Can Bambu Labs 3D Printer Success Translate to a Standalone Laser? I Believe It Can

If you’re into 3D printing and have been around for the last few years, the name Bambu Lab will be familiar to you. Its products often top best 3D printer lists, including ours, and the company has helped bring genuine plug-and-play standards to in-home 3D printing.

Today, Bambu Lab has announced the R1, a standalone CO2 laser engraver designed to integrate seamlessly into your existing ecosystem. The R1 is available today for a base price of $2,500. I’ve spent some time with it — though not enough for a full review — and so far it’s been a great experience.

While the R1 looks nothing like a 3D printer, it does have a design language that’s easily identifiable as Bambu Lab’s. The light gray plastic casing is well-fitted, and the interior metal frame feels solid when you move the machine. The LEDs in the back around the CO2 gas chamber highlight the interior and you can see the laser pulses through the rear glass as it works on your material.

Even the molding around the power button exudes a high-quality finish, making the R1 feel like a consumer product you would have in your home office rather than a workshop. The optional riser fits right into that aesthetic, too, and makes the laser-and-riser combo feel like one continuous piece.

The finishing touches, like this power button, show an effort to make things beautiful.

According to Bambu Lab’s press release, the company has brought what it’s learned from 3D printing to the R1, using a lot of its excellent acceleration algorithms and hardware to reduce ringing and other artifacts that occur when cutting or engraving at high speed. Bambu Lab has also used its vision encoders to make sure the cameras on the R1 accurately represent the material on the bed.

This is often an issue with larger lasers, as the fisheye lens can distort images at the edges, making the cuts off-center or overlap in weird ways. If you’re trying to cut around an existing image, this can lead to cutting failures that cost you time and money.

Why make a standalone laser cutter?

Cutting through 3mm plywood is a breeze with the R1.

Bambu Lab has already dabbled in laser cutting. The H2D and H2S both have laser configurations that work OK, but a two-in-one solution will always be a compromise. If you use the laser side of the H2D for too long, eventually the soot and buildup will compromise its ability to 3D print correctly. By creating the R1, Bambu Lab can potentially compete in a space that doesn’t look too kindly on two-in-one devices.

The R1 is a 55-watt CO2 laser, instead of the diode laser that was used in the H2D. The big difference between the two is the amount of materials you can work with. The CO2 laser can’t cut metal, or even etch it well (unless the metal is painted), but it can cut and engrave just about anything else.

I’ve only managed to play around with acrylic, wood and cardboard so far, but the R1 will etch on glass, cut through wood and clear acrylic without any issues. The list of what you can cut with a CO2 laser is long, and with the optional riser and conveyor system, you can go from a 600x300mm cutting area to a 600×3,000mm area, increasing the scope of your projects even more.

Being able to cut clear acrylic and etch on glass is a CO2 laser’s biggest asset, and the R1 does an excellent job. You can often see charring on clear acrylic when it’s not done right, but the settings for the R1 through its Bambu Suite software keep everything well in check. It even has a tracing feature that can take an image of the object on the bed and create a cutting sequence to cut around. It’s quite impressive.

First impressions

The CNET logo always looks good in red

Bambu Lab has a track record of making its first product a good one, and so far, the R1 meets that standard. From the testing I’ve done, this machine is competent, well-made and easily integrates with the great Bambu Lab infrastructure, using the Bambu Handy app and the Makerworld website to help you find projects.

As with all Bambu products, setup took minutes, and the R1 includes multiple calibration tools that make getting started a breeze. The company has long tried to lower the barrier to entry for 3D printing, and it is clearly doing the same with laser cutters.

Xtool, WeCreat and Glowforge have long dominated the consumer and small business space for laser engraving. Some new competition from a proven crafting company can only be good for us all.

James Bricknell

Managing Editor

James' job is Managing Editor of Commerce, but he loves all things "maker", from 3D printers to Cricut machines. See full bio