Recently [Michael] over at the [Teaching Tech] YouTube channel got access to the X1Plus firmware, and takes us through what it may mean for Bambu Lab X1 owners. X1Plus is alternative firmware for the Bambu Lab X1 FDM 3D printer that was developed by X1 owners who felt that there were some features that they were missing, such as a detailed report on automatic bed leveling, input shaping calibration response graphs and more.
Perhaps most interesting is that this firmware does not replace the Bambu Lab firmware, but rather runs completely from a microSD card that’s inserted into the display’s SD card reader. This means that only the bootloader of the printer’s boot medium is changed, and the printer thus retains the ability boot to the OEM firmware as needed. Whether you want to try it on your own X1 depends on a few factors, first of all being that it only works with the OEM firmware up to and including version 1.7.0.
Since the bootloader modification relies on an exploit that was patched in newer firmware, a lot depends on whether Bambu Lab allows such tinkering, much like Prusa does with the Mini printer, or allows flashing of older firmware which would enable the exploit on newer X1 printers. Depending on Bambu Lab’s response, the imminent public release of this open source firmware may as a result run into some pretty big hurdles.
There are already reports that Bambulab app isn’t allowing firmware downgrading anymore, specially on reddit and twitter.
To be fair, that could also be because the third party firmware relies upon a Zero Day that’s now exposed to the world. This is less than ideal in in Internet facing device which can get hot and I can imagine the liability if it were left unpatched.
Unfortunately BambuLabs is trying to “be evil” very hard (which is against previous claims that they “aren’t” coming directly from Spaghetti Monster (their CEO) in interview few months ago). They disabled a way to install older firmware – a normal feature previously provided by BambuLabs (by preventing firmware downgrade) which blocks X1Plus firmware in the end. Don’t be evil S Monster. People want others to innovate on your hardware, too which in the end helps your customers get better printers!
My personal cospiracy theory is that Bambulab is selling at loss and they are trying to capture the market and then recup the money with a subscription model.
I’m shocked, SHOCKED that anyone would do such a thing.
Well, not that shocked.
I just bought a Prusa Mk4 in no small part because they are supporting open source doing it right and voting with your wallet is the best support you can give.
I buy Creality machines for the same reason (I find Prusas to be a little overpriced).
(I find Prusas to be a LOT overpriced)
FTFY
I hated everything about my (cheap!) Ender 3 and love everything about my MK3S and MK3S+. I want to print, not tinker haha
Prusa is forever cursed on that. They are a european manufacturer and thus have to import, pay taxes and in overall have lower priority on components. It is simply impossible to rival Chinese manufacturers like Creality and Bambulabs as they can get whatever they need for dirt-cheap, tax-free and practically around the corner.
Which renders the choice more about personal morals. Rather support local industry that is trying to be the “good guy company”? Or just get something insanely cheap? For many that choice is (sadly) obvious.
JanW, the “problem” with the Ender is that it’s probably the first printer that the majority of people use. This means that it’s hard to hunt down good advice.
In my experience, if someone assembles an Ender 3 based on a decent set of instructions (like the Tomb videos) and approaches issues logically, rather than installing “upgrades” (which just confuse issues further) , it’s a great little workhorse. I’ve run one constantly for weeks making prints for charities and, by checking the first layer and looking at the final print, I didn’t have a print failure over many hundreds of prints.
I think it’s less about tinkering and more about a mentality (and definitely not intelligence). Like gardening.
According to the developers of the project Bambu is working with them this was as of February so hopefully they will continue working together to build a better product we will see. My favorite was the software allows you to shield the printer from outside communication
Would be nice if someone clever could reverse engineer the AMS so it can be integrated into klipper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKP0xBw8n4c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKP0xBw8n4c someone is already working on it.
Well done!
A major reason why i avoid BBL. They position themselves as cheap and good, but their products come with a bit of a devil’s contract of being locked into a closed ecosystem where everything is at their sole discretion. They ain’t Chitu bad (yet), but i rather not take the risk and instead get something like a Sovol or save up for a Prusa.
