---
id: bambu-a1
kind: equipment
display_name: Bambu Lab A1
current_guide: personal/multicolor-without-ams-reference-2026/print-guide.html
current_guide_version: 1.2
guide_status: living-reference
last_session: 2026-05-29
latest_handoff: (none — operational notes live under personal/3d-printing/)
---

# Bambu Lab A1

## Current state

Sam's single-extruder Bambu A1 (no AMS) — primary multi-color print
platform via manual-swap workflow. Used heavily across May 2026 for
the Pirates/Phillies family-gift batch (16 medallions, 7-day sprint
ahead of the Pittsburgh PNC Park trip) and now the **Donlin medallion
series** (4 teams for Denise's two kids: Blue Jays + Celtics for
Jarod, Bucks + Steelers for Luke; Jarod-set deadline 2026-06-07).
Operational notes, filament tracking, lessons-learned, and the
canonical multi-color reference guide all live under
`personal/3d-printing/` and
`personal/multicolor-without-ams-reference-2026/`.

## Successful prints

| Project | Date | Method | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pirates necklaces (×8) | 2026-05 | 3-color manual swap (W → black → gold) | `personal/pirates-phillies-3d-print-2026-05/` · guide v1.1 §12 worked example |
| Phillies necklaces (×8) | 2026-05 | 2-color manual swap | `personal/pirates-phillies-3d-print-2026-05/` |
| Toronto Blue Jays medallion | **2026-05-28** | 4-color terraced-tier (W → klein DB → LB → red), swaps at L46/L52/L58 (Z 9.0 / 10.2 / 11.4), 0.2 mm layers, 1.2 mm tiers, finish Z 13.0 | `personal/bluejays-necklace-print-2026-05/` · guide v1.2 §13 F |
| Boston Celtics medallion | 2026-05-29 *(in-progress)* | 3-color darker-on-top (green → white → black), swaps at L24/L28 | `personal/celtics-necklace-print-2026-05/` *(scaffold pending Task 5)* |

## Open items

- **Live print**: Boston Celtics medallion (2026-05-29) — see
  `personal/celtics-necklace-print-2026-05/` once scaffolded
- **Donlin series remaining**: Bucks + Steelers (for Luke) — see
  `personal/3d-printing/projects/donlin-team-medallions/`
- **Filament inventory**: white Sunlu PLA+ ~550 g remaining as of
  2026-05-11 (`personal/3d-printing/filament-inventory.md` — Sam's
  visual estimate; update pending after Blue Jays + Celtics runs)
- **Stand / enclosure**: two parallel designs drafted but not built
  (`personal/3d-printing/stand-enclosure-design.html`,
  `personal/3d-printing/stand-wood-hybrid-design.html`)
- **Lessons log**: yellow chain print failure 2026-05-15 captured;
  ongoing (`personal/3d-printing/lessons-learned.md`)
- **No handoff blocks yet**: 3DP operational work has lived in
  `personal/3d-printing/` rather than `handoff-blocks/`. Consider
  migration to handoff-block format for major session-bridges going
  forward.

## Pointers

- **General 3DP area**: `personal/3d-printing/` — intake,
  filament-admin, filament-inventory, filament-status.json,
  filament-suppliers, dashboard, lessons-learned, print-history,
  slicer-optimization-reference, stand designs,
  pittsburgh-gifts-breakdown, bambu-dual-plate-howto
- **Multi-color reference guide (v1.2)**:
  `personal/multicolor-without-ams-reference-2026/print-guide.html`
  (v1.2 revised 2026-05-29 — adds pause rule, paint_color
  verification protocol, tier-order tradeoff, method scope, and
  Blue Jays + Celtics worked examples)
- **Active print project**:
  `personal/celtics-necklace-print-2026-05/` (in-progress 2026-05-29)
- **Recent print projects**:
  `personal/bluejays-necklace-print-2026-05/` (complete 2026-05-28) ·
  `personal/pirates-phillies-3d-print-2026-05/` (complete 2026-05-16)
- **Customer hub**: `personal/3d-printing/projects/donlin-team-medallions/`
  (4-medallion series; Blue Jays done, Celtics in-progress, Bucks +
  Steelers pending)
- **Architecture**: `architecture/pending/` — no open DRs touching
  this entity

