bevy of systems. Sensor-laden and precisely printing due to software integration and feedback, these systems have delivered on real performance.

Whereas the H2D seems like it wants to be an office printer for a department or a more complete “maker station” for a person at home, this is a more productivity-oriented machine. This could be a tool for print farms and actual production. Most 3D printed products that are being manufactured at scale have been designed without supports. Supportless means that they can be made much faster, are much cheaper, much less likely to fail, and do not need a post-processing step. This system, therefore, saves those who want to print a lot of well-designed things from the intricacies of a dual nozzle. There should be more uptime, print volume, and speed as a result. Maintenance should also be cheaper.

H2S combo.

With the H2D Pro offered exclusively through resellers, Bambu Lab seems to be positioning it as the enterprise 3D printer, a system for departmental use or shared services environments. This is also a real boost to Bambu Lab’s channel, showing that the firm is starting to care more about channel partners. Priced at $3,799, the Pro printer should be a real threat to Ultimaker and Stratasys. Meanwhile, the H2D Combo has less in the way of airflow, filtration, and cooling, making it better suited for more pedestrian materials, and now sells for $2,299. Slotting in the simpler H2S at $1,499 is aggressive.

It also lets Bambu Lab have a very valuable advantage. Its core technologies in software and sensors can be amortized, spread, and reused across its entire product line. It alone is developing core technology advantages in this way. A lot of components also find their way throughout their lineup. It then also supremely slices, dices, and segments the market, making a printer for every type of user. Now I don’t understand this particular part because personally I’d love a “cheap kid printer, Ultimate desktop system, Ultimate production system kind of approach.” However, this kind of many-model approach has worked well for many Chinese firms, from Haier to DJI, and I can’t really argue much against their success.

So, who is the H2S for? I think it’s for print farms and universities. And also, it lets many people in centralized 3D Printing facilities think more fleet-wide about their new printer models. People now like to have as few models as possible. But if the maintenance is similar and they work together, why not make it cheaper when you can? Get some of the Pros, but for the standard PLA work, just save yourself two grand. This is an interesting approach. Overall, strategically it’s super like a platform strategy, not like the everyone wants to be Salesforce platform strategy, but more akin to the vehicle platform strategies of car companies. In car companies, firms are looking for many models to offer differentiation, different levels of profit, and market fit while being primarily based on a lot of the same components. This allows firms to have more models and more updates while spreading costs out over many sales. By being versatile and making better-suited printers for more segments, the company could very well entrench itself more firmly than others in new segments and users. At the same time, the plethora of models undermines the “this is the best printer” narrative. Nokia had around 33 perfect models for everyone, but then an iPhone came along that was the best phone for everyone. That may actually give opportunities to Creality and others to displace Bambu Lab generally. At the same time, even better individual segmentation could displace Bambu Lab from certain segments.

3D printed table.

Rather than make a perfect 3D printer, it would be better now to create the perfect print farm system to displace in series rather than attack directly. In the Finnish Winter War, Finnish troops used Motti tactics to disrupt and defeat the Russians. With Motti, columns of vehicles would be blocked and pinned down. Small assaults would then be conducted, splitting the column into smaller isolated units. The isolated units would be completely destroyed.

This “defeat in detail” approach meant the Finns often had fewer forces than the Russian column, but achieved local superiority at every point of attack. Blitzkrieg tactics were a variation of this same principle. While the French had 300 tanks spread across 300 kilometers, the Germans put their 180 tanks, along with a combined arms strategy, at a single point. Rather than advance all spread out, they would race to the political center of their target, overwhelming it. In effect, Bambu Lab is employing a blitzkrieg approach: concentrating strength locally, leveraging technological superiority to overwhelm. While confusion reigns among competitors, Bambu Lab’s overall capabilities are being improved, which will then later add to the strength of the line and hold off all pressure. Using a Motti-like approach could be the best way to locally challenge Bambu Lab. However, the time here will be limited, as revenues are quickly converted into innovations that will be deployed across all of Bambu Lab’s new systems.

Images courtesy of Bambu Lab