this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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The Enshittification of 3D Printers – Are We Losing What Made Them Great? (discuss.tchncs.de)
submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I’ve been noticing an unsettling trend in the 3D printing world: more and more printer manufacturers are locking down their devices with proprietary firmware, cloud-based software, and other anti-consumer restrictions. Despite this, they still receive glowing reviews, even from tech-savvy communities.

Back in the day, 3D printing was all about open-source hardware, modding, and user control. Now, it feels like we’re heading towards the same path as smartphones and other consumer tech—walled gardens, forced online accounts, and limited third-party compatibility. Some companies even prevent users from using alternative slicers or modifying firmware without jumping through hoops.

My question is: Has 3D printing gone too mainstream? Are newer users simply unaware (or uninterested) in the dangers of locked-down ecosystems? Have we lost the awareness of FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software) and user freedom that once defined this space?

I’d love to hear thoughts from the community. Do you think this is just a phase, or are we stuck on this trajectory? What can we do to push back against enshitification before it’s too late?

(Transparency Note: I wrote this text myself, but since English is not my first language, I used LLM to refine some formulations. The core content and ideas are entirely my own.)

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

I suspect an important angle, at least for Bambu Lab, is AI. That's why they are selling printers with expensive Lidar units at a competitive price (the X1C). The Lidar data adds a key part to AI training sets: print outcome. They could use this to train more AI models to improve their own products. I believe this is why they are first pushing the firmware update to X1C models.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

I dumped my P1S + 2xAMS for these exact reasons. Printer worked great and got me back into printing after a long break. I was really not impressed with the recent hard slide into walled garden.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

I have a Bambu P1S with an AMS after years of using a Ender 3 that was modified to high heavens both on hardware and on firmware level. It is a perfectly fine product and the AMS makes filament changes so much easier, it is a convenience that I personally love. My P1S is running in LAN mode and it works perfectly fine in combination with OrcaSlicer on my Linux machine. No data is send to the Bambu Cloud, everything is local.

Would I like the possibility to have a custom firmware on it? Sure, I always like options. But to be honest: My P1S runs better, smother, faster then my Ender 3 with his many mods and custom firmware ever did.

Is Bambu on my list of manufacturers for another printer purchase? Yes, but near the end after their anti consumer behavior lately.

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