It’s time to look at yet another possible 3D printer leak.
The leak in question arose on Reddit, where a supposed image of a previously unseen Bambu Lab 3D printer was posted. We have no true idea where this image came from, nor whether it is a real image.
The source seems to be from a WeChat account, the main social media system in China. A post on X suggests that it came from account “丫丫”.
But for today’s purposes, let’s assume this is a real, leaked image, and try to figure out what it all means.
Leak Analysis
The image shows a print in progress inside the build chamber of a 3D printer. We’ve enhanced it slightly to bring out some additional detail, but plenty is visible. Let’s go through the findings.
In the bottom right, we can barely make out a date when the image was taken, “4/2x”. It’s not clear which day it is, but clearly late April, so only a few weeks ago.
The printer is fully enclosed, like the company’s X series, P1S, and H2D.
The print surface shows part of the build volume dimensions, “340mm”. That is larger than the 256mm X/P series, and even larger than the H2D (325mm).
However, we also see that the mystery machine has a single nozzle. The H2D has dual nozzles, which automatically reduce the build volume because each nozzle can’t quite reach the other edge because there’s a nozzle in the way. The H2D plate is really 340mm, so this machine’s build volume is very likely the same, 350 x 320 x 340 mm.
Similarly, we can see the motion system is almost identical to the H2D. The belts and even bolts on the back are the same as the H2D.
The build plate is almost certainly the same as the H2D, a magnetically attached spring steel-coated surface.
The extruder is the most interesting part of this machine. At first glance, it looks very much like the A1 extruder, a very reliable and easy-to-maintain component of both the A1 and A1 mini.
However, there are some differences here. The most interesting bit is the wheel, which is used to indicate rotation. Instead of a circular aperture, we have an oval aperture. This suggests that the wheel will bounce back between the sides of the oval while printing.
Why do this? It could be because the mystery extruder is actually dual-filament capable. Some 3D printers have a mechanism to “click over” to the other filament, and that is likely what’s going on here.
However, we don’t really see two PTFE tubes going into the extruder; we clearly see only one. There could be another that is out of the frame, however.
If this is the case, then we would have a single nozzle device that can more quickly switch between two filaments. There would still be a purge required, but pulling filaments would be minimized when colours are switched. The two PTFE tubes might each be able to handle an AMS, meaning this might be an eight-colour device, or more.
Finally, there is that boxy thing on the bottom right of the extruder. This is almost certainly a toolhead cam, something that exists on the H2D.
What does all this mean? If this is a real image, then it is probably the long-awaited successor to the X1C. It has a better extruder that should waste a bit less material and operate faster, a much larger build volume, and extra features like the toolhead camera.
The H2D’s name might be decomposed as “H” for hybrid, since the device includes multifunction toolheads, and the “2” could represent the second generation. The “D”, I’m not so sure.
The mystery machine does not appear to be multifunction capable, so it’s probably an “X”, with a second-generation motion system.
Could this be the X2C? We will probably find out soon.