## Tooling / Procedures

### Validated 0.2 mm pause rule (manual multicolor)

For manual-multicolor prints on the A1 without AMS, set the layer
height to **0.2 mm** in Bambu Studio and use the pause-rule formula:

> **Pause on first layer of new color = `(boundary plate-Z / 0.2) + 1`.**

The "+1" is the same off-by-one used on Pirates v3 (pauses at
Z 10.2 / 12.2, not 10.0 / 12.0). It puts the new filament on the
first layer of the new region rather than the last layer of the old.

**Validated on Blue Jays (2026-05-28):** L46 / L52 / L58 → plate-Z
9.0 / 10.2 / 11.4, 1.2 mm (6-layer) tiers, finish Z 13.0. Beat the
Donlin 2026-06-07 deadline by 10 days.

**Canonical procedure:**
`personal/multicolor-without-ams-reference-2026/print-guide.html` v1.2
(§13 covers the validated pause rule, per-file `paint_color`
verification protocol, tier-order tradeoff, method scope, and
worked examples for Blue Jays + Celtics).

### Programmatic .3mf mesh editing

Added 2026-05-28 (Blue Jays checkpoint), extended evening of
2026-05-28, **promoted to v1.2 guide 2026-05-29 after print success**
(no longer "candidate, pending validation"). Planning-Claude can edit
.3mf files directly — vertex Z-remap by region, `paint_color` retag,
region-by-region Z-band terracing, top-down render verification
(matplotlib painter's algorithm by maxZ). Stack: trimesh 4.12.2,
lxml, numpy, **shapely 2.1.2** (Polygon union / nesting),
`trimesh.section` (Z-plane slicing), custom extrusion mesh generation
from 2D polygons + Z bounds. Shapely enables clean nested-tier mesh
builds where each subsequent filament covers a smaller XY footprint
without per-region height conflict — the right tool when source
geometry has interlocking features (Blue Jays jay beak crosses in
front of the leaf; leaf crosses behind the jay tail). Round-trip
re-zip is lossless and Bambu-Studio-loadable. Reference checkpoints:
`handoff-blocks/bluejays-mesh-checkpoint-2026-05-28.md` (morning,
terraced approach) +
`handoff-blocks/bluejays-fresh-chat-handoff-2026-05-28.md`
(evening, nested-tier pivot + fresh-chat handoff).

### Critical safety: `paint_color` tag verification

**Do NOT trust inherited `paint_color` tag mappings from any earlier
chat, project, or comment.** Tag values are file-specific; there is
no standard. Verify per new file by rendering the mesh from each
tag and comparing against the file's own baked-in
`Metadata/top_1.png`. The Blue Jays prior-attempt failure (morning
checkpoint recorded tag `4` as RED; actual was WHITE bail loop)
proves this needs to be procedure, not advice. Guide v1.2 §13 B
documents the verification procedure formally.

## Specs (verified)

- **Make / Model**: Bambu Lab A1
- **Configuration**: single nozzle, no AMS
- **Bed**: 256 × 256 mm
- **Nozzle**: 0.4 mm stock
- **Filament family in use**: PLA / PLA+
- **Multi-color workflow**: manual swap via M600 pauses,
  manual-filament-change mode enabled in Bambu Studio
- **Owner**: S. Foran
- **Location**: indoor workshop, Commerce Twp MI

## Specs (unverified)

- Firmware version (assumed current; not recorded)
- Cumulative print hours (no aggregate captured)
- Per-spool flow calibrations (none on file; factory defaults
  assumed)