In a post on their forum, Bambu Lab announced today that they have partnered with Slide Engineering to provide Mako™ Hotend for Bambu Lab X and P series printers.
Bambu Lab describes it as “effortless nozzle changes, optimized high-flow performance, superior thermal stability, and a durable, rugged printing experience.”
If that interests you, you can find the hotends and the different nozzles on Slice Engineering website: https://www.sliceengineering.com/products/mako-for-bambu-lab
The hotend comes in two flavors: “Use stock electronics” or “with pre-installed electronics”. If you buy the “Use stock electronics” version, you must remove the existing electronics (heater/sensor/fan) from your machine and install them into the hotend yourself.
And it comes with the choice of 3 nozzle types:
- GammaMaster (FIN): Experience the strength of abrasion-resistant nozzles, ideal for printing with carbon and glass fiber filaments while also handling flexibles.
- CHT (FIN): Maximizes flow rate by splitting incoming filament into 3 strands, heating the core of the filament while enhancing mixing & boosting mechanical strength through improved inner layer bonding.
- DiamondBack (FIN): Delivers unmatched durability and precision with a solid diamond tip, capable of printing any filament without wear or nozzle changes.
The prices are as follows (in USD):
| Use stock electronics | With pre-installed electronics (X1/X1C/P1P/P1S) | With pre-installed electronics (X1E) | |
| GammaMaster (FIN) | $99.99 | $124.99 | $129.99 |
| CHT (FIN) | $104.99 | $128.99 | $134.99 |
| DiamondBack (FIN) | $199.99 | $224.99 | $229.99 |
If you want to buy more than one nozzle, be sure to look for FIN-compatible nozzles only.
FIN (short for Free and open-source Insulated Nozzle) is a new standard by Slice Engineering, developed with Bondtech, Diamondback, and Micro Swiss. And finally, if you want to swap nozzles, you’ll probably want to add the Nozzle Torque Wrench to your cart.
To be fair, the hotends the Bambu Lab printers come with are pretty good already. Sure, they can probably be improved, but is that worth the price? We believe the effortless nozzle change is the most appealing reason to buy those. Yet, it might still be hard for hobbyists to justify spending that much money on a bit of convenience.
Though, this is a whole other story for professionals or people with print farms, where the convenience and better flow could be really attractive.
Finally, if you have five or more printers, you can enter a giveaway organized by Bambu Lab. There are only five hotends to give away, so don’t get your hopes up too much: https://share.bambulab.com/TesterRecruitment.