Bambu Lab Announces New A1 Mini and AMS Lite

A couple of weeks ago, Bambu Lab started teasing a new product release on social media. The 3D printing community has been breathlessly speculating about what this product could be. Now, we finally have an answer and it is actually two new products: the Bambu Lab A1 Mini 3D printer and the AMS Lite.

The Bambu Lab A1 Mini is much smaller than Bambu Lab's other 3D printers and ditches their CoreXY kinematic systems in favor of a more conventional bed-slinger design. It has a cantilevered gantry, with a single Z axis rail and a bed that slides forward and back in the Y axis. The build volume is a compact 180×180×180mm (7.09×7.09×7.09 inches), but it seems to retain much of the functionality that has made Bambu Lab so successful at a much more approachable price point.

Like its bigger brothers, the A1 Mini has automatic calibration and bed leveling. It has vibration compensation and an integrated nozzle pressure sensor allows for calibrated flow for an effect similar to pressure advance, but without the required manual testing. Bambu Lab claims the A1 Mini can attain acceleration of 10,000mm/s2 and can reach speeds of 500mm/s. That second spec is probably a bit of an exaggeration and real-world speeds will likely be much slower, but we still expect the A1 Mini to have very impressive speed.

An additional "eddy sensor" helps it detect and compensate for air currents, since the A1 Mini doesn't have an enclosure. And the interface is actually an upgrade over the P1P and P1S, thanks to the full-color IPS touchscreen. It ships fully assembled, so buyers can start printing as soon as they unbox their machines.

The new AMS Lite is also exciting. It seems to have all of the same capability has the original AMS, but in a more compact unenclosed package. It can swap between four different rolls of filament for multi-color and/or multi-material prints, and also has the same RFID system that lets the printer recognize the spools in use. The AMS Lite isn't enclosed, which means moisture could be an issue. But it is far more compact and Bambu Lab says that it is more reliable and easier to maintain.

The A1 Mini and AMS Lite are meant to pair together well and Bambu Lab will sell them as a package for $459. If you want to purchase either on its own, the Bambu Lab A1 Mini will be $299 and the AMS Lite will be $249. The first batch of units should leave warehouses in mid-October.