Oh, they’re
ChituCthulhu bad. Terms of ownership states that every part of their printer is a consumable. In simple terms, defects are not BBL’s concern. Buy a replacement. Reddit is awash with complaints to this effect. Support is non-existent.The only place you’ll see unmitigated fanboy-ism is YouTube where these guys rely on freebies.
Sounds like you should check out [Teaching Tech]’s video right before the X1 firmware video https://youtu.be/SeKjtBH2K_c?t=283.
Maybe they just hadn’t been asked. Looks like you can be open to buying one. Closed eco systems are a long corporate tradition. It’s why apple is popular with the average person “it just works” as their slogan stated…. because they don’t allow anyone to screw it up. This push amd pull is the norm for many decades tinkers and opensource vs rigid control.
https://blog.bambulab.com/rooted-the-good-the-bad-and-freedom-of-choice/
But it’s not released yet. So????
Amazingly, this article is already outdated. Bambu and the X1 Plus devs had a conference and Bambu is going to allow people to install third party firmware, with a waiver of warranty and support from Bambu moving forward from there. https://blog.bambulab.com/rooted-the-good-the-bad-and-freedom-of-choice/
Please note, Prusa has also taken a similar approach. In order to flash third-party firmware, you have to physically break off a piece of your controller board and this voids the warranty. https://help.prusa3d.com/article/flashing-custom-firmware-mini_14
Yeah, the primary reason for closing the hole and removing downgrades was because it was a critical network-accessible vulnerability. If they’d left it open it would have been so much worse.
People buy BL printers because they want a machine that *works*. It’s an appliance, not your weekend fixer-upper project. Nobody is crying because they can’t install their own software on their fridge.
Reading the Bambu Lab blog post, it looks like it’s a one-off thing only, with subsequent firmware images not supporting third party firmware. So anyone who buys a new X1 in a few months from now will still not have the option to install X1Plus.
TIme to read again then, they are going to let people opt in for custom firmware but you do waive your right to support if you do, which to me is totally reasonable.
Wouldn’t it be possible to buy a spare part TH Board and go back to the original firmware path, after installing the X1plus firmware? Where is the firmware chip in the X1 printers located?
You could, and bambu has said you are allowed to flash back and forth from the r firmware to the stock firmwares (once you fill out the form). But the initial unlock is a one way street to waive your warranty.
I really expected the Creality K1 would get alternative firmware first, especially considering Creality released the source.
Creality K1 already has a firmware release and official guides that allow to install clean Klipper and Fluidd while that “x1plus” is not an open source firmware, it’s a hack / overlay over Bambu proprietary binary filter that you can’t modify.
Hack a proprietary 3d printer to install an open bootloader? Only if it’s an exercise for exercise’s sake! Just build a Voron already!
It quietly bothers me that BBL has chosen to close source their printer design. Stuff like magnetic removable print beds, the modular hot end and extruder, autoleveling, etc would not exist if it weren’t for a decade of work by the open-source community and we’re just ignoring that. It bugs me.
Lets hope custom firmware is the first step towards community-driven standardization retrofits.
A lot of comments about the closed ecosystem, and the way I see it personally, is they expect a lot of moms who have Cricut cutters for crafts and scrapbooking to jump into the 3D printer world with these. The hobbyist community jumped on board with Bambu because they’re inexpensive and more full-featured than the competition. If anything, we’re being used as Guinea pigs to tighten up their products for mass consumption.
Cutters like the Silhouette and Cricut are consumable items. You break it, you’re buying a new one. You can use them for free unless you want to buy designs from the online store.
So Bambulab finally agrees to 3rd party firmware, but will forbid to go back to the original firmware after installing a 3rd party firmware.
Where is the firmware stored on the X1? Is it the TH Board? Would a simple replacement of the TH Board, from a spare part make it possible to jump back on the genuine path?
I think you can jump back on to OEM firmware, but your warranty (which is only a year) will have expired as soon as you jumped onto custom firmware.
X1 Plus firmware is loaded through the SD card, it’s accessed through a sideloader app, so the OEM Bambu firmware never actually leaves the machine. It’s always there if X1 Plus goes bad.
The “one way ticket” thing is not about firmware, it’s about warranty. Which after a year, everyone is on the same “one way ticket with an expired warranty, so… might as well root the thing at that time anyway.
Any updates on this? Kinda waiting on 7.